New songwriters may find all the aspects of writing songs daunting, to begin with. Some are more critical than others. It’s vital to distinguish which parts that make up a song are ones to focus on first.
What is the most important part of a song? The most important part of a song is its hook. The hook is what makes the song memorable. The song hook can be present in multiple forms including melody, lyrics, rhythm, instrumentation, and percussion. The title of a song is often one of its hooks.
Songs are comprised of several parts. How the songwriter chooses to utilize these parts so they are cohesive and compliment each other depends on the skill and expertise the songwriter has in their craft.
As stated earlier the goal of the songwriter is to come up with a combination of these parts that will result in great song hooks. To get a better understanding of the importance of the song hook read my article, What is the Hook in a Song. It can’t be overstated how vital a hook is as part of the song.
Below is a list of songwriting tools a songwriter should consider while writing the song and crafting the hook!
Lyrics
Melody
Counter Melody
Title (read my article “How to Title a Song“)
Pre-Chorus
Chorus (read my article “How to Write a Chorus“)
Verse (read my article “What is a Song Verse?“)
Bridge (read my article “What is the Bridge of a Song“?)
Rhyme Pattern (read my article “Types of Rhymes in Songs?”)
Rhythm
Harmony
Percussion
Instrumentation
Song Structure (read my article “What is Song Structure?”)
Be sure to read the more in-depth articles I wrote on specific song parts linked above. This is by all means not an exhaustive list but rather one to get you started writing songs.
Why is the Hook the Most Important Part of a Song
The hook is the most important part of a song because that is what the listener is going to remember once they have listened to it. It’s called a “hook” for a reason. It catches the listener’s attention and embeds itself into the listener’s mind.
The listener may not be able to sing the whole song back after the first listen, but they will most likely be able to recall the title and melody if those items were crafted together in such a way that produced a catchy hook. Can you see now why hooks are an important part of a song?
The goal of every songwriter should be to craft songs that nobody can forget. Whether it’s an emotional, pull at the heartstrings song, or a fun party song, it needs to be memorable. To make it memorable the songwriter must pay attention to the HOOK!
Send me a note if this article was of help. Let me know what other topics you’d like to have me cover.