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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2022 - 07 - 12 - ID#vx32l2
6
Anyone have tips for visually impaired guitar playing? (self.Blind)
submitted by Ancient_Ad_5809
I'm getting back into playing guitar after a few years and am really excited. For now I have enough vision to do enough and with the fret board being distinctive enough, I don't have issues at the moment. But as my vision deteriorates, I'm hoping that I will be comfortable enough with where everything is to not need any vision.

Does anyone have tips for playing when you can't exactly see what it is you're doing? When I would play in high school, it got to a point where I would only glance at the fretboard every now and then, or during an intense solo, so I'm hoping that I'll get to that point again and better.

Also, I currently use tabs to learn to play songs and I can just zoom in a large amount and make out what it is, does anyone here have a way of reading tabs that doesn't require vision? Obviously, some people are ridiculously talented and can play by ear, I am not one of those geniuses lol. Thanks for any insight into this!!
razzretina 3 points 1y ago
I put a little bit of electrical tape or some bump dots on the back of the neck at the main frets (sorry if that’s not the right word, I haven’t played in ages and just remember 3, 5, 7, 12 as locations heh).

I’m pretty sure there’s an accessible tablature for blind players but I was playing mostly by ear. Good luck!
Ancient_Ad_5809 [OP] 2 points 1y ago
Yes I have thought about doing this!! And it'd probably look kinda cool if you did it right. Lol. I play mostly 70s-80s hard rock/grunge and there may come a day when I can learn the solos by ear, but unfortunately I'm just not that gifted. I know the songs very well, I'm just not comfortable enough yet to do it by ear, but I hope to get there! Thanks alot!!
yoyo2718 2 points 1y ago
Not sure about the tablature, but you will eventually be able to play by feel. I’m not much of a guitarist, but I play violin, and we practice ‘shifts’ all the time. It’s just muscle memory. I imagine guitar is similar in that regard.
Ancient_Ad_5809 [OP] 1 points 1y ago
When I was playing on a regular basis back in the day it was like that, I didn't really even think about where exactly my hands were, it was kinda like a sixth sense or something lol. I'm hoping to get there again!! Extremely excited. I might be losing my vision, but I am so grateful I still have my hearing, music has been my life and I'm thrilled to be able to still enjoy it. Thank you!!
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