Learn what slash chords are and how to play them here! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qpp9h6Z-2NK5iIU.html

Justin, ever since I picked up a guitar, probably about 15 years ago now, you were there. It's weird seeing your hair change colour and stuff. I'm glad you're still here. You're a legend, dude. Thanks mate.

"Practice makes permanent! So practice perfectly." I love that saying

I play in a jazz band and I find if I look down at my fretboard, I can easily lose my way on the lead sheet. So now I'm trying very hard to retrain my brain to listen to my chords and if flat or sharp to make a quick (hopefully) correction.

Cant figure out what you are best at ... guitar stuff or communication or just being a really nice guy in general.. good stuff .. thanks :)

I have been Playing for 54yrs now what a good lessons for all of us Thanks my man

I would add 2 tips : * When you have to look, practice doing it with a quick glance at the neck, on position changes only, not staring at it for the whole riff. * Use the dots on the side of the neck : when you look, you usually shouldn't have to look at the fretboard, just the neck dots, which is quicker.

A good tip I could give to my fellow guitarists is to: *PLAY IN THE DARK* Seriously, if there is one thing that drastically improved my playing, it's gonna be "playing in the dark" where you're forced to not look, because even you looked down the fretboard, you won't be able to see anything.

I wish Justin was my roommate so I could get guitar lessons from him in-person all the time. 😭

Back in the late 70 s l had a les paul. Took lessons was getting pretty good. Hurt my hand couldnt move my fingers very well. But lm 61 now an back at it. Cant remember much but with your videos lm gonna find a way back. Gonna make my fingers work thanks to you.

This might sound weird, but I used to practice blindfolded. I was told about this approach by a guitarist, that I respected many years ago. Hey it works. What can I say. 😎

Is great stuff--never heard an instructor address this before.

Getting lost in the music is actually the exact moment I f*ck up. I usually get in a state of trance and forget what chord has to be played next :D I still think it's a good reason (besides being an awsome feeling), but I might not be at the required level for this, yet.

So I'm a total noob, I just "graduated" from Justin's beginner program not so long ago. I find it a bit odd that I tend to play better when I don't think too much about playing. So, if I keep looking at the fretting hand or picking hand I tend to skip a beat or make other mistakes more often, but when I try to be "distracted" like trying to hum the lyrics (I'm a terrible singer) or even watch Netflix while playing it sounds better. I guess what I'm trying to say is this is a super helpful to play better, and of course as a beginner it takes a bit to "unlearn". Keep on keeping on, fellow beginners!

This was such an important lesson. Really made a world of difference once I started forcing myself not to look. More accurate, better rhythm, better strumming.

6:49 the most useful second in all of guitarlearning thanks Justin perfectly executed!

Justin you're such an amazing guitar teacher all of you're guitar lessons are really effective and easy to understand love the way you explain every thing. You're doing such a great job I must say God bless.

Thanks for this one. I needed the prodding!

Thanks Justin. Useful stuff.

Perfect timing-thank you!

Good stuff. Makes sense because it was well articulated. Thanks for the tips.

This is such good advice. I have been playing for 8 years and have been making this miatake. I have having trouble with a new chord change and this helped almost instantly.

Not looking made a massive difference to my f chord change speed , just watching TV and practicing changes , helped me no end 🙂

Hands down the most important thing to learn. And it never occurred to me, practising on my own through the pandamnic. Thanks a lot again, Justin.

Thank you excellent tutorial on this. I have probably gone about the whole learning of guitar a round about and awkward way.Being dyslexic has brought interesting challenges to my life. what I am longwindedly saying is you have been a big help. Thank you

Thanks, Justin! I'll incorporate that into my practice starting today! ❤️

Excellent advices! Thank you Sir :)

Great exercises! I'm trying these excercises and what a difference. So neat! Thanks for these videos 😃

Thank you I will try this technique.

Thank you so much!!!! I started learning a few weeks ago. I find that your videos give me the most pleasure and joy when it comes to learning guitar. Thank you so very much

in my country we have frequent power outages, so i use that time to practice guitar in the dark and it seems to be helping a bit

Thank u Justin! I believe this will absolutely help. I’m still struggling between chord changes.

I'm 3 years into learning Tenor Ukulele. I came across your beginning lessons on the mechanics of holding your instruments, standing up to play, not looking at your hands etc. I have learned so much. Thank you. You explain everything so it makes sense, so even I can understand......

Realistic and honest lesson. Thank you. I started using the no look 👀 to see how much better I was getting but now I’ll try this every practice. I’m almost at 2 years of learning guitar and seems every day is getting way better. Lots of ambition helped the most and your support as well. Randy Bachman played guitar lots in his early years in a dark room and this always inspired me. “Drive the car and look ahead!”

