Music & Songwriting Guides
Two halves of the same habit: finding music worth hearing, and understanding how the songs you find are actually put together.
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Pre-chorus vs bridge comes down to build versus departure. Where each sits, how often each repeats, and how to tell them apart by function while listening.
Hook vs chorus comes down to idea versus section. A chorus is a structural part of a song, a hook is the memorable idea, and one can exist without the other.
How many bars are in a verse depends on meter, genre and arrangement. Why 8 and 16 bars are common, what a bar actually is, and how to count them by ear.
How long should a song be? Long enough to finish the idea, not a target runtime. What the current data shows and why the three-minute habit exists.
How many verses should a song have? It depends on what is left to say. Common two and three verse layouts, when to cut one, and when to add another.
What is a pre-chorus in a song? An optional section between verse and chorus that builds tension before the chorus lands, and how to hear one.
What is a hook in a song? The memorable idea listeners keep, and not the same thing as the chorus. The four hook types and how to spot one by ear.
What is a bridge in a song? A contrasting section that breaks the verse and chorus pattern. What it changes, where it sits, and how to hear one.
Why songs get stuck in your head: the earworm science that holds up, the folk advice that does not, and a simple 12-minute test to break the loop for good.
A music rut is usually three things at once: your recommendations, the effort of new songs, and liking what you know. Here is how to break the loop fast.
How Discover Weekly works, in plain words: collaborative filtering plus audio and text analysis, why it repeats artists, and what it structurally cannot do.
How to find underground artists with credit trails, community radio, and small label rosters, plus a fast, fair way to judge a track you have never heard.
Last.fm scrobbling logs every track you play to a profile you own. Here is how to set it up, what to do with the data, and how to keep the log private.
How to find new music comes down to three modes: push, pull, and random. Most people only use one. Here is how to run all three and keep what you find.