Don’t Have Time To Practice? I’ve Got Good News And 1 Question. The Good News Is That You ARE Practicing—All The Time. The Question Is: What Are You Practicing?   LEARNING = PHYSICALLY CHANGING YOUR BRAIN When you practice guitar—or learn any new skill—you are changing the physical structure of your brain in significant ways.  As you learn, you trigger incredible numbers of processes with complicated names resulting in dense, luxuriant and interconnected physical changes inside your skull!  Imagine watching a jungle grow in your mind. Totoro Growing Plants GIF from Totoro GIFs You sprout axons, your myelin thickens, your dendrites grow branches, you add connections between neurons—and even your number of neurons, the shape of your neurons, or even the size of different areas of your brain can change. Your brain has changed! This amazing attribute of the brain to change is called brain plasticity. Our brains are always changing. Brain plasticity does decrease with age, but it never stop

With so many brands and types of guitar strings out there, how do you know which one is right for your guitar?  A string’s gauge (or thickness) and the material it’s made of influence your guitar’s tone and playability. So it’s useful to figure out which strings sound and feel best to you. If you bring your guitar to a store for a string change and you don’t know what kind you want, there’s a chance the guitar tech will select strings for you that he or she uses. That’s fine if you both have the same style. But what if the tech plays heavy metal and you prefer jazz? Those new strings might not let you play at your best. Fortunately, strings are not too expensive. Go ahead and experiment with different types to see what suits your guitar and unique playing style best. The results might surprise you! To help you along, here’s a basic guide to strings, followed by a quick rundown of strings preferred by some of our NYC Guitar School teachers!! You’ll discover that their string prefer

Singer/Songwriter (and NYC Guitar School student) Alex Genadinik has released a new song in his series of passionate and romantic songs inspired by great art and artists of the past, and by their philosophies. The latest entry is a serene and tender romantic song with poetic lyrics inspired by Shakespeare. Alex says “Shakespeare has a famous quote “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” I took inspiration from that quote.” The song is entitled “Wind of Sighs”. The lyrics and music are gentle and tender, and the meaning is slightly ambiguous. Is it a breakup song? Is it a song about a lost love or missing someone? Whatever it is, it is romantic, melodious and dream. Alex adds “Because of the slow and gentle nature of this song, it can also be called a romantic ballad. It’s also very dreamy. You can relax while listening to this song, and let your mind drift away to pleasant daydreams. The feel of this song is very tender. I tried to

When we feel a stirring within ourselves towards our better self, that is a good thing! And when we articulate that desire as a resolution, that’s good, too!  But do resolutions “work”? Yes and no. Pointing yourself in a direction is always more effective than being aimless, so yeah–a New Year’s resolution is definitely a step in the right direction. And studies show that there is indeed magic to the New Year; New Year’s resolutions are much more likely to be followed through on compared to goals set at other times. Unfortunately, despite best intentions, by February most New Year’s resolutions have been abandoned. And as a result, instead of being filled with pride and satisfaction, many of us experience discouragement and self-loathing. Why? Because the way that most people make resolutions is deeply flawed.  But it doesn’t have to be that way! These Two Mistakes DOOM Resolutions Researchers and psychologists point to two major errors in setting resolutions. Resolutio

Last summer, my friend Yancey discovered her son’s forgotten bass guitar in the basement. For years it had been exposed to classic Hudson Valley weather: humid summers in the damp cellar followed by dry winters near the furnace. The bass’s electronics survived the mistreatment, but the environmental extremes caused the neck of this poor instrument to warp so much that it no longer played well. 🙁 Even though you haven’t abandoned your beloved guitar in a basement or near the radiator, you should protect it from changes in humidity and temperature. Both can affect a guitar’s playability in the short term and create deeper condition issues in the long term.  There are a few telltale signs of when dryness and humidity are affecting your guitar. For example, if it suddenly sounds kind of buzzy, but you can barre the F chord like an old pro, dry conditions have caused your string action to get too low to the fretboard. If you can barely barre the F chord or the c

