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Learning Guitar with Fat fingers sucks!


The Owl
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I finally after years of procrastinating finally decided to try and learn this instrument, (well as second instrument, played drums in High School)..

 

 

I am finding resources easy enough to find to learn basic chords and whatnot, but in my learning I am having alot of trouble when I place my fingers for chord with fingers touching other strings..

 

My fingers are a bit chubby and when I press down on a certain string the excess skin touches the string below it.... no matter what I do, and I've tried different methods of holding the neck and whatnot, I cannot stop this from happening....

 

 

Should I just ride with it until I can build up callouses, and then I wont get the skin sinking problem, or are there any other solutions to this problem?

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None that I know of. What is worse is learning guitar with skinny fingers and then growing old and getting fat fingers. A perfect example of this is Alex Lifeson. His fingers look to be about twice what they were back in the 70's. It is frustrating because all those cool things you could do when you were younger are suddenly much more difficult.
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Good luck to you on learning! I tried to learn to play with a used Fender and cheap amp just after high school, but ran into the same things you are now.

 

I've thought about trying again. But, being hard of hearing and having had a minor stroke, my chances of learning are pretty minimal now. sad.gif

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You may need a guitar with a wider fretboard, like a Gibson or a Schecter, etc.

 

Maybe even just play acoustic until you train your fingers to use the just the ball of the finger. Import guitars have traditionally smaller radius necks so stay away from those.

 

 

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^^ good advice, got one with a wider board . Helps. Try different necks too. I fell you pain ,late to start and somewhat fat fingers. My player friends said to keep at it it will come. So I hack away and yes it is getting better. Still a hack but its fun. No tour dates yet LOL. biggrin.gif
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Try learning basic chords on a classical guitar, if you can get hold of one. The strings are just about as far apart as you'll be able to find, and once you can play solidly on that, you should be able to do it on a regular electric guitar. It'll probably take a while to make the transition either way, but once you're there you'll wonder how you ever struggled
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My guitar playing friend has the stubbiest fingers in all the land, yet he can shred like a bat out of hell. I think solid practicing all of the time will help you tackle guitar. Just stay with it and you'll be fine. biggrin.gif yes.gif biggrin.gif
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Seagull makes decent acoustics with wider fretboards. At first I didn't care for them but I'm thinking of trying one out. I don't have large fingers, I have longer fingers. Their cedar top guitars sound real nice and they're not budget breakers. For around $300 you can get a decent one.

 

Worst case you could get a 12 string and string it up as six string.

 

A classical might be a good starting point as well - they are even larger.

 

You'll get used to it - my brother inlaw has large hands and has been playing for 40 years. He's a wonderful player.

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QUOTE (The Owl @ Sep 9 2010, 07:41 PM)
Thanks, right now I'm using a (borrowed) acoustic guitar... I plan on eventually buying one, soon as I can save up.

After you've been at it a bit, I'd seriously suggest looking on Craigslist in your area. If you have any doubts about what you're looking at, take your friend who plays with you and have him look at it. There are deals to be had there - you never know who has decided to quit playing and has a great guitar for a fraction of the cost of what it was new.

 

However - always check online at Musicians Friend, Guitar Center, etc for any guitar listed on CL if you can. There's a lot of people who think that because they paid damn near retail that they can charge more than what you can get it new at those stores.

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QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 24 2010, 01:27 PM)
Cordoba 6 strings are really nice guitars for the price. Make sure you get the hard tension strings for it and it should get you in game shape in no time @ all.

Shortcut FAIL

 

You do realize it takes as many keystrokes to produce "@" in a sentence as the word "at," right?

 

 

 

tongue.gif

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QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Sep 24 2010, 01:23 PM)
QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 24 2010, 01:27 PM)
Cordoba 6 strings are really nice guitars for the price. Make sure you get the hard tension strings for it and it should get you in game shape in no time @ all.

Shortcut FAIL

 

You do realize it takes as many keystrokes to produce "@" in a sentence as the word "at," right?

 

 

 

tongue.gif

And what exactly should be learned from a presumably grown man using the term FAIL?

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QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 25 2010, 11:59 AM)
QUOTE (1-0-0-1-0-0-1 @ Sep 24 2010, 01:23 PM)
QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 24 2010, 01:27 PM)
Cordoba 6 strings are really nice guitars for the price. Make sure you get the hard tension strings for it and it should get you in game shape in no time @ all.

Shortcut FAIL

 

You do realize it takes as many keystrokes to produce "@" in a sentence as the word "at," right?

 

 

 

tongue.gif

And what exactly should be learned from a presumably grown man using the term FAIL?

It was a JOKE. Lighten up! facepalm.gif

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QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 25 2010, 12:05 PM)
I'm light as a feather my man. Pregame ritual of eating cheese sandwhiches and running scales into the ground is in full effect. Wish me luck. Looking over this setlist I'm going to need it.

Jesus Christ.

Good luck with the gig tonight!

