Good idea! I always wondered, how many times does a listener need to hear a musical phrase before it turns into a hook? Or does it just immediately become a hook the first time anyone hears it? Anyway, now we are about to conduct the first scientific experiment to find out if we can actually create an instant hook. I can’t wait to hear what our hive mind comes up with.

This is such an outstanding idea. 30 seconds is about 1/6th of a typical song length. When you said Led Zeppelin, I thought of Over the Hills and Far Away. That’s one heck of a hook. I’ll make a bunch of hooks and see if can get one that rises to the top of the heap.

An added bonus: We can review everyone’s pieces no matter how many there are!

And an added irony: It will take just as long to come up with a meaningful hook as it does to lay down an entire progression and accompanying lead.

I’m all in!

Not for me. I’m already finished with mine. The very first one I came up with really sounded good to me, so that was easy. It was simple enough to spawn quite a few possible variations and additions and simple rhythm parts. Just have to do the final recording of it on video, but the primary idea has been established.

The key to this is starting with something simple and from that initial idea try some variations or embellishments. Try changing the timing, etc… I also created a very simple backing rhythm to create a solid base for the hook.

What do you think the difference is between “the hook” and “the chorus” of a song?

I looked it up and there is a subtle difference.

Here’s the Difference Between Hook and Chorus in a Song (With 5 Examples!)

The central hook for Day Tripper is a sparkly electric guitar riff (with a matching bass part) that plays under most of the song. It shifts in pitch as the chord progression goes and takes a break during the chorus, but it MAKES the song!

There are a ton of other Beatles songs that are similarly “hook-y,” such as “Here Comes the Sun,” which has a multi-bar guitar hook that later becomes the vocal melody of the song. This hook provides the underlying structure for every part of “Here Comes the Sun.”

How about the ghostbusters song?

It has a main instrumental hook that’s carried at various times by electric guitar, synth, and saxophone/brass. Then, there’s a guitar/synth breakdown at the end of each chorus, plus a pretty catchy vocal melody – who can forget the “Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!” shouted at the end of each line?

It’s downright spooky how catchy this song is. There’s a reason we still sing it forty years later and keep it in our Halloween playlists!

So a hook up to 30 seconds long… does it mean the whole recording/submission should be up to 30 seconds?

Or an up-to-30sec hook as in a chorus or the main riff of a song? 🤔

I don’t think Brian means it is only a 30 sec or less submission. Just repeating what the video says. ‘Come up with a ‘Hook’, a memorable part of your solo composition. The hook to be not more than 30 secs, it can be shorter in length, but something that repeats. Take any jam track, write your own progression or do a stand alone composition.’ So it’s creating a memorable part that becomes part of the song. (The examples above with Day Tripper etc. are classic hooks that repeat). There are going to be some very creative earworms this month.

I don’t agree, Laurel, I do think these are meant to be 30 sec submissions. As Brian said, “create a little memorable part…..not a long solo, no more than 30 sec”.
I think there would be a lot fewer submissions if we were asked to create a whole composition including a hook.
John

That should make everyone feel better. This whole process has been really fun so far because it naturally leads to something more than just what you started with. I have all my samples under 30 seconds, I just have to pick one to submit.