DO you mean Jimi H? he had another abnormality… he was a lefty
Blues legend Albert King is not only left-handed, but he also plays with his strings upside down. He plays right-handed guitars that he simply flips over, making the low E string the bottom string instead of the top. To make this unorthodox way of playing a little easier, he tunes his guitar two notes lower so he can bend the low, thick strings. To make those whining guitar notes with his high E string, he pulls it down, instead of pushing it up.
I also play my guitar “upside down”, and I still feel like tab is backward - though I think that’s because if you imagine the tab like you are looking at the guitar strings head-on, it’s backwards for me.
That’s interesting with regard to the 2D vs. 3D, though I suspect that may be more of an artistic training type of thing - perspective is challenging to draw! Hard for me to say, though, since I did a lot of visual art classes from an early age - would be interesting to hear from others on that.
Hi,
I’m hopeless at a lot of things uh the most of things …but since I started learning to play the guitar I’ve realized that I could even have gotten pretty good at drawing/painting with the right course/teacher and the sheer amount of hours I put in each day. …certainly not certain things like, well, I don’t actually know that, but I can do so much more than I used to think or what people said that something is so difficult or impossible to learn…but I am very happy that the choice 4 years ago became music and not something like embroidery to sleep well … I think it’s cheaper to embroidery and I don’t know what the new neighbors think about it yet …I’ll have to ask the old ones
Tabs just like guitar are about pitch not where the strings are. The bottom of the tab is the lowest pitch, the thickest string is the lowest pitch. So the bottom of the tab represents the thickest string. Just like music notation.
You are right, Brian, I certainly know how my husband, family members or others around me look ( thanks god!). As you say, it’s the extent I can recall persons, situations, places, etc. in my mind. I repeat myself by saying, that I can recall all of that, rather as a “scheme”, without any kind of picture.
This obviously is quite a core issue, as aphantasiacs can’t do that consciously / on demand, but unconsciously are able to see pictures in their dreams (at least, it’s what I read)
Maybe! At least your fancy dresses are a great help to try that, kind of a “key stimuli” .
On a serious note: I already mentioned elsewhere, that I have some serious eye sight problems coming up and probably getting worse over time, up to the possibility of losing eye sight. In this context, it is definitely a major issue, if someone like me wouldn’t be able to reconstruct images from their minds to save lots of information “inside”. It was kind of an “awakening” experience within the last few days, that maybe, I won’t even be able to recall those “pictures” any more, but others do. Losing the faces of my beloved ones might be the hardest part of it, but not having the ability to recall experiences either, is kind of disillusioning . I simply wasn’t aware of that. Another ugly toad to swallow.
Guitar related, it maybe were impossible to visualize everything on the neck then. Thanks god, my sensitivity and feel for the fretboard will get better over time.
That’s what I’m asking myself too!
Been busy within the last days, I’m a little late on replying, Phil. Glad you found a way to deal with that all. I’m a paper girl too, writing out songs does help a lot with recognizing song structure, etc.
Although I don’t see pictures in my mind, I certainly do random scrawling. E.g., I do that during protracting work phone calls, but it’s rather tracing the squares on a sheet of paper than drawing objects or people.
I thought of you when I wrote about my father about the lack of faces of the deceased with people who see this in this completely black form (but luckily I have the photos ), but I didn’t want to go on about how that is with you. and other situations…
Greetings,
One step at a time, Helen. Impending doom awaits us all but I hope your worries do not become reality the way you fear. Also, it never ceases to amaze me how humans adapt to the most challenging circumstances.
Alles gute
Andrea… One of those situations again, where I want to give you a big hug. Such a shame that you are there in the Bavarian mountains and I’m here in the North.
I can imagine how you are feeling and how scared you must be sometimes. I can imagine so well.
But then, Brian is correct, when he says one step at a time. I know that trying to think like that helps on some days at least. The good ones.
You know that you can always send me a DM, right? Simply bounce those bad things off of me whenever you feel like
@roger_holland@brianlarsen@JokuMuu Thank you all for caring about my situation . I try to do my best not to worry too much about tomorrow (I’ve already learned this the hard way ). I’m enjoying the “now”, as I have zero influence on the future. Not enjoying my life now would be like wasting the good days! I still hope for the best @JokuMuu
Apparently today is Aphantasia Awareness Day. I got this in my email from Tom at Aphantasia.com. It has links to their website with the VVIQ test to see where you are on the scale.
