Hello All

Through a friend of my wifes, I've been asked if I'd like to teach two blind kids, aged about 8/9 years old how to play the basics on guitar. They really want to learn how to play, and the charity would like someone to teach them.

I have lots of questions and need to do a lot of research about this, but I'd like to know, what do you think would be the best way to teach them. The lady who has asked said that they just want to learn chords, but I'm wondering if thats the best thing to start with.

I've got no teaching experience, the last time I was around kids that old was when I was that old! but its something that is intruiging me, and its something I'd like to do, I'm just not sure how to go about it, so has anyone got any ideas....how do you teach blind kids to play guitar?

Thanks

Joe

Wow/..

It never ceases to amaze me the serendipity of things..when you plug in that is..

So one of my friends is Blind...and is a world class guitar player.

I am interviewing him in the next 2 days here in DC for TG, and I will take this message to him

Joe, I am completely sighted and can't teach myself BUT I wanted to tell you how proud I am that you have taken on this nobel mission. Carry on, buddy! Fred

Teaching kids is all about practical, hands on, blind kids will be no different. Also kids want results fast. I'd start in open position (first four frets) and get them to feel the frets with the appropriate fingers. also using the PIMA method almost straight away so they know where their strumming picking fingers are meant to be. Simple chords in the open position. Also really important find music they like and if you can use that for your lessons thats part of the battle. They will rely entirely on sound and touch and you may be surprised at how acute these senses are for them. Your spoken demonstrations will need to be explicit and not ambiguous, practice what you are going to do before hand, I knew a guy who practiced blindfold before teaching kids piano so he could better understand what he had to do.

Good on ya mate

Joe, I am no expert on this, but I wonder if vision isn't actually a handicap when it comes to guitar. As we progress as players, do we not eventually advance to playing by feel and developed intuition for geography of the guitar? Doesn't the vision phase therefore seem like an obstacle on the path to excellence? Chas makes many good points. I predict you will get these youngsters started, and they will take off like little rockets. Good on ya for taking on this project.

So the answer to your question is this: With your eyes closed.

ican help a little on this one. the same way you wold teach asighted
person but with a little more patience.i am legally blind not totally blind.
i have 5 to 10 degrees left ofcentral vision.totals could present some challenges
but if you watch neil teach ohio heispointing, touching, talking,playingthe song
so it can be heard.8 and 9 year old kids want to have fun.let them make noise.
thats what most of my playing sounds like. my daughter took lessons when she was that age
i taught all her friends to play twinkle twinkle little star mostly to give my wife a break.her love for horses trumped the guitar but it lasted over a year. i guaruntee
you will get more out of that experience than you can imagine.best of luck

Joe

For practrice I sit in the dark and run through all the chords I know and play songs. It keeps me honest.

You are about to brighten a couple of young lives. Cheers to you Sir.



Tammy

Great news Joe! You will have a lot of fun with the kids and that's the secret: have fun together. Whatever you do to the get that will be good. You will invent this as you go along and you'll quickly realise it's you who's learning and they'll be teaching you how to teach them. You have a joy of playing and if you put that over, you cannot go wrong. You won't be teaching them anything wrong and you have Neil's beginner lessons to draw on. How can you loose? There can only be winners here. You've got me trying to work it out already.

At various times I've worked with blind soccer players, wheelchair basketball players and the deaf and it was always a blast! I once taught a guy who was blind from birth to play tennis. I "showed" him the movements and he was able to reproduce them really well. I then fed him the balls by dropping them and he could hear when to hit them. Then I was throwing him balls from the net and he was smacking them over the net back to me from the baseline! Amazing and FUN! After an hour a day every day for a week, we did the serve and the most amazing moment of my entire coaching life happened. Heinz threw the ball up as he had been "shown" but instead of throwing his racket at is as you would normally hit the serve, he let the ball drop and swung a forehand at it, instinctively middled it and put it smack inside the service court first attempt. I was speechless: I would have had a problem to perform that move that well with eyes open after much practice, if at all! Great moments lie ahead for you and the kids Joe... have fun!

Good on you Joe

It will be so rewarding

RicksPick

HeyJoe - this will be so cool, and they will probably amaze you with what they can learn. It is interesting that Matt is getting ready to meet with someone who can help. But I agree with the others - your joy of music will come through. I imagine you will become a better guitar player during this experience, and certainly a better person. Congrats to you for undertaking this. We will want a video of you and your proteges.... I am deeply touched by this and we are all here to help you. Izzy

Joe,

I can't give you any advice--I'm the world's worst teacher. All I can do is admire!

David

Joe,, this is very nobel,,can't give you any advise,,only what we know is that the blinds have very good ears,,wish you the very best on this and hope you gonna share it with us so that we all can be better persons,,,

There is some good advice here.

Let them tell you how much to learn, and you tell them what to learn. Use a song they want and the three of you learn it together. (If you don't know it)
I suggest you start with some very simple fingerpicking songs. Mary had a little lamb, Frere Jaques, stuff like that. I have TABs for them if your interested. That way, they can play a song sooner than they think and its a great motivator.

Joe, I am very interested in hearing how this turns out for you. A very good thing you are doing. I have worked for several Centers for Independent Living that provide services to seniors and persons with disabilities for over 30 years, but have never taught anyone how to play the guitar or any other instrument. First I think we all know that there are many great musicians who are blind or visually impaired, so vision is not a requirement for being able to play an instrument. It would be great if they could learn the notes on each string and fret by ear. You could make a little game out of playing a note and seeing which child could tell you which note you are playing first. This may be a little advanced to begin with but something to consider for the future. Many people who are blind are (legally blind) but can still see shapes or have a very limited field of vision. If this is the case they may be able to take advantage of enlarged print to read music, if not they will probably have to rely on audio learning from a tape or digital recorder. I think the previous posts are good in that with any child of that age having it be fun so they want to learn is the most important thing to start with. I would be glad to help you as you develop your teaching methods for the specific needs of each child as you continue with your teaching these children. It is a wonderful thing you are doing and there is a lot of Adaptive Technology available that I have access to as it relates to assisting people with disabilities & seniors to live as independently as possible. Gary

Not too much to add here. I have never taught anybody anything on guitar. Niel might have some comments here from his experiences.

I would start with some open chords. I would work I,IV, V7 patterns, like G, C, D7.
I would also work on a few exercises to have them focus on the sounds and the feel of the frets. You might have them run up and down the fret board on all strings getting a feel for the fact the frets up the fret board are closer together and the notes are higher.

I would work on simple open chord songs. Then you might later teach them a few scale patterns and have them mix them up and see what they come up with. Then figure out what to do next based on how they take to things. But given there motivation to get into it. I think you could be in for a couple fun years. Enjoy it with them.