Why You Have So Many Guitar Playing Problems (And What To Do)
Ever feel like you are going nowhere in your guitar playing? We've all been in that situation before, and usually this kind of stagnation comes from years of poor playing habits. These kinds of habits will keep you from making any kind of progress at all and leave you frustrated and scratching your head... wondering what you are doing wrong. In this article, I am going to help you understand what your bad playing habits are and how to fix them.
First, here is the bad news about these situations: If you have noticed that you've reached a plateau after many years of playing/practicing guitar, you ‘will' need to face the frustration described above (possibly many times) before you accomplish your musical goals. I see this happen ALL THE TIME to guitar players who have spent the majority of their time teaching themselves how to play. This is a very risky way to learn guitar because without a teacher to guide you, you are almost certain to develop destructive and limiting playing habits.
Now here's the good news: You can reduce the frustration of going through the situations above when you alter the mindset you have toward solving bad guitar playing habits and use the approaches described below.
After giving instruction to countless great guitar players, I've discovered the solutions to any guitar playing issue you can come up with. The following are just a few of the bad habits that I have helped my students eliminate:
1. Poor guitar practicing methods that make it very difficult to learn guitar and achieve your musical goals.
2. Untwisting a knot of poor guitar technique habits caused by years of using too much tension and lacking finger independence in the fretting hand.
3. Frequently using the CAGED method as a means to memorize the fretboard and learn scales. The CAGED method is one of the worst things a guitar player can learn – it causes so many problems that I'd have to devote an entire article (or book!) to cover them all. At the very least, this system will greatly limit your ability to creatively improvise on guitar. Many of my new students come to me frustrated after using CAGED system for a long time and we have to take the time to fix all the problems they developed from using it. However, once we are done, they always thank me because they have become MUCH better players.
4. Poor picking technique that is built off of years of inefficient picking hand movement and/or using an ineffective picking system.
Although the issues discussed above are just examples and the particular problems you might be facing may be completely different, there are common steps that all guitarists should take when fixing bad habits in their playing. By following these steps you will be able to go through the process of solving your guitar playing problems with as little frustration as possible.
Here are the steps to follow:
1. START GETTING EXCITED. Many guitarists have the gut reaction of feeling disappointed when they come across very fundamental mistakes in their playing. However, you really should NOT be feeling this way. Why? Because when you discover major faults in your guitar playing, you are learning ‘exactly' what needs to be fixed in order for you to become a MUCH better guitarist. This is not a negative thing at all – it's a reason to celebrate!
2. Become very analytical. To entirely eliminate a core issue in your guitar playing, you need to:
A. Pinpoint the problem you are facing
B. Get a clear understanding of why the problem is keeping you from becoming the player you want to become
C. Determine the steps you must take to eliminate the issue
D. Figure precisely why these specific steps are the best solutions for solving the issue
E. Picture how much better you will be once you have solved the issue and improved your guitar playing skills
Every one of the five points above is absolutely crucial (and the assessments mentioned will serve as great tools for gaining clarity on these points). Simply ‘being motivated' throughout the correction process of a core guitar playing problem is very important. In order to remain motivated, you must clearly understand both WHAT your specific issue is and WHY it holds you back from achieving your guitar playing goals. You will also find that visualizing how great you will be as a player after solving your problem is CRUCIAL for sustaining a high level of motivation.
The majority of guitar players only focus on letters A and C in the list above – while not paying attention to letters B, D and E. This causes them to become unmotivated fairly quickly, preventing them from fully eliminating their bad playing habits.
3. While fixing your problems, do not spread yourself too thin. Many people feel overwhelmed when they find out that they essentially need to ‘begin anew' in order to solve many areas in their guitar playing. However, this is not the case and you don't need to feel this way.
This takes me to the next point:
4. Don't feel too pressured to solve ALL of your poor guitar playing habits at once. In other words, don't put all of your guitar playing skills on hold in order to fix one bad habit. I see many guitar players make this mistake all the time. Rather than doing this, invest a certain amount of time into improving your problem area, but keep developing your other guitar playing skills during the remainder of your practice time.
5. Don't make the common mistake of trying to eliminate deeply rooted bad guitar playing habits by yourself. There is a reason why you were unable to see these issues in the first place. You need the guidance of an expert guitar teacher to help you completely eliminate any poor playing habits you have accumulated over the years. When looking for a great guitar teacher, always make sure that this person has a proven track record for helping guitarists - who are the same situation as you – effectively solve their playing issues. Learn how to work with this kind of a teacher by downloading this free guide on how to find a great guitar teacher.
6. You become like the people you surround yourself with... so surround yourself with excellent guitar players who will support you as you work on correcting major guitar playing issues. By simply being around these types of people, you will gain a huge motivational boost to reach your musical goals faster. I know this is true, because I continually see the massive positive effect my private musician forum has on every new student who begins taking lessons with me.
7. Perseverance is key – stay patient and push through. When you begin the process of eliminating many years worth of bad guitar playing habits, you will find yourself trying to revert back to your old (more comfortable) ways of playing that lead you down the wrong path. To avoid giving into the temptation of playing what ‘feels' comfortable in the moment, you need to focus your mind on the end result you wish to attain. Find out more about this by reading this article about how to have perseverance as a musician.
