Guitar Lessons in Bed Stuy Brooklyn

Category: Guitar Tips and Tricks

Best Way To Hold A Guitar Pick? You Be The Judge…

Strumming Series – The Pick’s Angle

Take it easy, Man!

There is no one way to hold a guitar pick. Well I guess there would be if you played the same song over and over! The angle you hold it has quite an effect on how easy it is to use and what sound you get out of it.

Experiment with it:

Ex. 1: Try holding it perfectly parallel with the string, pointed straight into the hole of the guitar. Strum while holding the pick in that position. Is it easy or difficult to strum? How about picking a single string? What does it sound like? Bright? Dull? Smooth? Rough? Loud? Quiet?

Ex 2: Rotate it, spin it slightly forward (like you’re using the pick to turn a screw) so that it hits the string on the front edge instead of flat like Ex 1. Is it easier or harder to strum? How does that effect the sound? Thin? Warm? Silky? Harsh? Brash? Wispy? How about when you’re picking just one string?

Ex 3: Go back to the parallel position of Ex. 1 but instead of holding the pick pointed straight into the hole of the guitar, change the angle toward the ceiling or floor about halfway, so that the pick slides over the the strings. Swivel your arm and wrist to change the angle when strumming up and then down so that it feels like you’re using a wide paintbrush to brush the strings. Is it easy or difficult to strum? What does it sound like? How Would you describe the sound?

The truth is, there is no “right” way to hold the pick. The way you hold it is going to make it easier or harder to play and it will effect the sound. Sometimes, you need something to be as easy as possible in order to play it. Other times you want what you’re playing to have a certain effect, a specific feel that can be conveyed by the way you set the strings in motion. This is why players sound different from each other, why many guitarists can play the same song, with the same chords, and each have their own unique feel. It’s very personal and you can find your own sound by having fun with these different effects.

Go For It!

October 3, 2019
Best Way For Singer-Songwriters To Draw Attention? Play Quietly

Cast A Spell With Your Guitar series Part 1 – Play Quietly

Cast A Spell With Your Guitar

Great solo performers can cast a spell on their audience with a sense of personal intimacy and you can too if you use dynamics well. What creates closeness between people? Think about it:

low lights – quiet – listening – space – closeness – patience

This translates into music as silence between notes, simplicity, low volume. Just like when you speak quietly to a friend they pay more attention to hear what you’re saying. It’s like a secret for their ears only.

YOUR dynamic range is fixed, either by the settings of the sound system or the lack of one. For your dramatic moments to have an impact on your fans’ feelings you need to set your basic groove at a medium or quiet level so that when you get loud and big, they FEEL it. If you start out fairly loud you have no room to expand upward, only downward.

Experiment 1 – Try playing one of your tunes as quietly as you can on your own. The lower you go, the more tools you’ll have to really connect with your fans. Put down the phone and try it.

(Coming in part 2: Using Silence)

September 26, 2019
Learning Tough Guitar Solos = Eating An Elephant

How is learning difficult passages of music compare to eating an elephant? You do both the same way: one bite at a time.

Now this probably isn’t news to you. You probably know that you need to break things down in little pieces. The trouble id how to put the pieces back together once you’ve learned each one. The way to do this is by “taping” them to each other.

After you’ve learned each piece of the phrase individually, play the first one and then *only the first note* of the second. Don’t worry about the rest of the second piece. Play that a few times and once that is easy, add the second note. Playing them together will happen naturally, one bite at a time.

September 12, 2019
Tab Reading Made Easy: The Basics
Basic Rule of Thumb (finger):

ALWAYS LOOK FOR WHERE YOUR INDEX FINGER WILL BE
- Look for a passage that has a range of four or sometimes five frets. That’s one position (example A)
- Notated slides often signal a position shift of the hand. You will often stay in the new position for at least a few notes (B).
- Look for chords (stacked notes). They will show where your index finger is (C).
- Bends will usually be the ring or pinkie finger (C). That can clue you to where the index finger and the hand position is.
- Look for a scale pattern that can allow you to reach all the notes in a familiar way (D).
- When a new note is ahead or below the 4-5 fret range and repeats, that usually signals a movement to a new position (E).
August 30, 2019
How To Find Notes On Your Guitar By Ear
Use Your Short Term Memory To Find Notes On Your Guitar

Everyone would agree that we have to hear the note first, but we can often skip this step without even knowing it. The trick is to use your short term memory, and I mean VERY short term. Here’s how to do it:
- Listen to the recording with your finger poised to pause it
- As soon as you hear the note you’re trying to find, pause the recording
- IMMEDIATELY listen to the note that is ringing in your head
- sing the note ringing in your head and hold that note while you
- find it on your guitar
After a few seconds, the note will start to fade in your mind so you may need to repeat this several times.

The trick is to listen to the recording for the note you’re after and then hear it in your short term memory. It may be very faint, but it’s there. It’s like the shadow of the note, lingering in your mind. It’s magic.
August 25, 2019
How To Instantly Find Any Fret on the Guitar Without Counting

Just take a Drive Down The Fretboard!

How To Instantly Find Any Fret on the Guitar Without Counting

Imagine the 3rd, 5th and 7th fret dot markers as the lights of a traffic light. Then imagine drawing a triangle from the dot on the 9th fret to the pair of dots on the 12th to make a yield sign. Now each fret is unique:

1st: beside the nut
2nd: just outside the top of the traffic light
3rd: the red light
4th in between the red and yellow lights
5th: the yellow light
6th: between the yellow and green lights
7th: the green light
8th: in between the traffic light and the yield sign
9th: the point of the yield sign
10th: the narrow end of the yield sign
11th: the wide end of the yield sign
12th: the bottom of the yield sign
13th and higher: the previous frets, but in reverse

Now look at the neck of your guitar, imagine the images, say a number and then find the fret without counting. You did it, didn’t you?

You did it, didn’t you?

August 21, 2019
Feel the Space Between the Notes

Play a note, or chord, and just listen. Meet that note. Look it in the eye. Hear its personality. Don’t move to another one until you’ve actually listened to the present one.

When you do this the most remarkable thing usually happens: you relax. It makes playing so much easier and more enjoyable. You improve with ease.

June 20, 2018
How to Play To a Metronome? Do it Wrong!
No joke. Try it:
Playing in time is a matter of constantly feeling for this anxious or dopey energy and then adjusting until you feel that sense of relaxing into the beat. It’s not a thinking thing. It’s a feel thing.
September 25, 2014
Guitarists, Rather Than Going for What’s ‘Right’…

Music is so much more fluid than we often treat it. When we get caught up in whether we are playing it “right”, we run the risk of not hearing what we are doing well. If you’re caught in the trap of “WRONGNESS” try this:

For now, rather than going for what’s ‘right’, go for what you think sounds good. Learning music is a process and you are somewhere in the middle of it so, for now, go for your good tempo, your best rhythm, your best note choices.

Listen for what you are playing that is good and build from there. Perfection is the result, not the method.

September 11, 2014
Don’t Like Repetitive Guitar Practice?

Repetition is one of the most effective tools in learning music. Yes, it can be boring, but it helps you memorize the technical stuff so your mind can be free to emphasize the cool parts of the music when you perform.
If you hate it, try this:
Every day set a timer for 3-8 minutes. Practice one repetitive thing until the timer goes off. Stop.

Play something fun.

September 4, 2014