Justin, ever since I picked up a guitar, probably about 15 years ago now, you were there. It's weird seeing your hair change colour and stuff. I'm glad you're still here. You're a legend, dude. Thanks mate.
Well just a few years ago I couldn’t coordinate the picking of strings with my playing hand with the strings I was holding down with my fretting hand. So necessary if you plan on playing lead. After some practice I can do that now blindfolded.
I would add 2 tips : * When you have to look, practice doing it with a quick glance at the neck, on position changes only, not staring at it for the whole riff. * Use the dots on the side of the neck : when you look, you usually shouldn't have to look at the fretboard, just the neck dots, which is quicker.
Me and justin are of similar ages and I can remember the first time I came across his lessons when I first picked up the guitar,I can remember the old couch with the throw over,justin sat on the floor teaching the world to play and not forgetting the jedi master 😉 to try and make everything look as professional as possible......without revealing ages it's been along time but I always remembered a copper snake ring on his finger and I think now i know the reasons behind it,i could be wrong it's just a hunch but this guy is one of the most enlightened men I've come across on TH-cam,everything is pure and from the heart and the light just shines through......welldone mate it's so nice to see you still doing your thing ♥️
I play in a jazz band and I find if I look down at my fretboard, I can easily lose my way on the lead sheet. So now I'm trying very hard to retrain my brain to listen to my chords and if flat or sharp to make a quick (hopefully) correction.
Back in the late 70 s l had a les paul. Took lessons was getting pretty good. Hurt my hand couldnt move my fingers very well. But lm 61 now an back at it. Cant remember much but with your videos lm gonna find a way back. Gonna make my fingers work thanks to you.
I had a Les Paul too and also imposter syndrome. I wasn't worthy of it. I'm 61 too and following the beginner course and got further than ever before. Hope it goes good for you 🎸👍
@@chazrich Hey, ignore what others think. A top quality guitar will encourage us to improve, also makes us play better. I'm still in between intermediate & advance beginner level and wd be proud & enthusistic to hav a Gibson Les, as long i dont claim to be an expert guitar pro😀
If you can afford an expensive guitar then why not if you like it? Saying you have to be a great guitarist to own a Les Paul is like saying you have to be a champion race driver to be “worthy” of owning a Corvette. If only pro guitarists could buy Les Pauls Gibson would probably be out of business. Life is short, buy the guitar you love!
A good tip I could give to my fellow guitarists is to: *PLAY IN THE DARK* Seriously, if there is one thing that drastically improved my playing, it's gonna be "playing in the dark" where you're forced to not look, because even you looked down the fretboard, you won't be able to see anything.
This might sound weird, but I used to practice blindfolded. I was told about this approach by a guitarist, that I respected many years ago. Hey it works. What can I say. 😎
Oh yes! You don't even need to be blindfolded (or with lights off, as I have also heard). Just close your eyes while playing. It feels like you do have much more "processing brain power" when shutting of one sense (vision). And it's just more joy.
Getting lost in the music is actually the exact moment I f*ck up. I usually get in a state of trance and forget what chord has to be played next :D I still think it's a good reason (besides being an awsome feeling), but I might not be at the required level for this, yet.
it is fine actually. i did that a while ago but now after practicing one chord progression slowly you kinda get "feel" for it. and you wont even notice the chord changes.
My chord changes have gotten a lot smoother after tons of work on it and decided to give this a go and surprisingly my hands knew where to go. Its gonna take some work but now i know what once seemed impossible is possible and you bring up some great points to why its important I never thought about. Thanks!!!
Justin you're such an amazing guitar teacher all of you're guitar lessons are really effective and easy to understand love the way you explain every thing. You're doing such a great job I must say God bless.
This was such an important lesson. Really made a world of difference once I started forcing myself not to look. More accurate, better rhythm, better strumming.
Your lessons are so well made and you're such a fantastic teacher that whenever I feel like giving up or feel lazy I feel guilty about it and start practising again. I really hope you know how much we all appreciate you :)
Such a good lesson. Its taken me ages to not look and play but I've found i listen better to my nuances, vibrato and the mix so much better. My vibrato in particular seems so much smoother and sounds closer to the sound in my head when I don't look!
Wow, lightbulb moment, this really makes a massive difference, thought I had a problem with strumming, but trying this and everything fell into place. Will be working on this a lot more. Thanks
So I'm a total noob, I just "graduated" from Justin's beginner program not so long ago. I find it a bit odd that I tend to play better when I don't think too much about playing. So, if I keep looking at the fretting hand or picking hand I tend to skip a beat or make other mistakes more often, but when I try to be "distracted" like trying to hum the lyrics (I'm a terrible singer) or even watch Netflix while playing it sounds better. I guess what I'm trying to say is this is a super helpful to play better, and of course as a beginner it takes a bit to "unlearn". Keep on keeping on, fellow beginners!
Hey Justin, I’m three months in and found learning specific songs that require finger style or individual string play, e.g. Hurt, good riddance, DITW, etc. force you to take your eyes off one hand or the other.. I got so excited when I figured this out and learned to take advantage of it by playing start to finish only staring at one or the other. After I could do both nicely, I could easily lift my head up and just play. I had to go slower at first, like almost half speed but that was my trick!! Thanks for the video!
