Learn how to play guitar without looking at your fretboard and elevate your musical senses!
View the full lesson at Feeling The Frets | JustinGuitar
Good one! Thought it was just me, but I’ve found almost since day one, when I started the course four months ago, that once I’ve got the shape I seem to be able to make easier/smoother/faster chord changes when I’m not looking at what I’m doing. Thinking about it yes, seeing it in my mind almost.
It’s something evryone should try.
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Wonderful lesson! I always found closing my eyes and feeling the strings with my fingers very helpful when playing chords, but I never payed attention to feeling the frets… Incredibly helpful!
I also loved the comparison with meditation… I’m a meditator myself, and for me playing guitar is a wonderful way of meditation in itself 
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Wow, thanks Justin. Although it sounds like such a small thing, I’ve found this incredibly helpful almost immediately. As I age my eyes have been going downhill fast so I basically have been going through this course without looking most of the time. Once I thought about the feel of the frets my cord changes became faster and more confident.
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I feel like this lesson would be very useful also earlier in this journey because at this point I have thicker skin on my fingers so yeah I would love to see this lesson earlier too because I believe it help people a lot even earlier in the journey
It’s really funny how this made me aware that I always put my fingers way too far back. I thought that you would mute the string if you felt the fret under your finger, but obviously I was wrong.
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Hi Erik, welcome to the community forum. I don’t believe that you would want to have the fret directly under your finger. You are right. That would mute the string. You would want to be close enough to feel the fret beside your fingertip.
a weird thing that ive noticed when i try feel the frets is that ive been pressing down on the stings way more than i need to, and now that ive noticed that i can play the f chord a lot easier and more consistent
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This is quite common when you’re just starting out. It’s a good thing that you’ve identified this problem and are actively working to fix it.
When I had this problem, I followed Justin’s advise to practice holding a chord with the least pressure possible. It took about a month, but I was able to convince my brain that squeezing harder rarely fixes anything, and impedes your fretting hand’s ability to move swiftly between chord grips. This is even more important when starting with barre chords.
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I do think it is a good reminder for beginners like me to pay attention to play without looking. But I feel like this comes naturally after I did enough chord change practices. So I am guessing this might not be a necessary exercise. Justin also mentioned this that we just need to pay attention to “playing blindly” once a while. I am only speaking for myself though. Anyone, it is still a good video to watch.
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Would it not be beneficial to mention that this exercise in fret feeling and positioning would benefit the new learner most doing it their first few weeks of playing, before the fingertips shred, form callouses, heal over, and ultimately lose that sensitivity?
I’ve played on and off for 30 years. I know at this point in my life, I don’t even think about finger placement anymore. But I sure remember those first few weeks of shredded fingers from “feeling” the strings and frets.
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Justin. I am just beginning to play chords without looking at my fretting hand. 80% of the time I am sounding clean chords. It is an enjoyable step. I tried your exercise and for me treating each of the fingers in isolation misses out an important feedback. What I have noticed is that it is not just the fingertips feeling the string and frets but also the pressure of one finger against the other. e/g/ in C chord my first and second finger are pressed against each other in a certain way and my third and second finger rest against each other in a different position. All of these pressure points are part of the automatic memory map that we build up as we learn to play. It all takes more time to practice than I first envisioned.
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I always thought that this was an obvious unspoken “rule” of guitar. I’m surprised it came up only in Grade 10
I find it uncomfortable with a D to try and simultaneously touch 2nd fret with 1st and 2nd fingers. 1st naturally sits back a bit. To insist means being too upright with 2nd to be on the nail in fact ( and mine are short)
Hi Andy, welcome to the community. You might need to rotate your fretting hand at the wrist so that your fingers are not pointing up, but pointing more towards your body. If you go back and look at the grade 1 lesson on Playing the D chord at the 1:00 or one minute mark Justin shows how to position the hand to get the 1st and 2nd fingers on the 2nd fret by rotating the fretting hand. Every one’s hand is different but it should be possible to get the 1st and 2nd fingers closer to the fret. Notice that every Justin does not always have the fingers touching the frets all the time when he is playing the D chord.