Guitar Lessons in Bed Stuy Brooklyn

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

Tag: Vibe

  • 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
  • Hypnotize Yourself With Your Guitar

    Hypnotize Yourself With Your Guitar

    Great Eastern Sun of Shambhala

    You know when you’ve been playing for about 45 minutes and you start to notice every little detail, everything you get right and get wrong, but you don’t really react to it? You just keep playing and notice everything?

    That is a very aware, flexible, and non-judgmental state of mind. Be aware that you can also space out and go on auto-pilot this way. It’s a delicate balance. But if you go for what sounds good and explore it, you can improve your playing and be completely immersed in it at the same time.

    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
  • 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
  • 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