{"product_id":"workshop-with-blake-mills-january-2026-copy","title":"Workshop with Blake Mills (January '26)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- course_description.html --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAll access to lecture recordings, songwriting prompts and all course materials for Blake Mills' songwriting workshop taught in January 2026: by purchasing this past course, you're able to watch \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eBlake's lectures and go about the course at your own pace!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"course-description-block\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eIn January 2026, Blake Mills led a four-week School of Song workshop on songwriting, guitar, production, and creative process. Throughout the workshop, Blake talks about music-making as something exploratory, a practice of following curiosity, and building a personal musical language. Drawing from his work as a songwriter, guitarist, producer, and collaborator, the lectures move between practical demonstrations, listening exercises, production breakdowns, and broader conversations about what keeps a creative practice alive over time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eClass 1: Fictional Characters as Creative Liberation\u003c\/b\u003e focuses on using fictional prompts and invented perspectives to break out of familiar creative habits. Blake explores how writing through characters can interrupt self-consciousness and allow songs to emerge that might otherwise be over-edited or second-guessed. Using examples from his own work, the class examines how limitations, role-playing, and close listening can all become useful songwriting tools. Blake breaks down instrumentation, harmony, and the emotional effect of small production choices, showing how reference points from other artists can help open unexpected pathways into your own writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eClass 2: Shapeshifting: Reimagining the Guitar\u003c\/b\u003e explores the guitar as a flexible musical language rather than a fixed tradition. Beginning with Blake’s own frustrations around technical competition and repetition in guitar culture, the lecture focuses on finding inspiration through alternate tunings, fingerpicking, kora music, open tunings, and unconventional physical approaches to the instrument. Through step-by-step demonstrations of his own songs and exercises, Blake shows how simple melodic ideas can gradually evolve through bass movement, inner voices, reharmonization, improvisation, and feel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eClass 3: What Are You Listening For: Demos, Vocal Production, \u0026amp; Muting\u003c\/b\u003e focuses on demos, production, arrangement, and creative subtraction. Blake breaks down what a producer is actually listening for when hearing a song for the first time: what immediately draws your attention, what interrupts the emotional center of the song, and how arrangements can either support or flatten a performance. Using examples from his own production work, the class explores the ways songs often become clearer once certain parts are removed. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eClass 4: Music as Research\u003c\/b\u003e reframes songwriting and artistic development through the ideas of curiosity and letting go. Blake discusses treating music-making as an ongoing cycle of study and transformation: becoming fascinated by certain artists or techniques, absorbing them deeply, gradually reshaping those influences into your own language, then releasing the work before you fully feel ready. The class focuses on sustaining a creative practice through curiosity, experimentation, and treating music-making as an ongoing research process.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003eThis course also includes 3 songwriting prompts based on the lecture content of Classes 1-3, plus bonus resources gathered by Blake, including guitar demonstrations with tabs and chord charts to play along with, and fretboard diagrams on how to play the guitar like a kora.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eTestimonials from January 2026 Students:\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"I have been playing guitar for nearly 50 years, pretty much every day. I don't know how it happened, but somehow in taking the Blake Mills workshop I feel my relationship to the guitar has been reborn. Truly an unexpected, astonishing and wonderful experience. This is to say nothing about what I have learned about songwriting, which has been a joy as well.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!-- course_logistics.html --\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"course-logistics-block\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"Blake, your genuine enthusiasm and thoughtful approach gave this class such an atmosphere of exploration and curiosity. I love how the prompts got us out of our comfort zones and made us stretch in new creative directions. The class got me excited about not just returning to songwriting, but learning more about production and playing with fresh techniques I haven’t tried before. It’s been really creatively freeing; I’m primarily a screenwriter and play music just for fun, but I found that getting inspired through this class has been helpful in rediscovering excitement for all forms of writing and creativity as well. Thank you so, so much for sharing your expertise and your genuine love for music.\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"\"\u003eThis archived course includes:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClass Video Recordings – Watch all 4 of Blake's lectures and Q\u0026amp;As on his songwriting process.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAll course materials, including songwriting prompts crafted by Blake.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAccess to the \"community jukebox\" – upload your new songs to the jukebox and share the tunes with fellow classmates!\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eFAQ:\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eQ: What musical experience should I have?\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eA: People across all musical levels will be able to gain something from the course. \u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eQ: What if I've never written a song before? Can I still participate in this workshop?\u003c\/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003eA: Yes! As with any new skill, just starting is usually the hardest part. The songs are optional and this workshop will provide the structure and accountability we all need to get started and follow through, for beginners and old guard writers alike.\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/dd\u003e\n\u003c\/dl\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuestions? Email us at \u003ca href=\"mailto:hi@schoolofsong.org\"\u003ehi@schoolofsong.org\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"School of Song","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46132228456647,"sku":"PSW-BLAKE-26-Q2Y26","price":160.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0622\/0165\/9591\/files\/IMG_3928.heic?v=1764094063","url":"https:\/\/schoolofsong.org\/products\/workshop-with-blake-mills-january-2026-copy","provider":"School of Song","version":"1.0","type":"link"}