question to someone with teaching experience

Should i pay great deal of attention to my technique from the very beginning, or let it to develop over time?

I'm asking in particular about:

1) should i make sure that my finger are touching only single string (unless it's supposed to touch more of them)?

2) should i make sure that my fingers are always just behind the fret?

3) is looking at either of hands allowed?

4) should i play every exercise with metronome, even if it seems hard for particular exercise?

The question is - should i repeat exercise if i fail at any of these points?



And the real question is - is it better to develop many things at one time, and develop them at slower rate (this will happen when i allow myself for technical mistakes), or should i focus on fewer things at one time, but focus on them really hard (this will happen when I'll trap myself on easier exercies trying to nail my techniqe).


This question may seem silly for some, but I'm sure that one of this methods is better than the another one.


I forgot to mention that I'm playing guitar just for about 2 months.

HB, these are all really good questions for a beginner to have, and i think it's great you're even considering them.

Others will probably have different tips, but to me

1)-3)Yes

4)I'm not so sure about this one. I learned without a metronome, but I can definitely see it's advantages. Do you have anyone to play with? That will help with timing as well.

Repetition will get this stuff ingrained. Should you repeat if you fail? Monotony can take the fun out of learning, but I would repeat if I were you(but take time out if you need it)

Everyone is different, and as such, learns differently. As you progress, you should start getting an idea of what works best for you.

I would start out with a few basics, get a handle on that, and progress from there. You won't be a rockstar overnight, but nobody is. When you get a few things down, the next step should be that much easier. (even though it's not easy, you know what I mean)

Good luck buddy

Should i pay great deal of attention to my technique from the very beginning, or let it to develop over time?Both.

1) should i make sure that my finger are touching only single string (unless it's supposed to touch more of them)?Listen to your guitar. If you're playing a scale from the low E up to the high E, the tips of your fingers should start on the low string, but it's okay if other parts of the fingers touch the higher strings, so long as you're not adding extra noise.

In fact, many times having parts of the fingers touching the higher strings will help mute out the extra noises so that it actually sounds better.

I wouldn't suggest pushing down on any more notes than are needed, but it's okay to let your fingers touch the other strings, so long as it doesn't make ugly sounds. As I said, LISTEN to your guitar. If one way sounds better than the other, that's the way to do it. If you try two different ways and they both sound the same, go with the easier way.

If you're not going to listen to your guitar, why would anyone else want to? :wink:
2) should i make sure that my fingers are always just behind the fret?As close as possible to the fret without going over. But be careful about words like "always", as there are always exceptions to the rule... Oops! I said "always" too... :oops: :wink:

3) is looking at either of hands allowed?When a 3 year old rides a tricycle, do they look at their feet? Of course they do. And when they stop looking at their feet, the parents get them up on a two-wheeler with training wheels.

When you ride a bicycle, do you look at your feet? No. If you did, you'd crash into things.

My point here is that, YES, it's fine to look at your hands if you need to. When you're ready to stop looking at your hands, you'll just stop looking at your hands.

I don't see any benefit in trying not to look. If you feel the need to look, go ahead and look.

You'll stop looking when you don't need to look anymore.

4) should i play every exercise with metronome, even if it seems hard for particular exercise?Yes. Especially if it's hard for a particular exercise. And tap your foot too.

The question is - should i repeat exercise if i fail at any of these points?I'm not sure I really understand this question. Yes, keep going until you get it right.

However, if you are practicing an exercise that is 8 bars long, try and play through the entire 8 bars without stopping and restarting. If necessary, play two bar chunks at a time, then connect them into four bar chunks, and then last but not least, play all eight bars without stopping.

You have to learn to keep going, even when you make mistakes, because no matter how good you get, you'll always be human, and you'll still make the occasional mistake.

It's the ability to make mistakes but keep sounding musical that separates the pros from the amateurs. The only way you learn to do that is to keep going.

And the real question is - is it better to develop many things at one time, and develop them at slower rate (this will happen when i allow myself for technical mistakes), I'm sure there are dogmatic teachers who will tell you you MUST do something one way vs. another, but I think you should work on as much as you can absorb. Only you truly know how much you can absorb...

The trick is to go SMOOTH. Once you are smooth, the speed will come automatically. I tell my students that "Fast is free, it's the smooth that you gotta' pay for!"

or should i focus on fewer things at one time, but focus on them really hard (this will happen when I'll trap myself on easier exercies trying to nail my techniqe).It's not rocket science. While music itself has healing and spiritual powers, learning how to play music is 90% muscle memory, like soccer, golf, swimming, or archery, etc.

If you play soccer every day for three hours a day, you will get good at soccer. Maybe you should practice juggling with your feet for the first hour, or maybe it's best to practice passing for the first hour everyday.

I'm sure you could start a fist-fight with a bunch of soccer fans arguing over the correct way to practice, but the truth is, as long as you're practicing 3 hours a day, you will get better.

Take a look at guitarprinciples.com and get The Principles of Correct Practice. You are off to a good start asking these questions. Good luck. (I am not affiliated with that site.)

4 - If you can't play something, slow it down until you can. It is counter productive to practice something you are doing wrong over and over. In fact, you can teach yourself to do it wrong to the point you may not be able to undo it.