Really resonate with that point of getting lost. I've found that I've played music the best when I'm getting into the song, and after the fact I think "How did I play that without focusing as much"
Thank you so much!!!! I started learning a few weeks ago. I find that your videos give me the most pleasure and joy when it comes to learning guitar. Thank you so very much
This covers the exact issue I am struggling with at the minute, just cannot seem to do chord changes without looking.I am a bit of an oldie just picked a guitar up for the first time so maybe that is some of the problem.
Travis picking helped me big time with chord changes, the focus on the picking hand took away from the chord hand and after a week or two I noticed the fingers placed right were they needed.
I've actually started doing this unconsciously after getting really good at chord changes and getting an electric guitar. I feel it's a lot easier to grip gords without thinking/looking on the electric. The acoustic's large body (I have a dreadnought) makes the neck to sit farther from my body and that makes it feel odd sometimes.
I'm 3 years into learning Tenor Ukulele. I came across your beginning lessons on the mechanics of holding your instruments, standing up to play, not looking at your hands etc. I have learned so much. Thank you. You explain everything so it makes sense, so even I can understand......
Realistic and honest lesson. Thank you. I started using the no look 👀 to see how much better I was getting but now I’ll try this every practice. I’m almost at 2 years of learning guitar and seems every day is getting way better. Lots of ambition helped the most and your support as well. Randy Bachman played guitar lots in his early years in a dark room and this always inspired me. “Drive the car and look ahead!”
I’ve played for ~25 years but feel like I still play like a beginner. Almost instantly I stopped hunching and staring at my hands… deliberately looking at things around the room has shown me how much I actually “know” by muscle memory. Feel like I’ve been on a 15-20 year plateau and this, legit, might be the way off of it. Great lesson!
Some good points. Although your intro moving your head left and right looking at both hands is certainly overboard1 Point taken though. However, all the greats of guitar are typically having a look at their fretting hand to a certain extent.
Great advice. I'm taking up guitar again after decades and trying to correct all of the things that held me back the first time. Working around a right hand injury but can tell I'm already better in some areas that the first time around. Not looking at my playing is something I've been working on already, but appreciate the comments and exercises.
Great video thank you. I’m self taught and my own experience with open chords my left thumb pretty much stays in the same position so when I change chords all I have to move are my fingers. My left hands stays in the same position, I’ve actually worn down a spot on the neck of my guitar because my thumb is always there. When I play songs with open chords I don’t have to look at all I’ve had enough practice to where I can change chords and strum without looking down at all, unfortunately I have not put the time in to memorizing the songs so I still have to look at the cord sheets as I’m playing along with the song. When I’m picking a song I still have to look at the strings to make sure I’m picking the right strings but I’m gonna work on that. your video reminded me of my bad habits and I thank you for bringing those up to me. Another thing I learned is there is a huge difference in practicing while you’re sitting down and standing up. While you’re sitting down the guitar pretty much stays put, it doesn’t move but when you’re standing up you have to adjust to the movement of the guitar when you’re playing your chords.
Thanks for the tips Justin, it's only since you pointed it out that i realised how much I was hunching over my guitar and giving myself a bad back. Once i forced myself to look away I was amazed how good I was with my basic chords (and even some fingering) just from muscle memory.
i was a "looker" for almost 20 years now and never realized... but when i tried to close my eyes i SAW my fretboard and my fingers behind my eyes! awesome, thanks a lot!!!!
I started playing without looking at my hands as you teached us... It's starting to be easyier now. Good thing I always play standing up. Thanks for being a such good teacher Justin ! Much appreciated !
Great Advice. Playing the chords without looking also makes you totally know the song you're playing. Once you accomplish this, singing might come easier too since you can concentrate on lyrics & not on your fretting hand.
First 12 seconds could have been me!!! So I played a simple 3 chord song (What's Up, G, Am & C) without looking and hey, my fingers knew where the chords were!!! Got a huge tingle down my spine. Thank you for pointing this out. 👍🎸👍🎸
ive been playing for about 2 and a half months and didn't quite notice how much muscle memory i have developed. i played a chord progression without looking and was super surprised at how easy it was (and how when i looked back to the fretboard i immediately screwed up!!!)
I’m currently trying this feature after numerous people was talking about how it helps with ear training and playing live. I’m only a beginner but I have found my ear training & finger position have excelled massively.
Hey Justin. Did you give up on doing jazz stuff on your channel? Particularly the theory behind all that was more helpful than anything anyone else has done on YT. Thanks for that and would love to see more of it
Hi Justin, just have to drop you a note, of how much you hit the nail with this one. I'm trying to learn playing the guitar for about two years now, just by myself, and sometimes with a friend of mine who can play much better than myself. When playing a simple song my brain has always been been so overloaded with tasks like looking at the fretboard trying to find the next chords, and then looking at the paper reading the chords, and all this kept me from getting into the groove of the game. After i watched this video of you pointing out how much important it is to stop looking at the fingers, i just tried it and magic(!) my fingers found the chords almost instantly without me looking at them. I couldn't believe it, almost freaked out and played through some five songs i use to practice for months first time without looking at the fingers, just looking at the wall or closing my eyes. First time i really started to feel the music and just enjoyed to listen to the sound of the guitar while my fingers just played it almost alone. And when i missed a chord just tried to find it again without looking, mostly worked at the second try.This made such a huge difference, it is a real break through. Never imagined that i could do it and never figured out how important that is and what a game changing effect it has! Thank you so much for your help und sorry for my poor english (i'm german). Never wrote a comment at youtube before, but i just got to let you know how much i appreciate your help! I'll stay tuned now for more of your lessons :-) Thanks, Roland
I have to say, when I watched this, I didn't buy it - "don't look at your hands". Then I tried it. For me, it actually made a difference. I became much more aware of where my fingers were w.r.t the frets. I felt more anchored, and the notes seemed cleaner. I feel more confident. I am much more aware of the frets, which ones I can feel in different fingers, doing bends & slides, my left hand fells closer to the neck in a sense. Good job Justin! Thanks!
