Guest Farnsbarns Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 I measured the top of my middle finger, from the knuckle to the tip. This is probably the most generous way of measuring. It gives me 4 1/4 inches. I was surprised because I've always thought I had fairly short fingers. After I voted I measured the underside from the fold in my skin to the tip. Exactly 1 inch less. I think you might need to specify a measurement methodology or this is meaningless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aster1 Posted July 27, 2014 Author Share Posted July 27, 2014 Good suggestion Farns. Pin (post #3) had noted that proper measurment was from palm side crease to tip. I've added that to the question. It is interesting on how people can learn to use all the different size fingers. And I've wondered if those "finger strengthen/dexterity" contraptions really help. I've seen one that a Dr. is touting that uses stretch bands vs. the "trumpet key" style press down deal. He claims (real or snake oil) that it's been studied and results show it helps. Can't remember now if it was dreamt up for P.T. for after injuries or surgery to fingers. I do know I need to really build those piddys up in strength a bunch. Aster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 I kind of remember reading somewhere that Eddie Cochran had the ability to play songs in "F" that most people couldn't.... not sure it was because he had long fingers, or was just very dexterous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4Hayden Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Don't remind me! Fat fingers are bad fret next to fret , I feel your pain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 I think you might need to specify a measurement methodology or this is meaningless. Finger length is traditionally measured from the palm side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duane v Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Pinky = 3" Index - 3.75" Middle = 4.0" Ring = 3.75" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Regardless of hand size, I think the thing biggest thing many guitarists fail to develop is the dexterity and use of the pinky. I use it alot. I have a little OCD that makes my follow symmetry very closely and in the box positions whatever notes fall into the fret/realm of the pinky are the notes I play with my pinky... I have not developed the style/function to move my hand to make my ring or middle finger get those notes because I simply am of the opinion those are the notes my pinky is supposed to play... It's a mindset thing... My 2nd favorite and most used bend is one I do with my pinky. Actually it's all fingers on the string but the fulcrom point on the bend for the note is my pinky... (minor pentatonic 1st box position 2nd string bending the B string to the root note) Most guys I see run their hand up a fret and do it with either ring finger or even sometimes middle finger... I'll even hit that not on the 1st/high-E string right below at the same time by flattening out the my pinky on the fretboard and fretting that string with the flat of my pinky while maintaining the bend on the B-String with the tip of my pinky... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I use it alot. I have a little OCD that makes my follow symmetry very closely and in the box positions whatever notes fall into the fret/realm of the pinky are the notes I play with my pinky... I have not developed the style/function to move my hand to make my ring or middle finger get those notes because I simply am of the opinion those are the notes my pinky is supposed to play... It's a mindset thing... My 2nd favorite and most used bend is one I do with my pinky. Actually it's all fingers on the string but the fulcrom point on the bend for the note is my pinky... (minor pentatonic 1st box position 2nd string bending the B string to the root note) Most guys I see run their hand up a fret and do it with either ring finger or even sometimes middle finger... I'll even hit that not on the 1st/high-E string right below at the same time by flattening out the my pinky on the fretboard and fretting that string with the flat of my pinky while maintaining the bend on the B-String with the tip of my pinky... Christ man, don't let's start another one about the minor third! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Just getting in on this one... I guess I have small to medium size hands. I've been harder on them than some, not as much as others - but stuff like breaking boards and bricks for 40-50 years isn't conducive to good "musician hand care." A messed up right wrist from stupidly heavy weight training on it to build forearm strength for fencing in high school didn't help either. Oddly though, I've noticed that my finger "spread" even at age is wider than some folks with much longer fingers. I can't quite get a straight line from pinky finger to thumb, but close - and it was closer when I wasn't getting so old. I've known incredible pro pickers whose fingers all looked almost like shortened thumbs and made me feel like a true klutz and amateur. Some others had long slender hands. As noted above, men and women have quite different hand shapes as a secondary sexual characteristic. That's why it's much harder for women to make a decent fist unless they trained vary hard from prepubescence into adulthood. Their index finger is too long to fold properly and they tend to hurt their hands hitting things that way. I watched a Segovia Youtube master class vid where a lady was complaining that following his fingering on the Chaconne was too much to reach. His response was that his own wife had smaller hands and she could do it. He didn't use my term of "geometry," but essentially that was what he was saying - it was figuring the proper geometry on the neck and fingerboard to make things work. I think that we often think there's a "correct" geometry for all of us - when we should consider that each of us has a different physical geometry. Longer fingers, shorter or longer palm, thumb, etc., plus arm length plus the torso, etc. Bottom line is that I'm increasingly convinced that it's a matter of adjusting our personal geometry to the style and technique of what we play - and not wishing we had another in order to "fit" a concept of proper technique that may be quite improper with our own physical being. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aster1 Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 Well said as always and of course, the final nail in my "excuse coffin" on poor technique due to short fingers!! It has been a fun thread for a simple mind like mine though & I thank all of ya'll that engaged in the discussion. Any more is now just icing on the cake so have at it. Aster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Aster... Were you around when Red Scobee - however it was spelled, the former live radio banjo player - had a store downtown just north of the Yonkers block. This woulda been in the olden days when Des Moines Music was across the street from Yonkers on the west side of the street? m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aster1 Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 I was in DM Music several times down the street from the old RKO, Paramount & Bus Station. I guess I don't remember the other fellows name or store. Was it a music store too? Aster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Yeah, it was a music store. More of a music lesson operation though, I think. The guy had fingers that looked like thumbs, but they were almost a blur on a banjo. I got my first three or four guitars (five maybe?) at DM Music in '63 into '65. They were awfully nice folks to a young kid who didn't have much cash. Met a girl in the store who ended up a girlfriend pretty quickly - and then dead a few months later in a car wreck. Then another guitar connection to another girlfriend whose Dad worked at the Register and Tribune and I was a lab rat at Meredith Printing's "new" building; She was a bit younger and almost more a guitar pickin' friend/partner than girlfriend at the time. Ah, but youth seems so long ago and of a different world. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Christ man, don't let's start another one about the minor third! Don't worry... I don't know enough about theory to do that! I see it this way, (back on thread topic) there's alot to be said for big hands or at least long fingers for playing guitar, but if you look at all the great guitarists out there and take a look at their hands, you will soon realize both hand shape and size really don't matter... I think honest-to-goodness passion for playing deserves alot more credit than does what God gifted us with by way of hands... Can you say Django?!? I mean really! Take a good cruise of Youtube and if you don't see someone with your hand size ripping it up and sounding great, then you ain't payin' attention! Just play, it's all good!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 small hands here too, (I'm not a big dude, 5' 6", around 155) it's not been a hindrance at all funny thing is,, fingers on my left hand (fret hand) are noticeably longer than my right. (+1/4") anyone else notice that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xkimo Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I measured it to be 7" Oh wait, you said finger , 3" for middle. Seems to work fine, I tested with a few other drivers on the way home. 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. Someone help this poor person,please. Killin' me Drog!! X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Length doesn't matter...wait, what are we talking about? Oh yeah, guitar playing. Within a reasonable range, length doesn't matter. Obviously a person with 2" fingers is going to have to develop a personal style for chording and fretting notes that will be outside the norm. Personally, my hands are relatively small for a person who is 6'-2" tall, I can't even palm a basketball. My fingers are thin and not terribly strong, so I have a tough time sustaining use of bar chords. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocketman Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Strength and stretch are more important than length for the most part I believe. I'm a piano player first, and even though I have average size hands (more towards the smaller than the larger) I can play intervals up to and including 10th on the piano with each hand. I spent a lot of time stretching in my youth. Playing Mozart will increase your strength for sure too. BTW, people have said that EVH will crush your hand when he shakes it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8_4thesh0w Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 small hands here too, (I'm not a big dude, 5' 6", around 155) it's not been a hindrance at all funny thing is,, fingers on my left hand (fret hand) are noticeably longer than my right. (+1/4") anyone else notice that? Mine are like that too, except for the index finger... same length on each hand. I wonder if it is because I almost cut the tip off(left hand) when I was 12 or 13. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 I remember seeing 'The Old Grey WHistle test' With 'Be bop Deluxe'. Bill Nelson had long fingers and seemed to play with ease. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P99KwIZlsVY Then there's the king of long fingers. Paul Gilbert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aster1 Posted August 4, 2014 Author Share Posted August 4, 2014 I reckon I'll get back to an attempt for finger/forearm strengthening & stretching. Can't hurt my playing any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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