A new (fun?) practice exercise

I've been trying to play a few practice exercises like scales, and just finger dexterity exercises going up and down the neck, with my eyes closed! Not because I'm trying to be Jose Feliciano but because guitar is primarily a hearing thing and feeling thing. Sometimes the visual can be distracting. When you close your eyes, you automatically give more bandwidth for your other senses.

I think this will really come in handy for flat picking because you just have to memorize the distance between the strings, and you can't be looking down at the guitar as you're playing. Especially if you're playing for someone else. It's pretty interesting. Has anyone else tried this? No disrespect to Jose. I love his music and think he's amazing.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Good advice!
I was much too much of a fretboard watcher for most of my playing years, but started consciously moving away from that in practice some time ago. What I find most revealing about it is how much disconnecting the eyes really does engage the ears, and allows you to much better listen to what you're playing.
Kinda of a "Duh" statement, but sometimes the obvious is often overlooked.
Like you said, it's very much a hearing and feeling instrument, and using your eyes too much really does distract the brain away from those aspects. And, it's not necessary. Well, sometimes it is, especially when shifting over a good distance and/or playing at a faster tempo, but there is a lot of good in taking down the eyes a notch when you play, and promoting the ears to that position instead.
So, I think you're on the right track.
And BTW, long time Feliciano fan here. What a player and musician. Such a natural at the instrument.

[thniels]

I don't practice playing blindly per se but I do it often when I try to think up stuff. As you say, more bandwidth. But possibly also a bit more focus.

As for the braille idea (sounds brilliant, though, doesn't it ?), I think it'll be too slow to have actual braille. And a quick, simple dot-like indicator is pretty much superfluous as you already have the fret-ends to navigate by. And, to get back to my statement above, the fact that I can navigate pretty well (even on fretless, if not exactly violin/cello/whatnot-style proficiency) with my eyes closed without having ever practised it, hints at what you could accomplish by way of training which [to most people, at least] would be less annoying than bumps on the neck.

[rmp]

The longer you're doing it, the less you'll need to watch the fretboard

It comes in time.

[TBman]

That's great stuff to work on. Develops your spatial awareness of the fret board.

[rick-slo]

Personally for fingerstyle or classical pieces I don't feel that not looking at the fretboard improves your connection to the music or makes you play better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spUT-2tU2Yk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dth4ePrgA8s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ee5gdxLFgs

When I am playing I am thinking a bit ahead to what's next which gives a better flow and phrasing and looking aids motor control giving more control of expression.
Of course on simpler music either way is about equal.

[davidbeinct]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Personally for fingerstyle or classical pieces I don't feel that not looking at the fretboard improves your connection to the music or makes you play better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spUT-2tU2Yk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dth4ePrgA8s

When I am playing I am thinking a bit ahead to what's next which gives a better flow and phrasing and looking aids motor control giving more control of expression.
Of course on simpler music either way is about equal.

Thinking ahead is huge! I saw that tip early in my journey but kind of forgot about it. I found myself constantly grabbing the wrong chord on a simple four chord song recently and had to remind myself to think ahead. It really helps.

Improving your memory is as important as any other aspect of learning the guitar. Thinking ahead is part of that, too. Excellent advice.

When I am trying to learn a new song, I run through the different ways to play the chords, where I think the changes will be tricky, how can I work around that or simplify something so it's easier to play at my current level. It's like a bit of a planning process.

Sometimes I will watch several different tutorials or covers of a song I want to learn and then pick and choose the best from each and make my own version.

There's no end to the creativity!

[mawmow]

I play sight reading, so I almost never look at the fretboard… except for long travel up or down the neck.

I sometimes have to keep in mind some moves imply going to a longer or shorter fret spacing.

[Mandobart]

Lots of ideas and insights were shared on this thread on the subject a little while ago.

[RichardN]

I think being able to play without looking at the fretboard is important for a couple reasons. One reason is just to be more intimately familiar with the instrument.

Another reason is if you are looking at any kind of reference materials like chord charts, tab, or notation. It's difficult reading along and then having to switch your eyes to the neck and then back to the chart.

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

When I am playing I am thinking a bit ahead to what's next which gives a better flow and phrasing and looking aids motor control giving more control of expression.

Never thought about it this way, but looking (beyond the occasional glance) almost has to interfere with thinking ahead.

I come from violin, where looking at the fingerboard is mostly pointless, so I too used scale practice to build a map of the fingerboard. Interestingly I find that I can be more precise on guitar when I do not look. Maybe I'm still somewhat disturbed by the fact that intonation doesn't really depend on exactly where you put your finger between 2 frets, maybe that under visual control I aim for the centre of the "box" or maybe it's my ageing vision which limits its usefulness.