@@Forossa I tried not looking at my hands for a while, but then went back to mostly looking - probably out of habit. Plus, when learning new things I need to look, and I am always learning new things. The things I know well, I don't have to look at my hands (certain songs, open chords, scales). Jumping around the neck to hit bar chords - I look, otherwise I won't necessarily land on the fret properly. I like to look to see if my fingers, wrist & thumb are doing the right things - to stop any bad habits from forming. Such as video recording my playing to see what my hands and fingers are doing - viewed from a different angle, so to speak. I noticed that my fingers are long, sometimes my wrist is not where I think it should be. Also, it is important to me to be able to 'see' the scales on the neck, to 'see' the songs on the neck, etc. However - I really focus on the feel, how it all feels to me, how my fingers are feeling the strings, how my right hand feels the strings when picking, blah, blah. How my whole body feels. How everything feels is very important - how it feels gets mapped to how it sounds. I think it helps to ingrain the 'muscle memory' in my brain. So when I don't look at my hands it is part of an exercise to focus intently on how it feels - back and forth, look, don't look, focusing how it feels. Not looking means I have to visualize it more intently, which I think helps to ingrain things. I watch a fair amount of concert videos on TH-cam and many, many players look at their hands when playing. Maybe they look at the crowd when they just play chords for rhythm. Not many players will look at the crowd when doing solos. Steve Stine says that when you play in front of someone, expect to be at 70% - nerves, distractions, etc just naturally lowers your ability. So I would rather look at my hands and play well, than look at the crowd and miss the notes. I like to practice where there are distractions, just to see if I can keep focused (I have a lot of bees in my backyard who dive bomb me). So I don't worry too much about it either way, I use 'no looking' as a practice tool to help ingrain the feeling when playing.
I'm just beginning playing guitar but I'm trying to implement this and slowly getting there. What also helped me was just playing in the (almost) dark so you're being forced to go by feeling.
I used to play in front of the mirror to reduce the chance of glancing down. Which worked reasonably well. But singing at jams and in bands helped more. I've switched to bass in recent years in cover bands and look down all the time LOL.
Very good lesson. Someting I still need to work on and very important when playing in a band. You need to be aware of the music and the other members and less focussed on your own stuff. Good lesson here!
It also that it helps heaps for when you start to play standing up. Not sure if you mentioned that. Stop looking at your playing and you will pretty much start improving immediately...esp your musicianship. Thanks for the Vid.
This is such good advice. I have been playing for 8 years and have been making this miatake. I have having trouble with a new chord change and this helped almost instantly.
Since the Pandemic began I've quit my job and have been learning to play guitar using TH-cam videos. This video has helped me tremendously. I've Subscribed because of this video... Well done!
I think its equally as important to learn the lyrics of a song when you learn to play the song if you perform it . So many of the guys at my guitar open folk nights are staring into the lyric sheets or ipads and it often goes wrong when it doesnt scroll properly. Nah get it all in your head before a performance and save yourself the added workload of staring at lyrics while your singing and playing
This flies in the face of what I've been taught by another guitar teacher on TH-cam. In fact, I dropped a considerable amount of money for their lessons, but I like your take on this much better. I can see how this should help my ear training as well. Thank you!
Justin, thanks for this reminder lesson. Makes sense! I compare learning to play guitar with learning to drive a car. When driving a car we have learned to keep our eyes on the road and to think about where we want to go. When playing the guitar, the same principle applies. Keep your eyes on the audience (connect with your audience), and think about where you wanting to take them. Thank you 🙏 Really good lesson. 👍
Totally agree with looking at the next fret rather than noticing you've finished a phrase. I'm a Driving Instructor and l frequently encourage pupils to "look at the piece of road you want to be driving on, not the piece you're actually on...."
I think these are great tips for more advanced players as well. When I was prepping for a show, I would go through our entire setlist and try to play it from start to finish without looking at the fretboard at all. I would do this for 2-3 hours a day when time allowed. It made a huge difference to my confidence and comfort on stage. I've sort of fallen back into staring at my guitar because I haven't been in a band in many years and haven't played shows. Thanks for the reminder to re-practice this!
Funny I started doing this a couple lessons ago. I played piano a LONG time ago and so many of Justin's lessons are things my piano teacher taught...and this is one of them.
Oh boy, I know what you mean. The visual information adds an extra layer of complexity, so I followed your advice and my playing feels much more comfortable!
What an EXCELLENT lesson Justin. Great communication, enlightening demos and a dazzling retrieval of your teenage self playing Vai. Making a donation right now.
Brilliant video, Justin. Haven't commented in a while, but always watching. A few pit musicians recommended playing in the dark. It was a crash course that helped one friend get up to speed within 3 months and got him his first gig playing in a several big musicals. Of course, they site read, but it is still great for band or singer songwriter stuff. Cheers!
I"ve been wondering about this, as a beginner. When I was in high school and learned to type, we were also told not to look, and I'm a good typist now. I think it's pretty much the same thing. I think words not letters. Thanks for covering this. I'm going to try not looking.
