What is a tag in worship music?
A tag is a repeated vocal line sung at the end of a song, usually from the last chorus or bridge. A tag is very similar to an outro, except that there is a repeated vocal line instead of just instruments playing.
The tag gives the congregation and the worship leader a way to linger on the most important lyric of the song. This is often one or two lines rather than a full chorus.
A tag is specific and defined. It has a fixed lyric, a fixed chord progression, and a fixed length per repeat. What varies is how many times it repeats and your worship leader or band leader may signal to keep repeating in the moment.
Tag versus Vamp
These terms are often used interchangeably in church settings, but they describe different things:
A tag is a lyric-based repeated section. It has words being sung. The repetition is intentional and tied to the lyric's emotional emphasis. The band plays the same defined chord progression each time, and the worship leader or congregation sings over it.
A vamp is a looped chord progression usually without a fixed endpoint. It typically doesn't have lyrics. Its defining characteristic is that it continues until a cue and can sometimes be seen labeled as "vamp till ready." A vamp is a instrumental holding pattern whereas a tag is an emphasis of the lyrical declaration at the end of a song.
In practice: if someone is singing a repeated line while the band loops, it's a tag. If the band is looping while the worship leader speaks, prays, or waits for the next moment, it's a vamp.
What to play
The tag uses the same chords as the section it's drawn from, which are usually the final two or four chords of the chorus or bridge. You're not playing anything new here. The only difference is that you're repeating the chord progression instead of moving on.
Dynamically, the tag usually decreases in intensity with each repetition, landing the song at a lower energy than the final chorus. Follow your worship leader or band leader to know how intense they want each repeat to be played.
What to watch for
The number of repeats of a tag varies. You might see the tag section once with a notation like "repeat x3" or simply "tag (repeat)." Depending on your worship team, the number of repeats may be determined in the moment even though you planned out the number of times to repeat the tag.
The chord chart may call it something else. You'll see the tag labeled as "ending," "outro," "coda," or simply the lyric line and chord progression written again. If a short, repeated section appears at the very end of the chart with the same chords as the last line of the chorus, treat it as a tag regardless of what it's called.
The tag sometimes leads into a vamp. After the tag, the service may move into a place where the band keeps playing. Or maybe only one instrument keeps playing. Basically, you would move into a vamp or other musical lull.
Related glossary terms
- Vamp - an open-ended chord loop, distinct from the lyric-specific tag
- Outro - the closing section of a song that may really be a tag
- Chorus - the section tags are most commonly drawn from
- Bridge - another common source for tag phrases
- Song sections overview
- 7 Solid Worship Song Endings