We recently connected with Brad Suennen and have shared our conversation below.
Brad, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I started taking piano lessons back when I was in grade school. At thirteen I decided to pick up the guitar and started teaching myself that using a guitar lessons book and learning a bunch of my favorite songs. I was hoping to join a band back home, but nothing ever materialized besides a couple of one off shows with friends and a one week camp at a school over the summer.
When I moved to Nashville for college, I was limited in my skill set as I was just a guitarist and keyboardist. After seeing how talented everyone is, I started to write songs. This was the start of learning new skills, I needed. What I know I started learning late. I didn’t start writing music until I was twenty-one. I didn’t take singing lessons until I was twenty-two. I didn’t start playing out more until I was twenty-seven. I don’t know if I couldn’t do anything to speed up the learning because of who I was at that point.
A lot of what held me back all these years was stage fright, not networking as much, and being impatient. I had to learn to get over those fears and trust the process along the way. I’m still learning everyday. A lot of trail of error has been done to figure out what works and what doesn’t work.
Brad, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am a singer-songwriter and guitarist out of Nashville, Tennessee. I have a few projects that I have been involved in. I have solo project, which is what I mainly do. I play lead guitar in a local rock band. Finally, I play guitar for an alt-pop artist.
I got into this business because music is the one thing that has always been there for me. I couldn’t really see myself doing anything else. It gave me a chance to speak through it, and I hope other people can relate to that. My goal with music is to inspire people to chase after their dreams instead of just settling for an average life.
I am proud of the fact I never gave up even when I didn’t know much at the time. I never imagine I was going to be a solo artist or involved with multiple projects including a genre that I normally don’t play.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I don’t have a story off the top of my mind. However, I still kept going despite not knowing much. Even when everything was shutdown two years ago, I kept writing and recording new music even on days when I couldn’t come up with anything. It also that time in 2021, that I wanted to play out more.
I had a friend who was going to introduce me to a contact he had that books writers round multiple times a week. It took me a few months before I met him, but I would also look through a Facebook group every now and then that was apart to see if there were any other opportunities out there. I was able to get on one, just from cold messaging someone who had spots open in the round that they run.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
There is a lot of ways people can support them. The first is follow them online on their socials and engage with the content that they put out. The second is share their content and tell your friends about them. The third is go out to their shows. Finally, buy any of their merch if you can.
Contact Info:
- Website: bradsuennenmusic.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bradsuennenmusic
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/bradsuennenmusic
- Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1BLi9UZMSa88JHCfHvzFb9?si=WEO3d81oQvOAdLzXHBUvpQ
Image Credits
NitaInNashville Photography