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Brad Johnson here from Johnson.Audio and today i'm going to expand upon my write
your own song series i'm going to talk about a songwriting technique i like to
call the hook line now the hook line is that very first lyric in the very first
verse that captures your audience attention it brings them into the world
a song and makes them want to listen further I know that there's a big saying
in the song are any community called don't Boris get to the chorus but I
actually disagree with this saying I think that it's lazy songwriting your
audience should never be bored in the very first moment you deliver some
lyrics you have to capture their attention you have to make them go okay
where is this going I want to know where this journey is gonna lead me and good
hook line is a lot like good copy it's gonna be that thing copying marketing is
that headline that makes you want to click through it makes you want to
continue reading and makes you want to learn about the brand the service the
product you name it and that is what you're aiming for with a good hook line
you want the listener to say okay that's clever or that makes me have a question
that needs to get answer that makes me just curious I want to explore further
with this songwriter with this author with this person that's leading me and
I'm not gonna lie it's gonna be really really difficult to write a great hook
line at first you're gonna have to write write write write write which like I
talked about in how to write a good song you know it's just gonna come in time
and it's definitely a craft and it's an art but you have to just realize that
every word matters every part of your song matters and a good hook line is
gonna get people into that message that you're trying to deliver in this day and
age attention is the is the currency we have such short attention spans that if
you know people are listening to songs and playlists and if they're not paying
attention your song can just rotate through and then they'll never pay
attention to you but a good hook line will make them stop and say wait a
second I need to go back and read listen to that song and also now they're
listening and they're paying attention and they're gonna receive your message
and you might just get a fan out of it I'm just gonna give you a few examples
of what I think are great hook lines the first one is going to be Bob Dylan's the
girl from North Country which is a song that I use as
on example in a previous video and the first lyric is if you're travelling in
the North Country Fair where the winds hit heavy on the borderline I just love
that lyric because first of all he's speaking directly to you you're going ok
if I'm travelling well what do you want me to do then he paints that feeling
that he is feeling of like it's gonna be cold I feel like you can just feel like
this writers coming from a place of longing and just you know right away
you're going okay this person is talking to me I feel like he needs my help
what is it that he needs my help with you know I just love it I think that it
just really captures my attention at least right away it paints that picture
right away I know that I want to journey further with the songwriter next one
that I like is Bono there's blood bank which is I met you at the blood bank we
were looking at the banks and now that whole entire that that first line is
just kind of funny cuz it's like you know that song is a love song but it's a
very interesting place to kind of start where it's like I'm at the blood bank
and we're looking at these you know we're looking at blood like why what and
who are you with and where is this going and I just feel like it adds this
curiosity that makes just go I want to go further and kind of see where this is
gonna go and you know obviously when he gets the chorus you're gonna have a
great message the verse sets the course up so obviously you can't have a if you
have a great hook line the rest your song is a huge stinker well then you've
lost it it's it's not gonna be a good song so this is just to get people
hooked into the song that's why it's called the hook line and that is my
songwriting technique for you think about the next time that you're sitting
down trying to write your own song if you got anything out of this please
leave me a comment maybe give me an example of one of the hook lines that
you're writing right now I'd love to hear you guys as examples give me a
thumbs up please subscribe if you haven't already to all my subscribers I
appreciate your continued support I'm here to sing your help you sing your
story mix your mission and master your message at Johnson.Audio again my name
is Brad I'll see you in the next video