I downpick almost everything and I always rest my pinky and ring finger of my picking hand on the pickguard. I've been told that's a bad habit but I don't really care, it's comfortable and I can temelo pick like a madman.

I dont keep my thumb central to my hand
I dont adhere to the only one finger on a string at any one time rule when Im playing really fast

Maybe theres more Im not sure

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Well Michael Angelo Batio says he does it in an article in Guitar World, and it doesn't seem to stop him from doing anything.

edit: For the pinky that is...not the ring finger. Didn't see that part.

Resting your pinky is understandable it makews me tremelo really fast but I cant understand ring finger that feels wierd.

Its just more stable with the ring finger.

I dont get this "bad habbit" stuff. Im a guitar teacher (a young one, yes, but my students do very well.)

people naturaly find thier own niche as far as form and playing style goes. when a standard is forced on some one they start to become robots, and what I mean is players who play note for note and dont find the emotion or groove in a song or melody.

PLAY guitar, dont micromanage your fingers.

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Exactly how I see it, i did really get caught up in the whole 'oh shit, i don think im playing properly' But if its comfortable, efficient, and doesnt result in pain i think everyone is different.

I did look at how other guitarists play to get an idea. But now im quite comfortable

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my technique is fine as far as i know, but i learn stuff too fast. ive been humbling myself and playing crap slow these days

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I have trouble anchoring during sweeps > 250 bpm

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I forearm pick. And I play four-note-per-pattern licks way better than I can three-note-per-pattern licks.

I have a habit of swaying when i play.

Kindof like Jason from Akercocke does sometimes.

But technique wise i don't realise of any bad habits.

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I have a bad habit of picking my nose and scratching my ass. I also have a bad habit of sniffing powdered goods up my nose. Oh... bad habits on the guitar. I alt pick everything, hard to bust out into a eco pick unless it's a strict motion like a sweep. This is also pushed into my rhythm, naturally inclined to play master of puppets main speed riff alt picking instead of 'properly' down picking. Got a bad habit of playing leads very sequentially and linearly. Tough time coming 'out of the box'. I'm actively working on analyzing and working on all my problem areas.

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exactly.

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Excellent post.

I have the opposite problem. I use economy picking for EVERYTHING. occasionally ill have to use alternate picking which is tough to get used to.

i do the same thing but its on the pickuprings not the pickguard, if im one the higher strings (e b g ) if im on the lower strings then my pinky is on the pickup ring and my ring is 'hugging' (not sure how to say it) the high e string

i dont see it has a bad habit though, i can control my hand better this way. i have seen a lot of people who dont 'ground' their hand they go nuts and cant really controll their picking motions

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I breath through my nose when I do fast riffs. I tend to be uberstrict when practising my sweeps so they are clean but when I'm done I just blow away sloppy ones. I am overall sloppy and I'm too lazy to do anything about it.

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Sometimes when i do a really hard bit i do this weird face i can't really explain it maybe i should just take a picture sometime.

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Bad habits...I tremelo pick the ''wrong way''.

My neck also tenses up BAD whenever I tremelo pick. I'm pretty sure whenever Diamanth has played our 3,000th show its just going to fall off or something.

I have a bad habbit of picking faster than my fretting hand can go. Annoying.

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out of habbit when ever im about to alternate pick fast i tremolo pick slowly.
Pisses me off

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my jaw moves funny when i play fast. kinda with my hand, like up and down the fret board.and i have trouble string skipping on three note patterns. just fast ones. slow i can economy pick but fast? the mix of up and down is killing me.

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My bad habit is using two fingers und ein thumb to hold my pick.

It doesnt really hamper my playing that much but i would rather free up the other finger,

I have been doing it this way for ten years so its gonna be a hard habit to break.

I like what the guy said about playing guitar.

its so true. You need to have feeling and soul in your playing especially in solo's and stuff.

A prime example is Ruins by Nile. Play that withought feeling and it will sound like shit. But play it passionately and your guitar will scream.

Delay and reverb helps too

yeah my jaw opens and tenses hahahah

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I've focused too much on picking and not enough on fretting hand stuff. I can tremelo for a minute straight at 260 bpm. For shredding, nothing over 180 bpm is comfortable. Shit, rhythm wise I can play Necrophagist, but solo wise I can hardly even play stuff like bodom.

