practising with my eyes closed

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does anyone else do this? as I continue to improve with daily guitar related exercises following my problems with a dodgy arthritic thumb condition dealing with the fear I may never play again I have taken to performing some of the exercises with my eyes closed, at least for some of the time. I'm talking about chord changes, two octave scales and arpeggios but closing my eyes seems to help my fingers find the notes better without just going through the pattern of putting my fingers in certain places. all of this is done very slowly to the background of the metronome but I seem to be playing cleaner and finding each note better with my eyes closed. Have I finally gone over the edge, am I imagining all of this or is there some method in my madness? :) ...
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    There are times when I practice with eyes closed. One is when I want to hear something clearly, particularly the nuances of pick attack, slides vs bends, and using different positions. Closing down visual processing seems to leave more brain space for listening.

    The other is when I want to check that I can play something without looking at the fretboard. So many amateur guitarists spend more time looking at their instrument rather than their audience.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • MusicwolfMusicwolf Frets: 3627
    Roland said:

    The other is when I want to check that I can play something without looking at the fretboard. So many amateur guitarists spend more time looking at their instrument rather than their audience.
    Very true.  I'm very much of the opinion that, if you get up on stage, then you are an Entertainer who happens to play the guitar.

    I don't conciously practice with my eyes closed but I do insist that, before they go out for the first time, a band practices under 'stage conditions'.  That is lined up as per a gig, run through the set as per a gig (only stopping if we have to) and with something akin to stage lighting.  You don't want somebody discovering that they can't find the note on a rosewood fretboard on a darkened stage for the first time on the night.  Usually they can do it without looking but then they panic when they first look down.

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