Hi Justin, I'd like to suggest that a version of this video is included as a lesson in the beginner's course, as early as possible, before the habit of looking at the fingers gets too ingrained in the student's habits. I understand that it would be a little intimidating in the first week or two, lol, but the more chords that are learned by eye, the harder it becomes to break the habit. I tried your course some years ago and failed to progress after about 3-4 months. I just couldn't process fretting, strumming, reading the music etc at the same time. I didn't realise at that time that one of the main reasons was that I was looking at the guitar all the time and involving my visual cortex in the mental processing. Being an old codger, I don't have much spare capacity in the old skull anymore, and I gave up, sold the guitar. When I retired, I took up your new revised beginners course, and despite the great help of the app, have again choked at Module 10. The app 'forced' me to play some songs without looking at the frets because I HAD to look at the screen and this was a definite improvement, up to a point. It also gave me a hint as to what the trouble might be, so rather than abandon it again, I've recently started again at module one but this time with my eyes tight shut. I was appalled by how badly I played even those good old A and D chords without looking, and it's taking me as long or longer to relearn them by touch. However, I'm now able to get into the flow of a few songs that totally defeated me before. If I don't look down, I can sing AND play 'Common People' and 'For What It's Worth'. Playing songs, which is what it's all about, has become a pleasure rather than a trial of strength. My strumming is better, also becoming automatic and because I'm not looking, I'm HEARING the chords much more accurately. For the first time, 'playing by ear' and improvising actually seem to be possibilities - although at some time in my far future! You frequently say that students shouldn't move on to the next module until we have memorised the new chords etc. I'm now taking that to mean "until my HANDS have memorised the new stuff". It's a lot slower, of course, but I'm hoping that the next time Module 10 comes along, I'll be able to keep right on going. p.s. The recent revisions to the app have improved it tenfold. Well done to you and the team.
Great comment D Lightful, I am 62 and just started Justin's course. Before I saw this video, my personal goal was to get my fretting hand to grow eyes. Cheers
good tips. Could you do video on practising smarter? I've noticed certain sections of songs does take a night's sleep to process. Day2 all sudden it's blazing smooth. So that kinda means no matter how much practice in a day, it just won't turn out smooth (clean)
Thanks, Justin! At first I was thinking, "I don't do that...much". Then I thought about "Blackbird" (which I learned from your website--thank you very much) and thought, "I wonder if I could ever play that WITHOUT looking?". Maybe I'll give it a try...somewhere where no one can hear me. Watching your videos makes me wish I had you (and computers, the web, TH-cam...) when I started. Keep up the good work!
Thank you excellent tutorial on this. I have probably gone about the whole learning of guitar a round about and awkward way.Being dyslexic has brought interesting challenges to my life. what I am longwindedly saying is you have been a big help. Thank you
Yeah, I'm having trouble picking the right strings to play lead parts when there is a lot of string skipping involved. But I'm making progress by practicing as slow as necessary in order to get it right, and I'm slowly picking up speed.
Learn what slash chords are and how to play them here! th-cam.com/video/t4MTCMslUXQ/w-d-xo.html
Whatguitar model is that?
"Practice makes permanent, so practice perfectly" Never truer words spoken.
@@rodm.g.2809 Electric
Justin, ever since I picked up a guitar, probably about 15 years ago now, you were there. It's weird seeing your hair change colour and stuff. I'm glad you're still here. You're a legend, dude. Thanks mate.
TH-cam, and life in general, has lots of great guitarists, and musicians, but Justin is hands-down its greatest guitar-teacher.
Well just a few years ago I couldn’t coordinate the picking of strings with my playing hand with the strings I was holding down with my fretting hand. So necessary if you plan on playing lead. After some practice I can do that now blindfolded.
"Practice makes permanent! So practice perfectly." I love that saying
First time I'm hearing this saying but I'm sure it's going to stay with me!
So what I've done is hap hazard practise over 5 years so Ive probably learned bad habits like hitting the wrong strings and muting strings sometimes
I would add 2 tips :
* When you have to look, practice doing it with a quick glance at the neck, on position changes only, not staring at it for the whole riff.
* Use the dots on the side of the neck : when you look, you usually shouldn't have to look at the fretboard, just the neck dots, which is quicker.
Cant figure out what you are best at ... guitar stuff or communication or just being a really nice guy in general.. good stuff .. thanks :)
3dlabs99 he is such an amazing guy
Me and justin are of similar ages and I can remember the first time I came across his lessons when I first picked up the guitar,I can remember the old couch with the throw over,justin sat on the floor teaching the world to play and not forgetting the jedi master 😉 to try and make everything look as professional as possible......without revealing ages it's been along time but I always remembered a copper snake ring on his finger and I think now i know the reasons behind it,i could be wrong it's just a hunch but this guy is one of the most enlightened men I've come across on TH-cam,everything is pure and from the heart and the light just shines through......welldone mate it's so nice to see you still doing your thing ♥️
Justin is a great player but i think his real gift is teaching his skills to others. I like his relaxed down to earth approach.
Perfectly said
Absolutely spot on.
I have been Playing for 54yrs now what a good lessons for all of us Thanks my man
I play in a jazz band and I find if I look down at my fretboard, I can easily lose my way on the lead sheet. So now I'm trying very hard to retrain my brain to listen to my chords and if flat or sharp to make a quick (hopefully) correction.
