Sightless Steel

[David Matzenik]

Are there any players who play steel guitar without looking at the neck in the approach to music used on other fretless instruments?

[L. Bogue Sandberg]

Check out Emily Hogeback on Youtube. She is a blind dobro player.

[Billy Tonnesen]

Check out Bobby Koeffer on some of the old U-Tubes of Bob Wills. Also, check out how he holds his Bar.

[Chris Lucker]

Don Davis had a triple neck Bigsby lap steel made withno fretboards.

[William Parsons]

I've been on a stage or two where the light level was so poor that I couldn't see the fret markers if I wanted to....and just had to play by feel and memory. IF you learn your grips and have a good ear for pitch, it all falls into place without a negative effect on the music. Fun and effortless with the right band.

[David Matzenik]

That Emily is a trip. I think she has a big future, maybe along the lines of Jerry Douglas's career. And I have to say that little jig she does is so typically un-selfconscious of blind people, it's really quite charming. Bobby Koeffer's grip? Well the mind boggles! Thanks for the responses. I'll be looking out for Don Davis too.
William, I am probably not going to embarque on a regime of sightless practice at this point, but I have been trying to read the melody off some sheet music and of course it doesn't help to be looking up and down all the time. So, I'm trying to develop some ability there. I can get around a few simple 1,4,5. tunes without looking, but I'm no Emily Hogeback.

[Jim Cohen]

Many of us witnessed the fun times at early ISGC's when Jeff Newman would sneak up on stage and put a bag over Buddy Emmons' head while he was playing... and he never missed a beat or a note!

Then there is also Jonathan Candler, who is blind from birth and is becoming quite an excellent pedal steel player. His accuracy gets better and better every time I hear him too.

[David Soreff]

I actually will play "blind" now and then when I practice to work on my ear, and also my "spatial mechanics". To me, it helps my muscles remember distances and so forth between frets. Iʻm not saying it sounds pretty when I do it, but every now and then, I can get pretty darn close for a good amount of a tune without looking. I would never do it on a gig, but for practice, it has its place.

[Clyde Mattocks]

Forum member Tom Kaufman is blind and is an excellent steel player in a working band in Maryland. When he was learning, his Dad put a wooden strip with raised tack heads for fret markers along the outer edge of his fretboard. He hung the tip of his finger(third, I believe) over the nose of the bar to feel them. After a time, he dispensed with the markers. He can go right to the correct fret and kick off a song in perfect tune. He also plays fiddle, so playing totally with ear reference is natural for him.

[Jason Hull]

Sometimes I look, sometimes I don't, but I ALWAYS use my ears!