One of the things that I always encourage my music students to do as they progress in their learning is to try to play the music without looking at their fretting hand. This is where you say, "Yikes, but why??"
It is difficult at first, but what we are trying to ultimately do is to keep your eyes and attention focused on the music in front of you, and to really work on developing your musical "ear" to work in conjunction with your fretting hand. In other words, to remove the sense of "sight" from the equation.
Building muscle memory and having a kinesthetic awareness of the spatial arrangement of both notes and chords will ultimately make you a better player, and let you focus solely on the next measure, the next chord, the next lyric,etc.
It is a discipline for sure, but what I have found over years of teaching is that students actually play better and more smoothly if they can break the habit of continuously watching their hands. it's kind of like this: if you've ever tried to actually WATCH yourself run, I can guarantee you that you will ultimately trip, run into something, or simply overthink what your legs are doing!
The same holds true for the guitar; try not to overthink what your fretting hand is up to, rather, in your head, visualize what that next note/chord SHOULD sound like, and without peeking, let your left hand find that note or chord.
When I was young, I actually used to practice chords in the dark, because I know if the light was on, I would peek! But I find now that practicing chords, scales, and riffs while staring at some other object in the room (a dog, a lamp, an air vent, etc) is a great way of working on my musical ear ALONG WITH the position and touch of my fretting hand.
For more tips, see the video below, and in the meantime, Happy Pickin'!
