I envy you guys with long fingers

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by scriv58

i cried because i had no shoes, until i met a man who had no feet

So shouldn't the man with no feet have a right to be a little envious???

[jwayne]

Originally Posted by paulzoom

Trying to learn Fleetwood Mac's Gold Dust Woman and one part requires me to hit both the B string at the 6th fret and the A string at the third fret at the same time. I'm struggling stretching my pinky and index finger to make a clean pluck. This is on a short string guitar.

Not going to give up but longer fingers sure would make things easier.

My (slightly snarky) advice is to stay away from Borsalino unless you want to fake it. The second section has one fretting the B string at the 5th fret along with the G string at the 2nd fret (similar 4 fret stretch but one fret lower which is a little more difficult) but then you have to move the index finger down to the 1st fret. (I have fairly large hands so this isn't difficult for me.)

There is also a SIX fret stretch in Roland Dyen's Nuages transcription (bar at the 5th, pinky at the 10th fret), but I just measured it and it is about the same distance as the aforementioned five fret stretch.

My REAL advice is: if it is barely possible to do it now, then it is almost certain you'll be able to do the stretch after enough practice. You can also post the source of the version you are working on; perhaps there is an easy way to reharmonize it or something while you work on stretching.

[Rosewood99]

Originally Posted by jwayne

My (slightly snarky) advice is to stay away from Borsalino unless you want to fake it. The second section has one fretting the B string at the 5th fret along with the G string at the 2nd fret (similar 4 fret stretch but one fret lower which is a little more difficult) but then you have to move the index finger down to the 1st fret. (I have fairly large hands so this isn't difficult for me.)

There is also a SIX fret stretch in Roland Dyen's Nuages transcription (bar at the 5th, pinky at the 10th fret), but I just measured it and it is about the same distance as the aforementioned five fret stretch.

My REAL advice is: if it is barely possible to do it now, then it is almost certain you'll be able to do the stretch after enough practice. You can also post the source of the version you are working on; perhaps there is an easy way to reharmonize it or something while you work on stretching.

I don't doubt that you are right. Doesn't mean I still don't wish I had longer fingers.

[srick]

Check out any video of Muriel Anderson. My guess is that she is at best, five feet tall, with petite hands to match. She is an incredible player.

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by robj144

I definitely have short fingers. To me, that's not difficult at all. Part of it is the length of your fingers, but a huge part is dexterity. Loosening your ligaments so the stretch is easier. When I first started playing, I doubt I could reach that easily, but now it's no problem.

If you are blessed enough to ever become an old person and start dealing with the many different health issues that befall people and limit their fretting you will have to eat these words. I really hope you don't have to though.

[robj144]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

If you are blessed enough to ever become an old person and start dealing with the many different health issues that befall people and limit their fretting you will have to eat these words. I really hope you don't have to though.

Les Paul, BB King, Clapton, etc... have no problem fretting later on in their later years. If you keep playing and keeping your fingers loose, I think that helps.

[JimmerO]

My fingers aren't short but my thumb is.

No matter how hard I try I can't wrap my thumb around the neck and fret the low E string.

[Jambi]

I wrote a song that required Low E and A be fretted at 5th and the high E be fretted at 12th. I flip my thumb around the neck and fret the low strings that way... but I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be so I capo.

My brain wrote a song that my hands can't play well.

[Long Jon]

I’ve got some pretty long fingers.

If I knew where to put ‘em I could probably play good and stuff.

[SpiderTrap]

JeeZ What a Big Hand . I measured out 9 and manage to get around fine .

[Long Jon]

Originally Posted by SpiderTrap

JeeZ What a Big Hand . I measured out 9 and manage to get around fine .

It’s a curse Spider, my right is even bigger, it’s a real pain trying to find one with wide enough string spacing, especially at the bridge.




PS. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet !

[BrunoBlack]

Good one LJ! But my right hand is even a little larger than yours. It’s the stretching technique you demonstrated on YouTube that helped. Thanks.

[dave999z]

Originally Posted by robj144

Les Paul, BB King, Clapton, etc... have no problem fretting later on in their later years. If you keep playing and keeping your fingers loose, I think that helps.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/ne...-musicians-fe/

[Long Jon]

Originally Posted by Haasome

Good one LJ! Can you bend strings too?

Not so much Paul, just minds, I like to bend minds.

[robj144]

The Greek Freak (NBA player) would be great at guitar: