I admire your appreciation for and knowledge of various genres of music. There is a saying that those who can't, teach and those that can, do. But you certainly do equally well with both!

I nearly 60 years old and my grandson is teaching me and it pretty hard but we enjoy it keep rocken thank you

The visual sense is so powerful that if you navigate the fretboard by looking then the other two senses involved, touch and hearing, might decide to take it easy because the sight has it all covered. This might slow the development of touch and hearing skills whereas playing without looking might lead to hightened sense of touch and hearing rather like a blind person gaining sensitivity in other senses because they are being relied on more. Also, if you look at the fretboard habitually and play in the same keys you can get overly dependant on fretboard markers for navigation which is definitly a bad habit. I think its definitly a good idea to practice without looking.

I always smile when I see a guitarist that's not staring down at what they're playing. (In the same way that I do when I see a basketball player keeping their eyes trained on the basket, not the ball as it arcs. (Yeah, apologies for entirely veering my contribution to the discussion. LOL)

Wonderful analogy with the phone in the PlayStation that’s the mark of a good teacher by the way! Excellent video😎

I've also watched Uncle Ted play many times..his eyes never adorn the fret board and many other great guitarists too...thanks Fil

Great post, Fil. It is fascinating to hear you explain music to the non-musicians like me. It makes me wish I had learned to play the guitar! You rock.

Thank you, Fil, for this in-depth analysis of how to approach learning to play guitar. Your analogies are helpful, and I think it is the same as typing on a keyboard-I have to look down once to get my reference point. So, the main point is to practice correctly, every day, to get the muscle memory correct. I appreciate this helpful and interesting video.

I've watched a bunch of videos on how to play without looking at your fretboard, and this is the best explanation I've seen. It boils down to this: (1) Identify your ground-floor fret, the one your 1st position minor pent starts on. (2) know how to slide up or down to the 2nd or 5th position. (3) practice a lot without looking at your guitar.

I know this all about guitar playing, but I have to say this: John Lodge of the Moody Blues fascinates the hell out of me with the sheer effortlessness of his bass playing. He never looks and never misses a beat...and it never looks as if he's playing a bass. Just fascinating all round.

Roy Buchanan often stared at what he was playing. I don’t think he needed to do so. It was just a habit. I do something similar, although I sometimes close my eyes. You have to look somewhere whilst playing. I was always too shy to look at the audience. Eeeeeek! Great conversation, awesome topic. Thank You, Dear Fil! ❤️

Very good job of demonstrating technique that crosses over to all stringed instruments. I think folks in the classical guitar area tend to look at the fretboard more than other styles of guitar playing, "imo". Thanks for bringing another artist I've never heard of, his playing was lyrical!

Thank you!! The demonstration and explanation couldn’t have come at a better time relating to my personal learning to play! And clearing up about looking or not looking actually makes me feel better ! This whole video is just well perfect! Thanks so much!! And his playing is crazy good!!

I literally saw this dude last night, great show and great timing on this video!

I just turned on my nephew, Julian Carlson, to your channel. He’s a guitarist and is just graduating from college so kudos to him and I think he will really enjoy your show. I’m telling everyone I know about you.

My teacher, Mr Rodger Filiberto, taught me to play without looking by... 1) Putting sheet music in front of me 2) Smacking me in the head when my eyes wondered

wow, what a great guitarist. Never saw him before. Great catch, Thanks for another good one.

We like this style of analysis video where you add a little more detailed and advanced information. Thanks Fil! 🤘

Seeing with ears and finger fingers. Amazing player/performer with lots and lots of feeling and soul. Chris is one of the best of the best.

One word "Dynamics". So important and yet so many bands have no clue how to use it to their advantage. Great video once again Fil

Thank you for the explanation Fil ! I don't play guitar. I admire you and those that can. I dabbled with it many years ago in high school. I watch your videos. I like to watch you play 🤘

Oh yeah. It’s much clearer now. But for some reason my phone technique isn’t working on my guitar. I’ve “hey Siri”d myself to death. She’s not listening obviously. I have no problem finding the bloody door though. It doesn’t move. Repeat the slide. Right. Fil, I loved listening to Chris and you. I’ll be happy when my muscle memory will find the correct placement more than twice in a row. Keep up the awesome work!

