Private Consultation

I had a private consultation with Alan Roy Scott this past weekend. It was a scheduled 1/2 hour Skype-type session. I brought a couple of songs with me to discuss, but my number 1 topic for discussion was what I felt was a simple question, with very-not-so-simple answers. I wanted to get some direction and the question was, what directions, tools, etc. should I use to go from being a good songwriter to being a marketable, great songwriter.

I know that there are lots of things that have to happen to become successful financially, but I was inquiring more about the craft as opposed to the business end of it. Well, Alan was gracious enough to turn our 1/2 session into 1 1/2 hours, and it simply flew by. Although the answers were not simple and really difficult to communicate, I understood the just of it and had already started down the suggested path a few weeks earlier.

I think at each "level" of songwriter craft, the songwriter has to take some inventory of where they are, where they've come from and refocus direction. In my case, the next step is again to listen and break down current material that moves me and pick it apart. What exactly is it in that one spot of that one song that draws me in, that gives me goose bumps or really pulls at my emotions.

One of the tricky things is that writers all do it differently, so there is no formula. Duh, that's why art is art and not science, even though there's a lot of science to get to a point where you can be an artist. Oh, how damn simple.

So, now I go back again the drawing board and classroom and dive in head first. What a fun ride to be able to take, even when your an old crotchety guy like me. Onward.


I have no idea what this image has to do with this post, but somebody's groovin'.