While reading another post about Gibson SGs, I was looking around at pics of famous players who used the SG. I ran across this pic of Duane Allman.
Holy cow, I thought Jimi Hendrix had huge hands! I have never seen another guitar player with fingers this long.
So, just for fun, do you have big hands, or little hands?
I have fairly average hands I guess. But I have an extremely short index finger. My index finger does not even reach to the beginning of my nail on my ring finger with all my fingers stretched out straight. I have read that this trait is more common to men than women. Most people's index fingers actually extend further than the ring finger. But my ring finger is probably a little long, almost the same as my middle finger.
Guitar players worry about their fingers. Why can't I reach over with my thumb?? I can't do those long stretches playing 3 note per string scales. I can't get my fat fingers to all jam in at the 2nd fret for that A major chord. :cry:
And I have had to realize that I have to play with the hands I have. I really can't do that fretting with the thumb thing. But on the other hand, my stubby little index finger is really great for that BB King vibrato, because it is short and strong.
Anyway, this was just for fun. But since we all worry about our hands, what are your hands like? What advantages and disadvantages do your hands and fingers have??
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Man, Duane A. has some long skeletal looking fingers!
I have longish fingers on average-sized hands, but it doesn't seem to help my playing any. :oops:
I have short index fingers, too--shorter than the ring fingers and only up to the bottom of the nail on the middle finger.
And the fingers on my right hand are not a perfect mirror image of the fingers on my left hand. On my right hand, my pinky fits snug up to the ring finger all the way to the top. But on the left, the last joint of the pinky veers away from the ring finger. On my left hand, the middle finger "rolls" outward so the ring finger overlaps it on the top joint, much more so than on the right.
I've had points of frustration when I can't even come close to the finger positions my guitar teacher demonstrates, but the bright side is that things (reach, strength, coordination) do improve, albeit slowly for me, with practice.
Margaret
When my mind is free, you know a melody can move me
And when I'm feelin' blue, the guitar's comin' through to soothe me ~
I have relatively small hands, palm wise, but my fingers are fairly long and skinny. People always told me I had guitar player hands, so I guess that explains what they look like.
Paul
Vacate is the word...Vengance has no place on me or her...Cannot find a comfort in this world.
I dunno: That's me on the left. I'm playing a short-scale Turser Beatle bass. Looks (and is) pretty small.
Average, I think :)
my hands are above average, but my fingers are really long and skinny so it works out well
see buckethead for huge hands. i think his are even bigger than allman's!
paul gilbert and shawn lane all have/had huge hands too
I have small hands and my fingers are short. That's one of the reasons that, 10 years ago, I convinced myself that I could never be a good guitar player and I gave up. Now I realize that all it takes is a lot of practice.
I bet Duane Allman could stretch from the 1st fret to the eighth! Man, I'm going to have nightmares.
yeah big hands defintely help, but are in no way a requirement
Actually I've got Sausage fingers that is Short and THICK!! At least they are strong for bends and hammer ons 8)
Chuck Norris invented Kentucky Fried Chicken's famous secret recipe, with eleven herbs and spices. But nobody ever mentions the twelfth ingredient: Fear!
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I must admit i've got giant hands. Probably as big or bigger than Duane Allman's. They're also thin, but strong with big knuckles. Then again, i'm also 6'3"...so my hands fit right in.
i have a decent sized palm, but my fingers are just short and stubby. i can't do stretches over more than 4 frets (and 4 is pushing it) and i have a hard time with barre chords down the neck, especially that pesky 4 chord. sometimes, it literally hurts my knuckles
i think i have some sort of issue. i can't flip anyone the middle finger (not that I do that often) because my middle finger simply doesn't rise up above the rest. if i try to make it stick up from my fist, i feel tightness and a little pain shoot down the back of my hand in the tendons. i sometimes get this feeling on that barre F.
Not really something I've given much thought to until now.
I guess my hands are in proportion for my height and build but I think my fingers may be slightly shorter than average (whatever average may be).
It hasn't affected my playing up to now (I have bigger issues than to worry about than the size of my hands :wink: ) but on occaision it can be tricky using my pinky to hit a note cleanly if it is a bit of a stretch because there is very little strength there. I guess that will improve with time though.
8)
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time.
It was them that turned me to drink.
It's funny, and I always think about it now. My friends when we 17-18 always use to say that I should play the guitar because I have big hands/long fingers. I used to laugh it off. Well, it was 7-8 years later that I finally did. Should I go back and ask them if they still want to do the band thing? :lol:
I still to this day don't think I do. I don't know, you tell me..........This is me fretting a G chord.
I would say about normal? :?
not sure really, i recon larger than average - from my palm to top of my middle finger its 220mm. but my fingers are also quite thick not skinny like some examples above.
initially when i just started bare chords were a nightmare but its gotten better. Then again i play mostly Rhythm so guess if i had short fingers it would'nt have hindered me as much as say someone playing lead.
Minus
And all the things you said to me
I need your arms to welcome me
But a cold stone's all I see
Let my heart go
I think my fingers are normal length, although I have had two guitar teachers that have told me I got long fingers. I think they are a good length. I can almost do all the stretches I want to do.
I bought a issue of Guitar Techniqe a while ago and they had a lesson using fourth intervalls. This required you to stretch across over 5 frets. I can do it on the 3 top strings without too much problem round the fifth fret. But I don't know how you're supposed to make a pullof from the tenth fret on the low E-string to the fifth fret!?
"Talent is luck. The important thing in life is courage."
One thing that bothers me about my hands: my pinky finger curves inward toward my ring finger. If I am holding my hand with my fingers straight out, it is only slightly noticeable from the last knuckle to the tip of my pinky. But when I bend my fingers at the second knuckle, the pinky comes in and crowds the ring finger. I wish there was something I could do about it...