The lead dots on the top of the fretboard are the reference point as well. I used to teach and that's how to tell a newbie from someone who has been playing awhile. Newbies are always looking at the fretboard instead of the lead dots because they haven't acquired that reference point or muscle memory yet.

Fil , you have a uniquely effective way of decomposing ! OK , I'll be serious and say that I learn more from your videos than any other source . Thanks !

Thanks, Fil. Excellent explanation and description! As per usual, wonderful information about playing!

I'll break my neck getting to the door in the dark 😂😂 This was great, Fil 💙

Morning Fil from the USA or afternoon where you are.😊 Love your analysis! I dont't understand all what you say because I don't play the guitar but when I can buy me a beginner electric keyboard(always wanted to play the piano) I feel better. I will probably look at the keys but you know what I just want to learn just for the pure enjoyment. Thanks for clearing up Aristotle too. All my life I heard the wrong thing. Fil there are good teachers and there are bad teachers and you are a "great" teacher! KZfaq and your subscribers are mighty lucky to have you! I wished you lived in the USA! I bet there are other music teachers who are listening to you and learning how to teach differently. I could listen to you all day.😍😚💕👏🤗😍

Great demonstration, thanks.👍🎸

Awesome lesson Fil thanks for everything

FIL, P.S. I LOVE WHEN YOU PLAY YOUR GUITAR DURING A VIDEO, A SUPER PLUS, KEEP ON DOING THIS, IT WILL MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY THIER GUITAR MORE THAN THEY DO, YOU ROCK, COUSIN FIGEL

Gotta love the blues, especially raw blues like this. And that was a good explanation, you always keep them interesting even for us non-musicians.

Very interesting. Not all of us are musicians we just know what we like. So it is good to have it explained to us. Thanks

It comes from years of practice to play without looking. Thanks for another great analysis video. Cheers, Fil!

You are never long winded Fil. always enjoy your demonstrations. a lot can be said for muscle memory, just look at blind musicians like (Jose Feliciano, Ray Charles) just to name a few. as You know play their instrument by feel and muscle memory. this was one of your best! thanks teacher Fil.

Jeff Healey is the ultimate example of playing without looking because he was blind. It's about knowing where the notes and chord shapes are; feeling the guitar. The more you know the less you think about it. It's when, "what you have learned becomes instinctual." Its like you said Fil, "its muscle memory and familiarity."

Great lesson Fil! Really appreciate it and you! And yup, I got my new guitar out and had to pause the video about a million times playing along. Definitely still watching my fingers, lol. Maybe in a few thousand more hours of practice...

Ohhhhh, nice ....... I needed that,lol. Still unpacking, , grooving to music. 👍 It doesn’t matter how much or how hard we work , music gets us through it. Muscle memory is so important. Haha I found that out , moving into my new house , carrying boxes up 18 stairs , also reminded me of muscle memory,my legs feel like noodles lol. Thanks for sharing that Fil .

Great explanation for non players Fil, and even a tidbit or two for those of us that do. Enjoyed it as always Fil.

The result of many decades of hard work, on top of talent. Great stuff!

FIL, A GREAT VIDEO, AND YOUR GREAT COMMENTS, WHEN YOU DO YOUR HOMEWORK, YOU LEARN THE NECK OF A GUITAR, YOU DON;T REALLY HAVE TO LOOK AT IT, THIS TAKES A GREAT DEAL OF PLAYING, A FRIEND OF MINE ONCE TOLD ME PLAY YOUR GUITAR IN A DARK ROOM, YOU WILL SCREW UP, BUT IF YOU DO IT LONG ENOUGH, YOU WILL GET IT DONE, HE WAS RIGHT, GREAT STUFF HERE, ROCK ON, COUSIN FIGEL