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Thanks man. I'm basically playing all of Signals, Hemispheres, Caress of Steel (entire), 2112 (entire), most of Moving Pictures, half of PW (you can assume this isn't Power Windows) and decided to do the full on Broon's Bane-->Trees---->Xanadu....and Cygnus X-1....of course.

 

I have no idea how I can manage to remember all that. But it's all for a good cause.

 

2.gif

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QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 25 2010, 08:42 AM)
Thanks man. I'm basically playing all of Signals, Hemispheres, Caress of Steel (entire), 2112 (entire), most of Moving Pictures, half of PW (you can assume this isn't Power Windows) and decided to do the full on Broon's Bane-->Trees---->Xanadu....and Cygnus X-1....of course.

I have no idea how I can manage to remember all that. But it's all for a good cause.

2.gif

Holy cow! That's quite the setlist! Almost too epic for words! ohmy.gif

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QUOTE (Ted Barchetta @ Sep 25 2010, 12:00 PM)
QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 25 2010, 08:42 AM)
Thanks man. I'm basically playing all of Signals, Hemispheres, Caress of Steel (entire), 2112 (entire), most of Moving Pictures, half of PW (you can assume this isn't Power Windows) and decided to do the full on Broon's Bane-->Trees---->Xanadu....and Cygnus X-1....of course.

I have no idea how I can manage to remember all that. But it's all for a good cause.

2.gif

Holy cow! That's quite the setlist! Almost too epic for words! ohmy.gif

Sure is. Personal hilights should be Chemistry, Tears, Lessons and No One at the Bridge.

 

Good stuff. I'm off.....

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QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 25 2010, 09:23 AM)
QUOTE (Ted Barchetta @ Sep 25 2010, 12:00 PM)
QUOTE (ChroniclesOfRush @ Sep 25 2010, 08:42 AM)
Thanks man. I'm basically playing all of Signals, Hemispheres, Caress of Steel (entire), 2112 (entire), most of Moving Pictures, half of PW (you can assume this isn't Power Windows) and decided to do the full on Broon's Bane-->Trees---->Xanadu....and Cygnus X-1....of course.

I have no idea how I can manage to remember all that. But it's all for a good cause.

2.gif

Holy cow! That's quite the setlist! Almost too epic for words! ohmy.gif

Sure is. Personal hilights should be Chemistry, Tears, Lessons and No One at the Bridge.

 

Good stuff. I'm off.....

Good luck man! trink39.gif

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QUOTE (Boots @ Sep 25 2010, 01:45 PM)
Learning guitar with small girly hands sucks too.
Can't reach the chords properly... even with a stupid Daisy Rock guitar.

If you have the money, you might want to look into some of Taylor's smaller line guitars, such as a Taylor Big Baby. They're anywhere from 3/4-7/8 scale, and the one I picked up yesterday had a real skinny neck on it. It played very well and sounded terrific. They run around $500 new.

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Taylor is a nice one nice stuff. Got a deal on a cheap flat top is a Kona, nothing fancy but plays nice and fits my fat old digits. tongue.gif Keep playing!!

I aint there yet but do pic something up every day. Slow yes, fun oh yes.

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Cordoba's are lovely guitars. I played one in high school and thought it was great. I'm taking private guitar lessons right now and my instructor stresses proper hand alignment to the extreme. Since I've begun playing classical I've developed some really lazy habits especially with my right hand. Since I've been getting private lessons my instructor has been been taking pictures of my hand alignment, and made me tape down the middle joint of my thumb, because it's a waste of extra movement to bend that joint while strumming... That happens to be a really terrible habit of mine. Anyways, it felt so awkward having to retrain my muscles, but I'm finally starting to see the results. If you really work on proper hand alignment, your dexterity as well as the tone you get from the guitar becomes much better with less effort. Since you have fatter fingers I would really work on just finger work without necessarily playing chords yet. And don't worry about having trouble learning chords. No matter how your hands are formed there's always difficulties in the beginning. I have smaller hands so I really needed to practice stretching my fingers a lot more than you probably would to play a tough chord, but I eventually figured out how to do it with a lot of practice and repitition. A good thing for you to maybe wprk on would be Alex Lifeson's introduction in Xanadu, it's a great finger exercise in general and it will improve your dexterity as far as playing individual notes.

 

To play the intro, start with your index finger on the ninth fret of the G string. I think the note is an E. Then place your pinky finger on the twelfth fret of the high E string, that note is also an E, but it's an octave higher. Then put your middle finger on the tenth fret of the B string, the note is an A. Then put your pinky down on the twelfth fret of the B string. The note you play is a B. Then put your ring finger on the eleventh fret of the high E string. The note you are playing is a D. Then play the ninth fret of the B string again with your index finger. It's the same A you played before. Then put down your middle finger on the note right next to it on the tenth fret. It should be an A#. Then repeat. If what I just said was jibberish then go download the tab lol. smile.gif

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