12 Mistakes Every Beginner Guitar Player Makes

[00:00] are you frustrated with your lack of

[00:02] progress even though you're putting in

[00:03] countless hours of practice well over

[00:05] the last 20 years I've worked with

[00:07] hundreds of students and they all have

[00:09] one thing in common they're making

[00:11] mistakes that not only wreck their

[00:13] progress but can physically hurt them in

[00:15] the process so today I'm going to show

[00:18] you the 12 most common mistakes

[00:19] beginners make give you an easy fix so

[00:22] you can bust out a beginner mode and

[00:24] advance to Pro status so what's the most

[00:27] dangerous mistake out of all these that

[00:29] can actually cause you physical harm

[00:31] well let's start with the first mistake

[00:33] and I'll go over that at the end in this

[00:35] first section we're going to talk about

[00:37] your fretting hand a lot of beginners

[00:39] will place their thumb too high or angle

[00:42] it sideways which can limit your reach

[00:45] and make scales and cords harder to play

[00:48] So to avoid improper thumb position you

[00:51] want to make sure that you bring your

[00:53] thumb down to about the middle of the

[00:55] neck and keep it vertical and not

[00:58] sideways sometimes I may bring my thumb

[01:00] up but for technical stuff keeping it

[01:02] lower will give you a lot better reach

[01:04] another thing I see is people tend to

[01:06] bring their fingers way too high off the

[01:09] fretboard which just slows you down you

[01:11] want to keep your fingers close to the

[01:13] strings because it minimizes the

[01:15] movement and it'll just allow you to

[01:18] move around a lot easier not keeping

[01:21] your fingers close to the strings can

[01:23] really jack up your speed and accuracy

[01:26] and you just won't be able to move

[01:27] around as efficiently the next one I see

[01:29] see a lot is people tend to press down

[01:31] with this part of the finger but if

[01:33] you're not using the finger tips it can

[01:36] cause you to get string buzz or mute

[01:39] notes and even mute the string below it

[01:42] and it's also just really hard to be

[01:44] precise when you're playing technical

[01:46] stuff so practice slow and watch your

[01:49] hand to make sure you're using the very

[01:51] tip of the finger because it'll help

[01:53] your notes come out a lot more clear

[01:54] keep in mind that sometimes there are

[01:56] exceptions to these it's not like you

[01:58] won't ever use that part your finger in

[02:00] fact you will but especially if you're

[02:02] working on single note Melody and Lead

[02:04] type stuff you want to typically aim for

[02:07] the very tip of your finger all right

[02:09] now let's talk about your picking and

[02:12] strumming hand now you don't necessarily

[02:14] have to do this one but it really helps

[02:16] me be a lot more accurate on which

[02:18] strings I'm hitting so if you're playing

[02:20] chords or you're playing single note

[02:22] lead type stuff and you're not anchoring

[02:25] your hand it's going to be hard to hit

[02:27] the right strings so one simple thing I

[02:29] do is just plant my palm on the bridge

[02:33] and if I have it anchored down like that

[02:35] it's just going to be a lot easier to be

[02:37] more accurate on the strings that you're

[02:39] hitting now before you go yelling at me

[02:41] in the comments about this one I know

[02:43] there's a lot of ways to do certain

[02:45] things and this is one of those this is

[02:47] just the way I do it and I think it's a

[02:49] great way for beginners to start so

[02:51] imagine you have three dots one in the

[02:54] middle of your first finger one in the

[02:57] middle of your thumb and another one in

[02:59] in the middle of the pick now line those

[03:02] three dots up and this is how you should

[03:05] hold your pick I also like to keep these

[03:07] three fingers out of the way like this

[03:09] if you're holding the pick wrong it can

[03:11] make it hard to be precise and I know

[03:13] some people play with the button or even

[03:16] the side of the pick and sometimes I do

[03:18] that too but I just think this is a good

[03:20] way to start for beginners so for this

[03:22] next one if you keep your wrist stiff

[03:25] and only Bend from your elbow when

[03:28] you're strumming this can cause a real

[03:29] really harsh and choppy sound so you

[03:32] really want to use a little bit of your

[03:33] arm and your wrist and stay super

[03:36] relaxed because it'll feel and sound a

[03:39] lot more smooth but if you're only using

[03:41] your arm when strumming it's going to

[03:44] sound super Jagged and robotic all right

[03:47] now let's get into this last section and

[03:49] after that I'll show you the most

[03:50] dangerous mistake out of all these so

[03:53] this is one of my favorite things to

[03:55] talk about because it's extremely

[03:57] important and a lot of people get it

[03:58] wrong practice sometimes people's

[04:01] practice schedules can be really