I started playing without looking at my hands as you teached us... It's starting to be easyier now. Good thing I always play standing up. Thanks for being a such good teacher Justin ! Much appreciated !

Really resonate with that point of getting lost. I've found that I've played music the best when I'm getting into the song, and after the fact I think "How did I play that without focusing as much"

Thank you Justin. This is great piece of advice.

Been playing for many years but if I'm learning a new song, I look at my fretting hand often till I fully learn it and get comfortable with it.

What an EXCELLENT lesson Justin. Great communication, enlightening demos and a dazzling retrieval of your teenage self playing Vai. Making a donation right now.

Thanks this cross cutting for both beginners and intermediate may be experts already now this. Very helpful.THanks

Great lesson as always... thanks for all the awesome tips!

Thank you for this lesson!

Thanks for the tips Justin, it's only since you pointed it out that i realised how much I was hunching over my guitar and giving myself a bad back. Once i forced myself to look away I was amazed how good I was with my basic chords (and even some fingering) just from muscle memory.

Wow, lightbulb moment, this really makes a massive difference, thought I had a problem with strumming, but trying this and everything fell into place. Will be working on this a lot more. Thanks

My chord changes have gotten a lot smoother after tons of work on it and decided to give this a go and surprisingly my hands knew where to go. Its gonna take some work but now i know what once seemed impossible is possible and you bring up some great points to why its important I never thought about. Thanks!!!

Great advice. I'm taking up guitar again after decades and trying to correct all of the things that held me back the first time. Working around a right hand injury but can tell I'm already better in some areas that the first time around. Not looking at my playing is something I've been working on already, but appreciate the comments and exercises.

That was such a great lesson for me at the stage I'm at now. Thank you 😀

I’m currently trying this feature after numerous people was talking about how it helps with ear training and playing live. I’m only a beginner but I have found my ear training & finger position have excelled massively.

great lesson and tips Justin and thanks again.

Wish I had seen this post a long time ago! This was very helpful. It changes everything.

Hi Justin, just have to drop you a note, of how much you hit the nail with this one. I'm trying to learn playing the guitar for about two years now, just by myself, and sometimes with a friend of mine who can play much better than myself. When playing a simple song my brain has always been been so overloaded with tasks like looking at the fretboard trying to find the next chords, and then looking at the paper reading the chords, and all this kept me from getting into the groove of the game. After i watched this video of you pointing out how much important it is to stop looking at the fingers, i just tried it and magic(!) my fingers found the chords almost instantly without me looking at them. I couldn't believe it, almost freaked out and played through some five songs i use to practice for months first time without looking at the fingers, just looking at the wall or closing my eyes. First time i really started to feel the music and just enjoyed to listen to the sound of the guitar while my fingers just played it almost alone. And when i missed a chord just tried to find it again without looking, mostly worked at the second try.This made such a huge difference, it is a real break through. Never imagined that i could do it and never figured out how important that is and what a game changing effect it has! Thank you so much for your help und sorry for my poor english (i'm german). Never wrote a comment at youtube before, but i just got to let you know how much i appreciate your help! I'll stay tuned now for more of your lessons :-) Thanks, Roland

Such a good lesson. Its taken me ages to not look and play but I've found i listen better to my nuances, vibrato and the mix so much better. My vibrato in particular seems so much smoother and sounds closer to the sound in my head when I don't look!

Very Helpful!!

Thanks a lot for this lesson Justin :)

Great lesson Justin. Thank you.

Great stuff! First time I hear this from anyone. Justin, you are the best!

Thanks once again, good lesson.

Precious Justin❣️Thank you very much❣️🎊🎉🎼🎶🎵🎸❤️❤️I'm a beginner, I knew I should look up ,but, thanks to you, now I know how to reach that goal❣️

Thanks for all the lessons Justin I've learnt a lot from you 👍👍

I'm just beginning playing guitar but I'm trying to implement this and slowly getting there. What also helped me was just playing in the (almost) dark so you're being forced to go by feeling.

Your lessons are so well made and you're such a fantastic teacher that whenever I feel like giving up or feel lazy I feel guilty about it and start practising again. I really hope you know how much we all appreciate you :)

Yes thanks it's all about practice and thinking the next chord move with the shape of the next chord in progression.Much practice the the tip.

