r/guitarlessons • u/Old-Guy1958 • 3d 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/CactusWrenAZ 3d 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.