Looking vs Not looking at your hands

Playing Technique
#1

Hello all

Just wondering what people think about this while you’re playing. I have always made it a habit to not look at my hands, it was suggested to me once a long time ago and I think it has some practical advantages…you can interact with other musicians easier if your main stance isn’t staring at your hands.

But I’m wondering what the neural feedback sort of thing is when you are looking at your hands when playing and/or practicing. I haven’t really done a survey of videos of great players to see who is looking and who isn’t.

I was wondering if @Troy or @tommo had thoughts about that.

Thanks!

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#2

The first thought that springs most immediately to my mind is that if you’re reading, it’s very helpful - to say the least - if you can do it without having to look at your hands. I’d almost go so far as to say it’s a necessity for a fluent reader to not have to look at their hands.

This is the sum of my thoughts on the matter and IMO the most important practical implication of this topic I can think of.

#3

There is abundant haptic information (tactile, proprioceptive and kinaesthetic) available when playing guitar which is sufficient and specifying for control of movement.

You almost never need to look at your hands while playing. Looking at your hands focuses your attention on visual information, which is often not sufficient or specifying for motor control.

More than that, it encourages students to move in ways they think “looks right,” rather than learning what “feels right.” However, what you think “looks right” is usually (if not almost certainly) not right. If it were, you’dalready be moving correctly. Continuing to do this disrupts your motor systems natural search for movement solutions.

TL;DR : Stop looking at your hands.

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#4

To be clear, I haven’t really looked at my hands in the last 13 years. It was my intention to not look at them and I haven’t.

Lately though I’ve started looking at them sometimes when I’m practicing, partly after using a slow motion camera Troy style but looking at them in real time and I do see things that I wasn’t aware that I was doing. Perhaps more left hand than right, sometimes missing shifts because my finger is not exactly where I thought it was.

I think a fair amount of stuff slipped through because I was expecting my proprioception to be perfect and it appears like it isn’t.

I’m not really thinking about looking at my hands when performing, although when I’m onstage, I have a sort of weird OCD nerves thing where the guitar feels super weird and I sometimes have to look at the guitar to reassure myself my hands are in the right place (additionally if I am having a hard time hearing myself, I get paranoid I’m playing in the wrong position).

#5

Ideally, the less you look at your hands the better. That said, I still do it more than I should. If I was good enough to play without constantly looking down at my hands, I’d be somewhere else.

#6

It probably sounds weird but I think what you do with your face has a direct impact on your playing, so if I get to overly focus on my hands, I feel that my playing becomes stiff and bland whereas going full Gary Moore with my stank face brings the best sound out of me, and sends the message that what I’m playing is cool.

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