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There are quite a few things that experienced guitarists will suggest to you for improvement, but some of them can be downright strange. For me to tell you to play with your eyes closed, might sound like I’m trying to screw you up and discourage you from continuing. That’s actually very far from the truth.
Actually, learning to play with your eyes closed will give you a much better understanding of your own playing habits, help you to better recognize parts of the guitar, and develop your ability to learn by ear. Check out these 6 reasons how playing with your eyes closed can push more improvement into your skills.
1. Improving your knowledge of familiar chords comes quicker.
It seems like when you first begin learning basic chords, everything depends on your ability to see how you form them when that really isn’t the case. Forming chords correctly is more about muscle memory and when you take your sight out of the equation, you have nothing to rely on but your ability to remember the formation of your fingers.
2. Your understanding of the fret board will increase.
Sometimes when riffs are being played that have you jumping around to different frets up and down the board, you can get tangled up and start hitting wrong notes. If you were to practice those riffs with your eyes closed, you would find more guitar improvement on your ability to feel subtle differences between the different frets on the neck.
3. You can recognize your mistakes easier.
When you’re looking down at your hands and you’re trying to get through a difficult guitar progression like walking through high mud, you might over-look some of your own fundamental mistakes. With your eyes closed however, those mistakes become bold statements that stick out in your perfect melody and you’re almost forced to smooth them out.
4. Your memory will become better.
Looking at the frets and where your fingers are going can sometimes cloud your memory when you have a few tunes to memorize. Without your sight, feeling your way through the song is much more effective and you’ll find your memory improving with each practice.
5. Stylistic song features become clearer.
There are musicians that can play music and there are musicians that can play music the way composers intended it. When you have nothing but your fingers and ears to rely on, you actually absorb more important stylistic features of a song that you may have other-looked otherwise.
6. You can adjust to the tempo of the music better.
If you’re a guitarist that fights tempos by speeding up and slowing down without warning, playing with your eyes closed can improve your interpretation of the songs rhythms and tempos. Without your eyes to guide you, you’ll find that your listening skills will heighten and your adjustments to the song’s tempo will be more accurate.
Any way that you can think of to have a better relationship with the parts of your guitar is beneficial to the improvement of your skills. Try a few practices with your eyes closed and see if you can’t get your fingers moving more independently of what you see.
write by Rachael Morrison