Questions to Ask a Music Artist – Interview Sheet to Print

How it works

These questions to ask a music artist fit anyone who plays, sings or writes songs. Six groups run from writing and arranging to the studio. No artist, song or label is named, so the sheet suits any player.

Read the full guide

Pick the questions for your interview

The page opens on twelve questions drawn from the whole list. The box under the button narrows the sheet to one group: The studio for someone who records, Starting out for a school visit. Press Pick 12 new questions until the sheet fits, then Print this list. Each question prints with a line to write on, and the example answers print on a last page you can leave out.

Interesting questions to ask musicians

The stage and the road asks how a set list is built, and Writing and arranging asks what gets cut when a song is arranged. Ask one, and let the musician talk.

Tips

The page address keeps the group you chose, so a co-host opens on the same group.

Questions and answers

What are good questions to ask a music artist?

Questions about how the work is done: what arrives first when a song is written, how a set list is built, how many takes a recording needs. Any musician can answer them, whatever they play.

What are funny questions to ask musicians?

Ones about the life around the music: the oddest request shouted from a crowd, what was left behind at a venue, what the neighbors know about the practice schedule. Funny ones holds this set.

What are deep questions to ask a musician?

Questions about decisions. How do you know a recording is finished? What makes you rewrite a line of lyrics? What did hearing your own playing teach you? Leave a pause after each one.

Do the questions name any artist or song?

No. Every question fits any musician, from a school band to a touring player, and the example answers are invented. Nothing is typed into the page, so no answer is stored.

All 78 questions

Writing and arranging 14

How do you choose a song's tempo? I walk around the room and see what my feet do.
How do you decide which instrument gets the solo? Whoever has been patient the longest.
How do you end a song: a fade, a stop or one last chord? A hard stop. I like the silence after it.
How do you know a chorus is strong enough to keep? If I am still humming it the next morning, it stays.
How do you write a part for an instrument you cannot play? I sing it badly to someone who can.
How rough is the first draft of one of your songs? Mumbled nonsense words over three chords.
What do you cut most often when you arrange a song? The second verse. It almost never earns its place.
What is hiding in one of your songs that only another musician would spot? A bar of seven beats in the bridge.
What is the hardest kind of song for you to finish? A happy one. The sad ones write themselves.
What makes you rewrite a line of lyrics? If I would not say it out loud to a friend.
When do you move a song to a different key, and why? When the singer's top note sounds like hard work.
When you write a song, what arrives before anything else? A bass line, usually while I am washing dishes.
Where do you keep half-finished songs? Voice memos. There are about four hundred of them.
Which chord or key do you reach for too often? D minor. My bandmates tease me about it.

Practice and the instrument 14

How did you pick up new tunes at the start: from the page or from listening? From listening. I learned to read much later.
How do you look after your instrument on a cold or humid day? It stays in its case until the room warms up.
How do you tune: by ear, with an app or with a clip-on tuner? Clip-on tuner, then I check it by ear.
How do you warm up before you play? Long slow scales, then something silly and fast.
How long can you practice before your hands or voice say stop? About two hours, with tea in the middle.
What can your instrument do that surprises people? It can sound like a seagull if I slide just right.
What do you do when a passage will not come out right? Half speed, twenty times, then a walk.
What is always in your instrument case besides the instrument? Spare strings, a pencil and a very old snack.
What is the oldest instrument you own? A fiddle my great-aunt bought secondhand.
What was the first tune you could play all the way through? A nursery rhyme on a plastic recorder.
Which beginner exercise is still part of your daily practice? Scales with a metronome. Dull and necessary.
Which other instrument do you pick up when nobody is listening? The piano. I only know the key of C.
Which part of your instrument wears out fastest? The strings. I change them before every big show.
Which technique took you the longest to get clean? A barre chord. It took a whole summer.

The stage and the road 14

How do you build a set list? Start strong, slow down in the middle, end loud.
How do you hear yourself on a loud stage? A monitor at my feet and a lot of hand signals.
How do you pass a long drive between shows? Naps, radio and arguments about the route.
How is playing for ten people different from playing for a thousand? With ten I can see every face. That is scarier.
What do you do in the hour after a show? Coil cables, eat, then finally sit down.
What do you eat on the day of a show? Something plain at four, and nothing after.
What do you say to the crowd between songs? The story behind the next one, in two sentences.
What does a sound check involve for you? One verse of everything, and a long talk about the bass.
What goes through your head when you play a wrong note on stage? Keep going. Nobody knows the song like I do.
What happens when a string snaps or a cable dies in the middle of a song? The drummer takes a solo while I fix it.
What is the first thing you pack for a tour? Earplugs. Then socks.
What is the smallest room you have ever played? A bookshop corner, to nine people and a dog.
What is your routine backstage just before you go on? Stretch my hands and sip warm water.
Which number in your set makes you the most nervous? The quiet one. Every squeak shows.

The studio 12

How different is the recorded song from the way you play it live? Slower and cleaner. Live, it runs away.
How do you feel about playing along to a click track? I fought it for years. Now I like the fence.
How do you know a recording is finished? When changes stop making it better, only different.
How many takes do you usually need before you get one you keep? Three. After five I get worse.
What did you learn from hearing your own playing played back? I rush every fill.
What do you check before you approve a mix? Whether I can hear the words without trying.
What do you record first when you start a track? A rough guitar and a click.
What do you wear on your ears when you record? Closed headphones, with one ear half off.
What is the strangest place you have recorded? A stairwell, for the echo.
What sound have you recorded that was not an instrument? A slammed car door. It became the snare.
Which is harder: recording alone or with the whole band in the room? Alone. Nobody laughs at my jokes.
Who decides which take is the one? The engineer raises an eyebrow and we all know.

Starting out 12

How old were you when you first played in front of strangers? Fourteen, at a talent night.
What did you practice on before you had a proper instrument? A keyboard with twelve dead keys.
What did your family say when you chose music? "Not before nine." Then they came to every show.
What did your first music teacher make you do that you understand now? Count out loud. I hated it and it worked.
What was the first piece of gear you saved up for? A small amplifier with one working knob.
What was the name of the first band you were in? The Thunder Pigeons. We were twelve.
What was your first paid gig? A school fair. I was paid in pizza.
What went badly at your first rehearsal with a group? I played over everybody. Loudly.
When did music turn from a hobby into your work? The year I played more nights than I stayed home.
Which early habit did you have to unlearn? Staring at my hands the whole time.
Who gave you your very first instrument? My uncle, who needed a bass player for a wedding.
Who was the first player you sat beside who was better than you? A drummer two years older. I learned to listen.

Funny ones 12

If your band traveled by animal instead of van, which animal? A very patient elephant, for the drums.
What do you hum when you are not thinking? The hold music from a phone line.
What do your neighbors know about your practice schedule? All of it. Sometimes they clap.
What does your face do when you play a hard part? My tongue sticks out. There are photos.
What have you left behind at a venue? A whole guitar stand. Twice.
What is the funniest thing that has gone wrong during a show? The lights went out and we played on by phone light.
What is the oddest request anyone has shouted from the crowd? A birthday song for a goldfish.
What is your instrument's name, if it has one? Gladys. She is temperamental.
What would your instrument complain about if it could talk? "Wash your hands first."
Where is the worst place a tune has gotten stuck in your head? At a very quiet wedding.
Which everyday noise do you hear as music? The dishwasher. It is in six-eight.
Which sound does your instrument make when it is unhappy? A squeal like a kettle.

How this list was compiled

Written for this site on 2026-10-03 by the Game Night Generator editors: 78 questions to ask a musician, in 6 groups, each with one invented example answer that describes nobody. Own work; these are our suggestions, nothing was copied from another site and no fact is stated. Every question fits any musician, whatever they play: no artist, band, song or record label is named, and nothing asks how much anyone earns. Licence: own work