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telepilot - Posted - 01/29/2024: 04:52:30
I am curious. I have always heard it said people should work with a teacher when first starting out to avoid developing bad habits. For you teachers especially, what are the most common banjo 'bad habits' you have seen your students or others doing? Are some worse than others?
eagleisland - Posted - 01/29/2024: 05:38:24
quote:
Originally posted by telepilot
I am curious. I have always heard it said people should work with a teacher when first starting out to avoid developing bad habits. For you teachers especially, what are the most common banjo 'bad habits' you have seen your students or others doing? Are some worse than others?
It really depends on the student and what they come through the door with. If it's someone who is truly brand new to playing, one has a blank slate upon which to draw - and keep bad habits from starting in the first place.
But most of my students have come in with some prior playing under their belts. So in answer to your question, I think the most common thing is seeing students who chase speed rather than good technique and tone. Speed finds us when we're ready for it; those who chase speed without first developing good fundamentals become fast, sloppy pickers with irregular timing.
Edited by - eagleisland on 01/29/2024 05:38:45
stanleytone - Posted - 01/29/2024: 06:35:46
i think the thing that i see a lot is when a student comes to me that has been learning on his own and cannot hear or notice the bad habits he may picked up. they usually have no prior musical experience. I'd say I see a lot of picks hitting the head, fly away fingers, when vamping(if they even know how to)starting the song over using the I chord at the end as the I chord in the beginning, constantly looking down at their right hand instead of looking at the left hand. Another one is using the thumb to hit another string right after hitting an 1/8 note on the 5th string.It happens because they are playing very slow which makes it easy to do that. I will have to say the worst habit,or should i say the thing that they least focus on, is learning their chord shapes and simple chord progressions.They just never seem to know where they are at in a song. Many want to focus on just rolls and speed and licks without knowing when and how to use them.I know to many I sound like a broken record but i cannot stress enough the importance of learning the 3 major chord shapes and learning to vamp with them along with recordings or with a guitar player.Knowing how to hear chord changes will give one the feel of the tune and make it easier to apply the rolls and licks. teaching a student to vamp the chords to a song before you teach him any break to it also gives him some incentive to learn to vamp the chords.I guess all my years as a rhythm guitar player has a heavy influence on that opinion.
bill t - Posted - 01/29/2024: 07:06:00
Bad timing. One needs to learn to play in time right from the start.
RB3 - Posted - 01/29/2024: 07:12:37
In the case of someone who has no previous musical experience, I think that the development of bad timing can be a problem that is quite difficult to remedy. I encouraged all my students to adopt the use of a metronome as soon as possible.
I've also observed that a lot of beginning students make bad judgements on the selection of their finger picks and the way they use them.
Texasbanjo - Posted - 01/29/2024: 08:06:25
To add to what's already been said:
I found that a lot of students tend to try to strangle the neck to get a clear, clean chord/note. Usually doesn't work. I teach them the correct way to hold the neck and hold their hand/fingers to make clean, clear notes.
Alex Z - Posted - 01/29/2024: 09:03:18
We should distinguish "bad habit" -- learning something the wrong way and doing it repetitively, which has to be fixed -- from simply not learning something yet. There are many things that a newcomer has to learn, and they are not all "bad habits."
For example, not yet being able to make a C chord cleanly when first learning is not a "bad habit," nor is playing fast, by itself. Making a C chord and interfering with the 3rd string without knowing, yet hearing and thinking that this OK, and doing it time after time, is a bad habit.
I would say that bad timing is a very common bad habit, often caused by the student playing tablature as a sequence of notes without regard that some notes are longer than others, and not being able to distinguish the difference by ear, is the most common "bad habit," which ought to be remedied as soon as possible.
FenderFred - Posted - 01/29/2024: 09:05:48
quote:
Originally posted by telepilot
I am curious. I have always heard it said people should work with a teacher when first starting out to avoid developing bad habits. For you teachers especially, what are the most common banjo 'bad habits' you have seen your students or others doing? Are some worse than others?
If you have access to a GOOD teacher then you are less likely to form bad habit's if you have a POOR teacher you are more likely to adopt his/her bad habit's as well as your own.
GREZMONKI - Posted - 02/10/2024: 18:41:46
A look at my banjo head tells the truth of my bad habit. The heel of my hand likes to rest on the head. I'm getting better at arching my wrist, but focusing on that takes away from things that I should be focusing on.
Flying Eagle - Posted - 02/19/2024: 06:27:07
quote:
Originally posted by Texasbanjo
To add to what's already been said:
I found that a lot of students tend to try to strangle the neck to get a clear, clean chord/note. Usually doesn't work. I teach them the correct way to hold the neck and hold their hand/fingers to make clean, clear notes.
Well said! Until a new player can fret the instrument properly and change chords quickly, they can do everything else well and the result stills sounds terrible. Another issue that I've noticed even from a lot of more experienced banjo players is the placement of the right hand and the angle of the neck. If your thumb is hitting the 5th string three inches farther from the bridge than your middle finger is hitting the first string, the result is an uneven tone. It can also affect note separation/timing. To fix this, you have to move the banjo neck to a position that is more parallel to the floor and turn your hand to get the picking line straight.
The whole right-hand thing in bluegrass banjo is hard - finding a comfortable, stable finger-plant, arching the wrist properly, then turning the hand to strike the strings as evenly as possible from left to right. It ain't easy!! And if "bad habits" (bad technique, whatever) gets ingrained early and goes on too long it's MUCH harder to correct it and feel natural doing it the best way.
randybartlett - Posted - 02/19/2024: 15:51:53
Not being able to hum or sing the melody of a song they are trying to learn.
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