Another awesome lesson. Thanks Justin

Great video thank you. I’m self taught and my own experience with open chords my left thumb pretty much stays in the same position so when I change chords all I have to move are my fingers. My left hands stays in the same position, I’ve actually worn down a spot on the neck of my guitar because my thumb is always there. When I play songs with open chords I don’t have to look at all I’ve had enough practice to where I can change chords and strum without looking down at all, unfortunately I have not put the time in to memorizing the songs so I still have to look at the cord sheets as I’m playing along with the song. When I’m picking a song I still have to look at the strings to make sure I’m picking the right strings but I’m gonna work on that. your video reminded me of my bad habits and I thank you for bringing those up to me. Another thing I learned is there is a huge difference in practicing while you’re sitting down and standing up. While you’re sitting down the guitar pretty much stays put, it doesn’t move but when you’re standing up you have to adjust to the movement of the guitar when you’re playing your chords.

Brilliant video, Justin. Haven't commented in a while, but always watching. A few pit musicians recommended playing in the dark. It was a crash course that helped one friend get up to speed within 3 months and got him his first gig playing in a several big musicals. Of course, they site read, but it is still great for band or singer songwriter stuff. Cheers!

Wow one of your best lesson. Thanks Justin

Hey Justin, I’m three months in and found learning specific songs that require finger style or individual string play, e.g. Hurt, good riddance, DITW, etc. force you to take your eyes off one hand or the other.. I got so excited when I figured this out and learned to take advantage of it by playing start to finish only staring at one or the other. After I could do both nicely, I could easily lift my head up and just play. I had to go slower at first, like almost half speed but that was my trick!! Thanks for the video!

I've actually started doing this unconsciously after getting really good at chord changes and getting an electric guitar. I feel it's a lot easier to grip gords without thinking/looking on the electric. The acoustic's large body (I have a dreadnought) makes the neck to sit farther from my body and that makes it feel odd sometimes.

I learned not looking by playing in a dark room this helped me progess listening more also playing stood up helps to get better

Very good lesson. Someting I still need to work on and very important when playing in a band. You need to be aware of the music and the other members and less focussed on your own stuff. Good lesson here!

Great Advice. Playing the chords without looking also makes you totally know the song you're playing. Once you accomplish this, singing might come easier too since you can concentrate on lyrics & not on your fretting hand.

Music as Meditation. Thank you for sharing your gifts!!

This flies in the face of what I've been taught by another guitar teacher on KZfaq. In fact, I dropped a considerable amount of money for their lessons, but I like your take on this much better. I can see how this should help my ear training as well. Thank you!

I needed this lesson.

Amazing lesson. Justin, you are the ultimate guitar psychologist!

First 12 seconds could have been me!!! So I played a simple 3 chord song (What's Up, G, Am & C) without looking and hey, my fingers knew where the chords were!!! Got a huge tingle down my spine. Thank you for pointing this out. 👍🎸👍🎸

Such a legend! Thanks for this :)

I am a return beginner. I can't help looking at my hands. Learning from your videos Justin. Thanks from .Canada . Heather.

Thank you for this. I was already doing this but wasn't sure if it was a good idea.

Gold. Pure gold, Justin. Our fingers are MUCH more clever than we think!

Wonderful Training

Just started Justin's course, think I found a home/school! Excellent...

Thank you very much

Some good points. Although your intro moving your head left and right looking at both hands is certainly overboard1 Point taken though. However, all the greats of guitar are typically having a look at their fretting hand to a certain extent.

This covers the exact issue I am struggling with at the minute, just cannot seem to do chord changes without looking.I am a bit of an oldie just picked a guitar up for the first time so maybe that is some of the problem.

Thank you Justin you taught me how to play guitar and introduced me to music theory...God bless you🙏🙏

Reeeeally good stuff. Thank you.

Great lessons Justin. Playing standing up is great for "not looking". Better for your posture too 😊

Very Nice....God Bless you....

Make sense.. thanks 👍

Superb lesson Just

Since the Pandemic began I've quit my job and have been learning to play guitar using KZfaq videos. This video has helped me tremendously. I've Subscribed because of this video... Well done!

You’re such a great teacher 👍🏻

im really feeling it!

Hey Justin. Did you give up on doing jazz stuff on your channel? Particularly the theory behind all that was more helpful than anything anyone else has done on YT. Thanks for that and would love to see more of it

Thanks 🙏🏾

Fantastic i love it.

Oh boy, I know what you mean. The visual information adds an extra layer of complexity, so I followed your advice and my playing feels much more comfortable!

Justin is a FANTASTIC teacher. You must tell all your guitar-playing friends.

Bravo, This is great advise and well delivered. thanks for the video. I love the new editing of your vids. Great stuff Justin. Kind of miss the leather couch with the blanket though :). I see it tossed over the amp, so that will work. Thanks again, You've come a long way.