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bodoms a hard place to start for leads. the only reason its any easier than say a slayer solo is that it has a lot of melody. melody in a solo is essential for learning it, you have to be able to hear it in your head if youre going to shred it at 200 bpm


and everyone who picks up a guitar focuses on one thing at first and ends up neglecting other aspects. someone who didnt do this is probably too clinical of a player anyways!

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YES



I'M NOT ALONE

Hahaha

It is so frustrating. I have 90% of The Stillborn One down, and down well, bt I cant PLAY A FUCKING GODDAMN PRIEST SOLO DAMMIT FUCK CUNT>?LL{)(

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Shredding at 180 BPM is pretty good, Nevermore's Jeff Loomis on the intro to "The Psalm Of Lydia" is only doing 66 BPM. . . listen to it. . . very amazing. Of course it is in 32nd notes. Still awesome though. . . I have a bad tendency to get one hand a lot faster than the other too though, horrible thing to overcome. As for the Geeky pick rules and stuff. . . it isn't attempting to make anybody into a robot as far as the sounds go. . . just makes it easier to build up speed and make a more consistent sound that you can control your dynamics much easier with. . . .

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But its fun when you sit down with a snobby shredder and you completely own his Shrapnel ass on rythm chops. You know, the kind that can play "For The Love Of God" but can't get through "Angel Of Death" without, um, dying.

i'm the opposite i don't alt pick anything. I'm trying to learn so I can get better at doing solos but so far...its a bitch...

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Holy shit guys, I'm EXACTLY the opposite. My fretting hand NEVER seems to miss a note, and yet I still can't get very consistent super-fast tremolo picking. I'm experimenting with heavier pick guages(bought some Stubbys in 1.0 and 2.0mm) to see if I can improve my picking. We should trade hands.

I guess I need to work more with a metronome, whilst standing too, I've never really done that before(metronome, not playing on foot!).

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I used to use Jazz III's, then I went to dunlop tortex 1.14's, then I went back to Jazz III's.

I noticed (for me, anyway), that when I went to the dunlop tortex's, I was hitting the strings at more of an angle, and sweeping was very computerized. By computerized, I mean very mechanical sounding.

When I went back to the Jazz III's, I concentrated on hitting the strings more perpendicular, and consolidating my stroke so that my picking hand was barely moving at all. With sweeping, it started to sound more fluid and natural, so I have been expanding on picking very close, consolidated, and accurate.

I fucking love Jazz III's. Its the only pick I'll use.

Obviously that's all I use as well.

i used to be a tapaholic. like dave mustaine a drunk.wait he's still a drunk. I"LL TELL U WN I"VE HAD ENOUTGH@!@

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i fret faster than i pick. i miss a fkin important note do to pickit and it just sounds kinda slopy plus i tremelo mostly anything

Very well put, but at the same time there are proven techniques for better guitar playing. It's all well to say play how you feel, but if the foundation is not there, you'll never be able to take a shit in the upstairs bathroom, correct?

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hmm that's a good question.

well I don't know about electric guitar. but classical my biggest problems was rushing into chord changes and what not. then there's the constant barring that pisses me off.

I figure there are so many diff natural levels.....that does not always apply.
You know...some people naturally jam with ease and without dissecting every nuance of the craft.
But hey....that's just me.

No, this is not an excellent post and I hate this kind of empty headed crap. There is a "correct" way to play guitar which is in no way detremental to style. This "correct" method is encouraged by professionals because in the long run it is best for you. If people didn't learn a method they'd be downpicking everything with their forearm and cutting off their pinky getting in the way. Sure alot of these things are trivial, but accumulated they can hinder your speed, indurance, dexterity, etc.

"Micromanaging" your fingers is a great way to become a greater guitar player and eventually it becomes the ONLY way to increase skill level, effeciency, and clarity.

Basically what's initially comfortable isn't always best and trying out a method isn't going to ruin innovation (if anything it will let you become more innovated). Learning new things is always awkward at first but your muscle memory will develop. Of course there are always personal exceptions.


As for my bad habits..I'm lazy. Also when I'm practicing something I often become distracted and start playing something else. I also tend to "half" learn things and end up getting back to them much later.

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Great post Darko.

playing way to fast is one of my bad habits...

I have found that you can be just as heavy with 160 bpm as you can at 220 bpm!

I just wish my right hand thought the same way!!!

and some people are happy with only playing to acdc and stuff like that. if you want to take it to the big leagues of playing, that is, pushing yourself to your limit instead of just "jamming" you need to have some semblance of the correct technique.

