Seven Common Mistakes Made by New Guitar Players

There are many mistakes most people make when learning how to play the guitar. If you’re aware of these common issues, you may quickly correct these mistakes and become more proficient at playing the guitar.

Here are some things you should avoid doing if you want to improve your guitar playing.

1. Don’t Place Your Fingers Too Close to the Fret Bar

When playing, your fingertips must press down between the frets. If your fingers are close to the guitar’s fret bar, you’ll end up getting string buzz.

2. Don’t Strum the Guitar Too Lightly or Too Hard

If banging your guitar too hard, you may end up breaking your guitar strings and you won’t have a controlled sound. If you strum too lightly, you won’t be able to hear the sounds you’re playing.

3. Don’t Use One Finger When Playing Lead

You must never learn to play lead with one finger. It will take a long time and your playing will always sound sloppy. Use all four fingers to acquire dexterity and speed.

4. Don’t Just Use Your Fingers to Bend or Do Vibrato

Vibrato and bending comes from your wrist. Many new guitarists try to bend or make vibrato using a single finger, however, all of these actions start by using the wrist.

5. Don’t Press the Strings with Your Entire Finger

Many beginners don’t arch their hands properly. They don’t use their fingertips, instead, they use the top third of their finger when holding down the string.

Using your fingers may work out if you only playing a single string. However, if you are playing open position chords, the sound from the open strings will end up sounding muffled or out of tune.

6. Don’t Forget to Mute Some Strings

If you don’t want to hear a string, remember to mute it. Muting is going to take some practice.

Sometimes you may need to use your picking hand to mute out strings you don’t want to hear, depending on the song you’re playing.

Your fretting hand can also be used to gently touch strings that you don’t want to ring out.

7. Break Down Licks And Riffs Slowly

Many new guitarists start out trying to learn songs too fast.

Instead of breaking songs down and learning them slowly over time, they try to learn them all at once.

If you start practicing licks sloppy, then you’ll find yourself always playing it like that all the time.

It’s more difficult to unlearn bad habits than it is to learn a new one.

Slow down, break the riff or song into small chunks or bite-sized pieces, and learn it right.

Play it slowly at first, then you can slowly increase your speed until you can play it correctly.

By playing properly, you will build up muscle memory and your dexterity and you will be able to improve your overall guitar playing.