Tom Said.
My inbox is filled with questions from aphants all over the world.
From L.A. to Seoul, Venezuela to Madagascar, people are discovering their mind is free from images at an astounding rate.
Global data is preliminary, and I’m not a trained data scientist, but based on my analysis of over 600k VVIQ assessments taken at aphantasia.com, I do not see any notable distribution differences between the continents.
Even if this is proven wrong, one thing is undeniable: aphants live in every corner of the planet, speak in different languages and their cultures attribute different significance to the concept of visualization.
One year ago today, with the help of some dedicated members of our community, the city of Rowlett, Texas officially declared Feb 21 as “Aphantasia Awareness Day”. You can read more about that event here.
This year, we’re going global and announcing the official launch of Aphantasia Network Japan at aphantasia.com/ja.
With the help of the passionate chapter leader Mayumi Odawara, all aphantasia resources and research are available in Japanese, and in turn, all content and research generated in Japan will be translated into English, bringing us one step closer to a global community.
Spanish is currently underway, and we will hopefully have many more languages by year’s end.
The reminder that aphantasia touches people from all corners of the globe is humbling. A reminder that while our language, culture and traditions may differ, something deeper inside us can be so remarkably similar.
Hi Phil,
Hi…I’m not going to click on the link because I’m in need knowing more, but is there a revenue model behind that site that you know of? Such as courses/books or a whole store… it’s starting to itch a bit and not in a good way… oh well, I wish everyone his or her day as long as no one has to suffer for it… and every day is a proclamation day or celebration day of many things…
But I don’t remember everything above correctly… This
always makes me a bit alert OR or or should I read it with a big wink… in that case I say “enjoy you all”
Greetings
So it is a business model and the more people who get involved with it, the greater the yield… it’s starting to look like a well you say it …cult …
I’ll stick only with this one from JG for a while
Greetings
I know nothing about whether they have a business model or not. I do know the pages that tell you what aphantasia is don’t require you to create an account, give an email address or any such thing. That said there’s plenty on this thread that tells you all you need to know anyway.
TLDR - Some people can readily bring images to mind and some of us can’t!
It’s just one sentence from you above and I still read it a bit wrong… I read that you could just join this cult without paying…my wrong… and yes there is a revenue model behind it
Greetings
This thread is obviously of much interest to many people given the number of responders. I have been hesitant to make a contribution, but after looking at the site noted above I feel compelled to say something.
There are some findings to suggest that this “condition” affects some people. The numbers are probably close to or less than 1%. Of that number of individuals, the vast majority experience these symptoms as a result of some neurological event, eg stroke, traumatic brain injury, neoplastic process, etc,
1.) I spent my career in medicine evaluating and treating individuals with acquired neuro injury or disease. I have personally assessed more than 60,000 individuals in clinical settings with objective test procedures. I have never assessed someone that I could say had these specific symptoms. Certainly some individuals may have mental imaging skills more or less than others, just like all other skills. An absence of visual imaging ability is another thing altogether.
2.) The referenced procedure on the site above is called the VVIQ. It is not a test. It is a self-report questionnaire. Its had a couple iterations since first being written many years ago. It can generate interesting conversations, but as a diagnostic tool its utility is certainly limited. Don’t take my word for it: Defining and 'diagnosing' aphantasia: Condition or individual difference? - PubMed The journal Cortex is legit.
All views are welcome. The thing is there’s no scientists who know better what imagery I see or don’t see than I do. They might have a very strict definition of aphantasia that perhaps I don’t meet, but my visualising skills are so poor to basically not exist for all practical purposes. Whether I qualify as having a ‘condition’ is immaterial really.
I don’t know if I’ve always been this way or not. I did have some issues as a very young child that I grew out of but there’s no way of knowing if they were a factor in my life today or not so I can’t say if I’ve had a neurological event or not.
If nothing else it has stirred interesting conversation highlighting that we do all perceive the world in different ways, and as a result of that, how I learn won’t necessarily work for someone else and vice versa.
… I think it’s cheaper to embroidery and I don’t know what the new neighbors think about it yet …I’ll have to ask the old ones 
thanks god!). As you say, it’s the extent I can recall persons, situations, places, etc. in my mind. I repeat myself by saying, that I can recall all of that, rather as a “scheme”, without any kind of picture.
.
. I try to do my best not to worry too much about tomorrow (I’ve already learned this the hard way 
