What's the biggest mistake a guitarist can make

[Goat Mick]

Joining this forum and buying every cool guitar I read about. (OK not all of them but I've bought more than my share.)

[rmp]

Looking back at the approximate 50 years I've been at it..

It would not putting your wife and kids before your aspirations.



When it's all said and done, and some day it will all be said and done...

none of what we did "back in the day" matters beyond the war stories,


You can't get those years back.

If I had to do it over again, that's what I'd be careful about.

[Jmac603]

Originally Posted by Bob from Brooklyn

The biggest mistake would be giving up.

This is the one.

[lowrider]

Another big mistake is not going out and finding others to play with. These days a lot of people play at home, and it's what I did for the past 3 years. but playing and singing or just clapping your hands, is what it's all about!

[SongwriterFan]

Doing what I did: start writing songs and thinking you should put out a couple of albums.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9-...3Cca2rpKY62jAw

[gerhardp]

Focus on all kind of fancy techniques, rhythms and complicating stuff, instead of going straight to the BLUES!

Took me 3 decades to find this out man, what a waste of time.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by woodpecker87

reading this forum instead of just playing the dang guitar

^^ This has to be a contender! Guilty as charged...

To quote the late Gordon Lightfoot: "The kind of row I can really hoe is playing in tune on time", from the song Hangdog Hotel Room. So playing out of tune or off of the beat would be cardinal sins.

[Twin Six]

Not practicing enough. Losing momentum, putting the guitar down for years and then taking it up again with regret for the lost progress you might have made.

[Bluenose]

Leaving a guitar on a couch unattended.

[Monty Christo]

Focusing on gear, GAS, and guitars, instead of on making music.

[Regalord]

Sacrilegious in this forum perhaps, but I think more guitarists should start learning on electric. Too many guitarists give up because a lot of acoustics (especially ones that are "entry level") are just **** hard to play. I'm an advanced level jazz and blues guitarist and I could barely play Wonderwall on my wife's old acoustic. Not shocked she gave up before we met.

I started on a really bad acoustic but quickly switched to electric and it was the best decision I ever made. By the time I got back into acoustic playing, I had the muscle memory and finger strength to where I could handle it. Now I have 13s on my J-50.

[lowrider]

Timing, Timing, Timing, Timing

If you have good timing, you can do a lot of things wrong and still sound pretty good.

If you have bad timing, you can do everything else right and you'll still sound pretty bad!

[koolimy]

My biggest mistake was playing with bad technique until my hands and wrists hurt, and trying to push through that pain far too often. Now my left hand and wrist are permanently in pain and I cannot play in certain shapes. Toughing it out, especially when it comes to hands and wrists, is not the answer!

[Nymuso]

Thinking that when I upgraded to a new guitar I had to sell the one I had. I didn’t know you could have more than one guitar!!!

Hey, I was a kid!! So sue me!!!

[Don W]

Not learning standard notation, scales, and theory at a young age. Learning it when old is like learning a foreign language when old...it takes a lot more work. But...at least I am finally doing it and it has opened up my playing a lot.