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Location: Alpine, CA | I'm finding it very difficult, as I have large fingers, to play chords without deadening the adjacent strings with my fingertips. I know you're supposed to arch the fingers over the fretboard, but it doesn't seem to help.
I am learning the guitar for personal enrichment only and don't plan to play for audiences. So far, I enjoy playing the individual notes on the staff and ignore the chords above.
Question: In my situation, is learning chords even necessary? I'm learning to play fingerstyle anyway and play arpeggios (slowly).
Pity me if you like, but don't laugh; I'm being serious here.
Opinions would be appreciated. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Stay at it. Even if you just do fingerstyle, the notes are part of a chord. A little wider neck might help. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Many of us prefer a wider neck for the reasons you stated. You might be more comfortable with a 1 3/4" or even a 1 7/8" neck. |
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Location: Sunshine State, Australia | If you can't play clean chords when strumming, you'll struggle to play clean finger style. Your left hand will still be making chord shapes most of the time - the only difference is what your right hand will be doing. (Assuming you're right handed)
As Mark said - 'Stay at it.' |
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Location: Newington, CT | Learn chords too. I have mondo hands also. For the normal necked guitars (1 and 11/16ths nut width), practice and find alternate ways to make a chord. There's no ONE way to make a chord...only the best way for youd.
I DID find that a wide neck is my preferred configuration, but not the only one. Depending on how playable the neck is for you, a normal neck can work very well; again depending on how and what you want to play.
Learning chords adds a whole new dimension to your playing. You're enjoying the individual notes now, but there probably will come a time when you will want to expand your horizons. Even if you're playing only for yourself.
Most of all, enjoy it all! No matter what practice you do, you come out if it at least a little stronger and better. Every time you play, you're a bit closer to playing how you'd like to. And, the best thing: no matter how good you get, you'll always be able to improve something, learn something new, discover something else that's rewarding and enriching. You'll never run out of challenge or interest with this instrument |
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Location: Flahdaw | If someone hands me a standard 1 11/16" guitar, I'm like a different person...clumsy, spastic, and inept. I need a 1 3/4". (The Seagull 1.8" neck that I've played is very comfy too) |
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Location: Nahant, MA | Perhaps try your 12-string strung in a 6-string configuration? That will give you a good idea if the wider neck will solve your problem. |
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| It may seem difficult, if not impossible, at first but you definitely need to learn chord shapes and how to properly finger them. They're fundamental to everything else you'll ever need or want to do with guitar. |
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Location: Alpine, CA | I assume my Adamas 1597 has a standard 1-11/16 inch neck? |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | most likely |
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Location: Sydney, Australia | Originally posted by dp2macrae:
I assume my Adamas 1597 has a standard 1-11/16 inch neck? Absolutely, unless it says "custom" somewhere on the label. The common 1 3/4" neck ovations are the Adamas 1680, Ute, 2008 Collectors, and the Ovation Folklore. Rarer ones are where someone has custom ordered a wide neck on a narrow neck model.
Find someone who has a wider neck model to try first if you can(I just dived in without trying). It seems strange that such a small difference (1/16") could help that much, but it does. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Take up Bass or Drums.... |
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Location: closely held secret | ...or accordion. Then you can play chords with 1 finger. |
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Location: Moscow | open-G a good system for large hands. there are no barrels. very useful for games.
good luck |
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Location: Alpine, CA | I can see by two comments (so far) that I should have specified "helpful comments" instead of "opinions." I'll try to be more specific in future posts. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Helpful comments are often mixed-in with amusing statements :p
Folklore has 1 & 7/8" nut if you can find one.
Carol's idea of knocking-off half the strings on your 12-String sounds like a Good Plan. |
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Location: Sydney, Australia | Also, as your fingers toughen up, the callouses on the tips get harder, which makes the tips spread less, so you end up with more space, because you don't need to press as hard to get a clean fret - I know this because every time I let them soften up (by not playing for a few months) it is a lot harder to fret cleanly (even allowing for clumsiness setting in).
+2 on Carol's suggestion as a trial (but not a permanent solution). |
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Location: Utah | When I play my daughter's Ute it makes me think I need a wider neck. But then I saw Craig Carothers play, and he has massive hands. The guitar looked like a toy next to him, yet he played it skillfully.
ergo, a wider neck may be more comfortable, but skill will make me a better player rather than buying different equipment. (that's not a justification to stop buying more equipment ;) )
So learn to play with good technique, don't blame the equipment.
Don't know if that is helpful, just my humble opinion. |
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Location: Jet City | I have short fat stubby fingers, but I manage. Probably due to the callouses.
In my opinion, the solution is playing more, and...
Practice
Practice
Practice
2 things will happen over time. You'll get better, and you'll develop the callouses. It will eventually get easier if you keep at it regularly, everyday if you can. |
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Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by dp2macrae:
I can see by two comments (so far) that I should have specified "helpful comments" instead of "opinions." I'll try to be more specific in future posts. There's plenty of helpful comments here. If you can't handle a little humor as well, start your own board.
