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Topic: How many use reading glasses while playing? |
Karlis Abolins
From:
(near) Seattle, WA, USA
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 5:10 am |
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Do you use reading glasses (or alternatively computer distance glasses while playing)? I use computer distance glasses which help me see the strings better, especially in low light situations.
Karlis |
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Jim Smith
From:
Midlothian, TX, USA
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 6:34 am
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First of all, you shouldn't be looking at the strings!  Frets yes, but you should be able to "feel" which strings you're picking.
I prefer not to wear mine, but have to when I need to read a set list or the display on my processor or sound module. 
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Jim Smith jimsmith94@attbi.com
-=Dekley D-12 10&12=-
-=Fessenden D-12 9&9=-
-=Emmons D-12 push pull 9&4 (soon to be 9&9)=-
Stereo Steel rig w/Boss GX-700
IVL SteelRider w/JV-880
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Carl West
From:
La Habra, CA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 6:51 am
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I Do.
Carl West |
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Larry Bell
From:
Englewood, Florida
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 7:33 am
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I'm nearsighted, so I only wear my glasses to look at the pretty girls in the crowd (when there ARE any) 
I'm with Jim re: visual cues. A fret will give you a good idea of where to start, but looking at the strings can give you too much information to process while trying to relax and improvise. Learning to position the bar such that the nose is over the highest string you will be playing and homing in on that string with your right hand should not require a visual cue, IMHO.
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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps
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Jim Eaton
From:
Santa Susana, Ca
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 7:38 am
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I woke up one morning and found that my arms were too short to read TV Guide anymore!!!
I wear my "cheaters" for anything from the tip of my nose out to the ends of my fingers, but I can still see my golf ball in the fairway 200 yds away!
JE:-)> |
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Bob Blair
From:
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 7:57 am
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| I rarely wear my reading glasses when I play, but in stage situations I make sure I keep them handy for mucking around with settings, set lists and the like. I too can see my golf ball when it is 200 yards away, but that is an all too infrequent event...... [This message was edited by Bob Blair on 04 June 2003 at 08:58 AM.] |
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Joe Miraglia
From:
Jamestown N.Y.
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 8:33 am
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| Without my glasses ,I would be playing 20 strings on one neck. Larry on the Beast that would be 24 strings Joe |
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Tony Prior
From:
Charlotte NC
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 9:54 am
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For a while there I was thinking all the TV Guides were defective..they were all printed fuzzy like..
NOT...
yes I wear my readers, not so much for the Steel but so I can see whats going on around me and so I can read the knobs on the amp as well..
It's what it is I suppose..things could be worse...
tp |
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Dave Van Allen
From:
Doylestown, PA , US , Earth
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 10:52 am
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| I need 'em for my tuner or fx displays mainly; amp settings I do by ear- I take 'em off to play unless I have a chart I have to read (I usually print 'em in a LARGE BOLD FONT) |
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 10:53 am
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| I only wear my glasses when I want to see something. |
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Ken Williams
From:
Arkansas
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 10:56 am
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I haven't quite gotten to that point yet but it's not far away. I do use reading glasses to change strings on my Emmons so I always take a pair with me.
Ken http://home.ipa.net/~kenwill
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Gene Jones
From:
Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 11:36 am
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MONOVISION CONTACT LENSis the solution for being able to see the strings on your guitar without having to wear those frustrating reading glasses that slip around on your nose and cause you to have to tip your head up and down to see, or search through your pockets to find!
When I first began to need reading glasses I tried everything available...bifocals, trifocals, progressives, and reading glasses, but none of them were satisfactory while playing steel. My guitar neck either looked "concave" like a football field, or the strings moved around when I moved my head.
My optometrist recommended and prescribed a contact lens for my left eye for reading and playing steel-guitar...a contact lens was not needed for my dominant right eye which required no correction for distance vision.
It was and still is, a perfect solution. I can see my guitar neck perfectly when looking at it, but when I look up at the audience my vision automatically switches to the other eye so I can also see the back of the room perfectly. You are not aware of the vision changing from one eye to the other.
I buy disposable soft contact lens for my left eye only and wear them only when I play away from home. They are inexpensive since I only have to buy a lens for one eye instead of two, and I only wear them on weekends....I wear reading glass at other times.
