Bad habits??

I'm very new to this game but I can't help but wonder, what bad habits do I really need to avoid? The tutorials are great for presenting various details, exercises, and motivational reading, but there is little discussion of what type of things to avoid. This is where an instructor would be useful - to stop me from curling my wrist a certain way or strumming goofy.

Are there any specific bad habits that I should be watching out for??

-Kirk

Not using your pinky is a bad habit most, if not all, beginner's pick up. So use it instead of streching your ring finger to accomodate for it. But for trills and such, your ring finger might be best since you need the strength of it.

the main one is tension.

never have tension, ever. if you are playing fast and your arm starts to tense stop. only play as fast as you can play relaxed. this will lead to faster speed in the long run and also allow you to avoid hurting yourself. repetitive strain syndrome is caused by this.

other than that, try and use all four fingers when playing lead, develope thsi as soon as possible. also try to alternate pick everything. eg up down up down etc.

also with lead pick from the wrist not forarm. the forarm is for changing which string you are picking and the wrist is for striking the string.

i would also sugest when playing lead placing your palm of your picking hand on the strings above the one you are playing. and laying the fingers of the frettin hand on the strings below you are playing. so u are mutting unplayed strings.

ohh also try and play with the tips of your fingers.


cabt think of much else hope this helps.

Some bad habits I see most are inefficient left hand techniques. One major part of this is applying too much unnecessary pressure to chord or finger notes. You can easily tire out your hand if you are grabbing each chord with maximum pressure and you'll also effect the quality of the notes you are fretting.

For a practice exercise, place your finger on a note as you normally would. Let's try the 3rd fret of the 6th string. Try to remember the amount of pressure you use to play that note. Now take your finger off and then reapply it only this time gradually apply pressure until the note rings out clearly. Remember the difference in pressure that you normally use and what you actually require. Practice this all over your fingerboard and see if it doesn't make a difference in your playing.