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Long fingers vs. Short Fingers?


Aster1

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Hi Ya'll,

 

I did s couple of searches but came up with nothing on this and have always wondered about it. My fingers are shorter than most guitarist that I see in videos. My glove size is a Medium all day long and my middle finger is 3" long. All are in proper proportion and are thin not thick fingers. My digits are plenty for me to do all my work, pitch horseshoes, or toss a Frisbee etc. When I play guitar I wonder about it however, although I don't think they will grow anymore at this point even with hormone therapy! [biggrin]

 

I can barr cords okay, for the most part, but the reach with the pinky just doesn't work out that well. Any tips from players with shorter fingers, I'm sure there must be some here? Not all of us can have long fingers or be a "John Holmes" either (course he's dead cuz of the little head doing the think'n for the big head). [rolleyes]

 

Aster

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I am not so badly off as my fingers are quite long although now my left hand and fingers are afflicted with arthritis (mainly affects the thumb and wrist)so some of the more extreme jazz shapes are denied to me and I cannot use my thumb "Hendrix style" at all.

 

However, I have mentioned on here before an East London guitar player by the name of Terry Newman who used to play in a well-known East London band called The Powerpack (1960s / 1970s although Terry still plays). Terry has very small hands and short fingers and it certainly didn't stop him being a pretty good player.

 

EDIT: finger length is calculated from the palm side of the hand not the knuckle side. So my middle finger is just over 3.5inches.

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Fat fingers are the worse

Don't remind me!

My wide fingers with fairly limited reach are a pain for playing guitar, and the limitations of reach for bass, too. :(

 

Fretting A open with three fingers at the 2nd fret on a sixstring would take a classical fretboard for me. Steel string guitars call for barre... [crying]

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Dang,

 

Here I thought I may be onto something that was a good excuse for lousy playing ability. From the poll so far, got no excuse what-so-ever!!! [cursing]

 

Just was curious on what others were experiencing with this.

 

Wait a minute, I pulled up the poll results and EVERYONE has longer than 3" fingers but me. [scared]

 

Aster

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I say we play with the fingers God gave us.

 

AKA... here in the south...

 

You run what you brung

 

There are plenty of great guitar players with normal sized hands for sure. That said there are some advantages to finger length. Hendrix's thumb chording is not for those of us with normal hands - unless you have one of those super skinny necked Gibsons from the 60s perhaps. Van Halen's notoriously long finger reach allowed him to play pretty easily intervals others would struggle with.

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Length:

 

Thumb: 2-1/4"

Index: 3"

Middle: 3-3/8"

Ring: 3-1/4"

Pinkie: 2-1/4"

 

Width (just below fingernail):

 

Thumb: 3/4"

Index: 9/16"

Middle: 9/16"

Ring: 9/16"

Pinkie: 1/2"

 

Width is important here too. I'm blessed with average-long, skinny fingers. The thumb is important as well; being able to fret the lowest three strings with my thumb comfortably is useful.

 

-Ryan

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middle finger is 3 3/4" even permanently crooked from being broken at the last joint.

 

my problem is that 3 of my 4 neck fingers are crooked from a life using hammers as part of my career.

the index was "twist fractured" in '83, leaving the nail underlapping the middle finger when my hand is flat.

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I measured it to be 7"

 

Oh wait, you said finger [blush] , 3" for middle. Seems to work fine, I tested with a few other drivers on the way home. [lol]

 

But seriously, these are the only fingers I have ever had, I kinda like them and they work fine for guitar.

 

Now lets measure feet, for effect pedal size!!! Heh, heh.

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Length:

 

Thumb: 2-1/4"

Index: 3"

Middle: 3-3/8"

Ring: 3-1/4"

Pinkie: 2-1/4"

 

...

 

-Ryan

Seems you're a typical male with properly working hormones. [thumbup] The proportion of index and ring finger lengths of typical females is inverse.

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HIGH FIVE

 

oddly, my Great Uncle Paul Elmore (once a popular Bluegrass guitarist from Ohio to Baltimore) only had about 2.5-3 fingers (NOT counting thumbs) on each hand, from being tricked into holding an exploding "blasting cap" between his hands as a kid in W.Va.

he was a fine guitarist, and actually showed me my 1st chords.....he was inspiring.

 

The Brother that had tricked him into it, lost his index finger later that year to my Grandmother while she was splitting wood....he kept putting it across the log to make her stop......she warned him.....he did it 1 time too many & she hacked it off!

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I just refuse to measure my fingers.... my wife would think I'm nuts! (okay... she already thinks that....but I'd be confirming it for her!).

 

Rob, When it comes to wife's there's no need to confirm that issue. After the 1st 4-5 yrs she already know's your're nuts and stays anyway!!!

 

We'll I'd better just practice more then on getting my fingers to reaching more. Weird thing with life is that they prolly would if I wasn't yanking, spraining & straining them all the time with work. Then, when you can get to retire and not do that, the older age crap moves in and it's a new issue to deal with.

 

I wonder if I could become rich & famous if I invented a "finger elongater" device? You know, like a milking machine that uses suction to stretch them. [blush] Oh wait, someones already invented that I think for something else? Never mind!!

 

Aster

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Rob, When it comes to wife's there's no need to confirm that issue. After the 1st 4-5 yrs she already know's your're nuts and stays anyway!!!

 

 

my wife says she's with me as a public service. that she couldnt sleep at night knowing she released me back into the dating pool

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I have large pads/palms but the fingers aren't particularly long. My middle finger is approx. 3-3/8" long measured on the palm side from where the crease is as it meets the top of my palm. My palms are at least that in diameter maybe a touch larger.

 

I do OK these days, but struggled a little in my youth when I was slimmer...

 

I have more muscle on my frame these days than I did back then and although I've lost a considerable amount of weight and am back to nearly my weight of my early twenties I've retained the harder thicker muscle mass...

 

Personally I think you develop your own style with what God gave you and find a way to get it done with what you've got.

 

In general I think long slim fingers are an advantage from pictures of guys like Jimi Hendrix and

I can see how they had an easier time reaching scalar steps and fingering some of the larger chord shapes...

 

But I've watched guys all my life that had short stout to thick burly fingers do amazing things... What about the big guys like

,
& Albert King, and
who look like they could snap the guitar neck off at the tenon without trying very hard...

 

That's one of those "the tone is in the hands" things that make each of us unique.

 

Watch guys like

, (now)
,
, and Buddy Whittington (Gary Moore's fingers are pretty stout and he's about as fast as they come) and there's not doubt guys with stubby little sausage fingers can smoke the fretboard...

 

Back in the day Peter Green's fingers seemed long, slim, and lanky, but now are stubby and fat... He's one that did not retain his prowess so that's a bad example, but it's all over the board...

 

I always though

's fingers were the thickest stoutest guitarist fingers I ever saw. Strong and large! But he's smooth as silk and quick as greased-lightning...

 

's fingers always seemed kind of dainty and small, in this vid they look long and lean, but he's basically the standard bar!

 

It's all good!!!

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