
Mistakes Beginner Guitarists Should Avoid
(This is a guest post by the team of bestguitaradvisor.com)
A journey starts with one step but eventually, you can reach your destination with the right moves. This is what a beginner guitarist anchor on.
The quest and the burning desire to learn and perfect the art of playing the guitar can come with a lot of experience to catch up with for a beginner guitarist. Mistakes are likely to be made as a normal path up.
Learning to minimize these mistakes can help catapult a beginner guitarist's passion to great play that touches the hearts flawlessly leaving them with an undoubtedly impressive sense of accomplishment.
This doesn't have to be the hurdle any longer. All a beginner guitarist simply needs is to avoid these common mistakes to realize tremendous growth in the aftermath.
#1. Holding The Guitar In An Inappropriate Way
As a beginner, it is very true you might have just seen guitars but never held one in your hands irrespective the dreams about going the music way. What most beginners do is fight holding the guitar. Some mistakenly hold the guitar by neck only while playing without proper guitar positioning.
Hold the neck and the other part of your hand elbow to connect with the top corner of your guitar far away from the neck. This will help you to secure the guitar against your body to avoid it slipping away or sliding off you as you play your best tunes and notes. Avoid tilting the guitar towards you in such away if hampers clear vision of the frets.
#2. Playing An Out-Of-Tune Guitar
Most beginners hardly notice when their guitar is out of tune. This could result in a play that they only find odd when they probably hear somebody play their guitars while it's in tune. You could get accustomed to an out-of-tune play starting off on the wrong notes and pitches.
Ensure your guitar is well in tune by getting yourself a tuner or seek assistance from an expert to assist you to tune it to place as you learn step by step yourself on how to do it. Professional setting up of your guitar will assist you for lower string action, being the distance of between the fretboard and your guitar's strings. In the end, you have to apply better-controlled pressure down on the strings while playing.
#3. Avoiding Audience Play
Early stages of a beginner guitarist may seem to create the impression not-yet-there mentality or being afraid of ridicule. This could result to beginners shying away from playing for an audience to help them grow or even compliment them on the play that could be coming off so well. A beginner can opt to play before close family members or relatives before even going to face strangers.
One needs the constructive critics, smiles of applause and the mixed feelings about their play to help them outgrow the beginner mistakes for a more pronounced and flawless growth path. This is healthy for a beginner guitarist.
#5. Shunning Off Music Lessons
Does a beginner need music lessons anyway? Beginner guitarists tend to imply music theoretical lessons are boring hence no need to rely on them for more knowledge, opting to train playing the guitar alone.
The reality is it can take a little more time to learn, but the good outcome is that, it will help you as a beginner understand the world of music form rhythms, melody, harmony, handling pitches, notes and so much more as you outgrow your weaknesses and change them into strengths as a guitarist.
#6. Pressing Too Hard When Starting Out
Yes! The enthusiasm could be too much to handle, but one thing that most beginners end up missing is trying too hard to get their act of playing the guitar together in a short time.
This perfect play will have to grow gradually. You are also likely to apply playing the technique of your choice gradually while monitoring your progress.
One doesn't also need physically strain pressing the strings. This can always be done easily despite the hurdles of getting it right with rhythms, scales and such like. Place your fingers on the strings gently as you apply moderate effort to achieve the right sounds notes.
Place your fingers on the fret wire towards your guitar's body. Avoid pressing the fingers exactly right above the fret wire but just slightly behind it because this position doesn't need you applying too much of the pressure for clear notes.
#7. Ignoring The Help Of A Metronome
A metronome helps you slow down while practicing as a beginner, help you understand your progress path for a more achievable natural sense of rhythm.
A metronome will assist the mistakes a beginner guitarist makes by starting out slowly and then bursting out to full speed towards 100% perfection. This where it will help you check your speed of playing your guitar for the right balance towards your growth. I t is a growth pattern monitoring too for a beginner who wants to get it the right way from the start.
#8. Ignoring Your Sound
You need to listen to how your sounds come out, an aspect that beginner guitarists at times don't end up being keen on. This will enhance your minor adjustments on your bends, tuning, strings muting among your favorite techniques. You can best perfect these adjustments by listening to your sound as you play your guitar.
Other mistakes beginner guitarists can avoid
- Handling poorly your vibrato and bending out of tune while playing
- Ringing out strings
- Not warming up before a live performance to whatever audience
- Not learning or playing with others
- Practicing with too many effects
- Practicing inconsistently
- Not having to try what you haven't handled before
Conclusion
Never be caught up in the beginner perfection mindset when you have a lot to learn. Keep learning from others and music content on the best play for a more perfected and informed growth process.
If you embrace minimizing these mistakes, you will also connect gradually your physical and psychological aspects that come along with learning to play as a beginner guitarist.
Lastly, avoid sticking to the beginner mentality that you are not or can't be good in this and that. You can equally do amazingly well if you focus on your strengths as you fizzle out your weaknesses. Eventually, you will realize incredible growth as your music keeps touching and healing the souls across the globe.