Back in the late 70 s l had a les paul. Took lessons was getting pretty good. Hurt my hand couldnt move my fingers very well. But lm 61 now an back at it. Cant remember much but with your videos lm gonna find a way back. Gonna make my fingers work thanks to you.
I had a Les Paul too and also imposter syndrome. I wasn't worthy of it. I'm 61 too and following the beginner course and got further than ever before. Hope it goes good for you 🎸👍
@@chazrich Hey, ignore what others think. A top quality guitar will encourage us to improve, also makes us play better. I'm still in between intermediate & advance beginner level and wd be proud & enthusistic to hav a Gibson Les, as long i dont claim to be an expert guitar pro😀
If you can afford an expensive guitar then why not if you like it? Saying you have to be a great guitarist to own a Les Paul is like saying you have to be a champion race driver to be “worthy” of owning a Corvette. If only pro guitarists could buy Les Pauls Gibson would probably be out of business. Life is short, buy the guitar you love!
Actually l had a Les paul an The paul. A Westbury an ovation an a Yamaha classical. Im back with a Tagima acoustic an Epiphone electric.
I wish Justin was my roommate so I could get guitar lessons from him in-person all the time. 😭
A good tip I could give to my fellow guitarists is to: *PLAY IN THE DARK*
Seriously, if there is one thing that drastically improved my playing, it's gonna be "playing in the dark" where you're forced to not look, because even you looked down the fretboard, you won't be able to see anything.
haha thanks ill def try this out!
John Prine did just that in a closet.
@@susansykes9110 I then came out of the closet
This might sound weird, but I used to practice blindfolded.
I was told about this approach by a guitarist,
that I respected many years ago.
Hey it works.
What can I say. 😎
Advice on that?
Oh yes! You don't even need to be blindfolded (or with lights off, as I have also heard).
Just close your eyes while playing. It feels like you do have much more "processing brain power" when shutting of one sense (vision). And it's just more joy.
Is great stuff--never heard an instructor address this before.
Thought the same!
Getting lost in the music is actually the exact moment I f*ck up. I usually get in a state of trance and forget what chord has to be played next :D
I still think it's a good reason (besides being an awsome feeling), but I might not be at the required level for this, yet.
it is fine actually. i did that a while ago but now after practicing one chord progression slowly you kinda get "feel" for it. and you wont even notice the chord changes.
For me it's the opposite, even after loads of practice I overthink everything, we all have different quirks I guess - good luck with your playing! :-)
My chord changes have gotten a lot smoother after tons of work on it and decided to give this a go and surprisingly my hands knew where to go. Its gonna take some work but now i know what once seemed impossible is possible and you bring up some great points to why its important I never thought about. Thanks!!!
Justin you're such an amazing guitar teacher all of you're guitar lessons are really effective and easy to understand love the way you explain every thing. You're doing such a great job I must say God bless.
This was such an important lesson. Really made a world of difference once I started forcing myself not to look. More accurate, better rhythm, better strumming.
Your lessons are so well made and you're such a fantastic teacher that whenever I feel like giving up or feel lazy I feel guilty about it and start practising again. I really hope you know how much we all appreciate you :)
He’s infectious!
Such a good lesson. Its taken me ages to not look and play but I've found i listen better to my nuances, vibrato and the mix so much better. My vibrato in particular seems so much smoother and sounds closer to the sound in my head when I don't look!
Wow, lightbulb moment, this really makes a massive difference, thought I had a problem with strumming, but trying this and everything fell into place. Will be working on this a lot more. Thanks
So I'm a total noob, I just "graduated" from Justin's beginner program not so long ago. I find it a bit odd that I tend to play better when I don't think too much about playing. So, if I keep looking at the fretting hand or picking hand I tend to skip a beat or make other mistakes more often, but when I try to be "distracted" like trying to hum the lyrics (I'm a terrible singer) or even watch Netflix while playing it sounds better. I guess what I'm trying to say is this is a super helpful to play better, and of course as a beginner it takes a bit to "unlearn". Keep on keeping on, fellow beginners!
Not looking made a massive difference to my f chord change speed , just watching TV and practicing changes , helped me no end 🙂
Hey Justin, I’m three months in and found learning specific songs that require finger style or individual string play, e.g. Hurt, good riddance, DITW, etc. force you to take your eyes off one hand or the other.. I got so excited when I figured this out and learned to take advantage of it by playing start to finish only staring at one or the other. After I could do both nicely, I could easily lift my head up and just play. I had to go slower at first, like almost half speed but that was my trick!! Thanks for the video!
Really resonate with that point of getting lost. I've found that I've played music the best when I'm getting into the song, and after the fact I think "How did I play that without focusing as much"
Thanks for this one. I needed the prodding!
in my country we have frequent power outages, so i use that time to practice guitar in the dark and it seems to be helping a bit
This is the definition of : “see the bright side of everything.”
You're in California ?
@@jimdep6542 south Africa
Been playing for many years but if I'm learning a new song, I look at my fretting hand often till I fully learn it and get comfortable with it.
Thank you so much!!!! I started learning a few weeks ago. I find that your videos give me the most pleasure and joy when it comes to learning guitar. Thank you so very much
This covers the exact issue I am struggling with at the minute, just cannot seem to do chord changes without looking.I am a bit of an oldie just picked a guitar up for the first time so maybe that is some of the problem.
