Big fingers!!!!!

mikegreen402 · #1 January 9th, 2007

Hi to all members.

I have recently acquired an acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, i have rather large fingers and am struggling to get a lot of chords.

Anyone have similar problems or any good advice (other than giving up).

Many thanks in advance.

Mike.

allthumbs · #2 January 9th, 2007

Everyone says that when they first start Mike. It seems the more you practice, the smaller your fingers get.

T-ride · #3 January 9th, 2007

just stick with it, get to where you can change chords without missing a beat, then your finger positioning will improve.

LightninBoy · #4 January 9th, 2007

Hi Mke,
big thick fingers can be a problem on skinny necks.
Maybe look for a guitar with a wide fingerboard.

I've had some students with the same problem, and had them grip certain chords differently.
eg. the A shape, 2nd fret, on the 2nd, 3rd & 4th strings can be played with just 2 fingers. One finger will cover 2 strings at once. This worked for some people, but it may or may not work for you. Give it a try.
You can apply the same technique to other shapes too.
Hope this helps, good luck.

krissovo · #5 January 9th, 2007

I have giant bratwurst sausage fingers and had a similar problem, I still do have slight problem when I am not concentrating but you will learn little tricks (bad habits teachers call them) to combat this when your head is just not with it. I will not tell you my tricks as it is cheating and you will never forgive me. Not very helpful am i?

OK my big problem is A and B7 and a few of the Hendrix style chords up the fret board and if I dont hit the strings perfectly I will mute others and sounds odd. For A I often play a mini barre with one finger, if I find that I am holding down the little E string I will either mute it fully or not play it at all. I did play around with a different fingering and that helped for a while but I tend to use a barre now. B7 is trickier, if I miss that it mainly down to not getting my 2nd finger on the big E string cleanly so again I will barre the E and A strings until a suitable pause when I reset my fingers. Sounds slightly strange but not as bad a dud string.

I am getting better week on week and so will you, I have even played on a diddy mandolin and eukalalee (you know that 4 string mini guitar type thing). Soon you will tearing up the fretboard like Hendrix dont panic too much

Chris C · #6 January 9th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikegreen402

I have recently acquired an acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, i have rather large fingers and am struggling to get a lot of chords.

Hi Mike,

I had huge fingers when I first started playing. But one of the mysteries of guitar, is that the more I practised the smaller they got.....

I bought a classical style style acoustic soon after starting, because it had a much wider neck, which I thought would be easier to find room for my fingers (and it was too). But it didn't take long before I moved back onto the steel string.

Much of the process of learning guitar (or any instrument) involves making very tiny adjustments in position, and slowly 'patterning' them into your brain (or in my case, what's left of my brain...). It's something that can't really be fully explained with charts and diagrams, only learned by practice and by changes made in small steps. One day you realise it's just 'happening'..... music voodoo in action...

If you check out videos of some of the old blues players, many of them had fingers that looked like sacks of potatoes, and you wonder how the heck they're playing so well.... but they are...

Another thing I tried was to pick up a mandolin very now and then. Mandolins have tiny narrow necks - it feels like trying to play a chopstick...

But, if you take your time you can still form a chord and play it. After a few minutes of that, go back to the guitar and the neck feels as wide as a freeway.

Good luck,

Chris

cshude · #7 January 9th, 2007

hehe, not only did I have big fingers, but they were very tender big fingers. Funny, at the same time they got toughened up they started "shrinking"! It's just a matter of practice- keep at it and you'll be surprised how easily you'll be making weird looking "claws" to make chords!

peterm · #8 January 10th, 2007

Check out the stumpy bratwursts this bloke calls fingers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j4S9Qtt8UU

I believe he might have even attained the status of guitar god with them

6string · #9 January 10th, 2007

Or big toes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78WikcTWe4M

737blues · #10 January 10th, 2007

This guy doesn't do too bad with what nature gave him either.

http://www.prsguitars.com/artists/news.html

PS. I want one of his guitars too

carol m · #11 January 10th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterm

Check out the stumpy bratwursts this bloke calls fingers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j4S9Qtt8UU

I believe he might have even attained the status of guitar god with them

Hey I was just watching that over at youtube and now it turns up here as well, we are obviously on the same wavelength! I was thinking of asking Kirk to do this for the next lesson. It's short, so there should be no problem, what do you think?

peterm · #12 January 10th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by carol m

Hey I was just watching that over at youtube and now it turns up here as well, we are obviously on the same wavelength! I was thinking of asking Kirk to do this for the next lesson. It's short, so there should be no problem, what do you think?

I think you are on to an excellent idea Carol, I love spanish guitar

Stratrat · #13 January 10th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by peterm

Check out the stumpy bratwursts this bloke calls fingers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j4S9Qtt8UU

I believe he might have even attained the status of guitar god with them

I'd say he does a pretty decent job with those big stumpy paws!

Like others have said - your fingers get "skinnier" with practice, as the fretboard becomes familiar territory. Similar to how you have to slowly/carefully place your fingers and watch them carefully to form each chord in the beginning - and after a while you can finger a chord without really thinking or looking.

eXperiment63 · #14 January 10th, 2007

It's not just the getting skinnier over time. It's the... The tips get firmer over time so less pressure is needed to push the strings down, which makes your fingertips smaller on the fretboard. When I first started out, even though my hands are ginormous, my fingers were EXTREMELY soft. Now over time the tips are hardening and it allows me to get clean notes with less pressure. In fact, I just bought a gripmaster exercise tool specifically made for guitarists and bought the rough tips to help my fingers harden even more. So now, even when I'm not playing guitar, my finger strength and speed will be getting better while my fingertips harden even faster.

Ryugin · #15 January 12th, 2007

Wow, those videos are amazing.

I have really skinny fingers, so I guess I'm just lucky.