A lot of the players here have fat fingers. Some resemble sausages or ballpark franks. Yet somehow we manage to play guitar. Some of us manage quite nicely, thank you, to move our fat fingers around guitars with very skinny necks.
Most of these "helpful comments" are telling you the same thing. If you're serious, practice. The tips of your fingers will develop callouses and harden, making it easier to fret the chords. This in turn will make it more fun to play. We've all been there. |
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Location: Flahdaw | Originally posted by dp2macrae:
I can see by two comments (so far) that I should have specified "helpful comments" instead of "opinions." I'll try to be more specific in future posts. Wow....you sure seem like a fun guy. |
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Location: Jet City | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Folklore has 1 & 7/8" nut... The LX models are 1 3/4 |
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Location: south east Michigan | Well, he does have a whopping 11 posts under his belt so I'm sure he by now understands how this place works. |
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Location: SoCal | Originally posted by Waskel:
This in turn will make it more fun to play. We've all been there. Most of the time, I think I'm still there..... |
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| What, we're supposed to have fun? Then why do they call it "working" music? If we're supposed to have a good time, then maybe we should call it "playing." Just sayin'...
Moody, you ever learn a fourth chord yet? |
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Location: Derry NH | LOL @ dark bar! |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by Damon67:
Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Folklore has 1 & 7/8" nut... The LX models are 1 3/4
But yeah, I notice a sixteenth of an inch it the other direction.
Both my iDea CC54i and the Ocean Acoustic have 1 5/8" nuts...
And they do feel different from the normal Ovations. |
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| You sure about 1-5/8"? I really don't think Ovation ever made a guitar with a nut width smaller than 1-11/16". |
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Location: Chicago | I have fat finger too. Try using ONE finger where the "rules" call for two. Try playing an A major with ONE fat finger. Try an A minor with TWO (one holding down the lower two notes). I do a lot of this "shovel" fingering! |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | WAITaaa minute!..... anybody see when the new kid left the room?
Seemed nice enough, sissy fingers though....
:-)  :-) :-)
(maybe the smiley faces will help) |
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Location: Flahdaw | He decided to join the Taylor forum, where all answers are completely serious and any semblance of fun is quashed quickly and severely. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Arpeggio runs are, in fact, a matter of playing the specific notes within the chord structure, which is what you say you are doing, so I'm not sure how you can master the technique without learning the chords. Or are you just plucking out a melody line by memory? G8r said it best. Everything on the guitar starts with chords, so you'll increase your enjoyment once you start learning the basic progressions and patterns. I, too, started by memorizing the melody lines of a few songs, but it wasn't long before I saw the need to learn the chords. That was over 50 years ago. |
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Location: Alpine, CA | Thanks again for all the helpful comments--guess I'll start working on those chords. And, no, I decided not to take the suggestion to take up bass, drums, or accordion (haha)--I have two beautiful guitars and I'm not going to give up that easily! |
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Location: south east Michigan | Sounds good... Just realize that it will take time. I think I spent a whole year just playing E, D, & A. |
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Location: closely held secret | You learned E? |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Don't give up, unless you want to sell me your guitars really cheap. This site has been both motivational and depressing for me. It's hard to see how well you progress for awhile. It was good for me to see that others had given up guitar for 25 years and wanted to start back up again. I could rationalize that I would have been much better if I had been playing during that 25 year gap. It was depressing to see that others in similar situations were much better than me, but meeting some of the fellow travellers always caused me to practice up to try to avoid embarassment.
You will also get stuck in a rut and this is a good place to go for advice on how to get out, without getting too serious about it. If you just want support or a pat on the back, rather than a kick in the pants, you probably better go somewhere else. Most of the butt kicking is well intentioned, though. Guitar playing is not easy, but it can be very satisfying, even if you just do it for your own enjoyment. |
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Location: Flahdaw | And don't forget...Youtube is your friend. Many of us are devotees and learn a tremendous amount from that site. For me it has been my greatest learning tool. For your fingerpicking question, something like THIS |
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| Originally posted by dp2macrae:
In my situation, is learning chords even necessary? I'm learning to play fingerstyle anyway and play arpeggios (slowly).
Opinions would be appreciated. Since you don't intend to play for audiences, play as it pleases you. If you ever change you mind about the audiences however, you will need to employ chords. |
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Location: SoCal | Learn to play chords. A lot of what you're learning fingerstyle is based on chords. It will be that much easier learning the chords. And it's not that tough.... |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I like this ONE where Jim Morrison teaches us the song "Yesterday"! |
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Location: Flahdaw | Looks like he finally kicked heroin. Good for him! |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Learn everything, it's all good for the brain
and hands.
....have you ever heard Eddie Van Halen's
classical guitar stuff? (not particularly a fan
but a guitar teacher/buddy made me listen once)
If you're playing for your own enjoyment
(and who isn't, really?)
it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.
But, even if you don't want to play for an
'audience' playing for family and loved ones
actually counts as 'performing.'
Learn the chords, they'll increase your pleasure playing
in the long run.
....and remember,
Ribbing is for our pleasure only. :cool: |
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Learning to play chords