What are your bad guitar habits?

[Slothead56]

I never, ever wipe a guitar down after i play it. Ever.

[rllink]

Too numerous to list. I just started taking guitar lessons on Monday. It is like I'm relearning everything. Well, not everything, but I am definitely breaking a lot of bad habits this week.

[Goat Mick]

I wish my stubby little thumb was long enough to wrap across the neck to help fretting bar chords. I have a buddy with freaky long thumbs and he can easily wrap and fret the top three strings while still chording with his fingers.

My bad habit is never leaving anything alone. I keep changing pickups, tuners, ect., to make the guitar more functional to me.

[MBee]

Noodling instead of practicing

[wguitar]

Originally Posted by LeDave

What're your bad guitar habits?

Mine are,

Changing strings every week.
Leaving my guitar out on stand when not playing.
Not practicing the F barre chord.
Not moving my wrist when strumming.
Strumming only, never finger picking.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Hi LeDave,

I don't see many of the things you listed as bad habits at all.

It's perfectly OK to leave your guitar on a stand when not playing, as long as your room is not overly dry (for example, in winter when the heat is on all the the). The upside of leaving it on the stand is that you're more likely to pick it up and play when you see it.

The F chord in general (open or barred) is somewhat intimidating, and (like many) I avoided it whenever I could early on. 45 years later it's all good. Perhaps you can motivate yourself to practice the F and F barre chord more knowing that it is a moveable chord and learning it will open up all the other barre chords in that shape up the fretboard.

I'm a strummer and essentially don't fingerpick. Wish I had, but I like the strumming style I've developed over the years.

It's all good and guitar playing is a very individual thing. Some spend hours learning screaming leads, while others learn sweet sounding finger picking techniques, while other become skilled strummers. Have FUN playing guitar, add little challenges along the way (like learning the F barre chord).

Enjoy the musical journey ~

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by Slothead56

I never, ever wipe a guitar down after i play it. Ever.

That makes 2 of us. I also never change my strings until they are deader than dead. I fret the low E string with my thumb, which drives my classically trained teacher nuts. He did convince me to give up pinky planting, but I had to draw the line somewhere!

I have no guilt

[TBman]

I'll rush something to the recording phase when it really needs more work.

[MakingMusic]

Jumping right into playing without warming up.

[MHC]

Originally Posted by LeDave

What're your bad guitar habits?

Leaving my guitar out on stand when not playing.

This is definitely not a bad habit if the humidity in your space its fine. In fact, it's awesome to leave your guitar out so that you can pick it up and work stuff out more frequently.

My #1 bad habit is noodling instead of truly practicing.

My #2 bad habit is jumping to songs and not playing scales.

My #3 bad habit is obsessing about my bad habits.

[reeve21]

Originally Posted by TBman

I'll rush something to the recording phase when it really needs more work.

Me too, Barry. Especially on a Friday night after a nice Italian dinner and some vino

But I'm getting better. I've got 3 tunes that I've been polishing for over a month and I haven't given in to temptation yet.

[Kyle215]

Originally Posted by wguitar

Hi LeDave,

I don't see many of the things you listed as bad habits at all.

It's perfectly OK to leave your guitar on a stand when not playing, as long as your room is not overly dry (for example, in winter when the heat is on all the the). The upside of leaving it on the stand is that you're more likely to pick it up and play when you see it.

The F chord in general (open or barred) is somewhat intimidating, and (like many) I avoided it whenever I could early on. 45 years later it's all good. Perhaps you can motivate yourself to practice the F and F barre chord more knowing that it is a moveable chord and learning it will open up all the other barre chords in that shape up the fretboard.

I'm a strummer and essentially don't fingerpick. Wish I had, but I like the strumming style I've developed over the years.

It's all good and guitar playing is a very individual thing. Some spend hours learning screaming leads, while others learn sweet sounding finger picking techniques, while other become skilled strummers. Have FUN playing guitar, add little challenges along the way (like learning the F barre chord).

Enjoy the musical journey ~

The point about the movable barre chord is a good one. I would say it’s actually better to learn the F shape somewhere in the middle of the neck because it’s easier to fret there. Then work up towards 1st position.

[zmf]

Originally Posted by MBee

Noodling instead of practicing

Ouch. My worst. I've decided to call it "enjoying playing guitar". Or: when you're good enough, noodling is playing the guitar.

To quote an old movie: "I'm not hung up on the completion thing."

[bfm612]

Originally Posted by TBman

I'll rush something to the recording phase when it really needs more work.

While I don't record, my bad habit is about the same. When I'm learning/figuring out a song, I tend to figure out 90% of the song, then lose my patience for the ending and call it 'good enough'. I'll go note-for-note for most of the song, but more often than I'd like I don't put as much effort on really learning the last several bars vs. the first several.

[Dru Edwards]

Hey Dave, nothing wrong with changing strings every week nor is it an issue to leave your guitar out on a stand when not playing ... assuming you don't have pets or kids to knock it over and it's properly climatized.

That F barre chord is tough but you'll get it ... if you practice .

I hope you're feeling better.

Originally Posted by LeDave

What're your bad guitar habits?

Mine are,

Changing strings every week.
Leaving my guitar out on stand when not playing.
Not practicing the F barre chord.
Not moving my wrist when strumming.
Strumming only, never finger picking.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[DianeA]

To name just a few of my bad habits, I used to like playing other people's instruments at jams. Have since learned better.
Now I ask them to play mine so I can hear it from another angle and they usually hand me theirs...

I have learned not to break out in joyful laughing at a jam when we all get going in the same direction on a song. I used to wonder why everyone didn't smile with glee, too, because it sounds so darn good! I have learned that it is because everyone is probably concentrating on what they are doing.

And another thing I do is I use fret decals to dress up the necks.