How to Write a Chorus

A song without a chorus can hardly be called a song. This rather bad statement is my personal opinion so if you don't agree, that's okay. But I would like to start this lesson with this statement, not only to wake you up, but rather because it's one of the key-statements of this lesson. So if you don't like songs without a chorus and never intend to write one, than probably you won't feel at home in this class this month. I must say I never felt at home when I was at school but that's another story... But if you do stick around, even if you don't like to write choruses, maybe you will change your mind about them.

A chorus is more or less the heart of a song, at least if it's a good one of course. Why this is true is not as obvious as it seems. People always tend to remember the chorus of a song, while it may not even be the most interesting part of the song at all. The easiest explanation of course is the fact that the chorus is usually played a couple of times during a song. But if this was
the only reason why a chorus is the heart of most songs, how come then that lots of choruses are easily forgotten, even if they are played seemingly endless in the fadeout of a song? So there must be more to it.

In this lesson we will see it's hard to reveal the secrets of a good chorus. Writing a good chorus may be more a matter of the heart (something called talent?) than the mind. But since this
counts for songwriting in general, don't be afraid; there are always some tricks to learn to help those who have to struggle a little more then the lucky, more talented ones. And believe me, most
of us belong to the first group, to put it stronger, even the most talented ones often join the struggling crowd when they're not inspired...
In lesson 5, we already saw some elements a good chorus should have. Now we will take a closer look at these elements, by discussing some rules you should follow if you want to write a good chorus. These rules are:

It should be catchy
It should contain elements of the rest of the song

It shouldn't be an anti-climax
Following these rules, you obey to the most important rules of writing a good chorus. We will take a look at these rules in the next paragraph. You can also click on the links to go directly
to the discussion of each of these rules.

Rule 1: a chorus should be catchy
What makes a chorus catchy? The easiest answer (for me at least) is: listen to all those golden oldies. Almost all the classics from the sixties and the seventies have catchy choruses. Of course The Beatles were real masters at this, but it seems all the bands that became famous in those days were able to write catchy choruses which seem to stick in your mind forever. Who doesn't know the chorus of Honky Tonk Women for example...
Listening to examples is a great way to teach yourself, and that counts for songwriting too! But there's something more to say about this issue too.

Keep it simple
One of the main rules in writing a good chorus is to keep it simple. Try to avoid to make the chorus sound complicated.
This doesn't mean that as long as you keep it simple technically spoken the chorus will sound simple! A chorus built around a difficult, but well written musical part will be easier to listen
to than a technically simple chorus which is written in an unlogical manner.

Consider The Average Listener
The above indicates you'll have to keep the average listener in mind while writing your chorus. Most listeners aren't musicians so don't forget that! The average listener will often look for
things he/she can recognize, a certain general feeling of what sounds logical and which has been developed during many years. You would probably think now that I'm saying most listeners are dumb but that's not the case. So don't treat them like that. They won't buy the same stuff over and over again (‘though this seems
to be heavily contradicted by the house-rage of this time....) so you will have to keep them anxious. In the chorus you can try this by experimenting with backing vocals, special arrangements etc, but be careful and don't overdo things.So in general you could say the secret to write a catchy chorus is to make it sound logical.

Rule 2: a chorus should contain elements of the rest of the song
In this lesson we already saw a chorus is one of the most important parts of your song. In most cases, it's the part of the song which will be played the most often. So it better be good!

Another trick to make your chorus a good chorus is to give it the treatment it deserves! Since it's the main element of your song, whether you like it or not, it should get all the attention it needs while you write it, to gain all the attention it needs when you play it. This brings me to a rather contradictionary issue: writing songs is a very intu