A writer’s skill as a singer or player doesn’t determine their ability to write great songs.

But a writer’s ability to communicate their vision for a song absolutely determines how that song will be realized in the recording studio or a live performance. Many songwriters will say they can hear the finished song in their head, but don’t know how to communicate their ideas clearly to a cowriter, player, or producer. If you’ve ever been dissatisfied with a song, a cowrite, or a recording because it “just wasn’t right”, it’s probably because you weren’t able to articulate exactly what you wanted to hear.

This workshop will help you find the language to articulate your vision by using the vocabulary musicians understand. We’ll also look at how simple lyrical or musical ideas can imply how to fill out the rest of the music. Producers and studio players do this all the time, and if you understand how they do it then you can participate in the process more effectively.