Guitar Lessons in Bed Stuy Brooklyn

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

Tag: Listening

  • How to Play To a Metronome? Do it Wrong!

    How to Play To a Metronome? Do it Wrong!

    How To Use a Metronome to Practice GuitarNo joke. Try it:

      • Set the metronome to a slow, comfortable pace.
      • Play just one note on each beat.
      • Then speed up just a tiny bit WITHOUT CHANGING THE METRONOME…. Feel that tense, rushing feeling.
      • Slow back down to the beat… Feel that smoothness.
      • Now slow down just a tiny bit… Feel that sluggish pull.
      Speed up just enough to get synchronized again… Feel that smoothness again.

    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.

    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
  • Learning by Ear From a Recording

    Learning by Ear From a Recording

    ear-music-2It can be tricky. Try this:

    Pause the playback immediately after you hear the note/chord you’re listening for. Then, listen to your short term memory, sing whatever you hear and find that note on the guitar. Then find that same note on one of the top 2 strings (E & A) of the guitar.

    If you’re looking for a chord, try playing a major or minor chord on that note. If that’s not it and you’re on the E string, try moving straight down to the A string and up 2 frets. If you’re on the A string, try moving straight down to the E string.

    It can be more involved than this, but 80% of the time you can find most chords using only these few steps.

    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