Good Questions to Ask Musicians
Questions for interviewing a musician or just talking with one: where songs start, what they do when nothing comes, the shows they still think about, which criticism turned out to be right, and how the money works.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What are you working on right now?
Why ask it
The safest opener with any working musician, and usually the thing they most want to be asked about. If the answer is nothing, follow it gently rather than moving on.
What was the first song you learned that made you want to keep going?
Why ask it
More specific than asking how they started, and it tends to produce a title and an age rather than the origin story they have told a hundred times.
Where does a song usually start for you: a lyric, a riff, or a rhythm?
Why ask it
Offering three doors works better than an open field. Most writers have a consistent entry point and can name it in a word before they explain it.
What do you do on a day when nothing comes?
Why ask it
Answers divide between people who keep working through it and people who leave the room. The specifics are the usable part: a time limit, switching instruments, transcribing somebody else.
Which of your own songs is hardest to play live, and why?
Why ask it
Physical and specific. The reason is sometimes technical and sometimes that the song is about somebody who might be in the room.
What show do you still think about, good or bad?
Why ask it
Allowing the bad answer is what makes this work. Empty rooms and failed equipment produce better material than sold-out nights do.
How do you know when a song is finished?
Why ask it
Most musicians have a rough test: it survives being played to one person, it stops changing, or a booking decides for them. No two people answer this the same way.
What did you learn from playing with someone much better than you?
Why ask it
Puts collaboration in concrete terms. The lesson is usually about listening or holding back rather than about technique.
How do you run a rehearsal without wasting everyone's evening?
Why ask it
Working musicians have firm opinions here. Listen for an agenda, a rule about who can call a stop, and how the time splits between new material and repairs.
What changes between a song in the room and the same song recorded?
Why ask it
Recording flattens some things and rewards others. Ask what they gave up on a track, and what only started working once it was recorded.
Who do you listen to that would surprise people who know your music?
Why ask it
More productive than asking about influences, which returns the names already printed on the press release.
What criticism turned out to be right?
Why ask it
Asking which criticism was correct, rather than how they cope with criticism, gets past the rehearsed line about ignoring the noise.
How much of your income comes from playing, and where does the rest come from?
Why ask it
Many working musicians teach, do session work, or hold an unrelated job. Asking plainly is more respectful than assuming either poverty or success.
What part of the business side did you have to learn the hard way?
Why ask it
Answers commonly involve contracts, splits between co-writers, and being paid late. The specifics matter to anyone about to sign something themselves.
How do you decide what to charge for a gig?
Why ask it
Concrete, and rarely discussed in public. Listen for whether there is a floor they will not go below, and what makes them break it anyway.
What do you do with a song you know is not good enough?
Why ask it
Shows how they edit: shelved, stripped for one usable line, or played anyway because the set needs something slow in the middle.
What has playing taught you that has nothing to do with music?
Why ask it
Broad, so it works better once a conversation is warmed up. Answers tend to concern repetition, patience, or reading a room full of people.
What would you tell someone deciding whether to try this seriously?
Why ask it
Musicians rarely give an unqualified yes. The conditions they attach to the answer are the part worth writing down.
What are you not good at yet that you are working on?
Why ask it
Requires admitting a limit, so it lands better in conversation than in a first interview. Answers are often unglamorous: sight-reading, singing in tune while playing, finishing anything at all.
What do interviewers always ask you that you are tired of answering?
Why ask it
A good closer, and it tells you what to avoid next time. It often surfaces the one story they wish people would stop repeating about them.
Talking with a working musician
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before You Ask
Listen to Two Songs First
Two is enough to change every question you ask. Musicians can tell inside a minute whether you have heard the work, and the conversation you get differs sharply either way.
Do Not Open With the Genre Label
Most musicians dislike the category they get filed under and have a stock answer ready for it. Ask what the songs are trying to do instead.
Time It Around the Show
Before a set they are managing nerves and equipment. Afterwards they are wired and often more forthcoming, though the room is loud. The next morning is best for anything you plan to quote.
What to Listen For
- Whether they describe the work in songs or in career milestones.
- Whether they name the other people in the room. Musicians who credit specifics tend to be easier to work with.
- Whether money is a subject they can discuss without either flinching or boasting.
- Whether they can name a criticism that landed. That answer is rarer than any technical detail.
Common Pitfalls
Asking What a Song Is About
Many writers keep that deliberately open, and the question flattens the song. Ask what was going on around the time they wrote it instead.
Comparing Them to a Better-Known Artist
It is offered as a compliment and lands as a ranking. Describe what you hear rather than who it resembles.
Asking About Streaming Numbers
It puts them in the position of defending a figure they do not control. Ask about rooms, audiences and which songs people sing back.
Asking for Free Work Mid-Conversation
Requests to play your event, sit in, or teach you something should come at the end, framed as paid work.
If You Are Interviewing for Publication
- Ask permission before recording, and say where the piece will run.
- Read a quote back if it concerns another person. A minute spent there prevents most retractions.
- Ask for the spelling of every name they mention, including bandmates and engineers.