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Are your fingers too fat, too short or even too dumb to play guitar?

By Mike Hayes | August 31, 2010

Apart from the “you either got or you ain’t” myth the next most
common and destructive myth about guitar playing is the ‘finger’
issue; I can’t count the number of people who have told me that
they have always wanted to play guitar but have never tried or
gave up trying to play because they were told their fingers were
too fat or too short.

The really sad thing about this is that many a time it was their
‘guitar instructor???’ that told them this! If this story is
familiar read on … you may be surprised at what I have to say.

The first step is to take a long, hard look at who is advising
you and explode this ‘finger’ myth. Never presume that just
because a person runs an add in a newspaper, has a business card
or a degree framed on their wall that they know what they are
doing.

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy to set yourself up as a ‘guitar
guru’ and in exactly the same way as there are accountants who
cannot operate a calculator (believe me, I’ve met them) there are
‘guitar teachers’ who don’t have the faintest idea about the
language of music; sure they can knock out a few licks and tricks
but they do not understand the language of music and how it
applies to the guitar fretboard.

The facts:

* It does not matter if your fingers are too fat.

* It does not matter if your fingers are too short (or too long)

* It does not mater if your fingers are too dumb (yes, I’m been
told by some students that they have dumb fingers)

How do I know this?

I’ve successfully taught many students who thought they had these
exact same problems.

Here is how we overcame their ‘finger’ issues.

Problem: fingers too short or too fat

Solution: Each chord is made up of a specific set of notes, since
it’s the notes that make up the chord NOT the shape on the
guitar, once you know how to ’spell’ chords you can design your
own chord shapes thereby making a shape that is easy to play
whilst still being musically correct.

Problem: Fingers too fat

Solution: Same as above, you might also want to consider looking
at the option of buying a twelve string guitar and removing six
of the strings (the octave strings); this way you will have a
wider fingerboard, this solution has worked well for a number of
my students with large finger.

Problem: Dumb fingers

Solution: I can assure you that you don’t have ‘dumb fingers’;
your fingers are not the thinking part of you they are the
‘doing’ part; without fail every single time I encounter someone
is convinced that they have ‘dumb finger’ I immediately get them
to put the guitar down and write or draw out the problem chord,
scale or progression on a piece of paper and 100% of the time
they write it out incorrectly!

I do this to show them that their problem is NOT their fingers,
it’s that they have not learned the information correctly.

What about ‘lazy fingers’?

Can’t help you there; lazy fingers are attached to lazy people
and nothing is ever going to improve there. (laughing)

Topics: Beginner Guitar Lesson, Guitar Chords | No Comments »

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