What are your worst guitar-playing habits?

Tonedef

And how are you going about remedying them?

At this point, my worst habit is forever misplacing my picks. I've started tucking them into the strings past the nut. Helps a lot! ?

ezietsman

There's many. I'll list the most pertinent ones I can think of now.

1. Not using a metronome EVER. This is bad. Every ~~guitar player~~ musician should always have that thing ticking away, even when you noodle around.
2. I tense my picking arm when I try to play too fast. This causes some serious pain and discomfort in my elbow. I've noticed this and are working on it. No pains for the last week and a half. Good!
3. Not learning songs all the way through. This is rather embarrassing, I've been playing for 10 years and only know a handful of songs, even though I'm able to play many 100s probably. Playing with others will remedy this.
4. We worry about gear. Don't. It won't help. Top class gear is only for top class players. The rest of us won't sound better. Just play the stuff you have until it really starts holding you back. If you can't make that practice amp sound good, you need to practice some more. (unless it is really terrible, most practice amps today are not terrible)
5. Most of us shun theory to some extent. Its boring isn't it? However, being able to improvise solos and licks over any song you hear is not so boring. Learn that theory. Its not rocket science.

G-Man

My most irritating habit (apart from also losing 6 picks in as many months lol) is that whenever I find myself making progress especially with my playing speed, I don't pick up the guitar again for a week and then I have to start all over again. ☹ (Fair enough it's not always my fault but it happens often enough to feel like a habit!)

Tonedef

ezietsman wrote: 5. Most of us shun theory to some extent. Its boring isn't it? However, being able to improvise solos and licks over any song you hear is not so boring. Learn that theory. Its not rocket science.

I'm procrastinating with my fretting and chording exercises. It's just soooo damned hard. And I am simply unable to fret a C. My left hand just cannot do it. ☹

I know it will come in time, but in the meantime I'm spending much more time on my picking than my fretting, and it has resulted in a left/right skill imbalance that is probably not good for me at all.

ezietsman

It'll come with time. I also thought I couldn't fret those chords. Today I can even do an F ?

Practicing scales using a metronome is the quickest way of developing that left-right coordination as well as hand strength and stamina and timing. I wish I did it from the start.

Riaan-Combrink

The bane of many self-taught guitarists - not keeping my left thumb behind the neck to improve finger arc and fret coverage, but having it slide into various unorthodox settings.

Immediately reaching for a capo if I can just sniff a Bb or # [barre chord electric type songs excluded].

As someone who played acoustic exclusively for more than 10 years before touching an electric, still sometimes fretting my notes too hard (and not allowing the dynamics of the electric instrument to do its work).

Worst of all and, I know, worthy of capital punishment: only changing strings if one breaks or my fingers become infected from the rust. :-[ I'm trying to change my ways. 'Hello, I'm Riaan ... and I expect my guitar to sound good without giving her the most basic TLC. Please help me...'.

flatfourfan

.......................that I never bothered with alternate picking. I just downpicked everything.............starting to hold me back though.....but at least I've now gone back to the basics and also thrown in theory for good measure, stuff I was too lazy to learn when I started.

Tonedef

flatfourfan wrote: .......................that I never bothered with alternate picking. I just downpicked everything.............starting to hold me back though.....but at least I've now gone back to the basics and also thrown in theory for good measure, stuff I was too lazy to learn when I started.

Hey! I proud to be able to say that I've kicked this monster in the nads from early on. It still catches me out every so often (especially when I'm practising a particular sequence, which then results in a brainfart and a double-pick) and keeping the same tempo on up and down is sometimes challenging, but I've found that overall I tend to automatically try and get the most economy out of my movements.

It takes a lot of concentration at first, but the movements come naturally not soon after. Funny thing though, I've found that if I concentrate either too little or too hard, my fluency goes out the window.

flatfourfan

Tonedef wrote:..................but I've found that overall I tend to automatically try and get the most economy out of my movements..................

I'm with you on that one, the thing that actually started this crusade was playing with other people. I noticed that me playing a certain song looking like I was playing a million miles an hour, it was uncomfortable and I also got tired quickly........while the other guitarist looked cool and calm.

Some songs do sound a lot more powerful downpicking, but I've used that excuse for long enough now........lol.

arjunmenon

Wow..what a great topic.

Some of my worst habits include:

1. Being distracted easily.
2. Focussing on stuff i know instead of stuff i don't know.
3. Noodling a little too much.
4. Not training my ear well enough (as a result, not being able to identify intervals as well as i'd like to).
5. Pulling faces..sometimes.

These are my top 5. I know there's loads more of 'em.

symbolofmylife

ezietsman wrote:
3. Not learning songs all the way through.

I doubt you are alone in this...Next time someone tries to "impress" you with
smoke on the Water, ask them to play the rest of it. I bet you most players cannot....

CornFlakes

Arjun Menon wrote: Wow..what a great topic.

Some of my worst habits include:

1. Being distracted easily.
2. Focussing on stuff i know instead of stuff i don't know.
3. Noodling a little too much.
4. Not training my ear well enough (as a result, not being able to identify intervals as well as i'd like to).
5. Pulling faces..sometimes.

These are my top 5. I know there's loads more of 'em.

+1 ???