A pleasure to see and hear

The Blues.... I like it ! 😉 Cool a free guitar lesson 😆 I look at my Fender Strat every day,for 20+ years now & I still haven't learned a note ! ( Well really I bought it for my son but he lost intrest & I said well I always wanted to play..... & 20 years later no dice ) I need a swift kick in the azz 😲 Thank-you Fil... well done as always mate ! Keep rockin' 😎🎸 Request: Now that we got my request for The Band out of the way.... With Levon Helm ( R.I.P) an awesome drummer - Singer it's time for another one with Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad ~ We're An American Band [promo film]

This was great! I loved quiet tones when he was playing up the neck. Loud and searing it would be good too, but bringing down the dynamics made me appreciate it more. I learned with just chords then some scales or shapes, butt I never got comfortable enough to stay in the same part of the neck. Clean barre chords were a challenge so I used the capo.

Typing without looking at the keys is a good example.

Practice makes sense, thanks for the tips 🙏

I taught myself to play without looking by playing, standing only, while in a dark room. Not on purpose, I just like dark rooms (don't judge me). I ended up, however, with an unexpected problem. I few years back I finally decided to finally bite the bullet and spend the $$$ on a proper Ibanez Jem. The filigree work up and down the fretboard absolutely screwed me up. I tried to look at the side markers but still couldn't figure out where I was most of the time. I would be in eighth position instead of seventh and so on. Finally, I had to just stop looking at my left hand and I was fine. Live and learn.

What a coincidence, Ive just come from watching Chris Cain jamming "Cross Cut Saw" at Norms Vintage Guitars, so two channels I subscribe to featuring the same guy on the same day. Great video Fil, Chris is a great blues man.

Gotta find a place for us older blues enthusiasts here in Austin. And young ones, too.. Company’s coming. Yay. Great teaching video.. now I will be able to play like you. 🤣

Usually, my head is just pointed down, and I'm not really seeing anything. It just looks as if I'm fretboard gazing. When I'm deep-down in the groove, I'm not aware of much else than the music. But, sometimes, I just LIKE watching my hands when I play. Beautiful Strat, by the way!

Well there is the trick to playing guitar Fil. 1) Give it a good look the day you buy it. 2) Buy your guitars tuned. 3) Buy a lot of them. 4) The strings go on the outside. 5) You should be famous within 3 minutes. 6) if you're not signed by the time you're 24 years old it's time to hang it up. 7) What determines whether or not you achieve any success is your TSL- Time Spent Listening. a lot of people never really understand advertising, marketing, format, and programming. Billboard Magazine- the world needs good farmers. Bring your shovel and bring your hairline. We build muscle memory.

Hi Fil! Just sitting here listening tonight! Wow..he is quite good! Must say you know how to get the best at their craft! Reminds me of the music I heard in New Orleans! Hugs to you!✌️

Really enjoyed this Lesson Fil, Chris Cain is a great player and seems like a nice person, have seen him in Normans Rare Guitars videos hamming it up, Jeff in LA USA

I Remember playing in my room with the lights off and the blinds down when I was a youngster trying to learn the fretboard without looking! Mum would ask me what all the noise was in the early days lol! But I got better and actual received a few nice compliments from her! Really great analysis Fil! Cheers Mario!😀🤘👌

wow what a great player! thanks for the introduction to him!

Wow!!!!! The Blues is beautiful and great music🎸🎸🎸👏👏👏👏exellent note congratulations⚘⚘⚘

love watching and hearing you play!! you should do it more. you arr so talented, i think you are as talented as these people you analyze.

It is the same as a dancer pointing their feet in a straddle leap or always dotting “i” in your signature even though no one can tell there’s a i. My father puts a large spike at the beginning of the “H” in his signature and if he has to sign the top of a page he often runs off the top of the paper.

I remember seeing a video of Clarence Carter putting a capo on his guitar. I was watching and he was feeling.

Another great demo! Good stuff.

Chris Cain use to be a regular player here in Silicon Valley (San Jose, CA). Since he's gone nationally, he plays only 3-4 gigs here now.

Fil you are really good at finding a lot of different ways of explaining things. - It surprised me that anyone would judge a players ability based on looking at the instrument or not. That's silly at best. - I only look for a reference occasionally and I don't even think much about scales or shapes.- Now I'm worried because I don't know how I'm doing it! : ) Like you said, just repetition I guess. and now that I think about it.. maybe just having a pretty good idea how far apart the notes I want to hear are might have something to do with it.. like with singing I guess.

I use the Bob Ross method of not looking at the guitar, which is to say there are no wrong notes, just happy little accidents. A LOT of happy little accidents in my case.

My guess is that you put on a great live show by yourself, I have no way of knowing for sure of course. My grandfather left me his self-built "one mand band" after he passed away. It allowed him to have accompaniment from many different instruments when he played live by himself (percussion and brass instruments connected to a wearable pole of sorts). It is an amazing thing, and I treasure it. The technology that people now have to do the same thing is absolutely amazing, but that doesn't mean it is easy. I am incredibly impressed when I see someone using MIDI loopers and Mu.Mi gloves and all the other things that are available, but it also makes me wish I was born when my grandfather played, because what he did must have been a sight to see.

1st It's not long winded at all.. It's great knowledge.. 2nd he's a great lead player.. 3rd i love your sliding up/ down 2 frets... 3 octaves .. Extended shapes... Absolutely love it.... 4th I'm wrapping myself around my guitar ... I watch where I'm going ... I need work... Nice help on tapping i definitely need help on tapping... Thanks teach... Brotherrrrrrr

Damn, great analogy Fil, with the phone and game control pad and guitar fretboard. I would have never come up with that way to explain it to a non guitarist, even though it seems so simple now.

I allow myself the occasional glance at the fretboard.

You're a great teacher.

Muscle memory..finger memory, you are exactly right of course.

I have to check this guy out! Nice dynamics. Very clean too. I used to keep my eyes closed but missed out on a lot going on around me, sometimes pretty crazy stuff too. If you check out the May 2014 live version of the Allman Brothers doing Whipping Post that band is not just NOT looking at their instruments, but even looking at each other most of the time. With the many dynamic changes it is amazing!

Fabulous playing! And fabulous Fil's playing, yeah, what more could you ask for!

Thanks Fil. The same muscle memory is used for typists. You can feel a mistake as you make it. Playing finger style helps me get more sensory input as to where fingers are in relation to strings. Really enjoyed your explanations. Rock!

Usually I find pentatonic blues stuff pretty easy to play without looking. I just got to know the key of the song. But anything with complex scales, I will still have to look at the fretboard for a while till I learn it, which can take some time depending how difficult the song is.

I learned to do it by practice. I paid for 4 guitar lessons but the last one it was raining to hard to make my the lesson. I had to walk about 3 miles to get there and I didn't have a guitar case. I've had 3 guitar lessons after that I was self trained. I also had 3 karate lessons about the same time. Due to that I told people I played a kick ass guitar

This is quite interesting. I try hard to keep it in mind that it was not one person the made the final decision on guitar design. The design was done over some years by agreement (something like how algebra was designed). I can reach the game controllers buttons a lot easier (using only my thumbs) than I can some of these strings and shapes. One thing not really mentioned was "finger identity". It is easy to simply look at you hand palm up and move the finger desired. Wrap that hand around a guitar neck and put pressure down with those fingers and it is not so easy any more to operate the correct finger (something like having pressure down with three fingers and then only wanting to move one finger to a different string), this gets difficult but it really helps to move as few fingers as possible). The poor pinky "little finger" it does not get used in life for much but you really need that pinky when playing guitar. I mentioned that I play outside (well really it is "practice outside"). The place I picked to practice is visible by the public and it is common for people to just walk over. If you come over to visit please have more to add than "your guitar needs tuning' and I would rather loan you my speedo swimsuit for the summer than let you "borrow" my guitar for a few minutes. Thanks Fil.

