6 mistakes every beginner should avoid
Many beginners are challenged and make mistakes almost instinctively that cause setbacks and difficulties; in many cases, these demotivate the student, even to the point of making him abandon the study of the guitar. But even the most experienced guitarists have at some point had to face challenges and identify and correct mistakes in order to gradually master their mastery of the instrument.
Many of these mistakes happen because we are simply unaware of their importance and let them go. Therefore, we must always be aware of what actions we take on a daily basis that may be blocking our progress with the instrument. Remember that it is the small details that will make great results in the long run.
- Rehearse without tuning
This is one of the big mistakes we make when we start out on the guitar.
Tuning is a task that will take no more than 1-2 minutes, and if we don't do it, it can make us sound totally like beginners.
We must get into the habit of tuning and checking the tuning often when we play.
The different temperature changes in the environment, or the pressure that the guitar case exerts when it is transported, will make our instrument lose its tuning.
Try to tune right at the moment you are going to play.
It is recommended to always rehearse in tune if we want to develop a good musical ear.
- Practice very quickly
A common mistake is to go too fast. Mainly beginners tend to play a piece at 100% of its speed after learning the right notes when they should start at 50% of the speed. This mistake creates bad habits because, at a lower speed, you will be able to focus and make sure your technique is correct, instead of playing at full speed with a bad technique. Use a metronome to fix this issue.
- Do not use metronome or Drum Tracks
Beyond how boring it may seem to us, practicing using a reference to the tempo will make everything we play have much more rhythmic coherence, and therefore musical. That is why this practice becomes indispensable for any musician.
It is not necessary that you use the metronome all the time (I know it can be tedious), but I would recommend you to use it frequently, especially when you learn songs, guitar licks, scales, etc.
Having a constant rhythm will dictate a lot about what kind of musicians we are.
- Study theory in isolation from practice
When we begin to go deeper into the instrument and want to learn theory, we often find that we do not know how to relate this theory to practice.
This means that, over time, we assimilate that theory is one thing, and practice another, and that both parts must be studied separately.
We must always study music as a whole, and theory must be approached as applied theory. That is to say, we must learn the theory as a way of understanding what we are doing when we play, or, in other words, we must practice the guitar in such a way that what we do makes sense in the theory
- Do not seek help in learning
We should not think that asking for help from someone who knows more about the instrument or going to guitar lessons has to be something embarrassing, or that it is something unnecessary.
This will rather make us assimilate better the knowledge of music and will allow us to learn those key things that will really make us improve. We will be able to learn more in less time and understand music in a more compact and useful way.
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- Study only exercises
It is common that when we start learning guitar techniques, we focus so much on it, that we forget that techniques are nothing more than resources to produce music.
We must always remember that the best way to learn music is by playing music. And that entails to learn different songs, pieces or musical fragments, or even, to learn licks or guitar phrases.
In short, studying music will make us grow as musicians. And while it is true that we should never neglect technique, let us not forget that it should be seen as a resource to reach an end, and not as the final goal.