Troubles matching right hand to left

Hi everyone! First post here.[br][br]I'm having troubles matching my right to left hand. On 5 string melodies now which I can fret at a good speed. Problem is my right hand is hitting the wrong strings if I'm not looking down. Any advice for exercises on how to improve this? I guess it's just being new and still learning string placement.

Originally Posted by: pearsonablake

Hi everyone! First post here.[br][br]I'm having troubles matching my right to left hand. On 5 string melodies now which I can fret at a good speed. Problem is my right hand is hitting the wrong strings if I'm not looking down. Any advice for exercises on how to improve this? I guess it's just being new and still learning string placement.

Yes. The simplest answer is to keep on looking down. Not kidding.

In the minds of many guitar players early in their journey, it seems a thing that you must be able to look away from the fretboard. You don't. Specifically, don't say to yourself 'I have to be able to play looking away'. There's no reason to think this. The truth is; the more you build your skill, you'll naturally just do it without thinking about it. Even then, you will have times you look at your guitar anyway. 40 years and I still look at some riffs just because I do.

By thinking you need to look away, you're really only making your progress as a player that much harder.

Jeff... I find myself in the very unusual position of disagreeing with something you said. Where not looking at you hand is useful, is when you accompany your self while singing. It is not a problem if you are just one guitarist, in a band. But if you are up there alone, it can become a barrior to reaching your audience. The whole idea of singing a song is to make the words humanly realatable. Eye contact helps to make your performance audience relatable

You wouldn't have a conversation with somebody and stare at your hands the whole time. Eye contact is a crutual part of conveying the idea that you are genuine in what you are saying. Lack of eye contact can create the perception that you are evasive.

I think singing is like a conversation. Good vocal performance is about the communication of human ideas and feelings. As such it uses alot of similar gateways. Eye contact with your audience is a part of that art. For people who want to accompany them selves, eye contact with your audience is a powerful tool. You can't use that tool if you are focused on your hands.

Otherwise, if you are just playing guitar, I totally agree with you that it doesn't really matter as much if you are watching your hands.

Originally Posted by: snojones

Jeff... I find myself in the very unusual position of disagreeing with something you said. Where not looking at you hand is useful, is when you accompany your self while singing. It is not a problem if you are just one guitarist, in a band. But if you are up there alone, it can become a barrior to reaching your audience. The whole idea of singing a song is to make the words humanly realatable. Eye contact helps to make your performance audience relatable

You wouldn't have a conversation with somebody and stare at your hands the whole time. Eye contact is a crutual part of conveying the idea that you are genuine in what you are saying. Lack of eye contact can create the perception that you are evasive.

I think singing is like a conversation. Good vocal performance is about the communication of human ideas and feelings. As such it uses alot of similar gateways. Eye contact with your audience is a part of that art. For people who want to accompany them selves, eye contact with your audience is a powerful tool. You can't use that tool if you are focused on your hands.

Otherwise, if you are just playing guitar, I totally agree with you that it doesn't really matter as much if you are watching your hands.

And really, I don't think we're saying different things. My thoughts were more for someone starting out. Why spend time trying to look away when you're still trying to get used to the instrument?

To you point though, if you perform is some way, you're going to need to have enough confidence in your playing to be able to not have to keep eyeballing it the whole time. Agreed.