Hooks and riffs in pop songs

Hi, I'm Dr. Southall and I'm gonna be teaching you this unit, which is an introduction to pop music. Let's begin. In this lesson, we're going to compose a riff demonstrating an understanding of successful riff writing. Let's begin. There's four key terms for this lesson. The first is hook, a musical idea that's designed to catch the ear of a listener and be very memorable. The second is riff, a short, recurring, or repeated motif used in pop music. The third is chord, two or more notes played at the same time, and they're usually played as a triad and they will form the harmony of the music. And the fourth is DAW, software used to record, edit and process audio. For example, GarageBand. There's two parts to this lesson. The first is hooks and riffs in pop songs. In pop music, a hook is a catchy, memorable part of a song. It catches the ear of the listener. In other words, it becomes very memorable and makes you pay attention. What makes the following hook so memorable? Pause the video and listen to the clip. Hooks tend to use short, repeated syllables, and they can arrive at any part of the song, although they're often used in the chorus and can be the title of the song. Listen to this hook. What might be the title of this song? Pause the video, and listen to the clip. A riff is a repeated rhythmic or melodic pattern. They're short, memorable, and usually recur or repeat throughout the song. Listen to the following tracks and identify what instruments are playing the iconic riffs. Pause the video and listen to each one in turn. Welcome back. Well, the first one was body percussion. The second was bass guitar, and the third was electric guitar. It's possible for a song to have more than one hook. What do the three hooks that we listen to next have in common? Well, each hook is repeated multiple times. Pause the video and listen to the clips. Many pop songs start with the riff. This engages the listener straight away while establishing the identity of the song. I'm sure you can think of some examples from your own listening to the radio and so forth and streaming services. Many pop songs start with the riff. This engages the listener straight away while establishing the identity of the song. The one I've got stuck in my head quite often is The white Stripes. Every time I seem to have some downtime, I can hear, (vocalizing). And that song starts with that riff, and as soon as you hear it, you know the song and you're never gonna get it out of your head for the whole day. Riffs are often immediately recognizable. Do you recognize the following song in just two notes? Pause the video, take a listen. Well done. It was "Shape of You" by Ed Sheeran. Hooks and riffs are similar in that they're short, memorable, and repeated. However, hooks tend to be used less frequently so they have more impact. Riffs can often underpin the whole song. Let's check for understanding. In what section of the song would you likely first hear the riff? Is it A, the introduction; B, the verse; or C, the chorus. Well done. It's the introduction. Which three of the following best describe a riff? It's short, repeated, played on a guitar and usually recurs throughout a song. Choose three. The answer was A, short; B, repeated; and C, usually recurs throughout a song. It does not have to be played on a guitar. What's the difference between a hook and a riff? A hook is used less in a song so it has more impact. A riff is often used throughout the song. Hooks tend to include vocals. Which of the following extracts is the hook and why? Pause the video and listen to each clip in turn, then fill in the table. Which of the following extracts is the riff and why? Pause the video, listen to the clips and complete the table. Welcome back. We have three model answers for you here. So the first one was not the hook, second was a hook, and the third was also not a hook. And we have reasons justified here. It uses vocals, it's short and catchy and uses few syllables, and it's in the chorus of the song and it's also the title of the song. For the second question, the first clip was a riff. The second was not, and the third was not. It was a short two-bar pattern that's repeated, played on an instrument rather than vocal melody. And in the introduction of the song. Part two, composing a pop song riff. Successful riffs often have similar features. How many different notes are used in this riff? And what else do you notice about the pattern? Pause the video and listen to the clip. This riff is successful in part because it's simple. It uses mainly two notes and four overall, and it's built around a repeated motif and the notes are close together. Here's the main motif, and the pattern changes slightly at the end to create some contrast, but it's more the same than it is different. This two-bar riff uses repeated chords. Pause the video and listen to the clip. What do you notice about the chord shapes and changes from that clip? The riff uses only three chords to keep it simple, and the rhythm is consistent quavers, but the core changes help to add interest as the notes change one at a time and in an unusual place in the bar. Listen one more time. Where in the bar does the second chord change happen? Izzy says it starts between beat two and three in the second bar, and she is correct. This different chord riff also uses three chords. How are the chords played differently to the last riff? Pause the video and listen to the clip. Well, the riff uses broken chords instead of block chords, and it also uses consistent quavers, but the interest is created by the 3-3-2 pattern in each chord. What do each of those riffs have in common? Well, they're simple with three or four notes. They're short, up to about two bars. The notes or note changes are close together and they're developed from one short idea or motif. Each of these points makes the riff easy to remember. Let's do a quick check again. What makes a pop riff successful? Is it simple, memorable, or complicated? The answer is simple and memorable. Which three of the following are features of successful riffs? A riff that's short, or where notes tend to be close together, or developed from a few different ideas, or uses only a few notes. Choose three. Short, the notes tend to be closed together, and it only uses a few notes. Well done if you've got those three correct. When composing songs, we need to know our musical starting point. What might this be? There's lots of choices to make in composing, but the initial musical idea is often the best place to