Bob, a "song circle" is just a group of people singing together, usually in a rouglhly circular configuration. Usually, folks take turns playing, singing, or requesting a song, and usually it's often a sing-along, too.

Harnish,


I was gonna say that I often watch singers' mouths, bellies, throats, etc., too, as a way of picking up tips on singing techniques!





Aside from someone not wanting their licks 'stolen,' it occurs to me that watching people play is a lot of what is involved in guitar lessons, isn't it? Sometimes folks show you stuff ( for money or for the fun of it) slowly so you can learn it; sometimes they just do it in 'real time' and you do your best to pick it up that way. You either learn by watching (a major source of pretty much all behavioral learning) or by trial and error (with or without reading some instructions before experimenting). Learning by imitation saves a lot of needless error.





Also, as has been pointed out above, even when making exactly the same chord or same chord progression, you can use different fingerings. You can't hear the difference, of course, but watching the fingerings can give you tips for smoother transitions, etc.





You said it, Gargoyle. Thinking of the premise of this thread, it occurred to me that it would sound silly if we were talking about piano, wouldn't it? I mean, no matter how good your ear is, it's not going to teach you workable fingering sequences, is it?





Frankie,


I'll admit that I find it kinda flattering when I do a song that doesn't have 'standard folk' chord progressions in a jam session and players who are a lot better than I are watching my left hand for the chord changes, runs, etc.!








As a former and sometimes dancer (especially folk), I can vouch for the fact that lots of folks learn most of what they know by watching other dancers--especially their feet. Same principle.

If someone is staring at your hands while you're playing (or feet while you're dancing), it's probably a compliment!








Marion, I do agree that sometimes folks get into the habit of watching other players for chord changes instead of "hearing" them. (It reminds me of some old folks when I do sing-alongs. If there's no book, they'll sing "You Are My Sunshine" perfectly; if there's a song book, they're at a loss until they "find the page!")

But you asked whether watching hands was a waste of time or counterproductive. I don't think so, generally. It's a time-honored, research-demonstrated technique of learning to have redundant cues in initial stages of learning which are gradually eliminated. (E.g., color coding the piano keys at first and then phasing out the colors.) The problem occurs when you don't do the gradual phasing out.

Genie