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3 Awful Guitar Mistakes 99% of All Guitarists Make These Same Mistakes
By Mike Hayes | August 11, 2010
One definition on insanity is to keep doing the same thing and
expecting different results, well if you looked at the way many
guitarists approach learning the guitar you would be forgiven for
thinking that a some of these players were a “few sandwiches
short of the picnic”.
Now I’m not talking about things like dedication, motivation and
persistence, in fact many of these guitarists are above average
when it comes to these type of qualities it’s just that no matter
how much time they invest in guitar practice they always seem to
fall short in the progress department. Here’s why … it’s not a
matter of HOW much practice they do it’s WHAT they are
practicing!
Let’s be clear about one thing up front when it comes to learning
the guitar the only shortcuts you will find are at the butchers’
shop!
Guitarists looking for shortcuts end up taking the longest route
and many miss out entirely!
Sounds like I’m contradicting myself doesn’t it! Actually it’s
true, whether they know it or not (usually not) guitar players
end up being the victim of ‘quick fix’ guitar instruction, when
in reality if they learned their instrument correctly right from
the beginning and how the language of music could be applied to
their instrument they would progress more rapidly and overtake
the ‘quick fix’ guys.
Here’s the 3 most obvious musical ‘banana peel’ type mistakes
that I see 99% of guitar players make!
Mistake #1: guitar boxes – It’s common for guitar players to
learn to play scales by little diagrams (or guitar boxes); these
guitar shapes become the instant solution for lead guitar solos
or are they?
Ever wonder why most guitar solos are much more fun to play than
to listen to? Ever notice why 85% of guitar solos are instantly
forgettable or just plain boring?
It’s because the little guitar box method of guitar instruction
is like trying to teach people how to paint by numbers, everybody
ends up sounding the same.
The solution: Learn the names of the notes in each scale and say
their names out loud as you are playing them. Get to know which
note is under each one of your fingers instead of learning a
generic shape and hoping for the best.
Learn to play from your brain to your fingers not the other way
around.
Mistake #2: guitar TAB – Guitar TAB has been touted as the
greatest thing since guitar strings but does it work? Does guitar
TAB sky rocket you off to a successful guitar playing career
(that’s what the ad says) or is it simply a quick trip over into
the neighbor’s swinging pool?
Guitar TAB gives a guitarist the illusion that they are making
progress but remember … there’s absolutely no point in doing
something if you don’t know what you are doing!
Guitar TAB only works for guitar, it’s a closed world, it only
works for guitar players and it relegates it’s followers to
becoming musical fringe dwellers who spent their entire life
trying to reinvent the musical ‘wheel’.
The solution: Learn to read standard music notation; by learning
to read music notation you will become musically literate you
will understand what you are playing and you will gain insight
into why some things work and why others don’t.
Good players don’t waste any notes; they mean to play every note
they play there’s no accidents.
Mistake #3: key centers – not all songs remain entirely in the
one key throughout the entire piece; therefore a guitarist may
begin playing a solo in one key only to find their solo turning
sour halfway through the performance.
The solution: Learn to identify ‘key centers’ by looking at the
harmony of a song; the chords will indicate the changing keys.
Each scale creates it’s own set of chords, learn to play the
three note (triadic) and four note (scale tone seventh) versions
of chords produced from each key.
Your ear will always lead you to the right note(s) but you must
know why.
Summary: It’s a classic case of the tortoise and the hare, take
your time, learn your craft and you will be rewarded and in a
very soon you will overtake the musical hare; after all he’s not
going anywhere; he can’t!
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