By day Alex Genadinik is one of the internet’s top online instructors teaching marketing, entrepreneurship, professional skills, and personal development to clients around the globe. In his spare time however, Alex has recently begun pursuing his true artistic passion—becoming a guitar-slinging singer/songwriter who uplifts and inspires others through his music. Explains Alex, “There’s an emotional lift that comes whenever you hear a song that resonates with you. It gives you butterflies and takes you to a magical place. Listening to music that touches me emotionally also inspires me to want to create that feeling for other people as well. I wanted to try my hand at crafting something beautiful and magical too.” Over the last several years Genadinik has written, recorded, and produced on-line videos for many of his songs. I recently had the chance to speak with Alex about his aspirations for his songwriting and for bringing his music to a larger audience. Vinnie DeMasi: When did you fi

I founded NYC’s largest rock-and-roll summer camp back in 2008, when my own kids were small. (They are now 15, 19 and 21.) Since then, some of our students have signed with major labels, or have become professional musicians or music teachers. But most simply enjoyed playing in bands, writing and arranging songs, performing shows and making friends as they grew up. Either route is awesome. Ultimately, we aren’t trying to help kids be musical stars; we’re trying to help them be their own sort of star. That’s why our school mission is “Coaching Personal Greatness One Lesson At A Time.”  We remind ourselves over and over that we don’t teach guitar…we teach people!  Our students want to grow musically. But they also want to grow socially and creatively, and in confidence and resilience. That kind of growth comes through progressive exposure to achievable challenges, like those found in music and performance groups. Advancing music skill takes practice. Memorizing parts or lyric

In Spider Man: No Way Home, teenager Peter Parker and his friends have a big problem–and it isn’t a supervillain or a rift in the space time continuum.  It’s worse: they don’t get into their dream college. In fact, it is a desperate attempt to reverse fate and get into that highly selective school which results in a plague of supervillains from other dimensions.  As I sat in the theater with two teenage daughters, I knew all too well that Peter Parker and his friends aren’t the only ones feeling anxiety about getting into college (or more accurately, anxiety about which college). In this movie, art imitates life; according to Pew Research, about 70% of U.S. teens who plan to go to college are anxious about whether they will get into the college of their choice. Parents are anxious, too. The Let Grow motto “when parents step back, kids step up” sounds good–but when it comes to college, for many parents the stakes seem too high to let go. You probably remember the r

I founded NYC’s largest rock and roll summer camp. While some of our students have gone on to get signed to major labels, tour with cool bands, and become professional musicians, most just had fun playing in bands, made music and friends, and went on non-musical endeavors while continuing to enjoy music as a hobby.  Both routes are awesome! Ultimately, we aren’t trying to help kids be stars–we’re trying to help them have fun, be social, and get better at writing and playing music. But lately I’ve noticed a couple trends in original teen songwriters that I think deserve some discussion, because they are interfering with fun, confidence and skill development in our teens. I call the first one “Must Release-itis”, the overwhelming feeling that you must release your music publicly. I call the other one “Can’t Release-itis”, which is the feeling that your music can never be good enough to share. These both have the same root cause–comparing ourselves to others. Let’s break

I Tried To Get Out Of My Kids’ Way For 15 Years. Then I Asked Them “How Did That Go?” Last year, Lenore Skenazy, the enthusiastic and entertaining founder of Free Range Kids and a co-founder of Let Grow, came to speak with our community about how “Always Helping Kids is Hurting Them”. It was an incredible conversation! My wife and I have felt aligned with the Let Grow motto (“when parents step back, kids step up”) since our children were small, and the stories and resources from organizations like Free Range Kids have helped encourage us as parents. In preparation for Lenore’s visit, I decided to ask my kids (now they are 22, 19 and 16): “What are you glad that we did as parents to give you more freedom and responsibility than other kids? And why?”  Here’s the resulting list along with notes on how our family approached them or how it felt from my point of view as Dad, in the hopes that it might be useful to parents of teens and younger kids–and