Playing the guitar without looking

[@ImproviseForReal]

Thanks for watching my video! Have you ever tried playing an entire song or solo without looking down at the fretboard? It can be scary at first, but once you learn to orient yourself without looking at the fretboard it can be incredibly liberating. If this is something you're already doing, please share your own tips and advice about how to learn this skill. And please subscribe to our channel to follow the conversation!

[@billford203]

Improvise For Real David the best lesson I've seen on KZbin thank you as a blind guitarist I do all the things that you just said and I still find my head looking at the neck even though I can't see it but just do the 1625 progression do a 1 to 3 like you said do the 123-5251 etc. and everyone can do it thank you

[@ImproviseForReal]

@@billford203 Thank you Bill! That means so much to me coming from you, because you live this experience every day. I really appreciate your words of support!

[@GaiaCarney]

Thanks for creating this video 🕊 I’m a beginner & interested in building a strong ergonomic playing posture. I like playing what little I know w/o looking, it feels more...free 🦋

[@paulsonle-vh7nj]

Same thing as martial arts, that is how the brain works This is the highest level of teaching. Thank you David.❤

[@micktulk]

Thanks so much. I'm at this juncture

[@nealkrueger9363]

Thank you 🎉😊

[@kamcosmic]

Been playing for 10 years, always looking. I'm finally diving into theory and I had the feeling that playing without looking would help me feel the intervals better. I look forward to this part of the journey and I'm excited to get to the point of not having to look :)

[@paulsonle-vh7nj]

My bad habit is I always wanted to play fast. Now, I know I want to play slow without looking . Thank you, David. I bought the IFR book, and these videos really help to understand more clearly how your method works.

[@sujayanarula3913]

I needed to know this, it's like an affirmation to what I was doing when I knew absolutely nothing when I was using my kids classical guitar, I couldn't read their music sheets, so I was doing just this, it was sounding really good I played for a long time all over the fretboard, strange as it seems now that I know all that one should know to become a Guitarist, i have lost the continuous flow and I feel so restricted to stick to the structure or rather conscious to play by sound and feel! 😄

[@scotturnquist1240]

This is a great lesson. I will definitely practice this.

[@downtoearth5108]

You are on point. Thank you for your insights.

[@ImproviseForReal]

Thank you, down to earth!

[@markmarz]

Thank you! You have a very supportive presentation. I appreciate your honesty with your own process and how you moved from there to here. That helps a beginner like myself a lot!

[@ImproviseForReal]

Thank you Mark! I really appreciate your comment, and I'm happy that you've already found IFR as a beginner. I wish you a lot of enjoyment with the method. If I can help you in any way, don't hesitate to reach out. - David

[@willcouchman6842]

Wonderful video yet again. I was just thinking about this very topic while I was practicing yesterday. Can’t wait to implement these exercises!

[@ImproviseForReal]

That's so great to hear, Will. I can't wait to hear about your first experiences! Please let me know what you discover and how you find the first steps. I hope you enjoy it! - David

[@delbinson18]

Thank you for another amazing video. Keep doing this i love it.

[@daringetae5136]

For the unaware. It doesn't matter how skillful you are on the guitar or what's your IQ. If you have never tried to play without looking at the fretboard I must tell you it takes approximately 2 years of daily practice which is not bad taking into account you would like to play that instrument all your life. Of course you will see improvement probably not every day, but for sure every week you will overcome small hurdles. Don't buy into the bs it takes days or even months. It will not happen. It requires patience and daily practice. It's not a simple thing, but it is achievable by anybody out there.

[@sevenchambers]

How much time out of the day?

[@TusharSatdeve]

I love your work and stuff, gonna buy some of your material from the first pay of my life which I will get next month!! looking forward to getting the amazing material !!

[@ImproviseForReal]

Thank you so much Tushar! Please stay in touch and let me know how you're making out with your new creative practice. Anytime you have questions or need help in any way, just let me know and I'll be glad to help you. - David

[@TusharSatdeve]

Thank you David, you're already helping me a lot, to be honest things are already explained very simply in IFR, I have bought the book, started it couple of months ago, I'm patient and preparing myself for this long journey :) I will definitely seek your help when in doubt, by the way, I'm from India, aspiring singer-songwriter. Where can I let you know if I need your help regarding IFR? (P.S. waiting to buy other supplements which will make my workflow more efficient)

[@ImproviseForReal]

Hi Tushar, you're always welcome to write me an e-mail or just post a comment on our KZbin channel. My e-mail address is [e-mail]. Let me know whenever I can be of help! - David

[@TusharSatdeve]

Sure, thanks :)

[@katrinnagelschmitz2977]

Wonderful!

[@kanrup5199]

hey, could you make a video saying some things about the process of learning and training to play chords on the guitar in this method? with melody its often from one note to the next, but with chords, the finger placements for many notes in many string at the same time is tricky to improvise for beginner. are chords trained in the usual way, by reinforcing predefined chord-shapes?

