When I started building my course, I interviewed many of the top beginner guitar teachers. I was on a quest to learn about any techniques or psychological barriers that I might have missed and that deserve a place in my teaching. An interesting trend came up in response to my search for the perfect student. […]
October 22, 2015
How Does a Guitar Work?
I’m fascinated by activities that paralyze absolute beginners. Guitar is one of them. Someone who has never played will often feel very awkward just holding the instrument, and worse when trying to play a single note. Many activities share this trait. Cooking or handiwork are two great examples I think of a lot. You might have experienced the […]
October 16, 2015
The Perfect Beginner Guitar
I remember going from guitar store to guitar store with my guitarist friend to find the perfect guitar for me to learn. He was a fantastic guitarist. Every time we’d set foot in a shop, he’d point to a guitar, sit down, and play it so well that he’d invariably draw a crowd. Every guitar […]
August 7, 2015
How to Break Free From Your Hidden Beliefs
 Our plan was to organize big-scale amateur go-karting races for our engineering school in Paris, France. 150 to 200 “pilots” would get a chance to simulate what it’s like to be a race car driver: big outdoor race track, teams, pit stops, refueling, etc. Getting enough drivers for our first race was our toughest […]
July 24, 2015
The Hidden Beliefs That Weigh Us Down
Let’s say you’re at a miniature golf course for the afternoon. You convince Jake Johnson, whom you just met, to play a 10 hole course for an experiment you are working on. Before he plays, you tell him that you will be judging his “natural athletic abilities”. Do you think saying that will impact his […]
June 17, 2015
An Interview on Learning New Skills and Facing Your Fears
I am VERY excited to share with you my interview on The Movement. You can get it on itunes here or listen on Andrew Parr’s website: part 1 / part 2 (the man behind The Movement). There are
May 26, 2015
We’ve All Done This. Did We Understand the Consequences?
This is a short 4 minute read. But an important one. It was a sunny afternoon in Corsica when we decided to go for a swim. Instead of driving to a beach, we chose to take a shorter path through a series of big rocks that extend all the way to the water. Most of […]
May 18, 2015
Making up funny stories to boost retention rate 400%
An actual sign in Nara, Japan. Beware of dear ninjas? We were planning on spending a month and a half in Japan later on that year, and I knew that having a basic understanding of the language would greatly improve my experience in the country. It is very common to encounter street signs or restaurant […]
May 5, 2015
How Much Should I practice Daily ?
This article used to be called “Why 20 minutes a day is better than 3 hours once a week” but a friend of mine pointed out that most of you would ignore the post thinking the advice seemed too obvious. I’ve rethought and rewritten the article which now pinpoints a counterintuitive tip that will make […]