M I S T A K E S

[Vasrely Derian]

Hey guys and gals. I’d like to ask a question, what are the MAJOR mistakes that you’ve made in your guitar playing that definitely had a negative effect towards your skill, process, learning etc. What do you wish you could have done instead? How did you deal with it? As a beginner myself, it’d definitely be helpful to make sure it doesn’t happen to me or others who are just starting out (are are still learning)
Thanks for the answers!

 

[idssdi]

At the start I never ever played with a metronome

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

I don’t know actually. But some people say that when I play, my fingers are at too much angle with the fret board. Apparently that should create problems later on but I have not seen any.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

Holding the pick the wrong way

 

[Ana Psuturi]

For me it was. Playing only fingerpicking now it’s really challenging to play with a pick and also I wasn’t playing with a metronome.

 

[Jen Hapke]

I gave up when I was 16 because I couldn’t figure out how to play anything else than strumming (with pick). I wasn’t patient enough. I started again in 2016 and I only used fingerpicking because that was much easier for me than playing with a pick. I started playing with pick last September I think and the point is, just be patient with yourself.
I am still in danger wanting to much to fast. But I will not give up again.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

I was a stubborn player. I refused to look up tabs to most stuff, but I also didn’t want to do the patience of theory to help me learn stuff by ear. Also never played to a metronome, I usually just played along to the songs. Then I moved to alberta for a year stopped playing and when I came back I started the metronome. And now, I’m into the theory stuff here.
I regret not doing this all from the beginning.

 

[Matt Wildman]

I’ve been playing for 2 years and I still don’t play to a metronome. I really need to fix that. It was only recently when i started to hold the pick like syn and PG teaches us here. All i can say dude is Make sure and hold your pick the way that they teach you here at the school, because once you start holding it another way i becomes hard to change it. And of course don’t be like me and be sure to use a metronome. Also don’t be afraid to dive into theory. I was and still am a little, but it helps your playing tremendously.

 

[Dan Shipway]

Putting the tremolo arm in the input jack XD

 

[Jak Angelescu]

@dan I did This so many times! I think the biggest mistake I had was letting myself talk myself out of things. I didn’t go through with some auditions because I felt I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t go to Open Mic jams because I felt I wasn’t good enough. I didn’t respond to certain auditions because I felt I wasn’t good enough. But that was because a Whole Decade of time I had been told I wasn’t good enough. So I guess I could say the biggest mistake was I let it get to me.I think being fearful and having doubts was the biggest mistake I ever made.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Also comparing myself to others and not realizing My Own Strengths

 

[Ed Seith]

Pushing increased speed without a focus on cleanliness and control.
“Good enough” isn’t. Get better before you increase speed. Patience.
Thinking “who needs theory?”
Thinking that playing for 3 hours on Saturday is just as good as playing 15 minutes a day all week
Giving up. Ever. You’ll regret it and come back, and you don’t know what it will cost you when you do.

 

[Sven Barnitzki]

Beginning with playing bass

 

[Dan Shipway]

This is more to do with building a guitar, I built a kit guitar but didn’t know how to set up the bridge (Standard strat bridge) so it was almost perpendicular to the body and that’s when I began to get a SLIGHT feeling that something was wrong.
In terms of playing, I think it was Like Ed said, Not focusing on clean playing(Mainly due to technique) and going to fast and jumping the gun. Sometimes you have got to go back and re-watch/relearn stuff and this is why I am so happy I am part of this site. I have been able to recap theory I haven’t used in years and also learn crossover picking which has helped immensely with fluidity and clean playing.

 

[Guest]

One of my biggest regrets/mistakes was comparing myself to others. I ended up setting myself up nicely to fail, because I stopped playing and set my playing back. I got over this by realising years on that I’m good at some things and not so good at other things. Like everyone else! I enjoy playing again

 

[Noah Berends]

6 and a half out of my 8 years of playing has been done with bad picking technique. Even though I’ve only spent 1 and a half years fixing this, my picking has already surpassed my old technique as far as speed and accuracy. That was reeeeeealy holding me back looking back. I also made the mistake of comparing myself to others, although once in a while this misguided sense of competition propelled my learning in a new (positive) direction.

 

[Dylan Tower]

Gripping the neck like a baseball bat and i tried copying other peoples picking style