How to Hit ONLY the Right Strings on Guitar

Sharing some hopefully useful tips about how to pick just the GOOD guitar strings! It's a delicate dance between your fretting and picking hand to isolate only the notes you're going for and clean up your playing! Let me know if it's helpful, y'all!

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A little about me:

Sean Daniel is a man. A man of simple needs and desires. And the one desire, no, the one NEED, that stands above all is to spread the challenges, joy and intellectual stimulus of music to people of Earth and beyond.
Born on the mean streets of upper middle class suburban Chicago, Sean learned the ways of the world through the dizzying heights of success to the lonesome depths of failure and emerged with the promise of a better tomorrow reflecting in his eyes and fiery passion in his belly.
He plays and teaches guitar on his YouTube channel where he regularly releases original music and projects to the adulation of legions of fans, who often compare him to Chris Pratt and one time Ryan Reynolds. He’s currently in the market for a nice leather jacket.

[redmed]

It's funny how when you are first learning guitar you have to try so hard to stop from muting certain strings and then when you reach a certain level of proficiency you then have to learn how to mute strings.

[t-bonewolfe]

Hard to focus on the lesson when faced with such a beautiful guitar.

[toddchavez]

How long does it usually take for this to no longer be an issue? I’ve been playing about 2 years and still often hit the wrong string when going from strumming to picking

[autocrow]

Small movements!! The thing that helped me the most is to make sure my picking hand stays in one place and moves very little. Videoing myself playing helps tremendously. I didn't even know my right hand was moving so much. I notice that great players move their picking hand very little.

[garyreidmusic]

So what you're saying is... Practice?

[WestSeaSpirit]

I'm EXTREMELY frustrated because I keep missing and plucking the wrong string over and over grr!

[sillyraccoon]

I love how PewDiePie teaches the guitar

[vinilzord]

As a complete beginner, it's infuriating how most people just say to keep practicing to fix certain problems. Most of the time it's true, but dammit I'm already practicing. It's good to see that some folks like you out there actually offer sound advice.

I'm under the impression that mastering the guitar is like trying to climb the Everest but without even knowing how to walk properly. It's such an overwhelming task. The thing is that I'm ambitious with my goals and I'd like to become advanced in the next 365 days. By advanced I mean being able to play my favourite songs (mostly hard rock and metal). Each time I make progress I feel like there's a new issue to fix (like plucking the wrong strings when doing exercises lol). I have no idea if my goal is feasible at this point. I practice consistently but progress comes slowly.

Any ideas to speed up the learning process and minimize mistakes?

[userenvy]

I got myself in a bad habit of not using a pick to not play too loud at night. Im having a hard time using it now because my fingers are use to feeling where im at . I have a toddler so now Im kind of trapped between wanting to play clear but quiet. Lol . Thanks for the video.

[prajnadeep]

This is the exact video I'm looking for right now. You are awesome. Great video man ❤️

[elliotmccluskey]

Just the video I was looking for and best explanation yet! Thanks Sean!

[trudel]

OMG! Such valuable information in such a comprehensible way, I should have known that 20 years ago! Thank You!

[trontosaurusrex]

Thanks for the video! I'm transitioning from bass to standard guitar, so this helps. That's a sweet D'angelico, great feeling and great playing guitars.

[judewhitbread]

Such a helpful video on picking, thanks Sean.

A tip that works for me is playing and watching myself in a mirror, so I can see for better fretting accuracy without looking while getting a feel for the right positioning, The Everest climbing before you know how to walk is a great analogy!

I can't believe how anyone had the patience to invent the guitar and how to play it, lol. Must've taken a lifetime.

[rippy]

i love these! i’m learning guitar slowly but surely and these techniques work! keep it up sean!

[Jbeliski]

Very important lesson Dano, I mute strings all the time without even realizing it out of the necessity for not being able to reach the full god damn chord in its full glory but it sounds great. I can sing the missing note. BUT shite its a useful thing to subconsciously incorporate. Great to see confirmation on this type of playing. Rock on dude W

[LordTankian]

Great video man. I appreciate you and your videos. They help a lot.

[atomcatz]

I need to catch up on some of these vids. Best free teacher ever!!! Plus the guys funny.

[vidmaster]

Fretting isn’t my issue anymore. But I get scatterbrained when I focus on my fretting I feel myself getting lost between strings cause I never have time to look at my right hand to see where exactly I am. I’ll jump to G from D then hit E then when I want to go back to G I’ll end up hitting D and when I want to hit the right note I’m STILL hitting D like ugh. I drag myself through the dirt because of these mistakes.

[donaldthescotishtwin]

I used a blind fold to train the ear and muscle memory in both hands. Recommended