The dangers of self teaching.

I wanted to know what problems most guitarist have when first starting out, and if left to them self could lead to some problems with there playing later on. Like the way they hold a guitar, how the press the strings, ect. Anything you may have been told not to do in the past. I'm sure there are something that I do that are just different from everyone else, but I don't want to be doing something that's going to be damaging my playing.

I only ask because because I found out some thing about my piano playing, that could be more then just damaging to my music, it could be damaging to me. I hope you can see my concern.

Plus it never hurts to keep on you poster and playing. :p

I am completely self taught.
It may take a little longer to learn some things, but you can learn more and hold on to it longer.

Everyone has their own style, and therefore you can never do anything wrong.

What not to do? Don't yank or bite the strings. Leave that to Jimi

never practice naked on the subway or near an open flame. It's a very hard habit to break. Also never practice on the toilet (even though the acoustics are fabulous in there). That rosewood really holds onto an odor.
I'm baaaaaaaaaaack
Phip

lol you guys just made my day.

I'm completely self taught, and honestly I've never had really any problems with holding, playing, or learning. Really I must wholly agree with Domigan_Lefty, since everyone is different and due to that so many different styles of things emerge. Though there is a wrong way to play: whatever hurts you, don't do. if it is physically painful(not just a slightly larger stretch) and actually makes you want to stop, do so. You should never "play through the pain". That's just asking for trouble. :P

And like phip said, rosewood will smell not so "rosey" after it's been on the lou for a bit :D ahahaha

Yea. Playing the 5th fret on your A string and the 20th fret on your D string may sound cool, but Its not recommended.

I believe if your self taught you learn what you want to learn instead of what someone thinks you should learn.

But if I just brake my hand in the right place I can do it! Plus I'm drinking nuclear waste to grow that 3rd that I so desperately need to play the keys at the same time.

If i could afford a teacher to be with me every time I practice, i would do it.

There are certain techniques that I want to be exposed to that someone could tell me. There are certain music theory questions I could ask and they would be answered.

I would have never anchored my hand with my pinky. I would have never brought my thumb around the neck to play the low e. My technique would be flawless, something that is missing from my playing now.

As soon as I can afford a teacher, I will have one.

@justjeff - your pinky could use some work, it is better to have a curve to it. As for your thumb, it not a bad thing if you use it in the right places. Lots of finger guitarist use it for all kinds of reasons. There are some Rock and Metal guitarist who use it to help mute the stings. This can go for the pinky thing as well, I bet you can bar a few stings with it if you used it right. I think case211 said about never "play through the pain". So as long as your not i bet you can adopt most thing into your playing.

I'm self taught also. But, I learned a lot by watching and asking questions. Also, by playing with other guitarists who pointed out bad habits I had.

Phip! I do that all the time, I never found any problems... thou I didnt find out why other band members was other side of the stage last time... ...

Im agc taught haha and sure I blame phip that Im bad :D...

haha I don't know about you guys, but I'm glad phip is back :D he makes some of the wittiest comments :P

@neomass

I'm a self taught guitarist. If you look at my old posts, I rant about people who spend money on teachers because it's not necessary: you can learn everything on your own. After doing that for 3 years, I realize my ignorance of the matter. Even though I learned really fast on my own, I could of learned even faster with a teacher.

This topic's name is perfect for an Album Title

as soon as i can find a good enough teacher which im happy with then I will get one. . .

my lessons are very unproductive sometimes. the other day he showed e a pic of him in a tu-tu. i think thats a little more dangerous than teaching yourself how to play guitar.

In my first few years of playing all i did chordwise was power chords. What a mistake that was.

And how fun that was :D...

@AlexB Your right, I'm butting together an album on my own. I album is centered around self destruction so hey! I'm just kidding round, but something like that may work. BTW I got an eBow but I havn't had the time to try it out yet.

I think perhaps this topic might be stood on its head and called 'The dangers of being taught.' Think about the old school guitar gods of the '60's. Almost every one of them self taught, and all sounding different. Compare them to what (generally speaking) we have today who all seem to sound pretty much the same and have all (with the odd exception) been taught.
I think it's nice to have someone to ask when you get yourself into a real rut, but I always feel a greater sense of achievement when I work something out for myself.

Welcome back phip and complements of the epoch!

That's a great point deefa. When we talk about guitarist these days we say "have you ever heard blank? He sounds a lot like blank." It's rare to hear guitarists that are totally unique anymore. When I first heard: Jimmy Page, Hendrix, EVH, Allan Holdworth, Frank Gambale, Al DiMeola,etc. I had never heard anything like them. To this day, when I hear something new from these artists, I know who it is.

In fact, my own style is similar to these artists. Kinda of a bluesy like fusion style. I'm somewhat unique but not nearly as unique as these guys. Read this interview with Scott Henderson. He's unique but not all that unique. http://www.guitar9.com/interview77.html

I think there was a topic discussing this a while back... hmmm.... but, I definitely agree with both you guys. Though I wouldn't mind having a teacher to help me get more musical knowledge and (hopefully) be able to push me to a greater plane of technical ability and understanding of the guitar, I also feel that sometimes too many guitar teacher impose their style that they learned onto the students. It's definitely not a conscious decision on their part...I hope...

I pride myself on having a unique style(that most other players will say it's a "weird jazz fusiony metal style thing"

@case211,

Hmmmm....I really can't say I know what your style is like in post of yours that I heard but judging by what you just wrote and what I remember of Chris Polands "Return to Metalopolis", I bet you guys are similar. His new stuff leans more towards fusion but his first solo album Return to Metalopolis was very much metal fusion. I say this because I know you like Megadeth and Chris was way into fusion before he got into Megadeth.

Am I right?

*edit*

I had this on cassette tape! Obviously, I haven’t heard it in awhile. Maybe 10 to 15 years! I just downloaded it again. It is a guitarists album fo sho. It’s like Alan Holdsworth playing metal! Also, I’m speaking more of your style of rhythm and not soloing. Not to say you are not an awesome soloist cause you are but Chris Poland is crazy good.

interesting ;) I've actually had people say my rhythms aren't of the more "stereotypical" metal style. My solo style I think is fairly unique(being Poland-y is purely coincidence). I really only ever learned licks from songs that were EVH, RR, or Friedman and after that I got to the point where I started to change around said licks a tad bit and started to come into my own style(still forming however).
But like you said my rhythm's are sort of jazz fusion influenced(no idea how or why haha) I guess, but that's just what other people/guitarists have told me haha another guitarist who listened to my stuff thought I was taught jazz after he listened to it haha

hhahahah Phip.

Some people need teachers. Some people dont need teachers. Sometimes teachers help unlock hidden potential, sometimes they hinder potential. I'm the kind of person that learns by exploring things for myself, usually by trial and error.

the difference between self teaching and a teacher? Simple, you simply wont learn some things from being self tqaught. WIth the wonders of the internet its almost like having a teacher, but some very important critiques about my playing have come from my teacher.