Male great reed warblers have been observed to communicate via two basic song types: short songs about one second in length with few syllables, and long songs of about four seconds that have more syllables and are louder than the short variety. It has been observed that long songs are primarily used by males to attract females; long songs are only given spontaneously by unpaired males, and cease with the arrival of a female. Short songs, however, are primarily used in territorial encounters with rival males.