Travis picking helped me big time with chord changes, the focus on the picking hand took away from the chord hand and after a week or two I noticed the fingers placed right were they needed.
6:49 the most useful second in all of guitarlearning thanks Justin perfectly executed!
I've actually started doing this unconsciously after getting really good at chord changes and getting an electric guitar. I feel it's a lot easier to grip gords without thinking/looking on the electric. The acoustic's large body (I have a dreadnought) makes the neck to sit farther from my body and that makes it feel odd sometimes.
I'm 3 years into learning Tenor Ukulele. I came across your beginning lessons on the mechanics of holding your instruments, standing up to play, not looking at your hands etc. I have learned so much. Thank you. You explain everything so it makes sense, so even I can understand......
Realistic and honest lesson. Thank you.
I started using the no look 👀 to see how much better I was getting but now I’ll try this every practice.
I’m almost at 2 years of learning guitar and seems every day is getting way better.
Lots of ambition helped the most and your support as well.
Randy Bachman played guitar lots in his early years in a dark room and this always inspired me.
“Drive the car and look ahead!”
I’ve played for ~25 years but feel like I still play like a beginner. Almost instantly I stopped hunching and staring at my hands… deliberately looking at things around the room has shown me how much I actually “know” by muscle memory. Feel like I’ve been on a 15-20 year plateau and this, legit, might be the way off of it. Great lesson!
Some good points. Although your intro moving your head left and right looking at both hands is certainly overboard1 Point taken though. However, all the greats of guitar are typically having a look at their fretting hand to a certain extent.
Being upright will lead to less fatigue and far less neck, shoulder and back pain from playing hunched over. Such great advice
Music as Meditation.
Thank you for sharing your gifts!!
The greatest guitarist I've ever known, my buddy Jeff Marshall, called it "playing in the zone."
Great advice. I'm taking up guitar again after decades and trying to correct all of the things that held me back the first time. Working around a right hand injury but can tell I'm already better in some areas that the first time around. Not looking at my playing is something I've been working on already, but appreciate the comments and exercises.
Great video thank you. I’m self taught and my own experience with open chords my left thumb pretty much stays in the same position so when I change chords all I have to move are my fingers. My left hands stays in the same position, I’ve actually worn down a spot on the neck of my guitar because my thumb is always there. When I play songs with open chords I don’t have to look at all I’ve had enough practice to where I can change chords and strum without looking down at all, unfortunately I have not put the time in to memorizing the songs so I still have to look at the cord sheets as I’m playing along with the song. When I’m picking a song I still have to look at the strings to make sure I’m picking the right strings but I’m gonna work on that. your video reminded me of my bad habits and I thank you for bringing those up to me. Another thing I learned is there is a huge difference in practicing while you’re sitting down and standing up. While you’re sitting down the guitar pretty much stays put, it doesn’t move but when you’re standing up you have to adjust to the movement of the guitar when you’re playing your chords.
Hands down the most important thing to learn. And it never occurred to me, practising on my own through the pandamnic. Thanks a lot again, Justin.
Thanks Justin. Useful stuff.
Thanks for the tips Justin, it's only since you pointed it out that i realised how much I was hunching over my guitar and giving myself a bad back. Once i forced myself to look away I was amazed how good I was with my basic chords (and even some fingering) just from muscle memory.
i was a "looker" for almost 20 years now and never realized... but when i tried to close my eyes i SAW my fretboard and my fingers behind my eyes! awesome, thanks a lot!!!!
I learned not looking by playing in a dark room this helped me progess listening more also playing stood up helps to get better
I started playing without looking at my hands as you teached us... It's starting to be easyier now. Good thing I always play standing up. Thanks for being a such good teacher Justin ! Much appreciated !
Great Advice. Playing the chords without looking also makes you totally know the song you're playing. Once you accomplish this, singing might come easier too since you can concentrate on lyrics & not on your fretting hand.
First 12 seconds could have been me!!! So I played a simple 3 chord song (What's Up, G, Am & C) without looking and hey, my fingers knew where the chords were!!! Got a huge tingle down my spine. Thank you for pointing this out. 👍🎸👍🎸
ive been playing for about 2 and a half months and didn't quite notice how much muscle memory i have developed. i played a chord progression without looking and was super surprised at how easy it was (and how when i looked back to the fretboard i immediately screwed up!!!)
I’m currently trying this feature after numerous people was talking about how it helps with ear training and playing live. I’m only a beginner but I have found my ear training & finger position have excelled massively.
Thank u Justin! I believe this will absolutely help. I’m still struggling between chord changes.
Hey Justin. Did you give up on doing jazz stuff on your channel? Particularly the theory behind all that was more helpful than anything anyone else has done on YT. Thanks for that and would love to see more of it
Hi Justin, just have to drop you a note, of how much you hit the nail with this one. I'm trying to learn playing the guitar for about two years now, just by myself, and sometimes with a friend of mine who can play much better than myself. When playing a simple song my brain has always been been so overloaded with tasks like looking at the fretboard trying to find the next chords, and then looking at the paper reading the chords, and all this kept me from getting into the groove of the game. After i watched this video of you pointing out how much important it is to stop looking at the fingers, i just tried it and magic(!) my fingers found the chords almost instantly without me looking at them. I couldn't believe it, almost freaked out and played through some five songs i use to practice for months first time without looking at the fingers, just looking at the wall or closing my eyes. First time i really started to feel the music and just enjoyed to listen to the sound of the guitar while my fingers just played it almost alone. And when i missed a chord just tried to find it again without looking, mostly worked at the second try.This made such a huge difference, it is a real break through. Never imagined that i could do it and never figured out how important that is and what a game changing effect it has! Thank you so much for your help und sorry for my poor english (i'm german). Never wrote a comment at youtube before, but i just got to let you know how much i appreciate your help! I'll stay tuned now for more of your lessons :-) Thanks, Roland
I have to say, when I watched this, I didn't buy it - "don't look at your hands". Then I tried it. For me, it actually made a difference. I became much more aware of where my fingers were w.r.t the frets. I felt more anchored, and the notes seemed cleaner. I feel more confident. I am much more aware of the frets, which ones I can feel in different fingers, doing bends & slides, my left hand fells closer to the neck in a sense. Good job Justin! Thanks!
