hand movement?

BillKociaba

Blues Newbie
Hi all, not sure I am posting in the right category but got a question for anyone who thinks they can help. I am a re-beginner in that I used to play sevral years ago and am just starting again. I have a problem I had even when I was serious about my playing. My fingers are pretty accurate and not too slow but moving my hand from position to position on the neck is really hard for me. Not a one or two fret shift but say jumping from a bar chord g on the third fret to a similar chord up on the eighth or nineth fret. I am totally blind so the dots or blocks don't help. anyone got any suggestions on how to practice this to get somewhere? My ears aren't bad so I usually hear if I land in the wrong place but shifting back and forth well it just ain't happening
thanks for any suggestions
Bill
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Bill, I can't walk in your shoes, and have nothing but respect for the added difficulty that playing blind adds to an already difficult task.
I can only offer a couple suggestions that may or may not have any merit for your situation, but will throw them out anyway.
1. Add some type of tactile markers on the neck at strategic frets that will help you locate your hand on the neck in the same way that dot markers would.
2. Learn fingerings for chords that allow you to minimize hand movement. For example you can play an E shape barre chord G at the 3rd fret and then move the same chord shape to the 8th fret to play the C chord, but it sounds like this is what is difficult for you to do reliably. Instead, play the G at the 3rd fret but also play the C at the same hand position by playing the A form chord. In many cases, this will sound better anyway.
If you are not already familiar with the CAGED system, some effort to learn its basics will help in this regard quite a bit.
Best of luck to you!
Tom
 

Grateful_Ed

Student Of The Blues
That sounds like quite a challenge Bill. Short of marking the back or top edge of the neck or sliding into your chord, up or down until your ear tells you you're there I can't think of any suggestions. If you make it a portion of your daily practice, say ten or fifteen minutes a day eventually you'll be able to feel it I would hope.
Good luck and welcome to the forum Bill.
 

BoogieMan

Blues Junior
Good advice from OG as usual. Jumping around the neck attracts too much attention. You can almost always find inversions of the chords you need in close proximity to the position you are already in. This will make your chord changes sound much smoother. CAGED is the best system I know for finding these inversions.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Bill,
What is the best method by which you are able to learn new chord shapes or inversions?
If you could provide an example chord sequence that you would like help with, we could probably provide some better specific examples of how to approach it. I am a big fan of choosing chord shapes that require minimal fingering changes since many chord sequences contain some of the same notes from chord to chord. I do this because I am lazy, and it sounds pleasing to my ear besides. I don't like making big jumps around the neck, but rather move smoothly from chord to chord with minimal effort, and use passing chords to further embellish the chord sequence. Just learning a few of these types of moves makes comping sound better and is more fun to play as well.
 

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
In addition to what's already been mentioned, cut your chords down to triads, or maybe 4 note forms
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
After a quick search, I found that there is a Braille TAB version that has been developed and standardized.
Are you aware of this or possibly using it?
Tom
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
Hi all, not sure I am posting in the right category but got a question for anyone who thinks they can help. I am a re-beginner in that I used to play sevral years ago and am just starting again. I have a problem I had even when I was serious about my playing. My fingers are pretty accurate and not too slow but moving my hand from position to position on the neck is really hard for me. Not a one or two fret shift but say jumping from a bar chord g on the third fret to a similar chord up on the eighth or nineth fret. I am totally blind so the dots or blocks don't help. anyone got any suggestions on how to practice this to get somewhere? My ears aren't bad so I usually hear if I land in the wrong place but shifting back and forth well it just ain't happening
thanks for any suggestions
Bill

Can you feel the dots on the side of the neck with your thumb? If not, maybe adding a drop of clear nail polish or something similar to build them up a bit may help you orient yourself as to where you are on the fretboard.
 

BillKociaba

Blues Newbie
Can you feel the dots on the side of the neck with your thumb? If not, maybe adding a drop of clear nail polish or something similar to build them up a bit may help you orient yourself as to where you are on the fretboard.
First, thanks for all the support.
It seems like marking the neck is the best option. I actually placed pieces of tape on the back of the neck yesterday and think its going to help. I understand the idea of limited movement to make things easier and smoother and just logicly faster eventually but I have always felt trapped in that one spot. Even if I don't do it often I want to feel like I can make those smooth jumps if and when I need to. I guess I just like to address my weaknesses rather than finding a way around them. Think it comes from being a hardcore fitness and strength training person all my life. I played sax for sevral years and studied jazz primarly so I understand chord construction pretty good so that's not a problem. And thanks for the braille suggestion but I am afraid I don't use braille. Learned it a few years back but at 60 the fingertips are just not sensitive enough to use it easily. Again thanks for all the good suggestions
 

JN99

Hang Fire
My thought when I read this is it is a muscle memory question. You need something tactile as others have mentioned but I think doing it for one particular movement at a time, like that 3rd fret to 9th fret you mentioned is how to approach it. You want to ingrain that jump into your muscle memory and rather than having to detect and count markers along the way as you slide up the neck, just mark the 3rd and 9th fret - the landing spots and go back and forth to commit that to muscle memory. As others have said, hats off to you for tackling the added challenge of guitar without the benefit of sight. And like you, I like to use those jumps to create interest at times - playing in position is fine but there are definitely times when I want the added color of chord voicings up and down the neck instead. Best of luck Bill!
 

BillKociaba

Blues Newbie
My thought when I read this is it is a muscle memory question. You need something tactile as others have mentioned but I think doing it for one particular movement at a time, like that 3rd fret to 9th fret you mentioned is how to approach it. You want to ingrain that jump into your muscle memory and rather than having to detect and count markers along the way as you slide up the neck, just mark the 3rd and 9th fret - the landing spots and go back and forth to commit that to muscle memory. As others have said, hats off to you for tackling the added challenge of guitar without the benefit of sight. And like you, I like to use those jumps to create interest at times - playing in position is fine but there are definitely times when I want the added color of chord voicings up and down the neck instead. Best of luck Bill!
and that's exactly what I did today. I just kept going back and forth between the G chord to the C on fret8 and then after a break I did the same with the D on 11 seemed to miss that one much more. The neck markings do help a great deal. Think just doing this over and over with the1, 4 and 5 chordsin different keys will get me where I want.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
Great to hear you are making progress on it!!
Practice has magical properties when applied in sufficient quantities.
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
Not being snarky, but how are you reading the forum. Some kind of synthesized voice?

When I'm sight reading bass charts without looking, I can often feel the frets even if I'm not looking, and feel a half step or whole step position shift, and maybe more.
 

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
and that's exactly what I did today. I just kept going back and forth between the G chord to the C on fret8 and then after a break I did the same with the D on 11 seemed to miss that one much more. The neck markings do help a great deal. Think just doing this over and over with the1, 4 and 5 chordsin different keys will get me where I want.
D is on 10
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Some folks on the forum have talked about practicing in a darkened room so that they have to rely on touch to find their place.
Absent any tricks (Tape, nail polish...-Not that there is anything WRONG with using those helpers) time is your only real friend.
\Most great players barely look at the neck and still know where to go. Granted that they almost all looked at the neck when they started, but with enough practice on ONE guitar, you will start to just know where to go. IT takes time and repetition, but I see it beginning to happen for me.
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Some folks on the forum have talked about practicing in a darkened room so that they have to rely on touch to find their place.
Absent any tricks (Tape, nail polish...-Not that there is anything WRONG with using those helpers) time is your only real friend.
\Most great players barely look at the neck and still know where to go. Granted that they almost all looked at the neck when they started, but with enough practice on ONE guitar, you will start to just know where to go. IT takes time and repetition, but I see it beginning to happen for me.

I do that exact thing. I even took a dog collar, the one so they dont lick their what nots after surgery, turned it upside down so I couldnt look at the guitar
 

Grateful_Ed

Student Of The Blues
I do that exact thing. I even took a dog collar, the one so they dont lick their what nots after surgery, turned it upside down so I couldnt look at the guitar

dog-laughing.gif
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
But did you lick anything?

welll, ummmmmm, I plead the fifth commandment or something.

I remember when I wanted to get better at barre chords, I would only play them, never open chords, I go to extremes because it drives me nuts when I cant do something
 
Top