TOPIC: Bad habits for players

a tough one for me to break is the pull off,i have a tendency to slide down. it's a guitar habit.

I'm assuming you want to know about my bad habits with regards to my practicing! My worst habit is that I have all intentions of practicing...then I go by my computer and 3 hours later I realize that I've wasted the whole afternoon on the computer instead of practicing.....however there's also the chocolate bad habit....but I think that's another story...

One good habit that helps off set the bad habit of putting off practice is to have my banjo sitting right in front of my evening chair where I watch TV. I can practices between the comercials.

I have to mentally remind myself not to "lean over" the guitar to look at what my fingers are doing (or shall I say, what my fingers are TRYING to do!) Standing in front of a mirror or just focusing my eyes ahead or even closing them a moment when I'm practicing helps me really "hear" what I'm playing vs. just looking to see where my fingers are.

What I find is that there are few absolutes. According to Bill Evans, the banjo should be held at an angle but the peghead should not be higher than about eye level. My bad habit is to play a song through and not practice the sections that I don't play well and not working on the backup enough.

I don't know about bad habits yet. But I do feel that the time you are spending in the class on theory (which you feed us one little bit at a time)is a priceless item I ABSOLUTELY NEED. The onel little bit at a time is the best way I feel for me to learn it also. I would like to have some class time spent maybe with only a smaller group who needs it is to go over finger style or positioning for each chord. Lets see if any one else feels the same.