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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 indee

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 play

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 emotiona

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. Ultimat

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 th

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&#

I Tried To Get Out Of My Kids’ Way For 15 Years. Then I Asked Them “How Did That Go?” I’m excited that Lenore Skenazy, the enthusiastic and entertaining founder of Free Range Kids and a co-founder of Let Grow, will be soon be speaking to the NYCGS team and community on the topic of “Always Helping Kids Is Hurting Them.” My wife and I have felt aligned with the Let Grow motto (“wh

You Can Do It! But Don’t Wait! (For best results PRINT THE “BULLETPROOF YOUR RESOLUTION” PDF OUT NOW and use it as you read the blog post.) *** *** *** Every January we get lots of calls from students who are making a New Year’s resolution to play guitar. That’s awesome–it’s always a good time to make your dreams come true! But I’ve realized that the students who are most s

I’m passionate about guitar–and I’m super passionate about self-improvement, practice routines and being an effective parent to my three kids. To my surprise, when I started writing blogs about those topics, they received way more engagement (and student signups) than the previous posts about scales and barre chords. So, here’s another parenting blog from a guitar school founder and guitar p

Dear NYC Guitar School Community, For the past two decades I have devoted myself to making learning guitar as absolutely accessible, achievable and easy for my students as possible. “It’s easy to play guitar!” I shouted. “Anybody can learn to do it!” I strove to make every chord, every progression and every piece of theory as easy as possible as NYC Guitar School grew from a single room to thousan