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Just this afternoon I lifted my guitar into the air to move it over a bench,and the headstock's point(RG)went strait through the porcelin light shade cover thing,and showered my head and the room with shards of porcelan.The light blew and smashed and cracked loudly,and I stood their for a moment trying to comprehend what happened.

I have a bad habbit for trying to do learn things at a fast tempo rather than just starting slowly , and I always pick to fast.

I used to never trim my strings after putting them on. I payed for that once because the strings hit a light socket, showering me with sparks. It was pretty cool though.

as far as technique goes,
I try to have the palm of my fretting hand flat against the back of the neck (but i dont want to fix that, because I can play with the proper hand position when i need to, I just prefer not to.
my bends are often very wide of the mark,
I tend to use legato far too much, and my fast 3 note per string legato runs tend to group in triplets because they're uneven. which causes real problems when i dont want to play triplets.
also, I've developed a right hand playing style which is far more comfortable with the guitar lower down. when I play sat down, the guitar is too high, and i get a bad pain in my shoulder.

but i don't consider my technical flaws as bad as:
i tend to revert to the same riffs/licks/progressions when messing around/improvising, and I also tend to unknowingly pinch things from other guitarists

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I used to have that problem, but then I started playing with my guitar sitting in a more classical position. It is far more comfortable for my right arm and my shoulder doesnt cramp up anymore.

haha dude im the exact opposite. Im good at leads for the amount of time i've been playing but i cant play rhythms at all.

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I hadnt trimmed the strings either,but it was the neck that smashed the light.The strings broke your light socket?

my goddam pinky is double jointed and goes out a lot

That must really piss you off.

Like in the middle of a solo and *pop*

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I recently noticed that I touch the strings with my right hand
index nail when I play powerchords fast.I also get that scratch
effect,probably cause I pick too hard.I am pathetic

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Hmmm... Well currently my bad habits include allowing strings to ring out sometimes during solos without muting them properly when switching strings... just kinda hope the notes die out or I can do a quick across-the- fretboard mute eventually, make sense? Also, there is a certain technique that makes fast alt. picking more efficient with the right hand, basically it's curling the fingers that don't hold the pick inside your palm while still relaxing them, as opposed to letting the middle, ring, and pinky hang. So what I do is fold them in during solos and let them hang for rhythm parts. This works best for me, and make up your own mind as to whether or not it's a bad habit. I would like to hear if there are people that do this, though. What else... Def. one is I'll learn only my favorite parts of songs I like cuz the rest may be boring for me. Short attention span I guess. But bad habits are almost necessary for learning how it is done properly. Or maybe that's bullshit.

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my bad habbit i play guitarwhile i suck atit

and i never wanna practice stuff, i just wanna play it, wich ends up in not being able to play anything rilli

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I like to pick my nose while I play.......j/k

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I DON' PLAY FAST ENUFF

being so good nah i dont keep my pinky close to the fretboard

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I smoke, drink excessively, curse, spit, tell dirty jokes, beat children, blaspheme, mumble, talk my way out of wearing a condom, condone abortion, support genocide, watch TV, make fun of retards, eat meat on Fridays, eat food off the ground, molest children, read books because Oprah suggested them, and have impure thoughts on the guitar.

Spending too much money on them.

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I end up alternate picking most things. Unless I find a pattern in a lick or riff that would benefit from economy picking or something, then I have to concentrate and do that part over and over until I can do it smoothly

Haha fuckin oath!

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Damn isn't that the fucking truth? Just music in general. 9k this last year alone. Or more. Its become a freaking obsession.

I must definately agree there is hardcore wrong ways to play guitar. For one some people that start playign hold hte pick so wrong i want to punch them in the face.

But anyways. As far as my problems... I lately don't put out enough effort to "practice" I just make music and play my music. Barely increase skill there. Maybe just creatively. But i FINALLY broke the years of downpicking. I'm definate proof that if you want to break a habit you can. I started alternate picking and economy picking on purpose thinking about it. And forced myself to do it for everything. And it stuck sure enough. Some things i can't alternate pick and i'll try just to try to get better at it. But oh well its a work in progress.

I also need to learn more bands solos because... my solos are almost only Iron Maiden based... in style and progression.