[@ImproviseForReal]

Great question. No, I don't recommend learning memorized chord shapes. That might be a shortcut to playing some chords that people ask you to play, but it really does you a disservice as a musician because it robs you of the understanding of WHY you're playing those notes, and where the notes come from. A better way to think about chords is to see them in the same context as the melody notes you're already exploring. Creating chords is nothing more than grouping the melody notes together. In the IFR Video Course for Guitar, I teach a process for doing this in the lessons called "Creating basic guitar chords". But then where we really develop this ability is in my video courses Chord Melody Guitar 1 & 2. If you're already comfortably improvising melodically across the entire fretboard in a variety of chords and chord progressions (i.e., the abilities you learn in the IFR Video Course for Guitar), then you're ready to move on to Chord Melody Guitar 1 if you want to expand your playing to include improvising with chords. Here's a direct link to this course: improviseforreal.com/products/chord-melody-guitar-1 And if you just want to understand what this practice looks like, here's an introductory video that I created a million years ago outlining the basic practice approach: improviseforreal.com/ifr-blog/instrument-blogs/guitar-blog/free-video-lesson-introduction-chord-melody

[@kanrup5199]

@@ImproviseForReal thank you. I have the ifr ebook, but cannot afford the video course right now. I saw the video titled "Introduction to Chord Melody on Guitar". I can manage to start practicing that. It looks like a complicated fretting-hand finger and arm position calculation has to happen before the strum. At least with barre-chords. and looks like middle-strings which I'm not fretting might sound at open position and be a problem.

[@ImproviseForReal]

Yes, if you want to be able to select only certain strings to sound, then you'll need to play fingerstyle. But you can apply the exact same methodology to strumming. It's just that you'll only use a small fraction of the resulting forms because you won't want to use the ones that leave open strings in the middle.

[@kanrup5199]

@@ImproviseForReal thanks.

[@joseantonioplazaguitarra]

Great Job, well done!!!

[@ImproviseForReal]

Thank you Jose Antonio! I would love to know your own thoughts on this subject. You understand classical guitar technique so deeply that I would be fascinated to know how you think about this issue. (We'll also be posting the same lesson on our Spanish channel if you would rather have the conversation there.) Thanks for your comment! - David

[@nkramer2011]

How do you not have more views? All your videos are amazing

[@ImproviseForReal]

Ha ha! Thanks Nicholas. Our channel growth is slow but strong. We don't invest time in trying to make viral videos or cover popular topics just to get more views. Everything on our channel is 100% education for creative musicians, so our subscribers are passionate musicians that we're super proud to serve. Welcome to the IFR community! - David

[@gortagnan]

Very interesting, as I often thought (though as a long term beginner !) how the old blind blues players, ironically maybe, had a ‘small -advantage’ by HAVING to play /learn or even improvise ...by feel alone..And look what they achieved !

[@ImproviseForReal]

I think that's right, Gortagnan. Some of the most technically amazing musicians have been totally blind. And you might be right that their lack of vision actually accelerated their development because it forced them to make the physical connections much earlier in their journey. I know that my own playing of both guitar and piano is much better (and easier) when I look away from the instrument. So that's part of what I was trying to share in this video. Thanks for your thoughtful comment! - David

[@jenna2431]

This title made me giggle as I'm a cellist and very seldom get to look where I'm playing. 🎻

[@danielscroggins6806]

I have noticed that Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, and others seem to always look at the fret board when playing guitar. SO IS NOT LOOKING JUST FOR COMFORT AND LESS STRESS

[@ImproviseForReal]

Yes, absolutely. Many amazing guitar players prefer to look at the fretboard when they play, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. But many people find that especially when improvising, it's actually easier to maintain your orientation on the fretboard when you don't look, because it causes you to switch your attention to a more internal navigation system that makes you more aware of intervals, displacements, etc. So you'll have to try both and see which one allows you to feel more free and secure. But if there is one issue that clearly gives an advantage to one approach over the other, it's the issue of ergonomics. It's just not possible to be in a healthy, efficient posture if your head is wrenched around staring down at your left hand the whole time. But again, your mileage may vary. As long as you're healthy in other ways (active lifestyle, exercise, etc.) your body can withstand long periods in strange postures with no problems at all. So all of this is presented just as ideas and possibilities for you to know about, but you should follow your own judgment and preference. The most important thing is to be comfortable and to enjoy playing your guitar, and you're the best judge of that. Thanks for the question!

[@dylan3753]

The big fret jumps are my problem at the moment

[@ImproviseForReal]

I hear you. The key is to slow down and first get crystal clear about the displacement you're trying to make. Sure it's a few frets away, but how many exactly? And how can you use your left hand strategically to measure that distance? For example let's say you're playing a note with your index finger and you want to play a note that's much higher on the same string. Let's say it's so far beyond your pinky that it's 3 frets out of reach. So what we're talking about is actually made up of two movements: (1) shift your entire left hand up the fretboard exactly 3 frets, and (2) play the note under your pinky finger. I don't know if this helps, but this methodical, slow approach enabled me to get very comfortable playing without looking at the fretboard in literally just a few days. Plus it really helped me visualization of harmony because it forced me to get to a much higher level of clarity about the notes I was playing. Here's a blog post on a somewhat related topic that might help you imagine the kind of calm that I'm proposing: improviseforreal.com/ifr-blog/instrument-blogs/guitar-blog/ifr-student-question-jumping-strings-without-getting-lost I hope this helps. If you have a specific fretboard situation that is causing you problems, feel free to describe it in detail and I'll try to help you with it. Thanks for your comment! - David

[@dylan3753]

@@ImproviseForReal thanks for the tips, I've been able to increase the consistency of my success through hours of practice, and hopefully your tips make me even more consistent. Some of what you mentioned in the video articulated what was happening subconsciously during my practice, giving me the understanding that there is a method to the madness, and that I'm not insane by doing the same thing over and over again expecting something new to happen.