Menu Bar
Needs Plugin: Flash
Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
Conrad Oberg, 12 yr-old visually impaired, self taught piano and guitar player, performs the Jimi Hendrix classic, "Little Wing."
Conrad Oberg was born three and a half months prematurely in the Summer of 1994. Weighing only one and a half pounds at birth, Conrad was left with no eyesight in his left eye and only 15% of the vision in his right.
Conrad Oberg was born three and a half months prematurely in the Summer of 1994. Weighing only one and a half pounds at birth, Conrad was left with no eyesight in his left eye and only 15% of the vision in his right.
Sep 7, 2007 1:37 AM
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
I don't see how being blind is a handicap for playing guitar. It's not like Django Reinhardt, who had only two working fingers on his left (fretting) hand but became one of the worlds greatest guitarists.
However, this kid gets props for playing this well at only 12 years old. That's pretty freaking impressive.
However, this kid gets props for playing this well at only 12 years old. That's pretty freaking impressive.
By: tsackett
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
At first I was going to make some comment about your insensitivity to blind people, but now I get it. You are also a blind guitar player.
By: jimmythecuban
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
I'm probably missing your sarcasm. (I'm not blind, just clueless.) I'm only an amateur, but I play a lot of different instruments. Learning to play most instruments has a lot to do muscle memory and hearing, and very little to do with sight. In fact, you will learn an instrument quicker if you don't look at your hands while you play. The same goes for touch-typing; you're not supposed to look at the keyboard.
Sight is only important for reading sheet music and tabulature, but for jazz, rock, and other popular music, relying on written music can make it harder to learn. As long you have a teacher to get you started and other people to play with, being blind shouldn't hold you back.
The media has a long history of exploiting the accomplishments of disabled people to provide inspiring human interest stories. It's condescending and insulting to make our praise for this kid's skills hinge on his blindness.
Sight is only important for reading sheet music and tabulature, but for jazz, rock, and other popular music, relying on written music can make it harder to learn. As long you have a teacher to get you started and other people to play with, being blind shouldn't hold you back.
The media has a long history of exploiting the accomplishments of disabled people to provide inspiring human interest stories. It's condescending and insulting to make our praise for this kid's skills hinge on his blindness.
By: tsackett
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
Indeed I was going to say something similar but it looks like it's all been said =]
This is rather impressive for a 12 year old. Kudos to him ^^
This is rather impressive for a 12 year old. Kudos to him ^^
By: Kpt.Kirby
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
kids not blind. i never seen a blind person stare at a fretboard so hard in my life. he looks around like crazy concentrates his eyes directly on the guitar... funny
By: Bloodwork
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
Why is this posted as a "blind 12 year old" when he has 15% eyesight in one eye? That might not seem like much to a lot of people, but ask a real blind person how much they'd like to have 15% vision in an eye. He's a good guitarist, no doubt. Better than me, and I've been playing since before he was born lol. But still.... calling him blind seems like a shameless plee for clicks.
I wonder how good the kid is now. If he's 12 in this, then it's over a year old.
I wonder how good the kid is now. If he's 12 in this, then it's over a year old.
By: Ikiro
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
I just checked out his website. He's kind of a rock and roll prodigy. He plays keyboards as well as he does guitar, and has played a number of serious gigs. His other video clips make him seem even more of a virtuoso than the one posted here. I don't hear a lot of originality in his work, so far. It will be interesting to see how he develops as an artist as he matures into his own style.
The information posted in this link's description comes straight off his own bio. Looking at the rest of his web site, it sounds like he's marketing himself (or maybe his parents are) as a novelty act, but the novelty is based more on his extreme youth than his blindness.
The information posted in this link's description comes straight off his own bio. Looking at the rest of his web site, it sounds like he's marketing himself (or maybe his parents are) as a novelty act, but the novelty is based more on his extreme youth than his blindness.
By: tsackett
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
I don't care what anyone else says, that is amazing. No matter how much/little eyesight he has, or whether or not it is "easy" to play an instrument without looking at what you're doing, this is still quite the feat.
I give him props... not so much for being a great guitar player (which he is), but for not letting his lack of eyesight keep him down as it does a lot of people. Congrats to him for doing something that makes him happy, no matter how easy or difficult it may have been for him.
I give him props... not so much for being a great guitar player (which he is), but for not letting his lack of eyesight keep him down as it does a lot of people. Congrats to him for doing something that makes him happy, no matter how easy or difficult it may have been for him.
By: Preter07
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
Ah shoot man, I could play that on guitar hero like a champ!
By: ohmer
Re: Blind 12 Year Old Plays Hendrix
blind or not...that was not a very good cover of this song.
By: Dosetaker