Oh yeah a real bad problem (i think) is my sweeps.. its wild.. when i sweep my right hand literally... does the same .. "curve" if you will of my left hand. Like.. it makes a quarter circle downwards. if that makes sense. Like as my hand goes down it goes backwards as well. Weird..

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I have a bad habit: sometimes I rest my hand on the bridge. maybe because I played guitar for 5 years before gettin' a Floyd Rose.

I too alternate pick everything, sweat infront of people when playing, and I stick my tounge out abit when playing something complex or fast...

Hahaha, I sometimes do that. I also sometimes wiggle it and by the time I finish playing something, I wonder why my lips feel weird!

I've been told I sometimes move my jaw around as well.

Oh dont' get me started about hte faces. Apparently i bite my lip like nobodies buisness. Not to mention when i play drums i make some pretty intresting faces... ha

I do stick out my tongue sometimes too. I do alot of jordans in different things.

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Bad habits? I believe that you can learn wrong things. When you're first starting out, you'll have tendencies to play 'comfortable'.
That's not true, everything is uncomfortable when you first play. I had to force myself to implement hand position and technique into my practice because I knew that it would be required later on.

It really annoys me when I see players hide their pinkie on their fretting hand behind the neck. I don't get it. What is the reason people put fingers behind the fretboard? Shouldn't they be on top of the fretboard, ready to go? It drives me nuts.

Also, I find it extremely important to stretch your fret hand while playing. Getting used to 5 fret stretches (may require jumping) forces you to play with a wide hand and forces you to have your palm off of the neck and anchoring with just your thumb (fret hand).

It also looks cool because your fret hand looks like a claw!

I have a hell of a time playing any leads but my rhythm playing is pretty good. I have trouble doing quick string switches while tremoling certain ways. IE: Secret Face from Death. that part is still gives me trouble.

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another bad habbit,

always, when i improvise in harmonic minor scale, it sounds arabic, even if i try to make it sound classical or sumtin

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Can someone try to explain to me what economic picking is? How is it different from alt. And how is it possible to sweep at >250? Just an arpeggio?

Is that suck a tit or suck at it.



Anyway while playing some songs that have a lot of palm muting, after the muted part is over, i tend to rest the palm (only the part near the "root" of the thumb) on the bridge (of course not touching the strings)

Is this a bad habit
I am sure it is... but it gives me more stability to play fast then the pendulum style.
But of course i am only a beginner.

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Unless it's the 5th or 6th string, I usually end up adding in harmonics where I shouldn't. I think that's what they're called. The palm of my picking hand barely touches the string as I strike it, creating a slight squeeling sound (almost like it sends it an octave higher) within the note. And sometimes I even use extra palm mutes. For example, I can't resist playing Raining Blood like this (* = palm mute, v = harmonic squeel, h = hammer on, ~ = slightly vibrate the note):

|----------------------------------------------
|----------------------------------------------
|---------------------v-v-----v-v-------------
|----------8h9-8-----8-7~----7-6~------------
|--------7---------9--------8------------------
|-0-0-0----------------------------------------
...*.*.*................*...........*.........................

Alot of songs with separately picked notes seem, to me, like they're missing something if I don't add little things like that. But for the most part, I manage to stay within the exact notes (or try to anyway).

It can't be a bad habit to rest a hand on your bridge can it? I mean it gives you stability and an anchor forspeed. All of you people feel comfortable playing with your picking hand not touching the guitar? That seems weird

If I'm tremolo picking two strings like on a couple songs by Immortal or if I'm playing power chords at roughly the same speed, sometimes my hand won't be anchored, but any other time it stays touching.

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Depends on the riff. Some are easier to play with your hand resting (particularly trem-picked riffs), whereas others may require a bit of a lift (real energetic, reptitive downstrokes on inverted, 4-string powerchords, for instance). I've noticed, though, that some guitarists who don't rest their hands on the bridge almost always have their pinkies anchored to something, like the edge of a stud-mount bridge or a humbucking pickup. This seems to allow for a good speed anchor, but I don't do it so I don't know if it's a bad habit or not. I rest my hand on my Floyd all the time, because it makes palm-muting as simple as sliding the blade of my hand over by an eight-of-an-inch (or less, even) most of the time.

My problem is that i'm averse to sliding up with my pinky (instead, i try to hit the same note by going up to the next string) and I economy pick when I shouldn't. I didn't realize I did this until I attempted the opening phrase from that monstrous solo in Creeping Death. Pretty fuckin lame on my part, I think.