8string - Posted - 01/01/2011:  10:52:31

How do you players out there with big paws like me handle this issue. Doing chords is especially hard. As well how do I work on stretching exercises as I find my problem not so much the pinky but the middle and ring finger spread.

Thanks

Mr Charlie - Posted - 01/01/2011:  10:59:15

This is a pratice time factor, Many old time players have large hands, We all have that problem and it can be over come in time and still we all hit strings that we can;t reach with out deaden others, So just keep at it and it will be OK.

Texasbanjo - Posted - 01/01/2011:  13:41:38

Might be the way you hold the mandolin. I was told (and this might not be correct, but it worked for me) to hold the mandolin where the neck was in a horizontal position (rather than holding the neck up at at 45 degree angle or some other angle). Why? I was told (and again, it might not be correct because I've been given bad information before) that your hands/fingers are better able to reach the frets in that position -- and for me, it worked.

I still can't make 4 finger chords, but I can do the 3 finger ones pretty good -- and I don't have big hands, but have very small ones.

OTbanjopicker - Posted - 01/01/2011:  14:49:04

you could always try a longer scale mandolin. lets say an octave mando? haha

bikebum - Posted - 01/01/2011:  15:50:48

Good question. I've got fairly long thin fingers. Even at that, I found putting four finger tips in an area the size of a dime was enough of a challenge. Now it's a real workout to pick up the banjo much less the guitar with all the extra space they have on the neck.

paire-berline - Posted - 01/01/2011:  17:23:16

Most of the best mandolin players I've ever seen have very big hands.

willbarter - Posted - 01/01/2011:  18:18:39

I found going back and forth between two chords, say G and D for 5 minutes then moving on to D-A etc before working on fiddle melodies works for me. My hands are large and in the beginning I had to put my fingers in the right place with my right hand. It takes a while, I got sidetracked with claw hammer banjo this fall and have to relearn mando chords.

8string - Posted - 01/02/2011:  08:11:46

Thanks for input. Couldn't wait to get back to jammin sessions in New Year to ask or observe, so I think this site is awsome. It also offers more exposure to he outside world of musicians.

Canister - Posted - 01/02/2011:  09:14:08

Arthritis had bent my fingers the wrong way. I just cheat the best I can. I'll never be good but I enjoy it. That's good enough for me.

mandolinman31639 - Posted - 01/02/2011:  11:21:25

Did you ever shake hands with Bill Monroe? Felt like grabbing a bears paw and he turned out to be a pretty fair mandolin picker.

Bassora - Posted - 01/03/2011:  16:46:58

Skinny fingers are wonderful for the mandolin.
I have long skinny figners which work good on the long neck mandolins like the octave or mandocello.
But my long skinny fingers really don't like the bouzouki (way too much space between frets).

But I have noticed that a lot of the old time mandolin players had big husky hands. Of course, a lot of them were farmers who had built up their hands (and frames) by working the earth.

I'll stick with my long skinny fingers ... and stick with backyard gardening.

Bassora
----------

Dennis Russell - Posted - 01/03/2011:  19:43:46

I have to use two finger style and mabey three finger , because my pinky on left hand is too short to stretch. it runs in the family on my mothers side everyone including grandmother and great grandmother have a small pinky on left hand, just doing the best I can, I would like to learn to play cross picken but cant seem to get the hang of it..................Dennis

dmiller - Posted - 01/03/2011:  21:48:19

I've got large fingers too. Banjo and guitar fretboards are easy enough to negotiate,
but the mandolin gets "cramped" at times for me as well.

Here's a tip I learned from my grandmother (who taught me piano), but it's applicable to all instruments.
ARCH YOUR WRIST when playing. You have a better "attack" on the strings (or keyboard) if you do so.
Arching your wrist helps give a better delivery of notes/ more tone/ more sustain/ etc.

Arching the wrist will let the fingertips hit the fretboard more so than the rest of your fingers.
And that's what you want - - - right? Not real easy to do at first, but a big plus for your picking.
Arching the wrist is an acquired habit, but it's like riding a bicycle. Once you get used to it - - - - -

stringpicker - Posted - 01/04/2011:  00:32:05

I'm not totally advanced, but I've been making some good progress lately and I'll tell you one thing I've found: playing tunes from sheet music where you pick individual notes helped my chord fingering a lot. A friend of mine who plays fiddle for an Irish pub group gave me some sheet music of celtic style music that they play. Istarted fooling around with that and I mastered three or four songs. Then when I went back to playing chords, I found that my fingers were squeezing into formations that were a lot harder before.

abinigia - Posted - 01/04/2011:  06:47:21

I play some 3 note chords and mute the extra string with side of a finger. More room that way and lots of times you don't need all 4 strings.

Brian
briankwood.net/

irishbanjos - Posted - 01/04/2011:  23:22:51

You'll get used with time and you'd be able to play every single chord. In the beginning, the frets seemed pretty small for my fingers, and it was impossible for me to do chords like A (9745), but 6 months after that, I started to be able to do this chords ok and to change from chord to chord without problems.

It's all about practice.

Flivver - Posted - 01/05/2011:  00:10:41

I'm pretty new to the mandolin. Most of my experience is on guitar. Some guitars have 1 11/16" nut width (Martin's standard today), some 1 3/4" (Taylor's standard today), some 1 7/8" (my 12 string Guild), and I think some nylon string classicals have 2" nut width. There are other widths. I have a friend who has huge hands. He bought a 12 string guitar and removed half the strings in order to find a comfortable string spacing. I assume mandolins can come in various nut widths also. What is considered the standard nut width for the mandolin? What are the various nutwidths you folks have seen in mandolins?

irishbanjos - Posted - 01/05/2011:  07:23:19

@Flivver

I have no idea, mainly 'cause I've never measured the length... Anyway, all the mandolins I've seen/played had the same size/width/length to my eyes.

DaddyJ - Posted - 01/05/2011:  18:04:55

Come to think of it, there are some pretty good guitar players that have small hands...

citeog - Posted - 01/05/2011:  18:55:20

standard mandolin nut width is 1 1/8 inches. Breedlove, Collings and others often offer a 1 3/16th nut spacing.

Paul

citeog - Posted - 01/05/2011:  18:56:29

standard mandolin nut width is 1 1/8 inches. Breedlove, Collings and others often offer a 1 3/16th nut spacing.

Paul

citeog - Posted - 01/05/2011:  18:56:41

standard mandolin nut width is 1 1/8 inches. Breedlove, Collings and others often offer a 1 3/16th nut spacing.

Paul