Chorus vs Refrain: What's the Difference?

Chorus vs refrain at a glance

The quick test: if you can point to where the repeated part starts as its own block, it is a chorus. If the repeated words are the last line of a verse, it is a refrain.

What a chorus is

A chorus is the part of the song that everyone remembers and sings along to. Each verse tells you something new; the chorus comes back between them with the same words, and the song is built to lead into it.

Most choruses share a few traits:

• The same lyrics each time. Verses change, the chorus does not (apart from small changes in the last one).
• The title is often in it, usually in the first or last line.
• A lift in energy. The melody often goes higher, the drums or strumming get fuller, and the band plays louder than in the verse.
• A contrasting chord pattern. A chorus often starts on the home chord (the I chord) or on the IV chord, while the verse may start somewhere else, so you feel the change even without words.

Because a chorus is a complete section, you can lift it out of the song and it still works as a short piece.

What a refrain is

A refrain is a line (or two) that returns at the same place in every verse, almost always at the end. The rest of the verse changes; the refrain stays the same, so it works like a signature at the bottom of each stanza.

Refrains are older than choruses. They come from poems, hymns and folk ballads, where a long story is told verse after verse and the repeated line gives the listener something to hold on to. Two well-known examples are Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”: each verse finishes on the title phrase, and there is no separate chorus section.

A refrain is part of the verse’s melody and chords. When you play one on guitar, you do not change the strum or the chord pattern for it; the verse simply arrives at the same words and the same cadence every time.

How to tell which one a song has

Use this on any song you are learning:

1. Find the words that repeat. Listen to the whole song, or look at a chord sheet with section labels.
2. Count the repeated lines. One line suggests a refrain; four or more lines suggest a chorus.
3. Check where they start. If the repeated part starts right after a verse finishes, it is a chorus. If it is the last line of the verse itself, it is a refrain.
4. Listen for a change. A chorus usually brings a new melody, new chords or a bigger strum. A refrain sounds like the end of the verse.
5. Try singing it alone. A chorus stands on its own. A refrain sounds like half a thought without the lines before it.

Common song structures

Song structures are written with letters or section names. These four cover most of what you will play on an acoustic guitar.

AABA was the standard form for popular songs in the first half of the 20th century; the Beatles’ “Yesterday” is a later example often used to teach it. The A sections share a melody and end on the refrain, and the B section (the bridge, sometimes called the middle eight) brings contrast before the last A.

Verse–chorus forms took over in rock and pop. Modern songs often add a pre-chorus, a short section that builds tension from verse to chorus, and a post-chorus, a short section after the chorus that repeats a hook word or riff.

Other terms people mix up

• Hook: any catchy idea, often in the chorus but not always. A guitar riff can be the hook.
• Bridge: a section that appears once, usually after the second chorus, with new chords and melody before the last chorus.
• Middle eight: British name for a bridge, from its typical length of eight bars.
• Tag: the last line of a chorus repeated at the end of the song.
• Coda / outro: the ending section.
• Refrain in other languages: in German and French, Refrain is the normal word for a chorus, which is one reason the two words get confused in English.

Playing a verse and chorus on guitar

On guitar, the chorus is where you make the song bigger. Here is a practice example in G major (not from any particular song). The verse starts on the vi chord and the chorus starts on the home chord, so the chorus sounds like arriving home:

• Verse: Em – C – G – D (vi – IV – I – V)
• Chorus: G – D – Em – C (I – V – vi – IV)

Ways to make the chorus lift:

• Strum lighter in the verse, fuller in the chorus. Play only down-strums on the beat in the verse, then add the up-strums in the chorus.
• Use more strings. Let the low strings ring in the chorus; in the verse, strum only the top four.
• Change your hand position. Fingerpick the verse and strum the chorus.

A refrain needs none of this. Because it is the end of the verse, you keep the same strum and simply land on the same final chords each time, which is often a V to I move that sounds like a full stop.