What You'll Find In Li'l Hank's Guide

You're probably wondering About Li'l Hank's Guide. This is where you'll find a little background info about Hal Cohen, the publisher and maintainer of this site. If you have any questions pertaining to the street level of live performance, Ask Li'l Hank and your question and answer may end up in this section.

Is it Possible to Gig Too Often? Tim Sweeney's latest contribution.
Due to our being inundated with letters from independent artists for information about producing, marketing and selling their own CDs, and due to Tim Sweeney receiving numerous inquiries about asking if his coloumn will ever appear in Li'l Hank's Guide, we present Marketing Tips for Indie Artists from Tim Sweeney! This is required reading for all serious songwriters, musicians and bands.
Would you like to attend a live conference with Tim? Details HERE.
NOTE: The secure order form for Tim's books is now working! Thanks to all who let me know the form was broken.

Hal's TIP JAR!
This is an update to a Tip Jar article written in the early days of the website.

The next thing you'll want to do is click on Inspiration Point. Here you will find powerful inspirational essays by veteran songwriters about songwriting. The first, by Diane Baumgartner, was written exclusively for Li'l Hank's Guide to present to you as a gift. Any time you need to remind yourself, Why songwriting?", come back to this page and read it as often as you need to.

Hopefully, at some point, you'll sign the Guest Book - after all, you are my guest and I'd love to hear from you. Just say "Hi" and let me know you stopped by!

The Shmoozarama Message Board. is the place to post updates and info about showcases and open mics in your area. Make sure to type in your location in the subject line. If you live outside of Los Angeles, this is where you can let the rest of the world know about the hot places to play where you live as well as the venues to avoid.

If you're a resident of Los Angeles or its surrounding communities, you'll want to check out the Open Mic and Showcase Guide, a unique list of coffee houses, bars, restaurants, clubs and venues where the gigs are.

If you seek advice concerning music law, try The Law Man - courtesy of JC Press, a down to earth, honest to goodness music biz attorney.

Check out the self instruction page and teach yourself to play an instrument... For the benefit of those of you who wish to further educate yourselves off-line, there is now a fully functional online Bookstore where you can purchase hand picked books, musical instruction tapes, CD roms and videos through Amazon.com. We are entirely sponsor supported, so please take a few minutes and look over the selection! For Musical Instruments & Accessories, please visit the Vstore.

Lynne Robin Green of Winston Music Publishing has graciously contributed some powerful and informative columns in her forum About Music Publishing.

You'll find nearly everything you ever wanted to know about publishing there. If you think you are all alone in this struggle, just read some of the Tales of the Road Warriors. And be sure to share one of yours if you've got a doozy.

If you can't find what you're looking for on this site, check out our songwriters Links and Resource Page I'm sure you'll eventually find whatever you're searching for.

Another way of exploring the net is to explore the Web Rings. Of course, with web rings, you never know where you'll end up. Try not to get lost.

Stay informed by visiting the What's New page. There is where you will find information about new venues and open mics, who's gigging where and when, and information we hope you'll find very current and useful.

If you Sign The Guest Book, you'll get automatic monthly updates emailed to you, but sometimes, things are added last minute, so check in often. You may choose to Read the Guest Book first to see what others are saying about Li'l Hank's Guide For Songwriters.

You can help keep Li'l Hank's Guide as awesome a resource as it is - Send your updates and info to Li'l Hank's guide.

Kind Regards,
Hal Cohen