Personal Greatness

Don’t Dream It, Be It After 30 years as a guitar school entrepreneur, I’ve heard thousands of people tell me, “I want to learn guitar.”  Often the student has an idea of potential progress in terms of skills acquired. They want to learn chords or barre chords. Scales or music theory. How to play songs. When I ask “why” I might hear that someone wants to learn chords s

Yet another way to have more fun and more success by practicing smarter. Thirty years ago I had just arrived in the bright lights of New York City—a very different place than the little Idaho towns where I grew up—and my friend had gotten me a cool gig. I was filling in for a couple songs at Coney Island High as the guitarist for the legendary punk rocker Jayne County. Here’s an awesome picture of

The Fastest Way to Play Better is to Slow Down You’re practicing too fast. And it is slowing you down. I get it, it is fun to play fast–and sometimes we have to play fast to play the songs that move us. But when we learn a new guitar part or pass a new threshold of skill, there is so much going on at once: finger pressure, pick angle, strumming pattern, tone, tempo, chord shapes, the next no

Above: That’s Dave on the far right, performing in Herald Square with (from left) my NYC Guitar School business partner Jen, me, student Sophie—and teacher Dylan Charles on the snow mountain. We were playing “On Broadway”… on Broadway! (Photo by Malik Chatman) Today’s guest post comes from Dr. Dave Popple—a successful entrepreneur, organizational psychologist, and an inspiring guitar student, too!

Sticking with it matters more than suffering through it We’ve all heard the old joke: Patient: “Doctor, it hurts when I hit myself in the head.” Doctor: “Stop hitting yourself in the head.” Today, I will be your Doctor of Guitar. After several decades of teaching guitar and watching thousands of successful (and not-so-successful) students, I’ve noticed something important: A lot of hardworking, we

Read this if you want your next resolution to actually stick! It’s the New Year! And that means lots of New Year’s resolutions. As a rock‑and‑roll entrepreneur, I love that — January is always one of our biggest months for new enrollments. People are fired up, hopeful, and ready to try something new. But every year I also hear a few jokes about how New Year’s resolutions are likely to last about a

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 wit

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

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