watching fingers

[wiechfreak]

I hope to be iin college for guitar as well as gigging with my band in a couple years, and i noticed whenever i try to play solos withoutl ooking at my fingers i miss a lot of notes. Is this something i should get used to now, or something i should worry about when the time comes, and focus more on my playing right now?

[curiousgeorge]

You should really take a logical look at your problem before posting. You have problems soloing when you don't look at your fingers, so look at your fingers when you play! Simple as that. You have to put in the practice time looking at the fretboard and your fingers to know where you are. It's not just going to happen.

[wiechfreak]

You should really take a logical look at your problem before posting. You have problems soloing when you don't look at your fingers, so look at your fingers when you play! Simple as that. You have to put in the practice time looking at the fretboard and your fingers to know where you are. It's not just going to happen.
yes i do have trouble with it, but is it better to get used to not looking at ur fretboard easrly, like now, or better if i wait?

[silent-storm]

If you think hitting wrong notes during a solo when you're not looking at the fretboard is a major hinderance to your musical developement then work on it so it is no longer is a problem. What more would you like someone to say? If you can think of more usefull ways of spending your time then use your time in other ways. It is very difficult for someone to sit on a computer and tell someone else what is more important to work on when they are not privy to your unique situation.

In other related news...
I once saw a clinic with Lorne Lofsky (spelling?) and he mentioned he was able to visualize his hand moving over the fretboard as he played. He could jump from single notes at the 2nd fret to chords above the 15th fret eyes closed and not miss a thing rhythmically or melodically. Actually, he rarely played with his eyes open. Very impressive.

[Bizarro]

Different aspects of playing versus performance. Great live performances are all about entertainment. Most people like the illusion of eye contact between the performer and the audience, OR like to see a performer really "going for it" like Stevie Ray Vaughan (eyes closed, funny faces, etc). Learning how to not look at your hands is a skill that you may want to develop, especially if live performance is important to you.

BTW, most people that are good sight readers (classical guitarists, piano, etc) CAN'T look at their hands very much since they are reading.

Another note... a good friend of mine when I was a kid used to practice his band's songs in the dark so he couldn't look at his hands. 20-30 minutes of this per day for 3-4 months and he saw HUGE gains.

I put a huge priority on putting on a great live show. It is important to me so I work on it a lot. YMMV

[rmuscat]

if it may help, i had actually started playing all those chromatic exercises without looking. It did help a bunch.

I used to combine that with learning the fretboard. So i play frets 1,2,3,4 without looking and name the note i'm playing (sharps forward, flats backward). Then on the same string i move to frets 5,6,7,8 again without looking name the note. And back, on all strings. I had to visualize the fretboard in mind and at the same time feel the frets and strings against my finger.

Make sure you "learn" the sound of it so you recognize mistakes.

As said earlier sightreading helps a bunch even if it's plain tabs in this case it still helps.

Just to get the point straight, I am still not an expert "no see fretboard" dude though :p because i am focusing on other stuff.

[Airbag]

Wow Robert, that's a great idea. So you have to listen and thus improve your ears too. Especially when you play in the dark.

I'm turning the lights off right now. :-)