I played basketball in my youth and we used to practice dribbling never looking and in the dark until you got to the point where you didn’t think about it. Muscle memory. Similar thing I imagine. Obviously there are blind virtuoso players like Jose Feliciano and Jeff Healey so it’s clear you don’t ever need to look. Anyway, great video. Didn’t know of Chris Cain, now I do! Thanks, Fil!

That made my brain hurt.😩 However, great instructive information!😁 Thanks, Fil!

What's up, Fil, is that a Fender you're playing on the video? I know absolutely nothing about guitar models, so you can correct me if i'm wrong. Forget it, that was a dumb question...

I saw Jerry Douglas playing his dobro and he is watching his left hand a lot. Sometimes he is not. I would think since on the dobro the strings are about 5/16 inch above the fret and never touch the fret he has not tactile feedback that the bar is over the fret. So I think this necessitates the dobro players have to look at their bar hand to ensure they are directly over the fret.

Excellent. Love that. Please do more of showing examples.

What a coincidence. I watched Chris Cain at Norm's Rare Guitars earlier today. Hate to admit but wasn't familiar with him before but now I am. What a great blues voice and awesome playing.

Thank you for this informational video. I found this very insightful. By the way, Fil, I love the sound of your playing that Strat. It "sings", if that makes sense.

By the time I learn how to play guitar, I would be too old to learn how to play without looking. But interesting video Fil. 🤘

I was recently given an accordion. Not the best of shape but fun anyway. My right hand is fine because of a little bit of piano playing. But what to do with all those buttons which I can't see. I googled and found out about the middle C button with an indentation to help me find it just with touch. I think that maybe it's like the reference point you mentioned with guitar. I may never really get good at playing music but I love learning. So nice to listen to you talk about music and learning something from it . Thank you !

Wings of Pegasus' Filly Page... Is Jimmy's secret son! You Rock Fil!

Eye contact is important. It allows you to engage with the crowd. Plus, +, you can see that they LIKE you! Find one friendly face and soon they're all smiling.

Jazzy-blues sound with the organ reminds me of many Steely Dan songs.

I’m sending this to my Grandson. He is learning, to play guitar 🎸.

You remain the man Fil

Play guitar without looking at the fretboard!! I can’t even sing without looking at my mouth🤪😂

Nice lesson!😉 Scales,... ^5. 🤘Rock!

Excellent lesson Fil. I'm not that far along yet.

Blues Yeah! Thanks Fil

Somewhat inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson, I used to regularly practice playing guitar in almost total darkness. At first it was difficult, and I often hit wrong notes, usually due to shifting my hand into the wrong fret position. But slowly my accuracy improved. In a way, I think the hours of practicing in the dark has made me a better player... helping me to develop a sense for where the notes are on the fret board just by feel.

Aw man , I'm screwed . I can use a flip phone by feel , but a touchscreen I not only have to look , but use a stylus .

It’s much easier to play blues in the pentatonic scale and find your finger positions without looking if you start playing other forms of music where you have to go all over the fretboard there is a good chance you’re going to have to glance down once in a while to find your original position

" ... once you reach a particular level......" Yeah...... I'm not there yet.

I look forward to seeing you analyze "Whipping Post" by, The Allman Brothers Band, ...or, "It's Not My Cross to Bear." Also, "I Miss the Misery" by, Halestorm. #mindblowntoo

Kismet, Karmic, KickAss ness, Chris Cain playing my fave track from Cain Does King. man, Norms just yesterday. had to find that disc. Old stereo even worked ;) Win win. joke used to be Get a picture of glens face. One I was scared half to death in the early '80s and later, all about nailing the parts..

This player has a natural sense of timing and technique of playing to it's (the guitar's) best effect. He's awesome at performing as well. Who is that guy? Why don't I know who he is? He's great! Thanks Fil.

If you can fumble for and find the light switch in your room in the dark, you should be able to play guitar without looking. It just takes practise and a desire to actually be able to do it. Good analysis and explanation of first finding your reference point and then using muscle memory (of how far to stretch your fingers and where) to complete the run of notes. But there's a lot of practice involved for some people. I started having acoustic guitar lessons years ago but gave up because I just wasn't finding my mojo with the instrument.