It sounds strange but it works. Ask your optometrist about it...there are lots of people out there who wear only one contact lens. MONOVISION
Gene
www.genejones.com [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 06 June 2003 at 07:26 PM.] |
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Dr. Hugh Jeffreys
From:
Southaven, MS, USA
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 11:56 am
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| I prescribe them frequently for computer operators and church organists, etc. The monovision contacts work well if the patient is not too sensitive with the blur associated with the "unused lens." Some of the surgeons at the hospital favor the monovision as well. -- HJ |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 12:44 pm
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Jim
200 yards away AND on the fairway - that sounds pretty formidable ! |
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Jim Eaton
From:
Santa Susana, Ca
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 1:13 pm
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MOST of the time it's the fairway I'm suppose to be playing too! LOL
JE:-)> |
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Bobby Boggs
From:
Upstate SC.
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Posted 4 Jun 2003 7:32 pm
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So steel guitars have fret markers?? I knew they did ten years ago.Thought builders had quit using them.  |
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John Cox
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 5 Jun 2003 8:45 am
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I wear them when the Budlite to sight ratio
is right!
J.C. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 5 Jun 2003 4:26 pm
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Do I use reading glasses while playing? Nope. I find that shot glasses work better! 
"My grandma lived to be 99, and never needed glasses...she drank right from the bottle!" (LOL!) |
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Skip Cole
From:
North Mississippi
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Posted 5 Jun 2003 6:23 pm
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I wear glasses to read and to see anything clearly that is at the end of my fingertips. I don't like them but i don't think i could handle something touching my eyeball. My glasses are bifocals and i hate having to stand on my head to see clearly when i work underneath my truck or some of these home fix-it projects. But that's what getting older has done for me.
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"Steel guitar is where it are"
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 6 Jun 2003 11:24 am
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Hey, Jim Eaton!
I just shot 40 on the front nine, but slumped to a 48 on the back - it was looking good for a while.....
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David L. Donald
From:
Koh Samui Island, Thailand
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Posted 6 Jun 2003 12:24 pm
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I have progressive lenses.
They are relatively smooth from far to near, depending on the angle, up or down, you look through them.
But they also are only the corrected in the center of the lens. Too much left or right and your out of focus.
But otherwise I could never see the score and the conductor at the same time, and make any sense out of either. I had to sightread a Bach mass tonight and I would have been dead without them.
I can see the fret markers without them, but it's easier with.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 06 June 2003 at 01:25 PM.] |
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John Russell
From:
Austin, Texas
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Posted 6 Jun 2003 5:41 pm
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I also wear progressives. They work pretty well, but I have difficulty seeing the computer with them. Therefore I have a pair of "computer bifocals" that handle that job pretty well as well as long-term reading since they're have more correction for the close up thing.
I've been quite nearsighted all my life, have worn contacts several times in the past but gave them up when the reading correction became an issue a few years ago. The contact lens solution with different corrections for each eye sounds like a viable option. |
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Gary Walker
From:
Morro Bay, CA
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Posted 6 Jun 2003 9:23 pm
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| I had Lasik in 2000 and don't wear glasses except to change strings. I see to play without looking like Mister Magoo and love it. |
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Danny Kuykendall
From:
Fullerton, CA, USA
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Posted 8 Jun 2003 5:54 am
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One of the best kept secrets, and unfortunately not recognised buy optometrists or opthamologists is eye training to improve vision. I started using a method I got off the web that was originally introduced by an opthamologist named Bates back in about 1900. My near-sightness went from 20/200 to 20/30, and presbyopia (old age vision where you can't see up close) improved as well. I can read easily at a foot away and shoot pool now without glasses ( I play competitive pool.) I can legally drive without glasses also.
Since the steel guitar is played about two feet away from the eyes, I believe that within a few months of eye exercises(almost) everyone should be able to play without the use of corrective lenses.
If you go onto Yahoo and click on Natural Vision Products, you can then access the web-site for a book and pin-hole glasses (about $40.). The See Clearly Method (advertised on TV and radio) works as well, but is more expensive ($200.)
By the way, most doctors will reject these theories, but they really do work.
Danny |
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Richard Cooper
From:
Eads,TN,USA
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Posted 8 Jun 2003 10:57 am
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I only wear reading glasses to
change strings, and that is just to
protect my eyes from the breaking strings
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