[0:00] are you frustrated with your lack of
[0:02] progress even though you're putting in
[0:03] countless hours of practice well over
[0:05] the last 20 years I've worked with
[0:07] hundreds of students and they all have
[0:09] one thing in common they're making
[0:11] mistakes that not only wreck their
[0:13] progress but can physically hurt them in
[0:15] the process so today I'm going to show
[0:18] you the 12 most common mistakes
[0:19] beginners make give you an easy fix so
[0:22] you can bust out a beginner mode and
[0:24] advance to Pro status so what's the most
[0:27] dangerous mistake out of all these that
[0:29] can actually cause you physical harm
[0:31] well let's start with the first mistake
[0:33] and I'll go over that at the end in this
[0:35] first section we're going to talk about
[0:37] your fretting hand a lot of beginners
[0:39] will place their thumb too high or angle
[0:42] it sideways which can limit your reach
[0:45] and make scales and cords harder to play
[0:48] So to avoid improper thumb position you
[0:51] want to make sure that you bring your
[0:53] thumb down to about the middle of the
[0:55] neck and keep it vertical and not
[0:58] sideways sometimes I may bring my thumb
[1:00] up but for technical stuff keeping it
[1:02] lower will give you a lot better reach
[1:04] another thing I see is people tend to
[1:06] bring their fingers way too high off the
[1:09] fretboard which just slows you down you
[1:11] want to keep your fingers close to the
[1:13] strings because it minimizes the
[1:15] movement and it'll just allow you to
[1:18] move around a lot easier not keeping
[1:21] your fingers close to the strings can
[1:23] really jack up your speed and accuracy
[1:26] and you just won't be able to move
[1:27] around as efficiently the next one I see
[1:29] see a lot is people tend to press down
[1:31] with this part of the finger but if
[1:33] you're not using the finger tips it can
[1:36] cause you to get string buzz or mute
[1:39] notes and even mute the string below it
[1:42] and it's also just really hard to be
[1:44] precise when you're playing technical
[1:46] stuff so practice slow and watch your
[1:49] hand to make sure you're using the very
[1:51] tip of the finger because it'll help
[1:53] your notes come out a lot more clear
[1:54] keep in mind that sometimes there are
[1:56] exceptions to these it's not like you
[1:58] won't ever use that part your finger in
[2:00] fact you will but especially if you're
[2:02] working on single note Melody and Lead
[2:04] type stuff you want to typically aim for
[2:07] the very tip of your finger all right
[2:09] now let's talk about your picking and
[2:12] strumming hand now you don't necessarily
[2:14] have to do this one but it really helps
[2:16] me be a lot more accurate on which
[2:18] strings I'm hitting so if you're playing
[2:20] chords or you're playing single note
[2:22] lead type stuff and you're not anchoring
[2:25] your hand it's going to be hard to hit
[2:27] the right strings so one simple thing I
[2:29] do is just plant my palm on the bridge
[2:33] and if I have it anchored down like that
[2:35] it's just going to be a lot easier to be
[2:37] more accurate on the strings that you're
[2:39] hitting now before you go yelling at me
[2:41] in the comments about this one I know
[2:43] there's a lot of ways to do certain
[2:45] things and this is one of those this is
[2:47] just the way I do it and I think it's a
[2:49] great way for beginners to start so
[2:51] imagine you have three dots one in the
[2:54] middle of your first finger one in the
[2:57] middle of your thumb and another one in
[2:59] in the middle of the pick now line those
[3:02] three dots up and this is how you should
[3:05] hold your pick I also like to keep these
[3:07] three fingers out of the way like this
[3:09] if you're holding the pick wrong it can
[3:11] make it hard to be precise and I know
[3:13] some people play with the button or even
[3:16] the side of the pick and sometimes I do
[3:18] that too but I just think this is a good
[3:20] way to start for beginners so for this
[3:22] next one if you keep your wrist stiff
[3:25] and only Bend from your elbow when
[3:28] you're strumming this can cause a real
[3:29] really harsh and choppy sound so you
[3:32] really want to use a little bit of your
[3:33] arm and your wrist and stay super
[3:36] relaxed because it'll feel and sound a
[3:39] lot more smooth but if you're only using
[3:41] your arm when strumming it's going to
[3:44] sound super Jagged and robotic all right
[3:47] now let's get into this last section and
[3:49] after that I'll show you the most
[3:50] dangerous mistake out of all these so
[3:53] this is one of my favorite things to
[3:55] talk about because it's extremely
[3:57] important and a lot of people get it
[3:58] wrong practice sometimes people's
[4:01] practice schedules can be really