How long did it take you to get the hang of playing without looking? Are you able to strum the right chords without taking a peek?
@@Forossa I tried not looking at my hands for a while, but then went back to mostly looking - probably out of habit. Plus, when learning new things I need to look, and I am always learning new things. The things I know well, I don't have to look at my hands (certain songs, open chords, scales). Jumping around the neck to hit bar chords - I look, otherwise I won't necessarily land on the fret properly.
I like to look to see if my fingers, wrist & thumb are doing the right things - to stop any bad habits from forming. Such as video recording my playing to see what my hands and fingers are doing - viewed from a different angle, so to speak. I noticed that my fingers are long, sometimes my wrist is not where I think it should be.
Also, it is important to me to be able to 'see' the scales on the neck, to 'see' the songs on the neck, etc. However - I really focus on the feel, how it all feels to me, how my fingers are feeling the strings, how my right hand feels the strings when picking, blah, blah. How my whole body feels. How everything feels is very important - how it feels gets mapped to how it sounds. I think it helps to ingrain the 'muscle memory' in my brain. So when I don't look at my hands it is part of an exercise to focus intently on how it feels - back and forth, look, don't look, focusing how it feels. Not looking means I have to visualize it more intently, which I think helps to ingrain things.
I watch a fair amount of concert videos on TH-cam and many, many players look at their hands when playing. Maybe they look at the crowd when they just play chords for rhythm. Not many players will look at the crowd when doing solos. Steve Stine says that when you play in front of someone, expect to be at 70% - nerves, distractions, etc just naturally lowers your ability. So I would rather look at my hands and play well, than look at the crowd and miss the notes. I like to practice where there are distractions, just to see if I can keep focused (I have a lot of bees in my backyard who dive bomb me).
So I don't worry too much about it either way, I use 'no looking' as a practice tool to help ingrain the feeling when playing.
I am a return beginner. I can't help looking at my hands. Learning from your videos Justin. Thanks from .Canada . Heather.
I'm just beginning playing guitar but I'm trying to implement this and slowly getting there. What also helped me was just playing in the (almost) dark so you're being forced to go by feeling.
Good stuff. Makes sense because it was well articulated. Thanks for the tips.
Justin is a FANTASTIC teacher. You must tell all your guitar-playing friends.
I used to play in front of the mirror to reduce the chance of glancing down. Which worked reasonably well. But singing at jams and in bands helped more.
I've switched to bass in recent years in cover bands and look down all the time LOL.
Very good lesson. Someting I still need to work on and very important when playing in a band. You need to be aware of the music and the other members and less focussed on your own stuff. Good lesson here!
Perfect timing-thank you!
It also that it helps heaps for when you start to play standing up. Not sure if you mentioned that. Stop looking at your playing and you will pretty much start improving immediately...esp your musicianship. Thanks for the Vid.
This is such good advice. I have been playing for 8 years and have been making this miatake. I have having trouble with a new chord change and this helped almost instantly.
Since the Pandemic began I've quit my job and have been learning to play guitar using TH-cam videos. This video has helped me tremendously. I've Subscribed because of this video... Well done!
I think its equally as important to learn the lyrics of a song when you learn to play the song if you perform it . So many of the guys at my guitar open folk nights are staring into the lyric sheets or ipads and it often goes wrong when it doesnt scroll properly. Nah get it all in your head before a performance and save yourself the added workload of staring at lyrics while your singing and playing
This flies in the face of what I've been taught by another guitar teacher on TH-cam. In fact, I dropped a considerable amount of money for their lessons, but I like your take on this much better. I can see how this should help my ear training as well. Thank you!
Thank you I will try this technique.
Gold. Pure gold, Justin. Our fingers are MUCH more clever than we think!
Justin, thanks for this reminder lesson. Makes sense! I compare learning to play guitar with learning to drive a car. When driving a car we have learned to keep our eyes on the road and to think about where we want to go. When playing the guitar, the same principle applies. Keep your eyes on the audience (connect with your audience), and think about where you wanting to take them. Thank you 🙏 Really good lesson. 👍
Very Nice....God Bless you....
Amazing lesson. Justin, you are the ultimate guitar psychologist!
Great lesson Justin, again, going down that road now that I'm retired and have more time.
You’re such a great teacher 👍🏻
Thanks this cross cutting for both beginners and intermediate may be experts already now this. Very helpful.THanks
Totally agree with looking at the next fret rather than noticing you've finished a phrase. I'm a Driving Instructor and l frequently encourage pupils to "look at the piece of road you want to be driving on, not the piece you're actually on...."
