The 5 WORST Mistakes Every Beginner Guitar Player Makes

Going over the worst mistakes you can make as a beginner learning guitar. Thanks to @sweetwater and Washburn for sponsoring this video. Check out the Washburn Bella Tona Allure:

Also here are the strings I use:

If you feel like leaving a tip:

[Dutcharmytent]

Seriously, I wasted five years learning down and up. One day I played wonder wall free style and then realised that down and up is just a guide. I now play with feeling and emotion. You said it.

[reginasayles]

Learn the barre chords people. They help you connect scales and triads. If you later decide to not use them, you will still have all the knowledge surrounding them.

[diversidad]

Brother, I strongly disagree about bar chords. I think you should explain to whom or what style your approach is directed, I play alone, I am Hispanic, I play in restaurants and events, sometimes in the company of another guitarist and the bar chords are needed, especially because of the colors and the robust and large sound that the basses give, Latin rhythms need the 6 sounds. I accept your approach when you're going to handle arpeggios, as I say. It depends on the style. It's a feedback with love, think about it, there are styles that do need the 6 sounds and the bar chords. In short, it is not necessary to play all 6 strings on the guitar, but it is convenient to learn how to use them all to have more options and musical possibilities. Music is not a matter of comfort, in fact if it is anything, it is the opposite: determination, effort and work. But above all, you have to avoid being comfortable if you aspire to be a musician with all your letters, at least when you start, once you have passed that phase is when you start to "have mischief". I get someone who knows how to play at exorbitant speeds but doesn't know how to play an F Major and I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

[tahoemike]

When I try a new song the first thing I usually do is mute all the strings, and just try to find the groove with my right hand playing chucka-chukka's and plinka-plinka's along until I find something close, and get a feel for the timing or picking pattern. After that I let the melody and the feel of the tune be my guide.

[SuperJsimo]

Jack johnson plays barre chords all the time, it gives him that signature rhythm and style. Learning barre chords is essential for certain styles of playing, so definitely learn them if you want to get as much under your belt

[tomm]

How about this one: don’t start with a pick. Acoustic guitars are meant to be played with fingers and it honestly feels a lot more natural vs a pick. Also the sound is a lot less harsh.

[h.smontage]

in fingerstyle the usage of bar chords is crazy
don make the bar chords look not important they are extremely important in fingerstyle

[greggorsag]

Barre chords are actually much easier than getting clear sharp tones from partial chords through muting and “missing” strings, at least in most contexts where people play acoustic guitars. That technique is great, and is part of a more advanced player’s arsenal for sure, but it requires right (strumming) hand accuracy and control, particularly with faster tempos/strummy parts. As others have said, the type of music you’re playing decides the issue, and barre chords are an essential tool much of the time. Plus, they’re simply not that hard. I have small hands, and with work, I got mine to a consistent point for gigging and recording in a reasonable time. With work, mind you, and one has to get a few tips at the start so one doesn’t waste practice time/muscle build with inferior technique.

[mirandaterrell]

3:25 is by far my favorite moment with you, trying to say down down down up at lightning speed w/a gruff voice impression. Thank you.

[richardbrucemusic]

The #1 thing a beginning guitarist can do WRONG is watch this video! Just about everything this guy says is WRONG!

"Up" and "Down" are perfectly fine strum descriptions for a beginning guitarist if he or she doesn't know the musical terms. "And a one-a and a two-a" is SO Lawrence Welk! Once the beginning student gets the idea, a teacher can THEN introduce the concepts of timing and time signatures. If I started my students out on those, I'd lose half of them in the first month.

BARRE chords (not BAR chords) are essential for moving from 1st position "cowboy" chords to becoming an intermediate guitar player. I'm not saying that they have to be perfectly formed, or played for hours on end. That would also cause me to lose students and possibly even cause injuries to fragile young muscles and bones. But as a teacher who knows music, we should at LEAST introduce our students to barre chords so they don't become reliant on using a capo for the rest of their musical lives. And if a student wants to play even an intermediate song like STP"s "Plush" properly he or she is DEFINITELY gonna need that F barre chord, as well as a Eb major 7th using the C position on the 3rd fret.

Learning scales AT LEAST in the open/1st position is SO important in order to become familiar with the notes in the first 4 frets of all six strings so we have a common language between teacher and student. If I have to say "put your first finger on the first string at the first fret" every time I need the student to play an F note, the lesson is going to take twice as long and not accomplish the REAL objective, which is to teach the student HOW to fish instead of GIVING them a fish. If he or she every gets into a band situation, or even jamming with others, it's not going to go well if he or she has to get (or give) instructions on how to form chords that way every time.

