Why is it that there are, apparently, so few famous blind guitarists? It is true that in the era of southern folk blues there were Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell, and others, but given the time, place, and economic conditions faced by rural blacks, a guitar was an obvious first choice, since it was relatively cheap or could even be home-made. Ray Charles, in his memoir, even said that he refused all along to play guitar, because he didn’t want to be another “poor blind blues guitar player”. One can only wonder at the loss to the guitar playing world.
There are a number of blind pianists who have achieved great prominence in jazz and blues–George Shearing, Henry Butler, and Ray Charles to name but three. But aside from those early blues guitarists, I can’t think of a single prominent blind guitarist. Of course, there is Jose Feliciano, but he seems to be better known for his writing and singing than as an instrumentalist.
Being an avid guitarist now, and having played piano earlier in my life, I can say that, at least for me, the guitar is more tactile, and, I would think, easier to play blind. Although I became quite proficient at playing ragtime, and was able to push aside any stage fright to play in public a few times, I always had to look at what I was doing on the keyboard, especially the left hand. I could never sight read; instead I would listen to a recording, and use the score to understand the arrangement, and then slowly play it, in a three-step process. Gradually I would get up to tempo and then be able to perform it by heart.
On the other hand, with guitar I have a much better feel for where my left hand is on the neck, and I don’t need to look nearly as much as I did with piano. I can read and play a simple classical piece and hardly need to look at the guitar at all. Given this, wouldn’t one expect to see more prominent blind guitarists today?
