3 Deadly Practice Mistakes To Avoid When Learning To Play Guitar
In today’s lesson, we are going to look at 3 deadly practice mistakes to avoid when learning to play guitar. How do you get better on the guitar?
Just keep practicing right? Wrong! Practice mistakes are normal when learning an instrument. But if you want to improve your guitar playing you have to do more than just practice.
Know what and how
You must know WHAT to practice and HOW to practice. There are a lot of ‘old wives’ tales and myths floating around about practicing music that go like this “If you lock yourself away for a couple of hours a day you will become an accomplished player!
The real-world version goes more like this “If you lock yourself away for a couple of hours every day without a definite practice strategy and clearly defined goal(s) there’s a good chance your guitar playing could be going around and around in circles.
You may lose your enthusiasm and motivation and possibility give up guitar and music altogether”. It’s true and unfortunately, it’s already happened to thousands of players. I don’t agree 100% with the “practice makes perfect” phrase, rather… “perfect practice makes perfect!”
Mistake 1:
To just keep on practicing – You know the old saying “If you find yourself in a hole the best thing to do is stop digging!” Good advice but something that is not often applied to guitar practice. If you find your guitar playing going nowhere it means you making practice mistakes. I recommend you stop doing that and take the time to get your playing back on track.
Solution:
STOP! Whatever you are doing on the guitar and take out a blank piece of paper draw a line down the middle of the page, on the left-hand side of the page make a heading “things to work on” then on the right-hand side of the page make a heading titled “why”. When you have finished your page should look like this:
Things To Do
The idea is for you to:
(a) identify the areas of your guitar playing that need work and
(b) have a reason for working on these problems. Once your brain has something definite to work on your whole body will take on a different attitude to practicing and playing the guitar and you will find yourself moving towards your goals rapidly.
Tips & tricks
Write things down on paper so you can look at the problem without the guitar in your hands; otherwise, there’s a good chance you will spend a lot of time working on aspects of your playing that don’t need work. Essentially a lot of practice time is thrown out the window.
These are practice mistakes to avoid and if not, it’s wasted time. Once you get a laser beam fix on your targeted ‘problem’ areas you will soon overcome your guitar-playing obstacles.
Mistake 2:
Practicing too fast – everyone does this but only the best players learn how to control and discipline themselves to overcome this hazard.
Solution: Understand that “speed comes as a by-product of accuracy” not the other way around. It’s not an achievement to say that you are a “fast and sloppy player” There’s no great skill involved there, in fact, anyone could do that.
You could give your guitar to the postman and he could run his fingers up and down the strings as fast as he could but you wouldn’t call that a memorable musical experience would you? Of course not!
Write that down in BIG letters and carry it with you in your guitar case “Speed is a by-product of accuracy”. Learn to practice everything in s-l-o-w motion in the same manner as people practice martial arts.
Mistake 3:
not making the distinction between data and motor skill practice. You need to make sure that you understand that you need to break up your practice time into different areas of study.
Solution: Before you begin a practice session be clear about which type of practice mistakes to avoid to achieve your current musical goals. There are two types of guitar practice: Data memory training – this is where you are learning something new.
These sessions must be kept short 2-5 minutes maximum. Motor skills training – this is where you are practicing something you already know; practice sessions are typically 20-30mins in duration.
It’s possible to learn something wrong and practice it until the mistake becomes ingrained and very difficult to re-learn, often the player lacks the sheer determination to overcome the musical ‘banana-peel’ and the mistake becomes a fatal one.
Don’t let this happen to you, understand the concepts above and apply them to your next practice session on guitar.
Progress at a proficient rate
The best way to avoid practice mistakes of all kinds (and there are more than just these three mentioned here) is to follow a system of learning. A method of study. With the creation of YouTube, more and more people are picking up the guitar and learning to play it. This is a great thing.
The only problem with this is that watching videos here and there only teaches you part of what you need to learn. This leaves gaps in your study. Then when you go to play your favorite song, or possibly decide to write one of your own, you are left with confusion.
End the confusion
By following a system of learning, these gaps are filled and the frustration stops because you can end confusion. With a system or method, you learn in a step-by-step process that builds upon itself and gets you progressing forward at a more logical rate.
With a method or system of learning, you learn what is needed in chronological order which allows you to enjoy a better learning experience. Then learning becomes fun and you build self-confidence within yourself. This motivates you to want to play more daily.
A book that provides this type of learning system is Learn Guitar: Simple Method For Beginners. Written and published by yours truly.
In this method book
You are going to learn everything you need to know to have fun playing the guitar. No matter if you play acoustic or electric. Learn Guitar starts you out at step one, knowing what guitar to choose, where to find it, and why it is a good choice. How to hold it and proper hand and finger positioning as well as how to hold a pick and get it in-tune and ready to play.
Then you will start to progress at learning to play the guitar. Learning notation, basic chords to start with, how to strum those chords, and how to create proper rhythm with those chords. As well as how to play simple songs in melody format. All this with absolutely no previous music experience necessary.
Lesson conclusion:
When approaching guitar practice, always be aware of these 3 deadly practice mistakes. Learning to play guitar is a journey: some a few months, some a few years, some a lifetime. No matter your situation, always remember to stay focused!!
Focused on your learning, practicing, and most of all, why you are doing the work. Also, have no doubt. Learning the guitar is work, but it can also be quite enjoyable work. And you know what they say, “If you love what you do, it does not work” ” so follow these tips and have some fun. That’s what learning guitar is all about, having fun!!
Visit my website for info on private lessons and follow me on Social Media for my latest lesson updates.
Also, be sure to view additional lessons to improve your playing:
How to recognize notes on your fretboard
How to use a capo and why it’s beneficial to your playing
Until our next lesson, take care.
Dwayne Jenkins
