Feliciano's knack for music became apparent when at 7, he taught himself to play the accordion. About two years later, when he was 9 years old, his father gave him his first guitar. He would play his guitar by himself in his room for up to 14 hours a day, and would learn by listening to 1950s rock and roll, records of classical guitarists and jazz players. Andrés Segovia and Wes Montgomery were among his favorites. As a teenager, Feliciano took classical guitar lessons with Harold Morris, a staff music teacher at The Light House School for the Blind in New York City. Morris, himself, had once been a student of Andres Segovia. In a 1969 interview, Feliciano mentioned soul music in general, and Ray Charles and Sam Cooke in particular, as influences on his singing.