Guitar Forums

Nearly every beginner makes the same few mistakes when learning guitar. Avoiding these can save a lot of frustration.

Common mistakes:

Practising too fast

Not using a metronome

Skipping basic rhythm practice

Trying songs that are too difficult

Not tuning the guitar regularly

The biggest improvement usually comes from slowing down and focusing on accuracy.

What mistakes did you make when starting out?

I think my main issue was trying to learn something that was beyone my ability and rushing to get the speed rather than the timing.

I used to always feel that if I could get faster then my playing would improve. As I have grown up, I realise that this is just not true. Timing is everything and it is far better to get this right at a slow speed than get it wrong at a fast speed.

I think my main mistakes are trying to play pieces too fast for my skill level. I also find that I don't really have a plan of practice or direction in my playing.

Sometimes I will start working on something, then over the coming days or weeks move onto something else and completely forget what I was originally working on.

I think this is probably slowing my progress a lot.