Songwriting Workshop FAQs
Published: Fri, 08/27/21
1. The image on the registration page says "Sept. 28" – is that a typo?
Ah, yep. The workshop is tomorrow, August 28. By the time you read this, fortunately, that typo should be fixed, rendering this particular Q more or less a moot point.
2. I'm very interested in this, but can't make it Saturday. If I sign up can I get access later?
Yes, you can. You don't have to be there Saturday to watch the workshop. It's available for replay the same day, and everyone who signs up gets six months of streaming access to that replay.
3. Is there a cutoff time for when I can sign up for the workshop?
You can sign up until 9:30am Central on Saturday morning– that's an hour before the workshop starts.
4. Will you be discussing ways of getting songs out there/heard once written? Or is that beyond the scope of this workshop?
Aside from talking about the benefit of making sure other people hear your songs, whether that's a fellow musician or people you send a Soundcloud link to, no, this is not really one of those classes on how to promote or otherwise get your songs out there. It's primarily about 1) using tools like prompts to get you started writing, 2) using song form (specifically the blues form) to help you complete your ideas and 3) setting up deadlines for yourself so you continue to write regularly.
5. Is this focused primarily on lyric writing or on writing the music?
It's primarily be about lyric writing, and the balance of it will be about setting up a writing practice and strategies for writing songs on a regular basis. I'll go over different ways to write lyrics to the twelve-bar blues form, but I'm assuming a certain familiarity with blues grooves and chord progressions and will not be going into details about creating or developing the music for songs, at least not in this first workshop about songwriting.
6. Will there be any printable pdf’s with steps, guidelines, etc. for the workshop?
Yes, a PDF with notes for the class will be available for download shortly before we go live Saturday morning.
7. My main issue is when I have a couple of good lines or a nice hook, but don’t know where to take it from there. Where should it go? Will you be covering that?
Yes, we will definitely be looking at how to develop your ideas, to help you get from a phrase to a couplet, from a couplet to a verse, from a verse to a complete lyric.
8. Will you be covering writing legit blues songs this day and age?
That probably depends on your definition of "legit." I will address the challenge of writing blues lyrics from your own point of view, and we'll look at examples of lyrics that don't rely on mules and whiskey to get their point across. I'll also talk about ways you might change or adapt the blues progression while keeping the blues form more or less intact.
The workshop takes place tomorrow at 10:30am Central; you can get more information and sign up here:
Songwriting Workshop
And if you've still got questions, just drop me a line at the email below!
More soon,
David