M
Mike Freze
New member
Hey, everyone. If you need to see more detailed advice on titles for songs, check my other thread on this topic. I have TONS of good stuff in there for you.
As an experienced songwriter who trained through a publisher with London Records (Los Angeles), I can tell you this: you need to get great choruses (hooks) for your songs or they will never get radio play, recording contracts, publishers to work with you, or artists to want to record your original songs.
The hook is a repetitive line (or 2-4 lines) that is the payoff for the song you wrote. It is the part of your song that people go away remembering, humming in their car, the part that they wait for when they hear your song (even waiting through your normal verses before that chorus comes along).
Am I kidding? No. Listen to dozens of top-40 hits on the radio (today or yesterday) and see why they are hits. Listen for the hook. It is obvious in 95% of the radio top hits. When you hear it come in a song, it grabs you and pulls the whole song together. It's the moment of release, the great climax from the build up of verses or bridges that you have going before it hits that spot.
A great chorus (or hook) usually includes the EXACT song title you have inside of it. It may be the title repeated several times and that's it ("I Can't Go For That," Hall & Oates), or it may be said in the first line of the chorus and then a second line is slightly different but close to the song title and then repeats itself ("Heard It Through The Grapevine," Creedence Clearwater Revival).
A chorus or hook needs to climax in the song: perhaps going to a higher key, adding a few extra instrument sounds in the background, maybe a few vocal harmonies that aren't there in the normal verses, slightly increased volume, etc. Then when you go back to the verse, you drop things down a bit and start building up to the next chorus.
A great song is an ebb and flow kind of thing: you start our small and simple, gradually build, and pay off with the chorus. Then you drop it down a bit and re-build to the next phase.
There are times when a chorus starts a song even before you do the verses. "Hooked On A Feeling" by B.J. Thomas "Sunshine On My Shoulders" (John Denver) does this too. It grabs your attention right off the bat.
If it's more of a story-type song that leads to a climax, then the chorus should come later (very common with country songs, folk songs, and even some pop tunes).
Remember, a great commercial, radio-friendly type song has to do its thing in a 3-4 minute time period. Radio stations won't allow longer songs (unless you're Led Zeppelin with "Stairway To Heaven" or The Eagles with "Hotel California"). They have so many songs they can play in their time slots, everyone is competing for a piece of the pie, they have to fill some time for their advertisers and sponsors, and longer songs from an unknown artist won't cut it.
Can a hook or chorus just be a musical riff or instrumental? No, you still need some words, melody, etc. That's what makes people sing along and buy your record. BUT, a lot of great hits do have instrumental hooks in the song. Usually though, they are at the beginning of the song, played through the verses, or played in the background of the chorus.
Instrumental hooks: "Day Tripper" (The Beatles), "China Grove" (The Doobie Brothers), "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" (The Hollies), etc. You get the idea. But those hooks don't replace the chorus hook in those songs: they are additional, instrumental hooks that work towards the chorus. If you can have a great instrumental hook and a great chorus (hook) in the same song, you've got a winner!
Mike Freze
As an experienced songwriter who trained through a publisher with London Records (Los Angeles), I can tell you this: you need to get great choruses (hooks) for your songs or they will never get radio play, recording contracts, publishers to work with you, or artists to want to record your original songs.
The hook is a repetitive line (or 2-4 lines) that is the payoff for the song you wrote. It is the part of your song that people go away remembering, humming in their car, the part that they wait for when they hear your song (even waiting through your normal verses before that chorus comes along).
Am I kidding? No. Listen to dozens of top-40 hits on the radio (today or yesterday) and see why they are hits. Listen for the hook. It is obvious in 95% of the radio top hits. When you hear it come in a song, it grabs you and pulls the whole song together. It's the moment of release, the great climax from the build up of verses or bridges that you have going before it hits that spot.
A great chorus (or hook) usually includes the EXACT song title you have inside of it. It may be the title repeated several times and that's it ("I Can't Go For That," Hall & Oates), or it may be said in the first line of the chorus and then a second line is slightly different but close to the song title and then repeats itself ("Heard It Through The Grapevine," Creedence Clearwater Revival).
A chorus or hook needs to climax in the song: perhaps going to a higher key, adding a few extra instrument sounds in the background, maybe a few vocal harmonies that aren't there in the normal verses, slightly increased volume, etc. Then when you go back to the verse, you drop things down a bit and start building up to the next chorus.
A great song is an ebb and flow kind of thing: you start our small and simple, gradually build, and pay off with the chorus. Then you drop it down a bit and re-build to the next phase.
There are times when a chorus starts a song even before you do the verses. "Hooked On A Feeling" by B.J. Thomas "Sunshine On My Shoulders" (John Denver) does this too. It grabs your attention right off the bat.
If it's more of a story-type song that leads to a climax, then the chorus should come later (very common with country songs, folk songs, and even some pop tunes).
Remember, a great commercial, radio-friendly type song has to do its thing in a 3-4 minute time period. Radio stations won't allow longer songs (unless you're Led Zeppelin with "Stairway To Heaven" or The Eagles with "Hotel California"). They have so many songs they can play in their time slots, everyone is competing for a piece of the pie, they have to fill some time for their advertisers and sponsors, and longer songs from an unknown artist won't cut it.
Can a hook or chorus just be a musical riff or instrumental? No, you still need some words, melody, etc. That's what makes people sing along and buy your record. BUT, a lot of great hits do have instrumental hooks in the song. Usually though, they are at the beginning of the song, played through the verses, or played in the background of the chorus.
Instrumental hooks: "Day Tripper" (The Beatles), "China Grove" (The Doobie Brothers), "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" (The Hollies), etc. You get the idea. But those hooks don't replace the chorus hook in those songs: they are additional, instrumental hooks that work towards the chorus. If you can have a great instrumental hook and a great chorus (hook) in the same song, you've got a winner!
Mike Freze
