PatrickUnderwood
Blues Newbie
I've been working on Sitting Easy Blues forever, and it just had me stumped. A few days ago I started trying to figure out exactly where my trouble lies, and it's in the picking hand--specifically, finding the correct string with the pick.
The way I'd been playing was to look solely at my fretting hand, leaving the picking hand to fend for itself. Poor thing. So I tried stealing a glance at my right hand when I needed to pick a different string. And it works beautifully. After just a couple days I was getting all the way through the song, nearly at full speed, and have moved on to Full Out Blues, which is going pretty well.
I've seen a lot of conflicting advice on this. My wife is a flautist and she thinks you should never look at your instrument at all. Of course with a flute that's pretty difficult anyway...
I'm a lefty playing right-handed, which might be a factor. But in any case, the point is, do whatever you have to do to solve your problems. Someday you probably won't need to look at your guitar at all. But don't cripple yourself with artificial constraints while you're learning. Whatever it takes!
What do you all (beginners and old hands alike) think about this?
The way I'd been playing was to look solely at my fretting hand, leaving the picking hand to fend for itself. Poor thing. So I tried stealing a glance at my right hand when I needed to pick a different string. And it works beautifully. After just a couple days I was getting all the way through the song, nearly at full speed, and have moved on to Full Out Blues, which is going pretty well.
I've seen a lot of conflicting advice on this. My wife is a flautist and she thinks you should never look at your instrument at all. Of course with a flute that's pretty difficult anyway...
I'm a lefty playing right-handed, which might be a factor. But in any case, the point is, do whatever you have to do to solve your problems. Someday you probably won't need to look at your guitar at all. But don't cripple yourself with artificial constraints while you're learning. Whatever it takes!
What do you all (beginners and old hands alike) think about this?