I think these are great tips for more advanced players as well. When I was prepping for a show, I would go through our entire setlist and try to play it from start to finish without looking at the fretboard at all. I would do this for 2-3 hours a day when time allowed. It made a huge difference to my confidence and comfort on stage.
I've sort of fallen back into staring at my guitar because I haven't been in a band in many years and haven't played shows. Thanks for the reminder to re-practice this!
Funny I started doing this a couple lessons ago. I played piano a LONG time ago and so many of Justin's lessons are things my piano teacher taught...and this is one of them.
Oh boy, I know what you mean. The visual information adds an extra layer of complexity, so I followed your advice and my playing feels much more comfortable!
What an EXCELLENT lesson Justin. Great communication, enlightening demos and a dazzling retrieval of your teenage self playing Vai. Making a donation right now.
Yes thanks it's all about practice and thinking the next chord move with the shape of the next chord in progression.Much practice the the tip.
Thanks, Justin! I'll incorporate that into my practice starting today! ❤️
Wish I had seen this post a long time ago! This was very helpful. It changes everything.
You are right Justin. I have seen many so called professional guitar players, staring at their left hand and singing to it.
Just started Justin's course, think I found a home/school! Excellent...
Great lesson one of the most underrated skill needed by beginners
Precious Justin❣️Thank you very much❣️🎊🎉🎼🎶🎵🎸❤️❤️I'm a beginner, I knew I should look up ,but, thanks to you, now I know how to reach that goal❣️
Brilliant video, Justin. Haven't commented in a while, but always watching.
A few pit musicians recommended playing in the dark. It was a crash course that helped one friend get up to speed within 3 months and got him his first gig playing in a several big musicals. Of course, they site read, but it is still great for band or singer songwriter stuff. Cheers!
Wonderful Training
I"ve been wondering about this, as a beginner. When I was in high school and learned to type, we were also told not to look, and I'm a good typist now. I think it's pretty much the same thing. I think words not letters. Thanks for covering this. I'm going to try not looking.
A lot of practice with simple tunes, slowly positioning BOTH hands. Works for me & I’m old. 😎
Excellent advices! Thank you Sir :)
Very Helpful!!
Hi Justin, I'd like to suggest that a version of this video is included as a lesson in the beginner's course, as early as possible, before the habit of looking at the fingers gets too ingrained in the student's habits. I understand that it would be a little intimidating in the first week or two, lol, but the more chords that are learned by eye, the harder it becomes to break the habit.
I tried your course some years ago and failed to progress after about 3-4 months. I just couldn't process fretting, strumming, reading the music etc at the same time. I didn't realise at that time that one of the main reasons was that I was looking at the guitar all the time and involving my visual cortex in the mental processing. Being an old codger, I don't have much spare capacity in the old skull anymore, and I gave up, sold the guitar.
When I retired, I took up your new revised beginners course, and despite the great help of the app, have again choked at Module 10. The app 'forced' me to play some songs without looking at the frets because I HAD to look at the screen and this was a definite improvement, up to a point. It also gave me a hint as to what the trouble might be, so rather than abandon it again, I've recently started again at module one but this time with my eyes tight shut. I was appalled by how badly I played even those good old A and D chords without looking, and it's taking me as long or longer to relearn them by touch. However, I'm now able to get into the flow of a few songs that totally defeated me before. If I don't look down, I can sing AND play 'Common People' and 'For What It's Worth'. Playing songs, which is what it's all about, has become a pleasure rather than a trial of strength. My strumming is better, also becoming automatic and because I'm not looking, I'm HEARING the chords much more accurately. For the first time, 'playing by ear' and improvising actually seem to be possibilities - although at some time in my far future!
You frequently say that students shouldn't move on to the next module until we have memorised the new chords etc. I'm now taking that to mean "until my HANDS have memorised the new stuff". It's a lot slower, of course, but I'm hoping that the next time Module 10 comes along, I'll be able to keep right on going.
p.s. The recent revisions to the app have improved it tenfold. Well done to you and the team.
Great comment D Lightful, I am 62 and just started Justin's course. Before I saw this video, my personal goal was to get my fretting hand to grow eyes.
Cheers
Great lessons Justin. Playing standing up is great for "not looking". Better for your posture too 😊
good tips. Could you do video on practising smarter? I've noticed certain sections of songs does take a night's sleep to process. Day2 all sudden it's blazing smooth.
So that kinda means no matter how much practice in a day, it just won't turn out smooth (clean)
Thanks, Justin! At first I was thinking, "I don't do that...much". Then I thought about "Blackbird" (which I learned from your website--thank you very much) and thought, "I wonder if I could ever play that WITHOUT looking?". Maybe I'll give it a try...somewhere where no one can hear me. Watching your videos makes me wish I had you (and computers, the web, TH-cam...) when I started. Keep up the good work!
You can still learn to touch type. It will take about 30min x 4 days a week for 3-4 months
Thank you excellent tutorial on this. I have probably gone about the whole learning of guitar a round about and awkward way.Being dyslexic has brought interesting challenges to my life. what I am longwindedly saying is you have been a big help. Thank you
im really feeling it!
Wow one of your best lesson. Thanks Justin
My first song I learned was Peggy Sue A D E it taught me chord changing spead simple song but so affective
Yeah, I'm having trouble picking the right strings to play lead parts when there is a lot of string skipping involved. But I'm making progress by practicing as slow as necessary in order to get it right, and I'm slowly picking up speed.