I was wondering if you guys reckon you have good hands for guitar playing? Do you have good hands/long fingers or would you say that you have relatively small hands. Have you found that after years of practice your hands/fingers have stretched and adapted to the instrument. Also are there any lefties amongst us and if so are you frustrated at not being able to find the guitar you want in a left handed version?

I used to think i had small hands till i compared them with a bass player mate of mine (he has wicked small ones) and then realised im about avarage...

I wouldnt say they are perfect for guitar playing... their not bad but i always like to work with what i got than winge hahaha... :P

My left hand has gotten longer/finger streached, about 1/2 a cm over the last 5 years since i started playing. I find the more i practice my fingers do get a bit thinner or something, not that they are fat they just get like... ripped or something (sounds bizzare i know but then so is a thread talking about hands :lol: ) plus they get WAY more flex-able and i can streach futher... but then i blame the Rusty Cooley Legato workout ive been hammering... My legato sucks... for now ;)

Peace
CD

ED: Deamon i empathise man, i have the same problems finding a 7 string that is both descent AND well priced... its not the same but i know the feeling of seeing stuff you want but not being able to afford it because its silly money OR more likely just plain not seeing what you want.

I believe I have very big hands and long fingers, but they are also rather thick. I envy people like Paul Gilbert for their extremely long and thin fingers.

I'm the same as you Acousolysis - big hands, thick fingers. I find it difficult to fit my fingers in the frets at the top of the fretboard. We are in good company though, apparently Steve Vai is the same, thats why he has the last few frets on his guitars scaloped.

Yes! I am a lefty and I've always wanted an Ibanez, but for some reason they have very, very few left-handed models. I really like the Jem series and the JS series of guitars, but I've never seen a lefty model for either of them. Why are Ibanez handists? :lol:

Oh and my fingers are short, but really thin so getting into the frets at the top of neck is really hard for me on the e,a and d strings.

Ive got quite wide hands and though its not a constant problem sometimes grapple with the lower cutaway...

Thankfully guys there are options, and i dont know if you are familar with the Technical Entitiy known as Rusty Cooley but he had the same problem so he gets his neck pickup placed on and angle and a HUGE cutaway (i think due to his EMG 707's being bigger PU's):

http://www.deanguitars.com/dean_winter_07/electrics/rclg.jpg

Now i know we dont all have 3k US to drop on a guitar but if you guys have a players guitar you have no intetnion of reselling you could Vai is like on his green meanie and make the cutaway deeper by gutting the wood away so that you have a few mm clerance between Pickup bevel/rout or Pick guard to make the horn deeper, may not fix the problem but may help you lots.

Im considering doing it to my RG7620 when i raise the capitiol to have a middle PU routed for it and possibly get it repainted.

FYI for you 6 string players (sorry i am a little obsessed with my 7 strings of chugging doom i know) it can be done too look at his hidious 80's custom:

http://www.rustycooley.com/gear.htm

(scroll down a bit)
Hope that helps with ideas guys.

(PS HK that 8 string has a High A like you suggested... Coklins finest)

Interesting stuff guys. I'd say I have big hands with long thin fingers ala Paul Gilbert although my pinky wouldn't be as long as Paul's telescopic one lol. Like CD says I definitely thing your fingers stretch after years of playing.

I sympathise with you PB on not being able to get the exact model you want in a left hand version. I grew up with a guy who was a lefty and back in the late eighties left hand guitars were few and far between. I've never seen a lefty model of those Ibanez you mentioned either. You'd think that a company as large as Ibanez has become would cater for that market.

PB check this one out: http://cgi.ebay.com/Ibanez-left-handed-ele...2|294%3A50

Nice one ac/dc. That's certainly the first left handed S series I've ever seen.

DAMN IT! The bidding is already over..........urghh!! I always wanted to try an S series. Oh well, maybe next time :rolleyes:

I was made for shredding the thunder axe. My hands are pretty massive.

My hands are actually pretty huge, and you know what they say about guys with big hands :P

Yeah... HUGE EGOS!
:P

I have Quite Long Skinny fingers, like Paul Gilbert's.

they do help for sure! those monster stretches aren't so monster lol. :P

mine are short anf fat D:
:(

index finger = 8.1cm ( 3.18897638 inches )
middle = 9cm ( 3.5 inches)
ring = 8.5cm (3.34645669 inches)
pinky = 7.3cm ( 2.87401575 inches)

maybe not THAT short but they're kinda fat :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

My fingers are average, although a bit on the short side and pretty thin. I've never had much of problem, unless I'm trying to pull off some Holdworthian stretches or something...never been able too pull off the thumb over the fingerboard thing either.

Playing classical can also be problematic sometimes because of the wider fretboard.

But in general, I manage, my fingers have gotten to the point where they're pretty independent and can stretch quite a bit.

