Hey all, I have a buddy that wants to learn guitar with me. The problem is that his hands and fingers are as big as godzillas. Is ther a guitar maker who produces a guitar with an extra wide neck for people with large fingers? This guys fingers are so large he has to dial the phone with the back side of a pencil!
I don't know of any off hand, but has he considered a bass? The strings are spaced far enough apart.
If he wants to play guitar, he may have to get creative in the way he forms the chords, there's always more than one.
Acoustics- Seagull tends to be a bit wider
Classicals are usually wider- barres and mini barres on one might get him started, not sure if that's wise or not
Electrics, er other than LP style I don't know.
"Things may get a whole lot worse/ Before suddenly falling apart"
Steely Dan
"Look at me coyote, don't let a little road dust put you off" Knopfler
Lots of people with big hands play guitar, and even mandolins. I thought my fingers'd never fit the strings, either. It gets better with practice.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Some folks also get twelve string guitars and take off six of the strings. Not for everyone, but it might help.
Peace
I have a student with fingers like a pound of sausages - he can stop three strings with one digit. He really works hard to try and get it right. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he doesn't, but he keeps trying.
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Thank you for all the replies. I think I am going to take him to the music store and check out a 12 string. That sounds like the best idea. I would like if he got an electric so we could play (guitar) together, does anyone know if the electric 12 string necks are as wide as the acoustic necks???
Thanks again,
Scott
I'm a beginner with pretty big hands, and when I first played with my electric sitar, I didn't think I could realistically play those little drone strings. These things are only 4mm apart from each other! Still, after going at it for a few days, my aim got more precise and I can play some short riffs on them (without using any picks). So, I think once you develop some muscle memory, it shouldn't matter so much how the strings are spaced.
I'm pretty sure you can get a get guitar with a fat neck. Fender has a strat with a fat neck and there is also a Squier version too.
Fender:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/517884/
two things you can look at that will help.
First, get a wider neck. If you play accoustic, look for something that has a classical width neck. If you play electric, you might have to look a little harder, but I've seen hollow-body adn semi-hollow body electrics with classical width necks.
Second, get a longer neck. You shouldn't have any problem finding guitars with 25 1/2, and 26 inch scale necks.
Combine the two, and you won't have any problems at all.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
I've got an Ibanez GAX70 that has a bit bigger fretboard. Still my easiest guitar to play.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
