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Are your dreams of becoming the next Jimi Hendrix or Ry Cooder not materializing fast enough?

Before you scratch ‘mastering the guitar’ off your bucket list, check to see if you’re making one of the top ten beginner blunders covered by the Paul Bright of the Beginner Guitarist Academy.

1.STRING BUZZING

Have you ever heard your strings buzzing by vibrating on the metal of the frets? This can happen on an Acoustic or an Electric and has a detrimental effect on both! The most common reason for String Buzzing is not fretting properly. If you fret too close the start of the fret (the section closest to the headstock) then the string won’t be fretted correctly and you will get a buzz. Press down in the middle of the fret or closer to the end (the section closer to the body) to fret correctly. This doesn’t have much to do with strength. Although not fretting hard enough will mute your strings and can also cause buzzing.

2. STRUMMING TOO VIOLENTLY

I personally am still guilty of this- as well as many experienced guitarists are. It’s very easy to get really into a song you’re playing and to start strumming too hard on your strings. If you have a thin plectrum then it will take less of a toll on the strings but it isn’t good for them regardless. Just the other day I snapped a plectrum in half by playing too hard! About a week before that I snapped a string by playing too hard! It’s just generally not a good idea and it tends to stifle the tones and make your musical genius sound quite atonal.

Full story at Beginner Guitarist Academy.

How to play guitar.

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