Same with teaching songs, BTW, Yes, playing music IS the goal. But in order to give a student a LIFETIME of LEARNING songs, I have to help them develop the SKILLS. Otherwise, the student becomes dependent on the teacher to "teach me a song" instead of the SKILLS to learn songs ON THEIR OWN. Of course, that keeps the students coming back, and the $ flowing. Not my goal as a teacher.

Yeah, open tunings are fine and even fun - if you want to be Duane Allman. But as much as I love Skydog's musical styles, he's DEAD. And there's about a one in a billion chance I'm gonna be as good as or better than him. The world already has one in Derek Trucks. Let's leave the open tunings to the advanced students, ok?

About the only thing you mention that I agree with is learning the diatonic chords and the notes they're built on in each key - the numbering system. I'm not big on calling them by their more traditional names, like tonic, sub-dominate, dominate, etc. Heck, if a parent hears me using those terms with their child, lessons are OVER ;-) It's the NUMBER of the chord that's important - especially again when playing with other musicians. Often called the "Nashville numbering system" it's vital to their future musical lives to be able to quickly and easily communicate. Watch Billy Gibbons when he sits in with other musicians. Of course, he only needs three fingers to communicate what chord he's going to next :-) but the idea is the same. Jazz musicians? That's a WHOLE 'nuther language. Peace!

[PunkRockVibes]

Nothing at all with power/bar chords. Disagree with that one. Been playing power chords for over a decade. Depends on the style of music.

[MrSDFD]

1. Don’t learn chords. 
Learn triads.

2. Don’t learn all notes of the major scale, top string to bottom. 
Learn one octave major, minor and pentatonic scales starting at their root on each string.


3. Always play to a metronome or drum track, even when noodling.

4. Noodle at will but pay attention to intervals.
Even sour notes have an interval!

5. Have fun. When it’s not, you’re playing it wrong.

[THE-zvvj]

first thing i learned was bar chords I can crush all 6 anywhere on th fret board I fingerpick . even wrote 2 songs using them.. . Im glad i learned it, It has served me very well in other aspects of MY playing ..

[christopherlynch]

Do y know mad marching man ? I am 66, been teaching since I was 16 ! I agree !!! Hat ddudddu shit and I also have never taught one way barre chords...good on you man. Ps Prince used his Thumb ...enough said !

[pathfinder]

Both you and Rick Beato have talked about muting the top string with your thumb. Well, Im so happy for you two that you have long fingers and thumbs. It is next to impossible for me to reach the top string with my thumb on an F chord, and beyond impossible to do it with a C chord. Please understand that we are not all created identical.

[yvrelna]

The down-up thing always confuses me, tbh. I usually just strum by feel rather than strict up down thing.

I think this down-up thing may be fine to notate when a song has a very basic strumming pattern, but with most actual songs, even those that sounded simple seems to require more complicated strumming patterns to actually have the right feel for that song. You may only be strumming the bottom three strings, you may put an accent on a certain beat, the strength of the strumming may be in increasing strength, the pace of the strums may not be uniform, etc. It gets overwhelming really quickly to go by up-down patterns if you try to think about the hand movements pattern.

I am still not very good at coming up with it on the spot, I'm still a beginner at guitar, but I usually with a few tries, I'd just develop my own strumming pattern after listening to the music or watching someone demonstrate the pattern they use, and half the time I didn't even know what strokes my hands are actually doing, but as long as it gets the right feel for the song, then I think that's fine.

[Ryan-Kako]

Agreed. I never understood the down up way of teaching made no sense. When I first started I spent so much time trying to count the down up strokes. Music has always been a feel.thing

[positivelynegative]

I don't know what level of "beginner" this video is aimed at, but it's certainly above my level. He's using terms I'm not familiar with and talking very fast. Two minutes in, I'm done.

[srakagensta]

Learn the barre cords PROPERLY so you can play with puting the bar on and of, thats much better

[Hungrykittynomnom]

You are a great teacher and have taught me a couple of things from the one or two videos I have watched. I have to respectfully disagree with the bit on Barre chords unfourtunately. After some practice I can use them fluently and ring most notes and there are certain songs such as All Around The World by Oasis that use these alternative barr chords in the bridge sections. Further to this, playing them regular helps hammer the E string notes into any newbies brain further unlocking their knowledge of the fretboard. Other than this, I think everything I have heard you say is spot on brother.