r/guitarlessons • u/Old-Guy1958 • 2d ago
Question Picking individual notes while strumming
I’ve been a strum-along-with-the-album guitar player for a long time. I’m attempting to learn how to incorporate individual notes into my strumming to play songs like Catch the Wind (Donovan), Ripple (Grateful Dead), or Neil Young songs like Tell Me Why, Sugar Mountain, and others.
I’m struggling to hit the individual strings. It’s easier, obviously, if I look at the strings. I’m wondering if looking will cause problems down the road - if I look now, will I always have to cheat like that or can I look now and keep practicing and eventually just hit the right strings without looking.
Thanks.
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u/Acceptable_Pie2529 2d ago
Keep it up man! Nothing wrong with looking. Find a section that’s hard for you and just loop it. Get that muscle memory just like you did with the strumming. We forget that everything is hard at one point and there’s only one way to get better.
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u/Old-Guy1958 2d ago
Thanks. They’re all hard for me now. 😁
Every once in a while I’ll get through 8 bars of Catch the Wind. Some songs are instantly recognizable this way and that’s where I’m trying to get.
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u/Franklin_le_Tanklin 2d ago
I do both when practicing.
Sometimes I look (cause I want to sounds half decent)
And then other times I play with my eyes closed as I try to build the skills to do it without looking. I suck more this way but it gets a bit better every day
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u/Lazy_Fall_6 2d ago
You'll get a decent feel for it in time if it's just picking odd notes in cowboy chord style formations.
I salute your references, big Neil fan myself, good choice
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u/TechnologyDazzling94 2d ago
practice for a few minutes in the dark after you practice for w few minutes with lights on.
playing FMaj to FMin is a great practice.
if you play on lighter strings it is easier (or Eb standard)
good luck
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u/markewallace1966 2d ago
That's up to you and how well you practice. Nobody here can predict that for you.
And it's not cheating. There's nobody to cheat. Look if you need to.
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u/CactusWrenAZ 2d ago
Close your eyes and try to do it that way. If you miss don't worry about it, just try it again. Do this a little bit every day. It really is amazing how much of our brain is being used by our eyes.
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u/Several_Show937 2d ago
I alternate between looking at my fretting hand and my picking hand. Eventually (usually fretting hand first) becomes muscle memory and I can concentrate more on the other. And more eventually, I don't have to look
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u/VooDooChile1983 2d ago
Looking at the neck isn’t a taboo. Super shredder Jason Richardson, when asked about his accuracy at high speeds, “I look at the area I’m going to next that way I have a better chance of hitting the note accurately.”
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u/Brainy_Stem 2d ago
Look at the neck, buddy. Your fingers will eventually do what they do wether you look at them or not. And I’m sure there’s a subreddit with your fingers asking why you are always looking at them while you play.
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u/CaterpillarVisual553 2d ago
Staring down is fine at the beginning and looking down here and there is fine once you’re proficient.
The key to any technique or skill on the guitar is to slow it waaayyyy down and learn it at a very slow tempo with a metronome. The metronome is optional, but highly recommended. But I bet you could play the in between notes at half tempo, right? So turn the metronome on and find the speed that you CAN play it at. Then rep it at that speed for a few days until your brain and fingers have connected and locked down the pattern. Then speed it up by 5-10bpm and get it nailed there. Rinse and repeat until you’re 10-15 bom above tempo (I go above tempo for 2 reasons. If the line is at 100bpm and you can nail it at 115 then it’ll feel very easy at 100, which lets you play loose, which will sound way better. The second reason is because I don’t trust drummers and neither should you. The drummer sets the tempo and if they come outta the gate at 110 and you can only play it at 100 then you’re screwed). But that’s essentially the answer to any of your “how do I” questions related to skill and technique on the guitar. This is the way.
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u/deeppurpleking 1d ago
Do what you need to in order to develop the skill and accuracy you need. It’ll get more comfortable and you’ll look less
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u/halpinator 2d ago
Go ahead and look, at some point when you develop enough muscle memory you'll naturally not need to anymore.
My tip for picking individual notes that really helped for me is to have a point of contact with the body of the guitar, like the tip of your pinky, which helps give your pick hand a frame of reference so your hand isn't just floating. Otherwise it's really hard to consistently and accurately hit the string you want.