6 Bad Habits to Avoid When we Learn Guitar

6 Bad Habits to Avoid When we Learn Guitar

In this post I want to talk about some bad habits that you can avoid when you learn to play the guitar. These are some of the ones that I think you can get rid of.

1. Not having prepared a place to play the guitar

Having prepared a space where to practice the guitar is very important if we want to progress since this small detail will make you consider the instrument.

If instead you have the guitar stored in the case or in the closet you will end up forgetting it unless you are very motivated.

For this reason, prepare a room or a small corner of your house to have your space and thus be able to devote the necessary time to the practice of the instrument.

2. Not having a practice routine

Much has been said in this blog about the practice routine but it is not a bad idea to remember it. If you have a clear structure of what you are going to do before practicing the guitar you will have more time to play the instrument.

If instead you decide that you are going to practice and do not know where to start you will lose your way and end up thinking about what you are going to eat the next day.

Therefore, define a strategy and decide how much time you will devote to the instrument (5, 10, 20 minutes will be enough if you just start) Start with the warm-up (you can warm up with these routines here or with the imitation exercises that I recommend for here. )

Then review what you have seen in previous days and finally begin to learn slowly the new fragments of the song you are practicing.

For more information about a complete practice routine you can visit this post.

3. Do not reduce speed

A very common habit among some guitarists who are just beginning to play the guitar is to quickly play the part of the song they already know and when they arrive at the fragment that they have not yet assimilated, they slow down dramatically.

Therefore, I recommend that you touch everything at a speed that serves as a union between what you already know and what you don't know yet so that you can move from one fragment to another more fluently and assimilate it faster and better.

4. Do not practice by sections

On the other hand, we have the bad habit of not practicing by fragments or sections. When we talk about sections we can include staves, bars or phrases that the piece has.

It is important that you do not fall into the trap of touching everything from head to toe and telling yourself that you already know it when it really is not. You yourself must be demanding with what you do if you really want to learn correctly.

5. Do not look at the details

Not looking at the details of the score or the video you are watching is common. When we play the guitar there is a lot of information that comes into play and this reminds me of this video here:

That is, there are so many things to look at that in the end we forget others. That is why it is important to be patient and observe with magnifying glass what happens: look at the fingering of the fingers, the notes that appear, the rhythm, the hue, the angle of the hand, the nuances of intensity, and above all, what it says the teacher.

6. Do not practice anything

There is not much to say about this bad habit. Not practicing is not really a problem since if you are not interested in the guitar you do not practice and that's it. The problem comes when someone says it's hard to play the guitar and doesn't practice anything.

Do you think you can say that you don't know how to play, that you are clumsy or that the teacher does not explain well or that in that video they do not explain well if you only play 5 minutes a week while lying on the couch watching a movie?

I think you have to give everything first and then decide if it is really impossible to play the guitar. In short, try to erase these habits if you have any and keep playing and practicing.

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