[04:03] sporadic and inconsistent but you're

[04:06] going to get a lot better results

[04:08] practicing a little bit every day versus

[04:11] practicing for like one or two hours a

[04:13] couple days a week so pick a time a day

[04:16] that works best for you and try to stick

[04:18] to a schedule every day because if

[04:20] you're not practicing consistently

[04:23] you're just not going to progress as

[04:25] fast this next one will help you train

[04:27] muscle memory and you'll be a lot more

[04:29] accurate and consistent in you're

[04:31] playing if you're playing too fast

[04:33] chances are you're probably practicing

[04:35] bad habits so you need to slow down and

[04:38] focus on having every note come out

[04:40] clear and just go slow enough to where

[04:42] you don't even make a mistake at all and

[04:44] then repeat that over and over and the

[04:46] speed will come on its own another thing

[04:48] I see a lot is when someone is learning

[04:50] a new song chord progression scale they

[04:52] try to do the whole thing all at once

[04:55] and what happens is they make the same

[04:57] mistakes over and over again and they're

[04:59] not able to play it correct consistently

[05:02] so for example if they're learning a

[05:04] scale and they keep messing up the same

[05:06] part they go back and start from the

[05:08] beginning again and then they mess up

[05:10] that same part and then repeat but what

[05:12] you're doing is you're actually

[05:14] practicing the part you already know the

[05:16] beginning and then even worse you're

[05:19] practicing the same mistake over and

[05:21] over which is actually training your

[05:23] brain and telling it that that's what

[05:25] your finger should be doing so you need

[05:27] to take that one little part that you

[05:29] keep messing up on work on that by

[05:31] itself and then put it with the rest in

[05:34] context I like to break things up so if

[05:36] I'm learning a chord progression with

[05:38] four chords for instance just repeat the

[05:41] first two chords over and over and then

[05:43] the next two chords and then the next

[05:46] two by themselves and then put them all

[05:48] together or if you're learning a scale

[05:51] maybe just practice the first two or

[05:52] three strings by themselves and then the

[05:54] next two or three strings and then put

[05:57] all those together hopefully you get the

[05:58] idea but if you're you're not taking it

[06:00] in small chunks you're probably

[06:02] practicing the same mistakes over and

[06:04] over which is going to wreck your

[06:06] progress I've touched on this next one a

[06:08] little bit and this one is huge you need

[06:10] to make sure that you play things

[06:12] correctly more times than you play them

[06:15] incorrectly and what I see a lot is

[06:18] someone struggling with something and

[06:20] they play it wrong 10 times and then

[06:23] they finally play it right one time and

[06:25] then they think they got it but no you

[06:27] need to make sure that you play it right

[06:30] more times than you play it wrong so one

[06:33] simple thing I do that's helped me a ton

[06:35] is make sure that I can play it four

[06:37] times in a row perfectly before I move

[06:40] on so if you play it once twice three

[06:43] times and then mess up on the fourth

[06:44] time start over you got to make sure you

[06:47] can get four in a row now this one trick

[06:50] alone has helped me a ton so just make

[06:52] sure you're not practicing your mistake

[06:55] over and over I know a lot of you are

[06:57] going to hate this one but I can't

[06:59] stress how important this is simply put

[07:02] your timing is not going to be good if

[07:04] you're not practicing with the metronome

[07:06] and if you don't know what that is it's

[07:08] just a device that plays a constant

[07:10] click sound to help you with your timing

[07:12] just search for an app and there's a ton

[07:14] of free ones out there but I know a lot

[07:16] of people hate practicing with a

[07:18] metronome but trust me your future self

[07:21] will thank you for this later the more

[07:23] that you practice with a metronome the

[07:26] better your timing is going to be when

[07:27] you're not playing with a metronome now

[07:30] this last one I'd say is the most

[07:31] dangerous mistake out of all these I've

[07:33] had several really good musician friends

[07:36] who have had to completely stop playing

[07:37] all together because of years of

[07:39] practicing with bad technique issues

[07:41] like carpal tunnel and stuff like that

[07:44] you want to make sure you keep your

[07:45] wrist straight and only slightly arched

[07:47] but don't let it come too far out like

[07:49] this because overextending your wrist

[07:52] like that can cause serious issues down

[07:54] the road now one thing I didn't really

[07:56] touch on was finger picking but if you

[07:58] want to avoid the four worst finger

[08:00] picking mistakes click on this video and

[08:03] I'll see you soon peace