Does not looking at fretboard come naturally?


dlwalke
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Joined: 02/02/19
Posts: 240
dlwalke
Full Access
Joined: 02/02/19
Posts: 240
09/01/2020 3:03 am

Just curious if this is one of the things that develops over time without any intentional effort (does this ability sneak in through the back door while you are learning other things) or if fretboard awareness is something people work on. If I'm not moving my hands, I don't have a problem playing open chords and mostly fingering them accurately, but I'm a bit amazed when I see experienced players playing involved solo's, or even just bar chords where they're on the 3rd fret, for instance, and then jump up to the 10th fret and keep playing accurately. I'm also just curious what the cues, if any, are. Is it an unconscious perception of neck diameter, or just motor memory as to how far up and down you need to move your hand to get to the right spot? Are players uncounsciously counting frets as they slide their hand up the fretboard? Should I do any exercises to become more proficient at this? Thanks.


# 1
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
ChristopherSchlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Joined: 08/09/05
Posts: 8,328
09/01/2020 12:21 pm
Originally Posted by: dlwalke

Just curious if this is one of the things that develops over time without any intentional effort (does this ability sneak in through the back door while you are learning other things) or if fretboard awareness is something people work on.[/quote]

It depends on the individual. But in general the more you practice the more it becomes second nature.

Even experienced pro guitarists look at the neck for visual cues, especially when they are changing position. But it's more subtle, and here's the important point: they often sneak a quick peek ahead of time to see where they are going next. Once they see the next position to aim for, they are done looking, until it's time to look out for the next position shift.

Watch SRV closely in this video. Half the time he has his eyes closed. The other 45% of the time he's not looking at this hands. But that last 5% is him taking a quick peek further up the neck to see where he's going next. You can watch him telegraph it in real time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC5H9P4F5Uk

Watch :10 looking down low, :50 looking up high, :54 looking back down low.

Joe Pass moves around quite a bit. And he was so good he doesn't really need to look. :) But you can still see even this guy sneaking peeks slightly ahead of the position shifts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyjQv52Nzno

I find myself doing the same thing all the time. I look ahead of time to see where to aim. Once I see where to shift next, I don't need to look. And once I've been playing for a couple of hours, I'm really warmed up & playing a very familiar Strat I don't need to look at all.

[quote=dlwalke]Should I do any exercises to become more proficient at this? Thanks.

You should practice. A lot. And then more. A lot more. :) Hope this helps!


Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor

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# 2
JeffS65
Registered User
Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
JeffS65
Registered User
Joined: 10/07/08
Posts: 1,602
09/01/2020 8:17 pm
Originally Posted by: dlwalke

Just curious if this is one of the things that develops over time without any intentional effort (does this ability sneak in through the back door while you are learning other things) or if fretboard awareness is something people work on. If I'm not moving my hands, I don't have a problem playing open chords and mostly fingering them accurately, but I'm a bit amazed when I see experienced players playing involved solo's, or even just bar chords where they're on the 3rd fret, for instance, and then jump up to the 10th fret and keep playing accurately. I'm also just curious what the cues, if any, are. Is it an unconscious perception of neck diameter, or just motor memory as to how far up and down you need to move your hand to get to the right spot? Are players uncounsciously counting frets as they slide their hand up the fretboard? Should I do any exercises to become more proficient at this? Thanks.

I'll add that you should not worry much about it. As you improve and have a stronger physical familiarity with the neck, you just sorta develop your ability to not always look. I've said few times that worrying about not looking distracts from getting your skills down. Not looking just happens. Like Chris said, every player looks at some point or another. Some of it is when you move positions like he said and I also notice that if I'm learning something new like a song or a chord, I look more often until I get more comfortable. I've been playing for a long time so that tells me that it's just the nature of learning guitar.


# 3

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