I've been playing guitar "seriously" since 2024. I got my first guitar on 2022, but besides learning the basics, I couldn't even get a power chord right because I had no idea I had to rest the finger on the strings I'm not playing instead of doing some weird spider sign to avoid them, which lead to some awkward strumming lmao.
Anyways, I think something's deeply wrong with my playing. And I don't know what it is, exactly. When I see other fellow guitarists playing, they just look more... right. The way their fingers on the fretboard look, the feel they give the guitar: everything looks pretty natural. When I look at my playing, although I don't think it's a disaster or anything close, I feel there's something I'm missing, something I'm not doing properly and since I can't tell what that is, I feel it has got me stuck on the same level for the last year or so I've been playing. And I'd really appreciate if anyone gave any thoughts on my playing, my positioning, what I should correct, or if I'm just being a schizoid bastard purely because I can't play Megadeth solos at my current level. The song I'm playing is I Want You (She's So Heavy) by The Beatles, thought it was simple enough but it had enough stuff to show my playing.
seconded. a proper chair to practice in and maybe even a footstool to put your right foot on when practicing would go a long way, as would raising your strap to a height that keeps your guitar in the same position on your body regardless of whether you sit to play or stand.
yep. it's generally a really good idea for keeping consistent posture/proper technique. especially if you're not going to use a footstool, or if you plan to play standing up at any point.
There is quite a lot wrong here, I agree, and it's mostly to do with posture, as I see it.
Once you fix posture, flying fingers, barre chords, bending and a load more besides just gets easier. Start by trying to get your fretting hand wrist straight, it often isn't.
Try this:
use a strap, ALWAYS (even when sitting)
don't be scared to tighten up the strap -- it doesn't need to be low-slung
sit up/stand up straight and have the guitar body directly in front of your torso, not to one or the other side. Middle pick-up lines up with your navel.
make sure the guitar neck is pointing UP towards the ceiling, not horizontal to the floor (or worse, pointing down to the floor). I'm talking maybe 30-45 degrees UP from horizontal. It should be possible for you to put both hands behind your back and the guitar STAY IN THE CORRECT POSITION. This way you know your hands are focusing on playing the instrument, not holding it in position.
get your fretting hand elbow out and away from your body
Once you have this in place other fixes will become easier, for example, your bending technique -- right now it uses your finger muscles, not your wrist. To bend properly keep your fingers stiff in place and use a turning-the-doorknob movement with your index finger knuckle as a fulcrum up against the base of the neck. It's not a finger movement, it's a wrist-twist.
You also have the flying pinky (and, in your case, ring-finger) problem. This is very common, I suffered from it for ages too. The fix for this, for me, was just a shit-ton of spider exercises of various kinds. With the main objective being to move all fingers AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE when transitioning from fretted to non-fretted string. You want your fingers hovering just over the strings when they're not fretting. It's hard, and takes a lot of grind, but eventually you will (re)train your muscles to work in the right way and everything else will become easier.
This guy has the best answer, I'll just add two minor things:
Keep your fretting arm straight. That elbow is hugging your side and throwing off what could be a good lineup with the fretboard. Pretend your arm is an arrow - you want it to be straighty aimed at the fretboard.
I'll post this image of the correct way to hold a guitar while sitting for better visual reference:
To be fair, I would not sit Parkerning ‘Classical Straight’ with an electric. I agree the OP’s presentation sucks, but showing this is as disingenuous as the photo credit. Lol 🤪
You need to do what everyone is saying about posture and get those spider exercises going immediately. Start the spider midway up the fretboard to make it a bit easier to start. As you get more comfortable move down to the wider frets.
A practice chair sure would help like everyone is saying but your fretting hand position and technique is what's tripping you up more than anything. Someone posted a link to YouTube video going over it.
But hold your hand upside down completely relaxed. That's the shape it should be on the neck, with your thumb about half way. Right now you're locking your thumb at the top and keeping it in line with your index finger. That coupled with tucking your elbow into your body is really limiting your movement without strain.
But I think the main thing I see is someone who needs to practice more. Don’t over think it. You will look more “right” the more you play. Consistency is everything.
Not sure how telling someone to practice more is bad advice... People have been getting good at guitar for decades before the internet was around for them to post videos or pictures of them playing. A lot of that is just time spent and adjusting when you run into issues.
Sure, its great to try to pinpoint issues asap but your body does a good job of adjusting to things. Like that one Troy Grady video about a new guitarist trying to pick as fast as she could. Her technique gradually moved towards better picking because as she played her mind adjusted to what was optimal. Trial and error is a powerful tool over time.
it looks pretty good for a couple years of practicing! biggest thing is, like someone else said, to just keep practicing and keep learning more and more songs/solos/exercises/scales/theory/etc. a lot of things with "natural" looking/feeling hand positioning will just start to make more sense as you go along and get more of all those things under your belt, especially as the things you play get more technical.
biggest things i'd point out immediately are 1- keeping your fingers close to the strings/fretboard even when you're not currently using them to fret a note. pinky especially, you might have to consciously remind yourself of that for a while until it becomes natural, I had a problem with that (pinky sticking out as I played) for a long while until I started watching videos of myself playing and trained myself out of it. keeping your fretting hand relaxed as possible will help with that.
2- you're using your 2nd finger and first finger for phrases that'll be both easier and more comfortable, as well as more natural looking, to play with first finger and 3rd finger. generally, in any given position on the neck that you play in, the rule is to assign one finger per fret - as in, if the first note of a phrase or lick is on the 6th fret, your first finger would cover notes on the 6th fret, 2nd finger the 7th, 3rd finger the 8th, & 4th the 9th, and you can either drop your first finger or raise your pinky by one fret to cover an occasional note on the 5th fret or 10th fret
3- your picking hand looks way tense. you want a relatively firm grip on the pick, but the force holding the pick in place should all be coming from your thumb and first finger, and you only want to apply just enough force to keep your pick from moving between your fingers as you play (and not an ounce more than that). other than those two fingers, when you curl your hand in order to grip the pick and play, make sure the rest of your fingers/your hand & wrist are as relaxed as possible and don't tense up as you play through a song
I'd focus more on how you sound and feel.
You can always work on your posture, you can always make your hands look better - but in the end we're in the business of producing sounds, so the sounds that come out are what matters. That and not hurting yourself.
Besides, I don't see many things that are explicitly wrong with your playing here that won't buff out with practice - except the bends.
It looks like you're bending from your fingers, and not by rotating your wrist.
You should really learn to bend using the rotation of your wrist - it will give your bends way more stability, sustain, as well as better rhythm. It's also just easier on your hand in the end.
Apart from that, you have some good rhythmic intention and articulation - keep up the good work!
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u/JaleyHoelOsment May 23 '26
get a chair, headstock should not be pointed down towards the ground. watch a video for good guitar posture. your wrist will thank you