I didn’t have a suitable mirror to try this, but I tried using the camera on a tablet using the rear-facing camera (selfie mode) mounted on a stand.

The image quality is terrible, and movement is blurry, but it’s a 5+ year-old Samsung. I’m hoping the iPad that should be arriving by the end of the month does better.

But that said, yeah, I can see this helping. I kinda wonder whether it would be any better though, not being a mirror image, I.e. not reversed, looking at myself as I do when watching other players. But after a few minutes it seemed that I was relying on the image less to guide my hands, than as visual confirmation that I hit the right string/fret, and in the right place.

Very interesting…

When I'd used the idea with guitar I was just looking at the right (i.e. picking) hand position so I was more interested in 'up/down' for fine movement, with any lateral movement generally on a more macro scale & not complex. In that context the 'normal'view felt fine.

When I tried the idea with Stick I quickly found I was much happier with mirror. Strange things humans...


Yes. I wouldn't want to try to use it as the main thing, but as an aid to glance at it's an interesting additonal option.

I spent some more time with this, and it really seems to have a very interesting effect. I worked on the G major arpeggios on page 2-4 in Greg's Stick Book. Once I had them memorized while watching the "mirror", I was surprised that I could execute them fairly well without looking at either the "mirror" or at the fretboard directly.

There are all kinds of "mirror" apps for both Android and iOS, but none of the ones I've found will alow you to flip the image left-for-right. If I initiate a Zoom meeting, however, there is an option to swap the video left-for-right to facilitate use of whiteboards. A bit of a kludge, but I'll get to see if this is more or less effective.

I'm using a Windows 10 desktop computer, where I use OBS Studio. If you're on a platform that's supported by OBS (Windows, macOS, & Linux) it offers loads of possibilities, including 'horizontal flip' and zooming.

Curiously, gave 'camera as mirror' a go again yesterday I found 'normal' view was more comfortable than 'mirror'. Strange. I'm sure it was the other way round last time I tried?

My main issue was that from the camera angle my hand was obscuring things. I may try a different angle, and also try out the zoom possibility, a thing I hadn't considered till yesterday & didn't investigate till after my practice session.

An abberation apparently. When I tried again in a zoomed view, 'mirror' was back to being more comfortable/natural.

However comparing the more easily seen right hand use between 'direct view' (i.e just looking directly at it in 'real life') & 'viewed in a mirror', the 'direct view' was greatly preferred (it may of course be a factor that it's what I'm use to?), so I will continue to investigate getting a 'better'/more comfortable view of left hand near the head via use of a stand.

Eventually, of course, it would be nice not to need to look, but that's a very long way off yet...