Being a blind guitarist sucks

[BluesGuyJ]

I just needed to vent today.

Some of you may have read in diffent posts that I am legally blind. I can pretty much make out blurry things. For instance, inlays on a gibson just look like shiney blotches to me.

Things are just stressful because it's sometimes really hard to figure out songs completely by ear all the time. I can't read tabs or sheet music obviously so the only thing I have to learn songs by is my ear and my teacher, who I only see during summers now.

I must say my ear has come along quite a bit. Iam picking up on SRV's Tin Pin Alley pretty steadily, figuring out all those little licks and main reoccuring licks.

I know that by the time I am 30 my ear will be killer, but I hate how I listen to a song sometimes and now I wont be able to figure it out for the life of me, such as little wing or a few songs by Dio.

But taking four years of weekly lessons really has given me the tools I need to in order to figure out songs completely by ear, I will say that. I know quite a bit of theory and other things related.

And hey I'm thankful for wht I do have in my life, yeah I got the shaft in life early on but it could be worse.

Anyone else been in a similar situation? Not with eye sight bbut only having like one way of learning?

[RW James]

A couple of things come to mind... first, since I was classically trained to read music I have a horrible time memorizing music. If I don't have someting on a sheet of paper in front of me - I'm doomed.

I read a biography of Louis Armstrong (famous jazz trumpet player) - when he was a kid his mentor took him to a band audition in St Louis - the band director asked if he read music - his mentor said, "Not so much that it would hurt".

There is something to be said for being able to learn by ear. I'm sure it's harder at first - but in the long run, you'll know the music better.

My son has a learning diability that makes it hard for him to read. He likes to read now, but he is better as an audio learner. It has enabled him to do things in the performing arts that I don't think he would be able to do otherwise.

The brain has an amazing ability to compensate and make things work. I understand what you are going through - but you will prevail.

[Mike M.]

I'm in a somewhat similar situation in that I'm legally blind in my left eye. I can see side to side (peripheral-spelling?) but straight on I have no depth perception due to a blood clot in my eye. Takes me forever to rewire a guitar because I can't tell how far away the iron is from the component.

In your situation I would say to turn it into your advantage. When you're figuring a song out who says you have to play it note for note, phrase for phrase exact? When you're stuck and can't figure out certain passages come up with your own little variations.

[Arkitkt]

I apologize if this is a dumb question, but is there something like Braille for sheet music or tabs??

[BluesGuyJ]

Rick, if you're son has ggreat difficulty learning by reading, look into a program called Kurzweil.

It's for blind people and people with learning disabilities. Bbasically scans in text and reads it back. It's in a stoic voice but may help your son if his disability is one to an extreme.

[Bludave]

How are you reading this?

[lpmarshall]

How are you reading this?

There are plenty of vision impaired utilities available such as JAWS that will read back text from your computer, so I would imagine he is most likely using one of those.

[tone4days]

he has told us that he has a computer browser program that 'reads' the text and uses a voice synthesizer to pronounce the words out loud

i am sorry to read of you frustration, friend ... just keep at it so that your heart and soul can have an outlet ... and yes, the more you keep at it, the better your ear will be as time slides by ... if you've ever heard jeff heally play, you know that it can be done and done well

you have my sincere admiration for being able to thru the day, let alone pursue a creative art ... hats off to you, friend

cheers
t4d

[BluesGuyJ]

Yup, I use JAWS. It wokrs decently, navigating the net can be a hastle though. For instance, the "New Thread" graphic link works well, but some sites dont ummmmm name their graphic links with the names they are intended for.

For example, one site may have a "Look in cart" button, but is named 132.457.442.867. so and so forth, so I have no idea of what the hell that is. But some sites actually name the graphic link with the name it is intended for. Such as "New Thread", my computer reads "New Thread Graphic Link".

Yes, time will only make my ear better. On the bright side, my situation gives me an edge and possibly futures bands an edge. Go check out "----", the guitaris is blind and rocks like no one else.

They dont make brail tablature and I am not sure on bbrail sheet music. If they do, it would be ungodly expensive. For a brail chem book its like $60,000. Of course the state buys books like those and allows the book to be shared with different schools, but brail literature is not cheap. I would expect sheet music to cost even more.

I also don't know brail. I don't think it will be around for much longer with all of the advances in assistive technology and what not. Although I should learn it just for having the ability to read brail when I need to, if I ever will need to.

Do you guys know of any good DVDs that teach techniques and what not that are mainly verbaly descriptive? I've found so many DVDs where the instructor just plays and expects you to learn what he is doing by looking at his fingers...

[Wattage]

Blues I have a friend who was legally blind until he was close to 30 years old. Advances in eye surgery have come so far that they were able to correct his vision to 20/20. Wish I knew more details but maybe someday you'll be able to benefit from a similiar advancement.

[B Bent]

My best friend on this Earth has been 100% blind since the day he was born and number 1 he is the best drummer I know!! Number 2 the boys other senses are so strong, such as hearing, that he can figure out songs on guitar by ear better than anyone I know!! Darren is also a computer trainer for other blind and low vision folks. I truely think he is just one of those gifted individuals that was put on Earth for me to refer to when I want to be a wuss about something.

[Rusty Shackelford]

I'm sorry to hear that. You'll get better with time so don't worry. That program you use JAWS is pretty neat. I've never heard or seen anything like.

[gripweed]

I have a friend who is staying with me and my family right now. He lost his sight very recently because of glaucoma. He has taken up guitar I think as a result of his loss -- it is difficult for him to play piano any more. He doesn't play lead, just simple songs with the guitar.

I'm glad you mentioned JAWS. I told him about a program I heard about on radio that would read the text on computers. I thought it was JAWS, but I couldn't remember. He uses a program for books (it is pronounced Sarah, but I don't know how it is spelled).

Best of luck to you brother! I'm not blind, but I've found the more I use my ear (and I have a pretty good one), the better it gets.

[Hoss]

KEEP IT UP MAN!!!

i guarantee you play a million time better than me already!!!

in thoughts and prayers for ya,
mike

[Sune]

I must express my uttermost respect for guys like you. Other people like us who visit this board, often complain about our guitar playing abilities or whatever, but we don't realize how lucky we are, and how easy it is for us compared to people like you, with bigger problems than ours. Even though you have this problem, you still try and try, and for that I must give you all my respect.

[sosomething]

You've got my respect. I have enough trouble with full sensory faculties.

One thing is in your favor - you have INSTANT blues cred. Not only that, but you have a handle on one of the coolest blues name titles there ever was.

[BluesGuyJ]

How many of you look at the fretboard for when you play leads/go for solos? I was always curious about this. Finger tapping is hard when you can't really see where youre going lol.

[JacksonMIA]

I'm sure you do, but I'm going to say it anyway: Protect those ears. Being in the music buisness is probably one of the quickest ways to harm your hearing.

[BluesGuyJ]

haha, actually I need to stop cranking my Mark III whenever no one is home, although I stand outside room when I do so.

I'd like to meet Johnny Hiland some day!

[Animal]

There are plenty of vision impaired utilities available such as JAWS that will read back text from your computer, so I would imagine he is most likely using one of those.

I'm just trying to fathom how Seafoamers posts would of sounded using such a program.