Chords for How to Fix 3 Mistakes Every Beginner Guitarist Makes | Fender Play

[Gb] _ _ [E] _ Hey everybody, Scott Goldbaum with Fender Play here,
and in this video we're gonna talk about
the common mistakes every new player makes,
so you can start your learning journey the right way.
We're gonna cover the importance of tuning
before every practice session, correct posture,
and playing with a metronome or drum beat.
Focusing on these three things will help you
set yourself [Bb] up for success and progress quicker.
Now for those of you who aren't familiar with Fender Play,
it's the best online resource for learning
the guitar, bass, or ukulele.
We have paths to suit every player's needs
and over 3 [Gb],500 lessons to help you reach your goals.
You can sign up for a seven day free trial right now.
Alright, onto the lesson.
The first thing we wanna correct is forgetting
to tune before every session.
It's absolutely crucial that we always tune our guitar
before playing so that every string sounds good together.
If we don't tune our guitars before we start playing,
everything's gonna sound a bit off,
so it's easy to think [Eb] you're the one
playing something incorrectly.
So for instance, check this out.
[E] Let's say I was taking an E major chord,
but the B string was just slightly flat.
Listen to how off that sounds.
And all of a sudden you think you're putting in all the work
and doing everything right,
but because that B string [B] wasn't perfect,
it didn't sound as good as it could have.
It's important to know that tuning regularly
also helps us to learn our string names,
which is an essential step for every new guitarist.
You know, you can know these by their number names,
six, five, four, three, two, and one,
but it's better to be able to refer to them
by their [A] letter name, E, A, D, [E] G, B, and E,
and that's gonna help you every single time
you're using something like the Fender Play
or the Fender Tune app, any of the tools in Fender Play,
or even a Headstock tuner or a tuning pedal.
You're gonna wanna see the letter pop up
whenever you're playing the string.
Now also, the more you tune,
the better you're gonna get at [Abm] it.
It allows you to tune quicker and more accurately.
So don't compromise the time you put into tuning before anything.
The next thing we wanna talk about
is playing with bad posture.
I can't tell you how many times
I've walked into students' homes,
and they've just wanted to sit back on the couch and slouch.
When we first start playing guitar,
physically navigating all these moving parts
can feel a bit awkward,
so it's very easy to accidentally over strain ourselves,
trying to fret and strum new notes and chords.
So considering our posture can help us play comfortably
for longer periods of time.
Sit up straight and allow the guitar to rest and balance
between your thigh or your lap and your body
with a little bit of help from the elbow right here
or the forearm sitting at the top.
We don't wanna hunch our back over the guitar.
And our strum hand, like I said a moment ago,
as you have your forearm just resting on the top,
you want that strum hand to drape over the guitar right here.
In addition to that, the fret hand should be rounded
and relaxed while we slightly push against
the back of the fret board.
We don't wanna clench our hand around this part of the neck
as though we were holding a baseball bat.
Now as you play, check your posture
and ensure you're not overcompensating in order to play.
If so, just pause, rest, and reset.
During the first few weeks, it's best to practice
in shorter increments, more often than not,
while you gradually build strength and stamina.
Soon it's gonna begin to feel a lot more natural.
So again, just be mindful of your posture,
where you're situating the guitar on this side of your body
and to not over clench with your fretting hand over here.
All right, the third mistake we wanna fix
is ignoring or not even using the metronome at all when practicing.
Playing the right notes and chords at the right time
is just as important as playing the right notes themselves.
So playing using a metronome or drum beat
is a great way to practice this from the get-go.
When you're trying out a new song or a new riff
and you're starting to get the hang of the notes,
once you've gotten comfortable with that,
try then playing along with a slow tempo.
This is gonna help you feel the beat
and focus on your timing.
When you feel more confident, gradually raise the tempo,
maybe five BPM or 10 BPM at a time.
Aside from building better timing,
using a metronome helps us to highlight any parts
within a song or a piece which are more challenging,
therefore allowing us to focus on those specific parts.
Setting these good habits within the first month of playing
is going to drastically aid your progress
and ensure that every practice session
ends up being a productive one.
And remember, Fender Play has features
to help with all of these tips.
Our practice mode includes an adjustable metronome
or backing track to play in time too,
as well as the access to a tuner from the tools icon
found under every video on Fender Play.
So sign up for your free seven day trial today
and access the absolute best online learning platform
for guitar, bass, and ukulele.
Hope you found this helpful.
Hope to see you for more down the road.