So, if you can't play it cleanly, slow down till you can. The speed will come naturally once the muscles build memory. Having that patience can be the hardest part of learning the guitar.

(EDIT to add: This has been a problem since the day I started, and I still fight it.)

You don't say what your goal is. Like with anything, the result you want should dictate to some extent the path you take. e.g. if you want to play like Steve Vai then you'll need to be super precise, if you want to play like Jimmy Page a little bit of roughness in your technique could be a benefit. Main things are:
Enjoy it
When you get frustrated with something leave it and try something else
Enjoy it
Don't be afraid of tangents and distractions
Enjoy it

Good luck, it's a great journey!

DON'T Look at your hands whilst playing! EVER!!! If you do, Leo Fender's ghost will sneak up behind you and garrotte you with a low E string!

Take a look at guitarprinciples.com and get The Principles of Correct Practice. You are off to a good start asking these questions. Good luck. (I am not affiliated with that site.)Cool website, never saw that one before. Looks promising.

4 - If you can't play something, slow it down until you can. It is counter productive to practice something you are doing wrong over and over. In fact, you can teach yourself to do it wrong to the point you may not be able to undo it.

So, if you can't play it cleanly, slow down till you can. The speed will come naturally once the muscles build memory. Having that patience can be the hardest part of learning the guitar.

(EDIT to add: This has been a problem since the day I started, and I still fight it.)+1.

I think jayfreddy is right on with everything.

You should pay attention to your technique early on because that will become your habit as you go. Bad habits are really tough to retrain. but your technique will get better over time. I have a ton of students who have 'Bambi finger'- fingers that aren't strong enough to hold a note down. As I continually correct it, they get stronger and it gets better. So they're paying attention to it early on but can't necessarily succeed at first. But they get the correction and can get better over time. Soon bambi fingers never happens.

I don't suggest tapping your foot though-I think there's already so much going on in your head to add tapping your foot would be too much.

To your metronome question, yes def use it when it's difficult! That shows a weakness in rhythm and timing. Just make sure that it's not difficult because it's too fast-if so SLOW IT DOWN!

When you are just starting off, the main thing is that you want playing to be enjoyable. As you progress, you need to refine your technique so that you can play more efficiently and comfortably.

I would say to a brand new student, to just work on playing the chords as best you can and not to worry TOO much about the rest of that stuff. However, if you were a student that has been playing for about a year you know your open position chords, 'E' and 'A' form Barre chords, major and minor scales, and can play a handfull of tunes then I would say that there is no excuse for slopping on technique especially on the metronome.

As far as the metronome goes, just remember... flashy licks don't get you gigs, perfect time gets you gigs.

Given that there's a time and place for everything, even in practice.

#1. Yes, and then again, no.

It's already been written that there's techniques that require that fingers touch more than 1 string, so this one is more like the precision of string placement. Yes, you want to practice precisely putting your fingers exactly where they need to be... If that is what you're practicing. You might be practicing something else, in which case stopping to correct your finger placement may hinder that other thing you were trying to learn. No one is disputing that precise finger placement is good.

#2. See #1. It's about precision. If you can place your finger immediately behind the fret, that' usually what you want to do. But not always, for example in some types of vibrato. It also may not be mechanically possible to do so, given a particular fingering.

#3. Yes, and no again. It's fine to look when you need to, even though the goal is to not need to. So get your feet (err, fingers) under you by looking, then do it without looking. Try doing it with your eyes closed.

#4. Again, yes and no. Yes, because you want good time. Then again, no, because you want to have good time without having to have a beat to time against.

#Repeating. And again, yes, and no. You're going to repeat exercises endless times anyway. Sometimes, it's advantageous to stop when you make a mistake and start again. Sometimes, it's advantageous to stop, correct the mistake, and finish. Sometimes, it's advantageous to not stop and get back to where you're supposed to be.

See, it's all about what you're practicing at that exact time. So there's really no yes or no answer, because sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes, no, depending on what you're actually doing.

Let's see if I can give a non-guitar example. I do a bunch of martial arts. So when I'm learning a technique, I might do it like shadow boxing, wthout any partner. In that case, I can start by doing it slowly, and if I make a mistake, I can stop and start over, or correct the mistake and then continue. And that's great practice for getting the technique down so I can use it.

But then, just like music, there's using it live, in sparring. When sparring, you don't get to just stop and start over, you have to keep going. And it's good to leanr to keep going, too.

Nobody is going to say that precise finger placement, a good sense of time, not having to look at your hands, and the ability to carry on after a mistake aren't good things to learn -- we'll all agree that they are. But to get there, you have to use multiple routes. Some sometimes you do one thing, and sometimes another.

One other big thing to remember is that it's practice. And practice is where you want to make your mistakes. Would you play it wrong a thousand times in practice to ensure that you never play it wrong live? Sure you would. So start making your mistakes!

I agree with JayFreddy also, 100%. Tapping your foot, or bobbing your head to a beat will help your "internal subconscious" metronome synch to the beat. I hope this makes sense. I'm not saying you should have to do this every time you play, but if you are having trouble keeping a beat, it certainly helps.