Guitar Lessons in Bed Stuy Brooklyn

Guitar Lessons in Long Island City, Queens & Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

Category: Practice

  • Guitar Game: Improvise With Your Name

    Guitar Game: Improvise With Your Name

    Use Names for Guitar ImprovisationBored with playing the same predictable rhythms when you’re improvising? Break it up using the rhythms in names.
    Say these names aloud and feel the rhythmic pulses in them, especially where the stressed syllables are:

    Jimi Hendrix
    Nirvana
    Elliot Easton
    John Lee Hooker
    Bohemian Rhapsody
    The Grateful Dead
    Queens Of The Stone Age
    Florence And The Machine
    Red Hot Chili Peppers

    The stressed syllable is the downbeat. Now try this:

    • Pick 1 and play a scale using the rhythm of that name.
    • Pick 2 and play a scale mixing the rhythms of those names.
    • Freak Out.
    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • Practice Guitar Every Day? Yes. And no.

    Practice Guitar Every Day? Yes. And no.

    Practice Guitar Every Day? Yes. And no.A player asked me yesterday if he could postpone his lesson a week because he didn’t get to play much that week. Of course, that’s fine with me, but I thought I’d share a little of what I’ve learned regarding this, both as a student and a teacher.

    Consistent practice is very important but we do have times when we just can’t practice consistently. If we feel that we can’t move ahead until we make up for that lost time, we may be right, but we also may just be being hard on ourselves. This could lead to feeling a little guilty when we can’t get to the guitar and if that builds up, we may feel so bad about it that we quit playing. That’s the mistake, not missing some playing time.

    One of the more powerful aspects of steady lessons is that they keep you on the path to your goals, even when you’ve had a crazy week(s) with no time to practice. If it gets to where you’re not able to practice for 6 weeks, then that may be time to reevaluate.

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • Why Practice Guitar Slow?

    Why Practice Guitar Slow?

     

    Snail GuitarWell, you may have heard several reasons, but this is my favorite:

    To witness what you actually do instead of what you think you should be doing.

    We are usually so caught up in trying to match some ideal in our head that we can’t hear what we actually sound like.
    Play slowly so you can notice what you notice. Then you can fix things.

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • Playing Tough Chord Changes on Guitar, Method 2

    Playing Tough Chord Changes on Guitar, Method 2

    Difficult-Guitar-ChordsYeah, it’s a killer. Try this:

    Don’t strum all the way to the moment that the tough chord should be played and then changing chords (that’s like pressing pause while you’re playing, and even the tone-deaf know that ain’t right).

    When you’re headed straight for a tough chord, say Q#minor14 (see pic), only play on the first beat of the easy chord before it (G). Use the next 3 beats to change to Q#minor14. You’ll only hear G on the first beat beat, but if you keep the count going in your head while you change, you’ll play Q#minor14 right on time, keeping the song together.
    This is a lot better than the “Wait just a, I’ve almost..I’ve…” approach.

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • Mistakes in Guitar Practice Are Good News

    Mistakes in Guitar Practice Are Good News

    Mark Twain-Accident-Invention-Quote-for-GuitaristsThey show you where you can improve. If you try to avoid them you won’t know where where to focus your practice. The trick is to be open to mistakes.

    If you’re open, you’ll find your trouble spots while you’re in the practice room. But if you try to avoid mistakes, you’ll find those blind spots on stage. Not cool.

    If you listen to a mistake without judgement you may find a solution to a problem, a development of your melody, or a whole new style. Be like Hendrix & others who really listened, leading them to deliberately crank their amps to get that “bad” distorted sound.

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • Interview on Talk Music Talk

    Interview on Talk Music Talk

    A few weeks ago I sat down with boice from the weekly podcast Talk Music Talk and chatted about how receptive listening can benefit musicians facing difficulties onstage or in practice. Sitting down with musicians, music journalists, artists, music industry folks and more, boice discusses what they love about the world of music and how they got into it. We had a great time and you can listen in.

    Follow this link to listen and download podcast interview TMT 043. And, yes, it’s free!

    Bryan Wade from The Connected Musician on TALK MUSIC TALK

    At the top of TALK MUSIC TALK are links to subscribe to iTunes, Stitcher Radio and TuneIn Radio.
    There is a lot of emerging artists and seasoned pros over there so check it out.

    Much More on this topic on my new site theconnectedmusician.com

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC