Playing "blind"

[SloeGin]

Allright, first i know i suck at guitar but i've always wondered:
how can you play standing and not look at your fretboard?

When i try to play whilst standing i don't have an overview of the fretboard anymore and it feels like i only can play powerchords?
When i play (always sitting) i kinda hang over my neck to have a full view but how do you do it when standing?

Also how can you orientate on the neck without fret markers?

Look forward to hear tips from you guys!

Thanks!

 

[toiletstand]

A-----0--2--0--3--0--2--0--3--6--6--6--6




in seriousness its just muscle memory. you practice the songs and parts so much it becomes second nature and you dont have to look down as much or at all.

 

[devolutionary]

I was waiting for someone to do that

Yeah, it's just what you're used to. Practice a song long enough and you can play it without looking.

 

[Alex6534]

I'm registered blind, so it kinda doesn't count for me but it is kinda cool covering Have A Blast blindfolded. Like everyone says though it's just muscle memory and practice, also confidence in playing live can play a huge part in it.

 

[Dayn]

+1 for muscle memory. When you spend enough time with your instrument, it starts to become part of you. Most people can touch their nose with their eyes closed. Become familiar with your instrument enough, and you can play it with your eyes closed.

 

[AliceLG]

I'd recommend that if you play at nights, you do it standing and with the lights switched off. I have a little desk lamp near my pedalboard, there's no muscle memory that can help there unless you don't move even a centimeter away from it. Once you're forced to forego vision, your other senses (touch in this case) become sharper, and muscle memory can be developed quicker.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

i do it like this...

 

[Lagtastic]

how can you play standing and not look at your fretboard?

Spend some time playing in front of a mirror. This is what did it for me. Play all over the neck, not just riffs and power chords below the 7th fret. Another thing to try is spend some time playing with your eyes closed, visualizing what your hands should be doing. Muscle memory is really important, but if that's not getting it done for you, try out the mirror. I still have to look at the guitar for difficult speedy stuff, almost everyone does.

 

[Overtone]

Thinking about the relationships between x-y (up and down the neck, higher or lower strings) and pitch helps. Try to develop what I'd call hand ear coordination... at some point you'll develop a strong awareness of how your hand's position affects your pitch. Try to imagine a note and then guess where your hand should be to play it (do this on one string) and adjust accordingly. Play slide if you have one. Think about it... a violin player doesn't have frets and can't always be looking at their instrument (otherwise how would they read)... so what do they do?

It also just comes with time. It's really good to work on this because you'll be making that bridge between the notes you are thinking and the notes you are playing. Ultimately that's what you want... you don't want to be thinking "third fret seventh fret eighth fret" you want to be imagining the pitches those frets make and your hand just plays what it has to so you get those pitches.

 

[Pablo Zuta]

I can only think in a lot of practice (years) .

 

[StratoJazz]

Practice and Repetition make it so that you can play a passage, riff, or melody effortlessly. Once you know something really well, you don't really need to look at your hands/fretboard to play it.

 

[Trespass]

Practice daily with (real) blindfolds, and/or in a pitch black room.
Practice everything with an acoustic. The larger strings will help you differentiate by touch, and the large body keeps the guitar in the same place.

I will practice phrases on my archtop (strung 14-60) with headphones on spitting out a click, looping phrases for a few minutes at a time.
Passively looking for the real-deal blindfolds. Much more effective than getting a room pitch black dark.

 

[Overtone]

Waves is pretty hard to play blind. I can play most of it that way but I always manage to mess up somewhere!

 

[SloeGin]

Thanks for the tips guys!

 

[rug]

Once you can play without looking at the fretboard, it's a LOT of fun to just stare down the other members of your band while playing something that requires a lot of moving from position to position and watch them attempt to rise to the challenge and fail.

 

[Basti]

Today I turned the lights off and practised. I don't know if it helps but it feels like I'm meditating. Hm, I should get some incense..

 

[Konfyouzd]

Muscle memory and ear training. Practice like crazy and listen closely.

 

[BeyondAntares]

you mean like this?

 

[Konfyouzd]

That doesn't count Spawn of Possession is INSANE.

 

[Ninjahat]

As said above, visualization.

I kinda have like a "movie" playing in my head of what my hands look like in my head if that makes any sense.