[4:03] sporadic and inconsistent but you're
[4:06] going to get a lot better results
[4:08] practicing a little bit every day versus
[4:11] practicing for like one or two hours a
[4:13] couple days a week so pick a time a day
[4:16] that works best for you and try to stick
[4:18] to a schedule every day because if
[4:20] you're not practicing consistently
[4:23] you're just not going to progress as
[4:25] fast this next one will help you train
[4:27] muscle memory and you'll be a lot more
[4:29] accurate and consistent in you're
[4:31] playing if you're playing too fast
[4:33] chances are you're probably practicing
[4:35] bad habits so you need to slow down and
[4:38] focus on having every note come out
[4:40] clear and just go slow enough to where
[4:42] you don't even make a mistake at all and
[4:44] then repeat that over and over and the
[4:46] speed will come on its own another thing
[4:48] I see a lot is when someone is learning
[4:50] a new song chord progression scale they
[4:52] try to do the whole thing all at once
[4:55] and what happens is they make the same
[4:57] mistakes over and over again and they're
[4:59] not able to play it correct consistently
[5:02] so for example if they're learning a
[5:04] scale and they keep messing up the same
[5:06] part they go back and start from the
[5:08] beginning again and then they mess up
[5:10] that same part and then repeat but what
[5:12] you're doing is you're actually
[5:14] practicing the part you already know the
[5:16] beginning and then even worse you're
[5:19] practicing the same mistake over and
[5:21] over which is actually training your
[5:23] brain and telling it that that's what
[5:25] your finger should be doing so you need
[5:27] to take that one little part that you
[5:29] keep messing up on work on that by
[5:31] itself and then put it with the rest in
[5:34] context I like to break things up so if
[5:36] I'm learning a chord progression with
[5:38] four chords for instance just repeat the
[5:41] first two chords over and over and then
[5:43] the next two chords and then the next
[5:46] two by themselves and then put them all
[5:48] together or if you're learning a scale
[5:51] maybe just practice the first two or
[5:52] three strings by themselves and then the
[5:54] next two or three strings and then put
[5:57] all those together hopefully you get the
[5:58] idea but if you're you're not taking it
[6:00] in small chunks you're probably
[6:02] practicing the same mistakes over and
[6:04] over which is going to wreck your
[6:06] progress I've touched on this next one a
[6:08] little bit and this one is huge you need
[6:10] to make sure that you play things
[6:12] correctly more times than you play them
[6:15] incorrectly and what I see a lot is
[6:18] someone struggling with something and
[6:20] they play it wrong 10 times and then
[6:23] they finally play it right one time and
[6:25] then they think they got it but no you
[6:27] need to make sure that you play it right
[6:30] more times than you play it wrong so one
[6:33] simple thing I do that's helped me a ton
[6:35] is make sure that I can play it four
[6:37] times in a row perfectly before I move
[6:40] on so if you play it once twice three
[6:43] times and then mess up on the fourth
[6:44] time start over you got to make sure you
[6:47] can get four in a row now this one trick
[6:50] alone has helped me a ton so just make
[6:52] sure you're not practicing your mistake
[6:55] over and over I know a lot of you are
[6:57] going to hate this one but I can't
[6:59] stress how important this is simply put
[7:02] your timing is not going to be good if
[7:04] you're not practicing with the metronome
[7:06] and if you don't know what that is it's
[7:08] just a device that plays a constant
[7:10] click sound to help you with your timing
[7:12] just search for an app and there's a ton
[7:14] of free ones out there but I know a lot
[7:16] of people hate practicing with a
[7:18] metronome but trust me your future self
[7:21] will thank you for this later the more
[7:23] that you practice with a metronome the
[7:26] better your timing is going to be when
[7:27] you're not playing with a metronome now
[7:30] this last one I'd say is the most
[7:31] dangerous mistake out of all these I've
[7:33] had several really good musician friends
[7:36] who have had to completely stop playing
[7:37] all together because of years of
[7:39] practicing with bad technique issues
[7:41] like carpal tunnel and stuff like that
[7:44] you want to make sure you keep your
[7:45] wrist straight and only slightly arched
[7:47] but don't let it come too far out like
[7:49] this because overextending your wrist
[7:52] like that can cause serious issues down
[7:54] the road now one thing I didn't really
[7:56] touch on was finger picking but if you
[7:58] want to avoid the four worst finger
[8:00] picking mistakes click on this video and
[8:03] I'll see you soon peace