I'm 75,59 inches / 1,92 meters tall so you can picture my hands!
And my ........................... :P

:D

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_xl0hNYPj2QM/R1Au...R/41490_big.jpg

?


:lol: :D :P

:D

194 cm here.

Take that!

holy shit!

:o


not in a bad way :P

I take it,you're 2 cm taller than me.
WOW

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Wow indeed, hahaha!

Don't forget there are people praying for more 2 cm in some parts :lol:

I bet Orzandoti is short and fat so me,you and him walking together would be like =

11o bwahahahahahahahahahaahhaha

coughcough

DX

lol

im still growing ;)

:lol: :lol:

Don't worry, Orz! There's no rush in catching up with us.

hehe, 180 aint so small for a 13 year old,,, i'lll just catch up while i have the chance :P


:lol:

You won't grow much more.
I was 192 cm at your age!
Oh my throat is... is ...is... cough..dwarf....cough...dwarf :lol:

my friends are shorter


coughpwnedcoughcoughcough

Hi all

Im new here and i dont want to spam to introduce myself so ill do it here:
im 21yo and started learning guitar last year.It didnt took me a lot of time to realize that classical/neoclassical was my fav genre.Im afraid ill never get proficient at such a hard style having started the instrument and music study so late but well im doing my best :D

Btw thx to that guy who posted that tutorial posts at the beggining...they were so helpful.
I got plenty of doubts but seeing how expert are you all I dont want to spam the forum :unsure:
So ill try to talk in the topics i can..like this one :lol:

On topic now:

Im 188 and havent ever seen a lot of people taller than me...where do u come from? :huh: Well here in spain ppl is generally shorter too..

So my hands are quite big :D and my ibanezs thin neck makes them look even bigger...my techer says he envys me :D

Hey, welcome to the forums Adrian! And don't worry - it's never too late to take on an interest.

To answer your question, I'm Finnish. There are quite a lot of fairly tall people here, methinks. There's one guy in my class who's 204 cm.

welcome here mate.
I'm 192 ,normal hands for my height and I'm from Brazil. ;)
I play a lot sports like vollleyball,beach volleyball and paddle.
Only in volleyball I saw peple as tall as myself.
I'm a scuba diving and skydiving instructor but I never had a student tall as myself.
The majority of men here is about 180.
The majority of women is about 170.
So I'm tall :lol:

Welcome Adrian!!! Good to have you here mate!!! :D

Adrian Smith???!!!

Hey Adrian can I tour with you guys next year?
Come on I won't kick Eddie's ass bwahahahahaahahha

Rly? I pictured brazilians as shorter ppl. Here in spain the mean masculine height is 173cm...one of the reasons which im looking forward to taking an erasmus is for not feeling always like a giant B)

had to look on wiki who that guy is lol. i guess i should listen something besides classic :unsure:

thx everyone for welcoming :P

Damn am I the only member that still measures in " ????
Americans are behind the times!
Small hands should be no real prob when it comes to playing mine are very wide but I have short fingers, You wanna see someone with short fingers jam on the guitar watch Michael Romeo his hands look almost like mine short fingers. Wish we played like each other :(
not the best vid but ehh you might learn sumpin :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHgg3Eq63JA&feature=related

I know exactly what you mean when it comes to Romeo, Savage. That guy's fingers are like little wieners! But what he doesn't have in size, he makes up for with a really relaxed touch and amazing precision.

Exact length I can't tell you, but mine are long skinny and flexible. I at one point almost stretched my finger across the first 12 frets.

Interesting topic. I have a friend who is a Surgeon. He tells me that the brain and hand have to do a linked task at least 150 times before a 'memory' of the task is formed in your neuron/synapse links.The more you do, the stronger the Bio Chemical pathway. You probably know it as a 'Habit'.
It is the REPETITION that builds your playing and speed, not your hand size. The basic original positioning of your fingers in chords and scale playing gives rise to either good or bad habits - listen to Holdsworth play, very tiring at times but totally accurate. He PRACTICES. Soldiers 'drill' for the same reasons, memory takes over and with practice, is perfect. Some of the worlds best guitarists are blind or sight impaired. All done by touch and memory.

That means that your hand size is totally irrelevant in terms of playing except in YOUR choice of guitar or neck - your arm could be shorter than average for example, and you end up getting fatigue on a really long scale neck. Many buy an instrument for 'popular' reasons and when they strap it on and try to play it, it is a killing anticlimax, you have to find what fits you as a player. All the classic players seem to love Les Pauls yet I just can't get the feel I need to play well with them, balance and heft is all wrong for me, Holy Grail or not. Give me an old G&L or a Tom Anderson or a Valley Arts anyday.

That's very interesting indeed slotech. I'm also with you on the Les Paul thing, never liked the necks on those guitars. I'd love to try a Tom Anderson guitar sometime, they seem like serious pieces of kit. I'm pretty sure he used to make guitars for Steve Vai ages ago.