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This is not a requirement by any means, but have you ever noticed that better players simply don’t look down at their hands much. You have to get oriented of course, so look down for that, but once you find your key note or position, you can spend the rest of your focus while in that position on VISUALIZING the patterns of the phrases you wish to create. This is a big breakthrough moment for me personally, and it really was triggered by a teacher that was trying to explain ways to increase playing speed. The first thing he mentioned was visualizing the phrasing patterns and practice visualizing them first before playing them. I found myself instantly able to play the phrases without looking down at my fretting hand and I got really excited about what I was able to play after practicing the visualization first. If you can visualize it first, you can play it without looking!
This is huge for me as it unloads a lot of tension from simply looking down and using my eyes to guide me and shifting it all to my minds eye. Of course there are possible large jumps in certain songs or solo’s that will be better suited for looking down at your target note, but constantly looking down is no longer going to be necessity for me anymore and it feels liberating.
Does anyone else struggle with constant staring down at the fretting hand?
Root note patterns >>> CAGED shapes >>> TRIAD'S. Just put in the work and watch your guitar skills soar.
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Yes indeed. A few years ago I tasked myself with learning to play without looking at my fretboard. I think I was inspired by a video from Justinguitar.com. So I practiced and practiced and practiced, and I did get better at it. But I never reached the point where I could just play without ever looking at my left hand fingers. When a solo started moving up and down the neck a lot, I still had to glance down at the fretboard to get oriented. I can play easy stuff like Piedmont blues without ever looking at my fretboard. And can make almost any chord anywhere without looking.
But I notice that even most highly skilled guitarists still glance at their fretboards once in a while.
I also think that the older we get, the more difficult it is. 5 years ago I could glance into my kitchen pantry at a jar of peanut butter, then turn around and talk to someone while I reached in and grabbed it without looking at it. My hand just knew where to go. But lately I find I have to watch my hand going for the jar, or I miss the target. Nothing to worry about, it’s just normal aging.
Sunjamr Steve
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Yes, there is definitely a need to see your target when it’s far away or otherwise tricky to hit. I was just referring to the same neighborhood or using a sliding path to a new one without looking. I’m very new to not looking, so I have a long way to go, but I am going to do a lot more visualizing and feeling my way around the fretboard from now on. It’s a lot more comfortable too.
Root note patterns >>> CAGED shapes >>> TRIAD'S. Just put in the work and watch your guitar skills soar.
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For me, it happens more or less unconsciously.
When playing “standard” chords, I don’t necessarily have to look at the fretboard with jumps over three frets or so, but with more difficult passages or large leaps, I prefer to glance at it briefly just to be safe.
With classical pieces, however, I inevitably have to focus mainly on the sheet music.
I still have the most trouble with this on the piano.
Dieter
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Whenever I am trying to learn a lick or riff, my process is usually:
– Learn to play by looking
– learn to play by looking and getting the feel under my fingers
– Memorise the lick/pattern
– learn to play with my eyes shut.It sounds a bit silly but I’ve found that 10 minute drills playing with your eyes shut really ingrains patterns into your mind. But obviously requires learning the piece first.
I used to do this a lot. And think I might go through some of Brian’s when I get chance
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