Musician inspires crowd with talent
Published: November 6, 2009
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Handless Guitar Player
DUNMORE - With a guitar sitting flat across his lap, Scott Key strums popular tunes like "Hang on Sloopy" and "Closing Time."
He does this without hands during his hourlong concert Thursday at Penn State Worthington Scranton campus.
Mr. Key, 44, was born without fully formed hands or feet. He was never one to let his disability get in the way of his dreams. A varsity wrestler in high school, Mr. Key appeared on the television show "That's Incredible!" in 1981.
Because he always wanted to play guitar, Mr. Key started out playing the autoharp 20 years ago. He has been playing guitar for about a decade.
The university's Community Human Services Organization sponsored Mr. Key's performance. Student Andrea Summa, the group's vice president, met Mr. Key about 10 years ago at the day care where he would pick up his two now-teenage sons.
"I tried for years to play the guitar," Ms. Summa said, "and I couldn't do it with 10 fingers."
Mr. Key has a simple explanation for why he is able to master the guitar when others have failed.
"They have too many fingers in the way, that's why. Too much to think about," he said. "It only takes three notes to make a cord. I don't always hold all six strings that I'm supposed to, but I hold the ones that are important."
The hardest thing about playing the guitar, Mr. Key said, is learning new songs. "Remembering the words is the hardest part," he said.
Originally from New York, Mr. Key previously lived in Scranton and now resides in Factoryville. His dream artist to play guitar with is either Neil Young or Eric Clapton. Mr. Key's cover of Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" on YouTube has more than 2,100 views and a five-star rating.
His Thursday performance won rave reviews as well.
"I think that it's incredible," said Erika Mills, president of the Community Human Services Organization. Mr. Key, she said, "should have been on this campus a long time ago."
Contact the writer: mreiter@timesshamrock.com
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