This article will discuss the long and short of whether it’s better to have long fingers on your guitar. It will explore how many people believe that having long fingers can help your guitar playing, as well as how having short fingers might actually be beneficial for your guitar practice session.
Do long fingers help guitar?
Yes and no. Whether or not it’s preferable to have long fingers on your guitar can be a very personal question, but there are definite advantages that both short and long fingers may offer you.
One thing is for sure, however: You can’t expect to be able to play something if you don’t understand how it’s played in the first place. And to get the most out of your guitar, you need to know how to properly hold the instrument – actually learn what you’re doing with your hand when using the fretboard on the guitar neck.
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Do Guitar Players Have Long Fingers?
No, not always. The long and short of it is that there’s no scientific evidence to prove whether long fingers actually help you play guitar better. In fact, one study from the University of Washington found that having longer fingers didn’t make a difference in the amount of time it took a guitarist to learn a song.
This is interesting because many people believe that having long fingers helps them play guitar better, but this research seems to show that they’re wrong.
I’ve seen many excellent players with fat fingers with full range of motion and showing no problems at all and play guitar with ease.
Short vs Long Fingers
There are a number of benefits to playing the electric guitars or acoustic guitars with long, slender fingers such as:
- Harder grip on the neck of the guitar. This helps you to place your fingers more firmly and accurately over the fretboard, and makes it much easier to play chords and notes in different positions on the fretboard.
- Harder and more accurate picking technique during your practice time. More accurate and more precise picking techniques allow you to play more complex and advanced patterns.
- More control over the fretboard. While having long fingers might make it harder to place your fingers on the neck of the guitar, it allows you to do so more precisely and accurately, which will help you to move seamlessly from one position on the neck of the guitar to another without moving your hand off of the string
- This is important for placing different notes on different strings in a certain pattern, and can be useful for creating harmony in music.
All sizes of hands and fingers can also have no problems building calluses.
Tips For Playing With Long Fingers
It’s not all about guitar players having long fingers, however. Playing the guitar with long fingers might make it easier for you to play certain things, but it can also force you to change your hand position on the instrument in order to make it easier for you to play chords and notes.
Holding Your Guitar Properly
Ultimately, the goal is always to have a manageable grip that allows for control of the instrument while still allowing you to smoothly transition from one position on the fretboard to another.
To have a more comfortable and controlled playing experience, you should try to learn how to position your hand on the fretboard. Using a visual guide can help you to better understand how this is done, and can help you to understand the relationship between how long your fingers are and where they should fall on the neck of the guitar.
Choosing The Right Guitar For Long Fingers
One of the most important factors in playing the guitar with long fingers is to choose a guitar with the right scale length. This will let you play more easily, and help you to transition more smoothly from one position on the fretboard to another. Regardless of the type of guitar.
If you have long fingers, you might want to choose a guitar with a longer scale length. This is most important for those who don’t actually play the guitar: If you’re just learning to play and don’t fret the strings often, there isn’t much difference between different guitars in this respect.
As a rule of thumb, though: The longer the scale length of your guitar, the easier it will be to move from one position on the fretboard to another – if you have long fingers.
Does Hand And Finger Size Affect Guitar Playing?
The relationship between the length of your fingers and how effectively you play the guitar is a complicated issue. It’s rarely clear how much hand size matters when it comes to playing the instrument, and there are songs that require short fingers for playing. The best way to know what you’re doing is to learn what you’re doing!
Is It Harder To Play Guitar With Big Hands?
The length of your fingers might have an effect on how long it takes to learn to play the guitar, but there are studies that show little connection between hand size and playing ability.
The most important factor in learning how to play the guitar with long fingers isn’t necessarily how long they are, but rather whether you can figure out where they should be placed on the neck of the instrument in order to use them most effectively.
As far as actually using your long fingers is concerned, having big hands might actually cause problems for you. This is because your fingers can end up being too stiff to move as you’re holding the neck of the guitar, and as a result you could end up with some difficulties playing chords and notes accurately. No one likes sore fingers!
How Long Should Your Fingers Be For A Guitar?
What does the length of your hands have to do with your ability to play? As far as we can tell, there’s no scientific evidence that shows size of hand has an effect on the ability to play the guitar. This is because most people’s hands and fingers are pretty similar in size and shape, and don’t vary much between different people with large or small hands.
Conclusion
Luckily, what does affect your ability to play the guitar is practical experience, and pressing up against the neck of the instrument while sticking two fingers on each of the guitar strings. Short stubby fingers, fat fingers, long fingers, skinny fingers – it all works!
So, it’s all about practicing and not finger length!