Here are some mistakes that slows down your learning and makes you learning your instrument wrong.
You start from the beginning every time
This is inefficient! You will play the first part good, and have decreasing quality on your playing throughout the music. In addition you will be less likely to be able to continue from somewhere in the middle of the song if you lose it, and will have to start from the beginning. Learn a portion of the song properly with the right sound and feel, then a new portion. Then you can put them together before starting to work on the third portion. Etc.
You’re playing too fast
This is a very common thing. We always want to play as fast as we’re supposed to, to make it sound amazing. But it will only sound sloppy, and you’ll miss notes. You’ll also develop a faulty way to play the song, and would need to relearn the song, which can be very challenging! Play it painfully slow and then increase the speed bit by bit.
Playing something way beyond your level
It is good to challenge yourself! Find something to stretch for. But if it is way beyond your level you’ll only use a tremendous amount of time to learn it, just to learn it the wrong way and develop bad habits. Increase the difficulty bit by bit. By that you will learn the songs in a motivating amount of time, and gradually increase your skills in a healthy way.
Skipping music theory
If you only follow patterns on YouTube to learn songs, you’re learning value is close to nothing. And if you only learn the most basic and trying to improve by increasing the difficulty without learning the theory, it will take a tremendous amount of time, and you’ll develop bad habits. The music theory helps you with learning everything the right way in the first place, and how you can learn faster. Your idea of how things should be played is likely to be complicated and inefficient, and you’ll use a lot of time to learn new songs. It is also very valuable to take a minute to analyze the piece in terms of key, chords, scales etc. before you’re trying to play it. It will save you a lot of time!
Not counting
If you’re not counting you are likely to have the wrong rhythm or not playing evenly. You can use a metronome, but you have better control of it if you count on your own. You should get used to playing with a metronome, but don’t overuse it!
You’re not practicing consistently enough
You should spend time regularly on practicing. It is much better to play 30 minutes every day than to play 3,5 hours every Sunday. Your brain are working on your playing even after your done with your practice. Especially when you’re asleep. If you practice a little every day, your brain will keep working on it through the whole week. If you binge practice once a week, you’ll probably get tired and unfocused in the middle of the playing, and your brain activity about the playing will decrease, and next week you need to relearn the song from a lower level.
Memorizing the music and never look at the sheet music ever again
Awesome if you have memorized the music! But your playing might change over time, and maybe you’re starting to replace notes, play the wrong tempo etc. Find the sheet music once in a while to make sure you play it right.
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