How Imitating Famous Guitarists Creates Bad Habits In Your Guitar Playing
It’s not true that you will be able to get much better at guitar by copying what your favorite players do. Often, they use inefficient technique that would prevent you from getting better (and would need to be fixed).
Question: “Tom Hess, so why should I play any differently than my favorite guitarist? If it works for him, it must work for me… right?”
Although some guitar players are able to play cool things using inefficient technique, this does not mean you should adopt the same approach. When you copy inefficient technique from others it holds your guitar playing back as a whole. This means it takes you longer to play how you want.
The following are just three habits guitar players often have that do more harm than good to your guitar playing:
Wrapping Your Thumb Around Neck While Playing
A lot of popular guitar players keep their thumb wrapped around the back of the neck while they are playing. Copying this prevents you from being able to play scales, arpeggios or licks that require stretching to play frets that are far apart. This also puts a lot of unnecessary strain on your fretting hand/wrist. Instead of wrapping your thumb around the neck, keep it around the middle of the back of the neck.
Wearing Your Guitar Very Low
It is popular among guitarists to wear their guitar low while standing. Playing guitar very low while standing makes it more difficult to play accurately. This occurs because you are unable to keep your thumb below the top of the neck. It forces you to bend your wrist, neck and back in ways that can lead to injury over time. By simply raising your guitar, you make it easier to reach notes and play accurately with less stress on your body.
Only Using Alternate Picking
A lot of popular guitarists use only alternate picking in their playing. When you copy this, you are unable to play fast and clean without wasting a lot of motion in your picking hand. When you learn how to use directional picking, it becomes easy to play with speed and accuracy. This is because directional picking uses either sweep picking or alternate picking to take the shortest path from one note to the next.
Read more about how to develop directional picking by checking out this free article on how to play guitar a lot faster.
About The Author:
Tom Hess is a professional guitarist, composer, and international electric guitar teacher. He is also a trainer and mentor to guitar players from many countries worldwide in his guitar lessons online. Check out his guitar website and get access to a free guitar speed mini course, free guitar improvement resources, guitar articles and online guitar videos.
