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Playing a progression with your eyes closed, think about it!
I was noodling this morning and realized that I do something that has helped my confidence in finger positions for playing chord progressions. I was picking a one of my favorite practice warmup progressions – D minor, F back to D minor to B flat to A minor, back to D minor to A minor to C. i switch the chord placements all around all of the time but i usually… pick it with my eyes closed, including short 1, 2, 3 or 4 note licks in A minor pentatonic . I’ve been doing it so long now that I just think of it as part of my practice routine. I am not bragging, Just saying it helped me organize my finger positions without having to look at the fret board. I started many moons ago with a simple C chord to G or A minor or F. Just 2 chords and got used to picking them without looking, then over time added another chord position and another until It became natural.
A good 2 chord progression to start with is E minor to C. Ring finger A string 2nd fret( A/2) and Middle finger D string 2nd fret (D/2) strum 4 times and and then move middle finger to A/3, leave to ringer finger where it is and add the index finger to B/1. Look at what you are doing then after you are used to the progression and where your fingers are placed start closing your eyes. If you miss a position with your eyes closed and it still sounds decent keep that finger position in mind as an new chord sound for the key of C. Slowly add the A minor chord, G chord, F chord and the D minor. and in no time you will feel comfortable with not need to look at the fret board. Have fun and let us know if it helps you to remember finger positions. As soon as you feel cocky with yourself add another Key and it’s chords to the practice until you have mastered the normal Keys, with relative minors of G, A, D, E and F.
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9 Replies
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I have a feeling you are a much more advanced player than I. Nonetheless I want to chime in on this topic. I started doing chord progressions, not with my eyes closed, but in low lit and dark areas and trying to look away from the guitar for the past 4 months or so (about a year after I started from absolute beginner). I will usually follow the chord progression of songs, without strumming them while I’m watching TV. Depending on the chords before and after I may use a different shape to make the transition easier. It always helps if you can leave one finger planted while minimizing the movements of the others. If that’s not possible then perhaps the shape can remain largely in tact and I just have to move it 1 string up or down and just a touch up or down the neck.
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Pete, that is close to how I started to doing this exercise back when dirt was small pebbles. Thanks for the input.
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Sometimes you can take that stationary finger and slide it up or down the string a fret or two and still use it as the anchor finger on a new chord shape. I use that on the D to A chord change- ring finger or the F to A minor and C- index finger.
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Also the E to B7 to the A chord is an easy transition. E minor is open Bass E string, A/2, D/2 to B7 – A/2, D/1, G/2, then slide those 3 string positions down toward the floor to D/2, G/2 and B/2. I try to keep my chord shapes as uncomplicated as I can, in 1st or farmer chords positions.
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Good stuff @jorgemac !
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Pete, I may be more advanced that most of the pickers we share information with but my main advantage is I know the fretboard. Fingering positions come through practice but knowing where all of the different notes are on the fretboard and how to use that information to form chords in different areas of the fretboard is strength of mine. If you know how many E notes are on the fretboard between an open neck and the 5th fret, or A notes or D notes or G notes is a good way to start to becoming a better guitar player. 10 minutes a day transferring a progression like C, F, G and A minor to a 5th fret starting position on the fret board taught me a heck of a lot about how to play. Take your favorite progressions and start them above the 5th fret for a few minutes a day. It will teach you a heck of a lot of valuable guitar info. think of the Hotel California Monday exercise and starting with an A minor shape on the 10th fret using only the Treble E, B and G strings of your guitar. A perfect learning exercise for utilizing the upper frets for chord shapes. You can do that exercise using those 3 strings and if you transfer the D minor and the E 7th above the 5th fret you all of those chords on the treble strings and learn a lot of guitar info especially if you callout each note of the chord strings you are picking. I didn’t take any course, just studied a couple of books and practiced that info a lot. I preach it all the time, learn the fret board and it does open up a lot of different ways to play.
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Jorge– (quote)- “If you miss a position with your eyes closed and it still sounds decent keep that finger position in mind as a new chord sound for the key of C”.
I LOVE this line!
It’s amazing how one finger moved just one string or fret— some small change– (whether on purpose… or … accidental)— can change and add SO much more to the sound of a chord or chord-progression.
Yes– playing with eyes closed brings a whole-new level of concentration…. and improvement! When I “miss”…. I always STOP right there, and “fix it” immediately, and STAY there until it’s fixed….
Thanks for posting this concept!
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Thanks Mark, sometimes, as you stated, mistakes can be… wait a minute, that is so wrong but sounds so right. I have found s few “passing along style chords” that way leading to the next chord in your progression. The other day I was trying to find a way, in C chord progression by adding a Bb major 7th chord as a passing chord to an A minor chord and worked and worked on it and couldn’t make it work, for some reason I tried an Bb arpeggio instead of strumming, but keeping the same rhythm beat as the strumming pattern and it worked beautifully. That all came about from a strumming mistake as the pick caught on the B/3 instead of completing and upstroke strum. sometimes your sooo bad that your are good.
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It’s all about experimenting/ noodling! You find new sounds, chord-variations, progressions, etc, just by noodling-around………. or maybe just by accident! Great stuff!
But…… you DO have to have some guitar chord/theory/etc knowledge to have even a little bit of an idea about what the hell you are doing.
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This reply was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by the-old-coach.
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This reply was modified 3 months, 3 weeks ago by
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