Do you ever practice blindly?

[Chuck_Norris]

Yesterday around midnight, I felt a strong urge to grab my guitar and work on my alternate picking (Paul Gilbert stuff) and general riffing technique (Lamb of God stuff). I couldn't play through an amp anymore 'cause it was too late so I decided to play unplugged. Suddenly, I wanted to try something new and I started practicing complex patterns blindly. I'm not talkin about scales and such, I'm talking about string skipping, odd licks and riffs, huge fret jumps and uncommon chord shapes.

At first, it was quite strange but after a short time I was feeling pretty comfortable. Suddenly, I got carried away like seldom before and instead of seeing the patterns I started to actually hear and feel them. My riffs became much clearer, the alternate picking got better and there was a nicer flow in everything I played. I can't tell how amazed I was! As I opened my eyes again to take a look at the clock it was 02:00 am...

Has anyone had such an experience before?

What is your personal approach to new stuff/technique?

 

[Silhouette89]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

Couldn´t agree more...

When I moved to a new city the first thing I did was to get a few guitar lessons after years of self teaching. First thing my teacher told me was that I´m constantly watching my fingers so that I rather played the shapes and not music.
Was by far the best guitar advice I was ever given, because I now begin to use practiced licks and stuff live since I begin to HEAR them fitting into the music.

:bigok:

 

[gvis]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

Sure, when it's 3am and I'm untentionally blind...lol. Although that's probably less like practice and more like slothing about my basement like a mad fool.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

yeh. pracricing with your eyes shut is very powerful.

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

Yup. Helps muscle memory develop a lot faster when you're just relying on feel vs. feel AND vision.

 

[Chuck_Norris]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

If only someone had told me that earlier... Well, better late than never I guess.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

Before I go to sleep, I try to play my repertoire in the dark and between the heads of tunes I just focus on moving to where I 'hear' the sounds in my head on the fretboard.

It helped me TONS, especially for gigs where I get mild jitters and can forget some changes in a tune without having charts in front of me. Playing in the dark added 'melodic memory' to my fingers for emergencies or when I really want to kick it up a notch, helps make me more capable of tearing up a solo without thinking.

 

[guitarkid]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

I practice with my eyes closed often. I think it really helps to improve your playing. Doing this really makes you play by FEEL and not just always watching the fretboard.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

yeh. pracricing with your eyes shut is very powerful.

+1. A good part of my practicing is with my eyes closed or not looking at the guitar. Helps the focus. My best solos on stage are with my eyes closed, when I can block out everything except the music I'm making. Without any visual distractions, I can 'channel' music thru me and use more subtleties and nuances.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

I like practicing in a room that's totally dark. Not only do I have to rely on feel, I find that I listen more carefully. I pay more attention to how notes sound together, how I do with the pitch on my bends, whether I'm fretting too hard or duffing notes -- lots of stuff that looking at my hands, the guitar, the wall, whatever, tends to distract me from.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

I like practicing in a room that's totally dark. Not only do I have to rely on feel, I find that I listen more carefully. I pay more attention to how notes sound together, how I do with the pitch on my bends, whether I'm fretting too hard or duffing notes -- lots of stuff that looking at my hands, the guitar, the wall, whatever, tends to distract me from.

+1. And onstage there's 10 times the commotion in the room: people walking around, talking-laughing-yelling, waitresses taking orders, doors opening and closing, TV's on the walls, etc. Blocking all of that out and playing by feel is always better.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Do you ever practice blindly?

I used to practice fretless bass in an unlit room. This helped to train my ears and muscle memory. Result - accurate intonation. All since diminished by the acquisition of some fretted bass guitars - especially the extended scale length five string beast from Germany.

EDIT - Another reason for playing without looking at your fingerboard is that this ability is essential when sight reading. (Shame that I am no good at it!)