"riff" etc.?

People say things like this all the time and I try to use them but I really don't have any concrete idea of what they mean. What sort of music is "hooky"? I probably listen to hooky music but I would have no idea. What do these guitar-related terms mean? I got so used to hearing shit like "mezzo piano" and "moderato cantabile" over years of playing brass that I have no idea about any of this stuff.

If I understand, the hook is a repeated, recognizable "signature" musical phrase that has instinctive appeal to the listener.

Riff = sequence of guitar chords or notes, often repeated as part of the musical melody of the song. A good example - the Stones' "Satisfaction" riff.

so, like, that incredible guitar part from "and your bird can sing" by the beatles? or the awesome guitar break in "greatest hits" by sublime?

so how is that not a hook?

wikipedia does a sick job of delineating this, except for the fact that i'm not exactly clear on exactly what differentiates a hook a lick and a riff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hook_%28music%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_%28music%29

it also doesn't seem like any of them are really that well defined

the riff, is like a look at the method of how the hook and/or other parts of the song are played. The hook is like that catchy chorus, or even in a hip hop song where they repeat the same thing over and over again. I always thought of "hook" referrencing lyrics moreso than music.

a riff can be a hook, too. No doubt. But more often, it's associated with a vocal melody, like in a chorus. A good example of this is The New Pornographer's "Letter From An Occupant".

that's what wikipedia seems to say also, or that maybe it is the total effect of a certain lyric and music connecting and being catchy

A riff CAN be a hook. A hook isn't necessarily a riff.

I'm seriously having a hard time believing someone who tosses out terms like moderato cantabile can't figure out what a hook is.

I'm unclear on the term "lick" myself. I kind of have my own way of using it. I consider "licks" to be more like, tasty guitar leads (not a lengthy solo, just a smart lead). And in my definition, the "lick" is suitable for only certain types of bands. For example, you aren't going to find a "lick" in a Hives song (you will find riffs out the wahzoo, tho). But you will most definitely find a lick in a Darkness song.

the problem is that a hook is not clearly defined at all. it's very clear what something like "allegro" means and is even defined by a certain bpm range. hook has no such barometer and is therefore harder for me to grasp.

This might help:

It doesn’t matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel that I’ll convey
Some inner truth of vast reflection
But I’ve said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long as it takes
And it don’t matter who you are
If I’m doing my job then it’s your resolve that breaks

Because the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

There is something amiss
I am being insincere
In fact I don’t mean any of this
Still my confession draws you near
To confuse the issue I refer
To familiar heroes from long ago
No matter how much peter loved her
What made the pan refuse to grow

Was that the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

Suck it in suck it in suck it in
If you’re rin tin tin or anne boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you’ll win
And then begin
To see
What you’re doing to me this mtv is not for free
It’s so pc it’s killing me
So desperately I sing to thee
Of love
Sure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can’t keep these feelings on the shelf
I’ve tried well no in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride until I’ve died
And only then shall I abide this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute ditties
I wanna bust all your balloons
I wanna burn all of your cities
To the ground I’ve found
I will not mess around
Unless I play then hey
I will go on all day hear what I say
I have a prayer to pray
That’s really all this was
And when I’m feeling stuck and need a buck
I don’t rely on luck because...

The hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook...
On that you can rely

john popper remains forever useful.

A riff is distinctly non-vocal. Think black sabbath, or misfits, etc., where there's a quick 3 or 4 chord progression that gets pounded out in unison and repeated to form the basis of a song, or indeed the stones' Satisfaction intro. It repeats.

A hook is that uber-catchy chorus part of the song that snares you into being unable to turn it off, hopefully. Generally it's the chorus, anyway. Picture most Oasis songs, plodding along, things are fine, verse verse, etc., and then BAM the chorus drops on you and you suddenly really enjoy the song. That's the hook.

There is no saying that the riff cannot be the hook of (or one of the hooks in) a song.
In fact, the best ones usually are:
"Satisfaction", "Iron Man", "Whole Lotta Love", "You Really Got Me", etc...

You know that 8 note guitar break in Weezer's Buddy Holly?

To me, that's a hook, even though it isn't repeated. A hook can be vocal too, the Ooh Oohs in Pavement's Cut Your Hair, that's not a riff (not instrumental), not a lick (not improvised), and it does come back.

Metallica, Enter Sandman, that beginning guitar part is a riff. Smells Like Teen Spirit at the beginning, that's a riff. Kashmir, that's a riff. They're also hooky.

Hooks are parts people remember in a song, look forward to, sing along to, air guitar/drum to...

Drums can totally be hooky. Solos can be hooky. I don't know how clear I'm being.

Licks are little improvisations at the end of phrases, but a player often has their own vocabulary of licks that are idiomatic to the style, genre, or individual player.

I think the reason "hook" is loosely defined is that its a non-technical term just meaning a catchy part of a song meant to capture and/or maintain a listener's attention while providing a transition from one part of a song to another. While a riff is well-defined and is about the playing itself, a hook is more about a song's structure and is loosely defined because it can be a guitar riff, a chorus, a piano part or something else.

I'm not sure that adds anything or not. What I would add is that while all hooks are intended to be good, they all aren't. Probably where I disagree with most obners about music is most people here tend to like the obvious, very prominent surface level "hooks." I think if a song is too predictable and if everything is right there at the surface, the song tends to lose its flavor with repeat listens. I think overreliance on the "in your face" hook is lazy, formuliac songwriting. Its not these songs can't be enjoyable but its really hard to distinguish one from another based on the song itself so in order to stand out , the vocals have to be extra special or the playing has to be especially tight to really stand out from the pack.

What Billy said is why I love Jon Brion's production.

Each song is individual.

As Billy G made clear, hooks are also subjective. What I might consider a song's hook could be something that someone else doesn't even notice.

This is an important point: the relativity of 'hook'

To that point, I recall you posting once that you didn't like Archer Prewitt because you thought he made boring pop devoid of hooks. I apologize in advance if I'm mis-paraphrasing you. Whereas I really love his music because I think its full of hooks but non-obvious hooks that are subtle and rarely repeated. It might be a riff in one part of a song and a particularly cool vocal phrasing a minute later but to my ears the hooks are definitely there and repeat listens are incredibly rewarding because more and more hooks reveal themselves over time.

Yeh, I vaguely remember saying that. I can't remember which Prewitt album I was referring to though - maybe Third, if that's the right title. What I do remember is being wholly unimpressed with the melodies of his songs, which made me not bother to delve any further.

I've put songs on mixes for friends and had them single out a song and ask "why would ANYONE like this song?" And then I realize that, yeh, maybe not everybody considers that singer's voice cracking at exactly the wrong moment to be a hook.

Au contraire - it happens twice. I almost used this example, but I was afraid of being wrong.

Hook:



Lick:




Riff: