Eyes up!

[thamiam]

I've been working lately on tearing my eyes off of the fretboard. Practicing in a dark room has helped, but if I stop thinking about my eyes tend to drift back to my fingers. How do you instructors solve this problem in your students? Has anybody who's succesfully accomplished this transition learned any helpful tips?

[evan_02]

i just closed my eyes whenever i played, thats stopped me from looking. it's a pain to have to look when you are reading. i do glance at the fretboard if i make a huge position shift, just to be sure i don't make an ass of myself

[thamiam]

I'm not a big fan of having my eyes closed while playing. The big reason why I want to get my eyes off the fretboard is so I can communicate better with the other musicians in the group. Eye contact is definitely a big part of interaction, in my experience.

[babybatter]

Eeek. I still look at my fretboard most of the time.

[Auggie Doggie]

 

Originally posted by thamiam I'm not a big fan of having my eyes closed while playing. The big reason why I want to get my eyes off the fretboard is so I can communicate better with the other musicians in the group. Eye contact is definitely a big part of interaction, in my experience.

 

 

 

In an ideal world...

 

 

Every musician would know his/her music so well that they could play it completely from memory, blindfolded, and start/stop on ANY note throughout the piece at the drop of a hat.

 

 

In the real world...

 

 

While eye contact is important for cues and so forth, staring at your bandmates constantly will raise many questions about your sanity, sobriety, and sexuality. So, there is always time during which you can safely divert your eyes from your drummer's glazed-over stare.

 

Let's face it-with the guitar, there are going to be times when you NEED to look at the instrument to get your bearings and/or position. However, if you're playing things that remain in one position for extended periods of time, you shouldn't have any need to watch your hands. If you MUST watch them, then you don't know that piece of music quite well enough yet. There is a big difference between 'glancing' and 'watching'.

 

There's also a confidence issue involved; it's very reassuring to see your hands performing aural miracles. You can wean yourself from this habit by practicing in front of a mirror. You can still watch your hands, but it's from a completely different perspective.

 

Another thing I always did with my students (back when I was teaching guitar) was to force them to sight-read. It didn't have to be anything terribly difficult, but it forced them to keep their eyes on the music and just FIND the notes with their hands. It's rough at first, but once they get the hang of it, there's no need to get the crowbar out and pry their eyes from their hands.

[bob-ingram]

It's a good habit to break, but there's no easy way to do it other than to focus on not looking. Like playing a team sport, your perepheral vision is your friend here. Being able to see something out of the corner of your eye is a critical skill for Hockey, basketball, football, soccer. It's the same with playing guitar. If you can see out of the corner of your eye your fret position. It simply takes focus and practice.

[Tots]

Another thing I always did with my students (back when I was teaching guitar) was to force them to sight-read. It didn't have to be anything terribly difficult, but it forced them to keep their eyes on the music and just FIND the notes with their hands. It's rough at first, but once they get the hang of it, there's no need to get the crowbar out and pry their eyes from their hands.

 

Exactly I find players who were taught to sight read are much less dependant on seeing the neck.

[ralphster007]

At first, stick to something that you're familiar with; running scales, common chord progressions etc.

 

Get someone to print off an article for you, and call scales or chords while you're reading it. Have them test you on the article once you've finished reading it.

 

This was designed for another purpose (to engrave technique into the mind so that it becomes second-nature), but it would work in your case as well.

[StratKat]

Its like typing fast or eating. You dont think about the fork in your hand as you enter it in your mouth. It comes from habit and repetition.

 

Same thing with playing. The more you play the more this tendancy to riviit your eues on the fretboard will diminish. But it basically didnt come for me until i got over my shyness and stage fright. I was afraid to see the people when i first started playing out. And i was afraid of making boo-boos so i watched the neck exclusively. As time progressed and i memorized a bunch of tunes i had to start looking up and at other players for cues.

 

Then one night we played and uur lights went out. Darkness.....scary...... and the only flashlight was trained on the guitarist since he was the singer (i was the bassist at the time.)

 

I made alot of mistakes, but also got alot right.

 

On guitar i didnt get past this until i was playing lead stuff for a few years. One night i was funning with the band i was jamming with and realized i hadnt looked at my neck except for mistakes and starting references. It just comes with time and playing. No real trick to it.

 

Unless you call this a trick!

 

When i was afraid of the audience i was told it was so obvious. Girls thought it was kinda cute though .

 

A friend told me to look at peoples forheads, not their eyes. Or to focus inbetween people sitting next to each other and smile as if i was actually looking at them. Stay there for 2 seconds and look somewhere else. Long enough to get their attention but not long enough for them to respond in a way they would expect you to respond back again.

 

Focusing on a persons forhead, or inbetween their eyes on the nose bridge is also an old fighters trick. Focus on the opponents nose bridge, not his eyes, and let your peripheral vision tell you where the attack is comming from. It is intimidating as hell to your opponent when he cant make you flinch and you constantly stare him down.

[thamiam]

I started sight-reading regularly after reading some responses here, it has made a big difference.

 

I was always a very good sight reader on piano and sax, that I tended to neglect it in my practicing. I should have known that would come to bite me in the ass!

 

Anyways, last night I came to a realization...

 

If you really want to test yourself on knowing the fretboard, try sight reading walking bass lines. I was sight reading Paul Chambers' lines on 'So What' and it was a real litmus test for how well I knew the notes on the fretboard independant of patterns and chord shapes.

 

I failed miserably, but at least I can see now how to improve.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

[StratKat]

Sight reading is an art unto itself. Ive know some scary people who couldnt improvise worth squat but could sit down and play complex arrangements from sight so well you wouldnt know they didnt know the song. Thats where the art of notation truly shines for musicians. Notation in this instance gives a decided edge to a musician since they are playing both melody and harmony with no knowedge of the actual song to go on except whats in front of them on paper.

 

Sight reading also requires a fast mind, great eyes, and CONSTANT practice to stay up on. Someone like me with dyslexia doesnt stand a chance at it. Instead, people like me look for pre-learned patterns in the music lines and fake it (and we are nowhere near as good as the true sight readers.)