Bought a guitar recently from an independent shop. The guy that ran the place makes most of his money from teaching - he had a kid playing Apache in there while I was browsing. Anyway, we got to talking (obviously) and he said a couple of things I'm stil scratching my head over but couldn't be arsed picking him up on, but one in particular...
I told him I was mostly self taught (as in never paid for or been to formal lessons) and he said the 'trouble with that is you develop bad habits.'
Eh? I' ve been playing and gigging for 37 years and I'm not bothered by criticism but what exactly is a bad habit? I get that trained classical players are taught how to sit, which finger hits which note etc, but surely part of the pleasure of rock and pop and everything inbetween is everyone develops their own style. It's the sound you produce not how you go about achieving it IMO. So what is a bad habit? Am I missing something? Do you agree with this guy, or think all is fair in self expression?
Comments
It irks me when I see players holding a pick with a closed hand/fist. It looks really amateurish and, as said above, it can't help with having a loose, comfortable wrist.
This could be a good game. For each supposedly 'bad habit' that's suggested, try to find a great player that does it. Here's one.
Tell that to Frank Gambale:
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I agree in relation to doing things which will lead to injury, and also where the student needs to be aware that certain styles require you to play in particular ways.
Wrapping the thumb over the fretboard edge (although not always an accidental/poor technique)
Fretting too hard and pulling notes sharp
Misusing 3rds when playing barre chords
Poor string muting technique or none at all.
Poor picking accuracy
Bad timing to the point where it alters the feel of the rhythm
Wearing a guitar at a fashionably low/high pont on the strap to the point where it worsens playing or even causes physical harm to the player.
The flipside is that sometimes less than perfect playing techniques/lack of discipline are the things that result on a player's unique sound but those that are truly good have a style that comes from excelling at one element rather than lacking in another.
Oh I lightly rest my pinky as well, so maybe I'm biased .
Don't know why you put that in then? Funk players and Blues Players use this for good reason.
Going into old git mode, it occurs to me that, when I started playing over 48 years ago, there weren't the teachers around to teach the stuff I wanted to learn, so players like me would eventually get there by obsessively practising for hours and hours a day until they found a way. Things are different now and there's much better information available. But I still think that players need to find their own way to a certain extent and determine what works for them in what they want to do, being wary of those that try to impose their own view of a "correct way".
An afterthought:
Here's a personal example. I'm left handed, but play right handed. This is probably why my biggest challenge is right hand technique. I have to work at it and practice regularly, even to maintain what I've got. I continue to study right hand technique and experiment with different approaches. I've really tried to analyse what players do regarding right hand picking, because I find it so hard. I've heard a lot of views on the supposedly right and wrong way over the years, of which some was genuinely bad advice for me (but might work for others). It's obviously led me to Troy Grady. What I really really like about him is that he objectively presents information on players and offers potential solutions, without being judgemental or dogmatic. It's remarkable how many different players' approaches he presents that are highly effective. There's more than one way to skin a cat.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
But if Johnny Ramone's teacher had 'fixed' that then an entire genre may have never existed.
Perhaps the advice is "If you wannna play great, perfect your technique. If you wanna be great, do what whatever works for you".