start. This can be different depending on the genre or type of piece. Many pop songwriters usually start with a riff, although it could be any of the following: melody, lyrics, chords, or riff. Many riffs are created by accident when experimenting on the guitar or the keyboard. Some songwriters are able to recreate melodies they hear in their head and play them on the keyboard. The point is to try out a few ideas first. When experimenting with melodic riffs, it can be a good idea to use some parameters: a particular rhythm, and a handful of notes. Using the notes C, D, E, G, A can ensure your melody is pleasing to the ear. As the notes work well together. Here's C, D, E, and G and A on a keyboard, all white notes. The following video will demonstrate how to experiment using this technique to help you write your own riff. Let's watch. When composing a riff for a pop song, I like to choose just a handful of notes and think of a few simple rhythms to get the ball rolling. By improvising and experimenting on my keyboard, I might stumble across a riff that I like the sound of. For this riff, I'm gonna be composing in C major, and therefore the notes I am going to choose from are going to be C, D, E, G and A. Those make up a pentatonic scale and ensures that my riff is going to be continent and pleasing to the ear. So I'm just gonna have a little go, just noodling around those notes with very simple rhythms, hoping that something that I like jumps out at me. So here goes. (piano music) Okay, so for this example, I'm just going to choose that last riff there. This one. (piano music) It is three notes. It's very simple, it's short and easily repeated. And now I've got that in my head, I'm going to just play that along to a drum track so I can hear it in context. (upbeat music) I like the sound of it, so I'm gonna press record and get it saved into my DAW. Make sure the metronome is on. (upbeat music) There we go. That is how to quickly compose a riff in C major. So a successful riff is simple, short and uses notes or note changes that are close together. It's developed from one short idea or motif. You can also choose to create a chord-based riff. Again, start with some parameters and select two or three chords that you like the sound of, and then think about how you might play them as a block or as broken chords. Let's watch a video showing how to create a chord-based riff. To make a riff using chords, the first step is to select the chords that I want to use. For this example, I'm going to use F major, G major, and A minor as they use the white notes of the keyboard and they are next to each other and easy to play. I've gotta figure out a rhythm. And for simplicity, I'm just gonna play them once after each other. Something a little bit like this. (piano music) Oftentimes chord riffs might repeat a few times, and then on the last repetition, there might be a little bit of a change. So with this example, I've gone up, F-G-A, I'm gonna repeat that a couple of times. And then the last repetition, I'm gonna make my way back down, A-G-F, I'm gonna see how that sounds. (piano music) And I added a little F-G at the end there to loop it 'round nicely. At the moment, I'm playing block chords, which I like. I'm gonna see how it sounds with a drumbeat. So I put one in earlier, so I'm gonna unmute that. I've got my loop locators on, so it's just gonna go 'round and 'round. At this point, again, I'm still experimenting to see how I like the sound of the riff and if I need to make any changes. So here it goes. (upbeat music) So I quite like the sound of that. It's easy. Again, it's only using three chords. It's easily repeated and it sounds good within the context of these sort of hip hop drums that I've got. If I wanted to, I could make these broken chords perhaps for a different style, something like this. (piano music) If I was able to play broken chords, and that is completely fine as well. It's your choice. It depends very much on what you prefer and the genre of your piece of music. And there we have it. How to make a riff using chords. Composing is often borrowing and adapting ideas you've heard and developing them into something new. Consider what we can borrow from the previous riff examples. Could borrow a rhythm, a pattern such as the constant quavers or descending or ascending chord patterns, changing one note at a time. Or a broken chord pattern. There's endless possibilities. We can use the rhythm from the "Shape of You" riff. (piano music) We can use constant quaver patterns. (piano music) We can also map this over different descending or ascending chord patterns. We can do this even just by changing one note at a time. (piano music) And then we can use the 3-3-2 broken chord pattern from "Clocks." (piano music) What is the typical starting point for a songwriter when composing a pop song? Is it the hook, the lyrics or the riff? Well done. It's the riff. When creating a riff, it's important to consider which two of the following options: limiting the amount of notes or chords, choosing a rhythm first, or how it will fit with the lyrics. The answer is A, limiting the amount of notes or chords, but also B, choosing a rhythm first. Time for you to do some practice, you're going to compose a keyboard riff. To be successful in this task, you need to use the notes, C, D, E, G, A, or a limited number of notes or chords. Keep those notes close together. Keep your riff short, no more than four bars, and develop from a very short initial motif or chord pattern. Make sure you're trying out some ideas to see what you like. And finally, use part ideas from music you like as inspiration. Good luck. Pause the video, get writing. Let's look at someone else's attempt. Why is this composed riff unsuccessful? (bright music) Well, you may have said there are too many notes. It's too long. It doesn't use a short or repeated pattern. It's not memorable or could be more memorable at least. And the instrument is not typical of a pop song. Alright, let's do a quick summary of the main points from this lesson. A hook is a musical idea designed to catch the listener's ear and is usually the most memorable part of the song. A riff is a repeated musical phrase that is typically the defining melodic material of the song. A successful riff is short, simple, and repeats. And when composing a pop song, it's common to start with a riff. When writing a riff, we must ensure that it's short and simple. Less is more. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson. I look forward to seeing you next time. Goodbye.