Brooklyn Guitar Lessons with Bryan Wade

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

Tag: The Good

  • 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
  • Guitarists, Rather Than Going for What’s ‘Right’…

    Guitarists, Rather Than Going for What’s ‘Right’…

    Play What Sounds Good to YouMusic 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.

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • Should I Practice Guitar on Vacation?

    Should I Practice Guitar on Vacation?

    Practice Guitar on VacationIn my book, vacations are ways to get out of our daily grind so that we can relax and bring more enjoyment into our lives. So I say “play if you want to, but be sure to play for fun”.

    We often spend more time with family and friends on vacation, which can be great times to jam or play for someone. I just had a week-long vacation which actually gave me time to practice the basics, which I loved! So play, or don’t play, but be sure it’s not a grind.

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • How Do I Help My Kid Play Guitar?

    How Do I Help My Kid Play Guitar?

    Kids Do Well With Guitar When Parents ListenBest school? Best guitar? Practice every day? All helpful. But not if your kid doesn’t want to play. Kids who do well are in families that place a value on playing music:

    The instrument is easy to get to and in good condition
    No one is nagging them to practice
    No one is saying “Stop playing the same thing over and over!”
    Family members (parents, mainly) listen in a general way, from another room, while kids play; comments and questions afterwards.

    Someone is interested in what the child is playing, and verbally noting their progress.

    Bryan Wade Guitar Signature - Queens Guitar Lessons in Long Island City and Clinton Hill Brooklyn NYC
  • Don’t MAKE Your Kids Practice Guitar 30 Minutes a Day

    Don’t MAKE Your Kids Practice Guitar 30 Minutes a Day

    Don't MAKE Your Kid Practice GuitarBut do have them play something every day. It’s the “every day” part that does the trick.

    Kids get discouraged when they have to do stuff that’s hard. If they only play every 3 days it’s always hard.

    Playing London Bridge once a day starts as a small challenge. By the end of the week they’re bragging about how easy it is.

    Then they get the rush that spurs them on to play longer. They are more familiar with the success that practice brings and they’re more likely to dive in on their own.

    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
  • 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