Ways to Write an Intro for a Song

How do you start a song? What is an intro in music? How long is an intro for a song? How to write a good intro for a song? What different options are there for intros? These are all valid and common questions that are about to be answered. However, this post is mainly about the different options for intros.

What Is an Intro?

Intro (or introduction) sets the scene for the rest of the song (as seen in this beautiful artwork below). You can introduce the general mood. It’s a great way to start a song, but you don’t necessarily always need one. The length of an intro varies from genre to genre and song to song. Sometimes a bar or two will do, other times you want to take your time and set the scene perfectly.

Keep in mind though, that if you’re an aspiring artist or band, you don’t have the luxury of listeners already knowing you and your material. You have approximately five seconds before the listener will skip your song, if he / she isn’t hooked. Keeping that in mind, it might be a good idea to keep intros short and in point. Attention span of listeners has vastly decreased due to the use of streaming services.

How to Know If You Need an Intro?

Save the intro for the last and you’ll know if you even need one. That’s how you know if you want to introduce the mood or set some kind of scene before singing starts. You’ll have a bigger picture of the song in mind.

Usually when the song contains a lot of different parts, there’s no really need for an intro to make it even longer. When an intro isn’t needed, you could start straight from a verse or chorus. Take a listen to In Flames – I, the Mask, it starts from verse. However, if the idea is to use an intro, there are some options for that.

Different Options for Intros

Instrumental Version of the Vocal Hook

If you already have the hook figured out, then maximize its effect by making an instrumental version of it as an intro. This could be simply playing the hook with an instrument instead of vocals. Mokoma uses the chorus melody as an intro, played with a guitar in their song Uni saa tulla.

However, variating and simplifying might work well also. It doesn’t have to be an exact copy of the hook by any means, but rather ignite the spark for the intro. By repeating the hook too much exactly the way as it is, you can end up overusing it, thus creating a risk for the listener to get bored. It’s a thin thread between familiarity and excessive repetitiveness. For example, using different chord progression, variating or using just parts of the melody might transform the intro something fresh and diverse.

Borrowing Pieces from the Song

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Using the existing parts of the song is a common way to introduce the mood. You could simply play through the verse riff / chord progression of the verse and then move straight to the verse with vocals. As an example, listen to Bring Me The Horizon – The House of Wolves, the verse riff is played once and then the song turns into the verse.

Additionally, riffs or chords of a chorus, pre-chorus or bridge could be used also as an intro. The point is to use existing material as an intro. Fei Comodo uses a chorus (without vocals) as an intro in A Different World. In Linkin Park – Lost in the Echo the intro is same as the post-chorus with vocals on it (or the post-chorus is same as the intro riff, depends on the way you want to look at it). The advantage is three folded:

You don’t have to compose an entirely new part to the song
The song is unified and consistent
Listeners get something familiar.

Starting with an Entirely New Part

Composing an entirely new section as an intro is quite common, especially in metal. Intro riffs and long instrumental parts are used heavily. When making an intro riff, you can still utilize the chord progression of an existing part of the song, for example a chorus or verse, but instead of playing simple chords, turn the chord progression into a riff. If an intro riff doesn’t suit your style, other option is to use a melody instrument.

Lamb of God – Hourglass is an example where the intro riff is just in the beginning and doesn’t come back during the entire song. Children of Bodom is the king of long instrumental intros. Just listen to the likes of Lake Bodom and Follow the Reaper, both of these intros are quite long and not repeated.

Beginning with a Filtered or Stripped Down Version of a Hook

Using a stripped down version is a clever way to introduce the hook early on. Whether the hook is a melody of a verse or chorus, some kind of instrumental melody or riff or a rhythm, try a filtered or instrumentally stripped down version of it as an intro. Probably the most common way to do this is to use a stripped down chorus, like heard in songs Half-hearted, Tilt or No Parallels from Hands Like Houses. Yeah, they’re really fond of this kind of introduction.

What this band also likes is filtered intros. In their album “Dissonants” the first three songs (I Am, Perspectives and Colourblind) start with a short filtered intro riff, followed by the actual intro riff. That’s one way to grab listeners focus right from the start. Filtered intros are a sort of mini introductions before the actual intro, but of course, you could skip the “actual intro” and go straight to a verse.

Other Ideas for Intros

Here are some other interesting intro ideas for you to explore: Starting a song with acapella. (Tool – The Pot) Just vocals alone, with nothing else playing, will surely grab the attention of listeners. Consider starting a song with a quote or other spoken sentence. It’s a cool way to introduce the lyrical theme of the song. Example of a spoken sentence: Metallica – Fuel and example of a quote: Rise Against – Reception Fades.

A short swell type of sound might be just enough to start the song interestingly (The Wonder Years – Pyramids of Salt). It could be a fade in synth, reverse guitar or some sort of a filter for example. Fade in is a bit similar option to swell (Karnivool – Illumine). Just fade in the song. Ambient effect sounds might be something worth experimenting with. Whether it’s ambient noise, nature, traffic, human, animal or perhaps machinery sounds (Slipknot – Don’t Get Close).

Summary

To sum up, save the intro for the last in the songwriting process to know if you actually need it. If you feel that you don’t need one, then consider starting straight from a verse or chorus. Otherwise there are a lot of options for intros:

Instrumental version of the vocal hook, borrowing existing pieces, composing a new part, beginning a filtered or stripped down version of the hook, acapella, spoken sentence, short swell, fade in or ambient sounds.

Obviously there are quite many possibilities for intros. I listed a few that I use a lot, and what I thought might be helpful to you too. Hopefully you’ll find inspiration or a spark to an intro from this post.

Also, download my information packed PDF-guides to help you further with songwriting:

5 Steps to Create Music Faster (..and avoid the writer’s block!)

6 Step Guide to Realistic Midi Drums