Now that you have learned how to solve foundational bad habits, use these free guitar playing improvement assessments to accurately identify the issues in your playing that need the most attention. After doing this, follow the points in this article to start the process of overcoming your biggest challenges. As soon as you begin implementing the points above into your guitar practice and see results, you will feel a huge amount of motivation that will power you to achieve any musical goal you want!
First, here is the bad news about these situations: If you have noticed that you've reached a plateau after many years of playing/practicing guitar, you ‘will' need to face the frustration described above (possibly many times) before you accomplish your musical goals. I see this happen ALL THE TIME to guitar players who have spent the majority of their time teaching themselves how to play. This is a very risky way to learn guitar because without a teacher to guide you, you are almost certain to develop destructive and limiting playing habits.
Now here's the good news: You can reduce the frustration of going through the situations above when you alter the mindset you have toward solving bad guitar playing habits and use the approaches described below.
After giving instruction to countless great guitar players, I've discovered the solutions to any guitar playing issue you can come up with. The following are just a few of the bad habits that I have helped my students eliminate:
1. Poor guitar practicing methods that make it very difficult to learn guitar and achieve your musical goals.
2. Untwisting a knot of poor guitar technique habits caused by years of using too much tension and lacking finger independence in the fretting hand.
3. Frequently using the CAGED method as a means to memorize the fretboard and learn scales. The CAGED method is one of the worst things a guitar player can learn – it causes so many problems that I'd have to devote an entire article (or book!) to cover them all. At the very least, this system will greatly limit your ability to creatively improvise on guitar. Many of my new students come to me frustrated after using CAGED system for a long time and we have to take the time to fix all the problems they developed from using it. However, once we are done, they always thank me because they have become MUCH better players.
4. Poor picking technique that is built off of years of inefficient picking hand movement and/or using an ineffective picking system.
Although the issues discussed above are just examples and the particular problems you might be facing may be completely different, there are common steps that all guitarists should take when fixing bad habits in their playing. By following these steps you will be able to go through the process of solving your guitar playing problems with as little frustration as possible.
Here are the steps to follow:
1. START GETTING EXCITED. Many guitarists have the gut reaction of feeling disappointed when they come across very fundamental mistakes in their playing. However, you really should NOT be feeling this way. Why? Because when you discover major faults in your guitar playing, you are learning ‘exactly' what needs to be fixed in order for you to become a MUCH better guitarist. This is not a negative thing at all – it's a reason to celebrate!
2. Become very analytical. To entirely eliminate a core issue in your guitar playing, you need to:
A. Pinpoint the problem you are facing
B. Get a clear understanding of why the problem is keeping you from becoming the player you want to become
C. Determine the steps you must take to eliminate the issue
D. Figure precisely why these specific steps are the best solutions for solving the issue
E. Picture how much better you will be once you have solved the issue and improved your guitar playing skills
Every one of the five points above is absolutely crucial (and the assessments mentioned will serve as great tools for gaining clarity on these points). Simply ‘being motivated' throughout the correction process of a core guitar playing problem is very important. In order to remain motivated, you must clearly understand both WHAT your specific issue is and WHY it holds you back from achieving your guitar playing goals. You will also find that visualizing how great you will be as a player after solving your problem is CRUCIAL for sustaining a high level of motivation.
The majority of guitar players only focus on letters A and C in the list above – while not paying attention to letters B, D and E. This causes them to become unmotivated fairly quickly, preventing them from fully eliminating their bad playing habits.
3. While fixing your problems, do not spread yourself too thin. Many people feel overwhelmed when they find out that they essentially need to ‘begin anew' in order to solve many areas in their guitar playing. However, this is not the case and you don't need to feel this way.
This takes me to the next point:
4. Don't feel too pressured to solve ALL of your poor guitar playing habits at once. In other words, don't put all of your guitar playing skills on hold in order to fix one bad habit. I see many guitar players make this mistake all the time. Rather than doing this, invest a certain amount of time into improving your problem area, but keep developing your other guitar playing skills during the remainder of your practice time.
5. Don't make the common mistake of trying to eliminate deeply rooted bad guitar playing habits by yourself. There is a reason why you were unable to see these issues in the first place. You need the guidance of an expert guitar teacher to help you completely eliminate any poor playing habits you have accumulated over the years. When looking for a great guitar teacher, always make sure that this person has a proven track record for helping guitarists - who are the same situation as you – effectively solve their playing issues. Learn how to work with this kind of a teacher by downloading this free guide on how to find a great guitar teacher.
6. You become like the people you surround yourself with... so surround yourself with excellent guitar players who will support you as you work on correcting major guitar playing issues. By simply being around these types of people, you will gain a huge motivational boost to reach your musical goals faster. I know this is true, because I continually see the massive positive effect my private musician forum has on every new student who begins taking lessons with me.
7. Perseverance is key – stay patient and push through. When you begin the process of eliminating many years worth of bad guitar playing habits, you will find yourself trying to revert back to your old (more comfortable) ways of playing that lead you down the wrong path. To avoid giving into the temptation of playing what ‘feels' comfortable in the moment, you need to focus your mind on the end result you wish to attain. Find out more about this by reading this article about how to have perseverance as a musician.
Now that you have learned how to solve foundational bad habits, use these free guitar playing improvement assessments to accurately identify the issues in your playing that need the most attention. After doing this, follow the points in this article to start the process of overcoming your biggest challenges. As soon as you begin implementing the points above into your guitar practice and see results, you will feel a huge amount of motivation that will power you to achieve any musical goal you want!
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