I finished Justin’s grade 2, module 14, playing without looking video today. Great help! I really wasn’t looking a lot, except when making some chord changes that were giving me fits, especially the ‘C’ chord. Another thing in looking at where my fingers go instead of just playing the chord was, I saw that I had too many options on where to put my fingers. I noticed I was actually looking where to put my fingers to form the ‘C’ chord especially. When I didn’t look, the fingers just went to where they were supposed to go. I’m not saying that all of my chord changes are super smooth at this point, but I can see the value in just ‘playing the chord’ and thinking about it less. I’m just getting into some other chords like a B7, Bm, Cm, etc. and I’m just going for it when I play them. If they’re off, they’re not far off, and I give myself credit for the notes I hit correctly vs. getting frustrated because the whole chord isn’t 100% right. Great video and advice on playing without looking.
Hi Jim, and you deserve credit, my friend nothing wrong with praising yourself well done and keep at it cheers HEC
Good job Jim!
Definitely advantage to playing without looking… I often take it to the next level & play with a 4w nightlight on or even no light at all. It’s difficult at first, but I found that it really helps with finger placement accuracy!
Tod
Great achievement. Congratulations.
When I first started playing and in particular when I did my first open mic I learned very quickly the disadvantage of looking at the fret board while playing, it made my voice fade as the vocal mic was directional and when I turned to look at the fret board my vocals didn’t come through. Yikes.
I’d never paid attention to such detail in watching other guitarists perform so when I saw my next live act, I was amazed to see the guitar player just about never seemed to look at his fretboard and yet here was I glued to it for every chord change. At that time I couldn’t imagine not looking.
It probably took another year or so for me to realize I didn’t need to be glued to the fretboard and now nearly 15 years later I don’t look at it much. Stuff just gets easier the more you do it.
I have the fortune/misfortune to have a bad pinched nerve and it makes it hard to look at the fretboard. I am making progress finally! Ow….
Thanks Hec, I was hoping some of that would help to encourage others if they read the post. Appreciate the feed back!
Ouch is right. Pick on though!
Thanks Tony, I appreciate the feed back and sharing your story as well. Happy picking!
Using your eyes slows you down. Much better to let the fingers learn where to go - slowly at first but they learn quickly. Just think about the lenght of the communication: “brain says play a C chord - eyes go find me where that goes - receive notive back where on the fretboard to put then fingers - then put the fingers in motion” versus “brain says play a C chord and the fingers know where to go”. No brainer really 
I had similar moments as others here when I was struggeling to get some chord changes sound clean, and what fixed it in the end was close my eyes, visualise what movement the fingers would have to make for the change and then slowly let them find the way and then optimise it. Totally agree we need to spread the word on this!
It’s about letting go.
Look all you want, but do not contemplate.
You are taking steps; keep on it.
_R
Another squished nerve player here - Most of my cervical vertebrae are damaged, and the nerve compression soon teaches one to not look at the guitar neck!
With new chords, I tend to either look at the neck with the fingers in place, close my eyes and visualise (and then try to repeat without looking) or use a small mirror mounted on the back of the guitar stand and then try to close my eyes and visualise.
Like others, I find if I then look at the neck things go wonky, and my fretting tends to be worse than not closing my eyes.
Continued success with the guitar playing, Andy. Hope for you the playing takes your mind off the neck pain like it does for many. Music’s a great distraction.
I’m currently taking a week off guitar practice because of pain related to this problem and that of posture generally. Just to be different, my pain is that side-stitch that I used to suffer when I was fit enough to run.
I hadn’t had it for years but it returned intermittently around New Year, when I started guitar. At first would only bother me when walking after a big meal. I didn’t make the connection until a week ago when it suddenly became a lot worse and continuous.
The connection? A new guitar. I love that thing and between the usual hour’s daily practice and a couple of hours playing songs I was suddenly spending far too much time hunched over and twisted to the left, looking at the fretboard, which I think is putting pressure on whatever it is that causes the stitch.
I googled “left side abdominal pain guitar” and got a lot of hits so it’s not just me.
I haven’t played for four days now and it is already much improved. I’ve set up a mirror and adjusted my playing chair to be more comfortable and to force me to keep the guitar neck up (the headstock now hits furniture when I fold over!). I’ve also ordered a strap which I think will help seated, and will also allow me to play standing up straight. Finally, I have an appointment with the doc, just in case my diagnosis is wrong.
I read somewhere that musical instruments historically are designed almost entirely to sound good, and ergonomics had a very low priority. Shame really - I bet a lot of budding guitarists drop out because of pain. As far as I’m concerned the idea of having to ‘suffer for one’s art’ has no merit whatsoever.
DonUK61, I don’t know if this will help or not. I made a small, wooden foot stool for my friend who’s playing dulcimer. It kept sliding off her lap as with her feet on the floor, her lap was angled downwards towards her knees. I play a few instruments, and tried them with my feet on the footstool. Changes the posture completely, and takes the pressure off my back especially in the lower back. I also sit with my feet on it whenever I’m on the computer. It helps me tremendously. It’s only about 6" high or so. Putting one foot on it may help your pain go away too. Worth a try, using anything you can prop your foot on to see if it helps or not. Good luck.
The other thing to consider if it persists is a headless guitar, like the HILS Guitar that I own. Headless guitars that mimic the design of a Strandberg (not you Ibanez) are a great deal lighter than a regular guitar as there’s no headstock to counter balance. Also the Strandberg shape offers an extra playing position that helps you sit more upright
Good luck finding something that works for you
It probably isn’t the same cause as the pain you had when running, but it is in the same area.That stitch when running is your spleen and is mostly related to bad breathing.
The pain you have now might be the muscles between your ribs. When hunching to the side, you are kind of squeezing those muscles, creating a bruise. If this is the case, you should be able to find the exact point/rib that is causing the trouble by, rib by rib, tracing the bone while pressing in the space between two ribs.
I had the same issue recently because of sitting leaning to the left (not guitar related)
It is very exciting to realize you are hitting chords without looking! You can look forward to the excitement that comes when you realize you can move around on the frets without looking and hit those accurately too.
I think there’s a psychological aspect to it as well. I have no trouble changing chords without looking as long as I can see the fretboard if I want to. So I can do it when playing my electric, which stays close to my body, or when playing my acoustic seated so it’s angled slightly. But when I stand up with the acoustic and it becomes oriented to where I can’t see the fretboard, suddenly I can’t change chords confidently. 
Very true. If I over think it, that’s when I can’t get it right. If I just go for it, then I’m fine. It’s a juggling act: fretting chords, strumming, listening to the music, and sometimes singing too. I do a lot of air chord changes, practicing in the car at a red light, etc. when I don’t even have a guitar. It helps.
Thanks for the reply. I waited until I’d seen the doc before adding more.
When I said I’d adjusted my chair, what I’d actually done was to saw about four inches off the front legs and two off the back. This has changed the angle of my thighs in the way that you suggest, given me a firm contact with the ground, made foot tapping easier and generally worked well. I used to use a footstool but now I’ve made that awkward aid redundant. The situation is much improved!