Big fingers

[Musicwannabe]

Hey I am still brand new to the mandolin. I love playing it, i can do scales and some pretty basic songs but i am i pretty big guy with some pretty big hands and am having trouble with some of the chords both open and and the movable fingerings specifically Em Am A E F anyone have any tips or ideas to help me out?

-much appreciated

[k0k0peli]

I also have large hands, big enough to play 12-string guitar for decades, and the wee tiny mandolin fretboard is indeed a bloody challenge. So I cheat. I stick with double-stops (2-finger chords); or play partial chords, mostly on the lower three courses, and use an otherwise unoccupied picking-hand finger to mute the top course. Or I drop the top course from E to D for 'Irish' tuning -- that course makes a ringing drone like a banjo 5th string. (I must stay away from tunes in E and B with such an open-strings tuning.) I'm also looking into getting a mandola, with a larger fretboard.

[Tobin]

I have the opposite problem (small hands), but I would suggest watching all the Mike Marshall tutorial videos you can find. He has great big sausage fingers, and you can probably get a good idea of his exact finger placement and try to incorporate that into your playing.

You guys with big fingers have the advantage of being able to cover two adjacent courses on the same fret with one finger. Use that to your advantage!

[Beanzy]

I'm a 'Fat Fingered Freddy' too, to the point where my next mandolin will be custom built.
A few tricks in my arsenal are. Chord shapes where the root and fifth are stopped with the ring finger on adjacent strings with the third tucked in one fret behind them stopped with the index on the next lower string.
Chords made up of only root and fifths using two two course barres sixcfrets apart.

Really quick slipping of fingers out of the way of incoming digits, without it sounding like a slide.

You have to work harder at being clean and clear, not fretting over the frets etc with big fingers. But it's still a very versatile instrument for players with big hands.
Good luck as you go.

[Drew Egerton]

Getting a mandolin set up with a wider nut may be a huge help to you. I love the 1-3/16" spacing on mine and really hate to play anybody else's mandolin because they are almost always narrower at the nut and/or bridge than what I am used to. Going from 1/8" to 3/16" doesn't sound like a lot, but to me it is a huge difference. I do struggle a little bit to get the chords clean where I fret 2 courses with one finger, but generally I get the point across OK.
Find one set up this way in a store and see if it helps.

[Andrew DeMarco]

When I first started playing mandolin and I was watching the first intro video I ever watched -- they were showing how to make an open D chord like 2-0-0-2, and I distinctly remember thinking the dude wants me to do what with my fingers?

Your fingers can do things you never thought they could. I promise! At first when you're starting out just make sure when you "go to" a given chord your finger placement is as good as you can squeeze it in. Get that muscle memory started as perfectly as you can. It will get easier.

If there are really chords you can't fret, then keep working on them while memorizing alternate constructions of those same chords. Remember, in the most basic sense a chord is defined by the notes that make it up, and there are multiples instances of every note you would need on the fretboard, just like repeating keys on the piano. If it's too cramped for your fingers, it's possible to construct a given chord by playing frets that correspond to notes you need to make the chord you're playing, but which are spread physically farther apart on the fretboard.

...at least in many cases.

For instance, I actually am not a huge fan of the Em pattern 3-1-1-2. Specifically, I often find myself grabbing it sloppily, which means I need to practice it more, maybe. Hah. But, in the meanwhile, there are alternate patterns on the fretboard that given the same combination of notes (not necessarily the same pitches, of course), so I might take a look at constructing alternate Ems.

Our very own Mandolin Cafe has a page to look up chords and it's a great resource for some potentially more comfortable alternate ways to construct chords.

[JeffD]

Your fingers can do things you never thought they could.

Absolutely. And I have heard some pretty meaty handed sausage fingered folk play blistering mandolin. So before you decide it can't be done or that you can't do it, keep working at it and see how things progress.

[stevedenver]

Absolutely. And I have heard some pretty meaty handed sausage fingered folk play blistering mandolin. So before you decide it can't be done or that you can't do it, keep working at it and see how things progress.

what jeff said.....
its a matter of technique, imho.

I have a 9" span, medium fingers, can play two courses with one finger

Couldn't split strings ....for about 4 years, and, im getting it.....

practice, precision, and patience.

[Jeff Hildreth]

I have normal manly adult hands.

The majority of mandolins are unplayable for me.. example.. Eastman.. ridiculously narrow.

I had advocated for 1 3/4 nuts as the MAS (minimum acceptable standard) for guitars for years and finally ( and firstly) Taylor made that the standard width and Martin is slowly going back to the pre 1939 standard of 1 3/4 nuts on their guitars.
That is my absolute minimum, 1 13/16ths being ideal.

With mandolins.. 1 3/16ths is the absolute ( and too narrow) minimum.. 1 1/4 being optimum. This being the width of Zadim and Bush .. and of my custom Seifferts (33 mm)

The objective being playability and clean notes ( no chopping required)

The majority of players (guitar) now accept 1 3/4 as ok .

It is my hope that Eastman (and I like their mandolins) will finally assess ( after a dozen phone calls and another dozen e mails)
that 1 1/16th is ridiculously narrow and a deterrent to purchase.

I believe it is time to campaign for adult nuts.

[Ellen T]

I have normal manly adult hands.

The majority of mandolins are unplayable for me.. example.. Eastman.. ridiculously narrow.

I had advocated for 1 3/4 nuts as the MAS (minimum acceptable standard) for guitars for years and finally ( and firstly) Taylor made that the standard width and Martin is slowly going back to the pre 1939 standard of 1 3/4 nuts on their guitars.
That is my absolute minimum, 1 13/16ths being ideal.

With mandolins.. 1 3/16ths is the absolute ( and too narrow) minimum.. 1 1/4 being optimum. This being the width of Zadim and Bush .. and of my custom Seifferts (33 mm)

The objective being playability and clean notes ( no chopping required)

The majority of players (guitar) now accept 1 3/4 as ok .

It is my hope that Eastman (and I like their mandolins) will finally assess ( after a dozen phone calls and another dozen e mails)
that 1 1/16th is ridiculously narrow and a deterrent to purchase.

I believe it is time to campaign for adult nuts.

So all mandolins should conform to your specifications? Mine has a width of 1 1/8" and it fits my adult fingers very nicely. Not all players have giant clown feet fingers, and wanting a MINIMUM width sounds like you think only men should play, perhaps? I like the idea of a variety of widths being available to accommodate as many hand/finger sizes as possible, but please do not assume that what is a minimum comfort width for you should be a standard.

[Gary Leonard]

I have what I would call fat fingers, my pads are rather large. When I first started, I thought I would never be able to make certain shapes. I had trouble (and still sometimes do) placing the 3rd finger on 5th/6th fret when 1st finger is down, without muting the adjacent strings. Reach wasn't the problem, it was the space between the strings. When first learning on my Collins MT, I was sure I needed a wider nut. But I now realize it is nothing that practice and proper technique can't handle. Keep at it, it will come.

[G7MOF]

I play a Fylde Touchtone mandolin for this very reason. It has a good wide neck and slightly longer frets, or you could always try a mandola!!!

[G7MOF]

I play a Fylde Touchtone mandolin partly for this very reason, it has a wide neck and slightly longer frets. Or you could always try a mandola!!!

[Beanzy]

. But I now realize it is nothing that practice and proper technique can't handle. Keep at it, it will come.

The revelation here for me came when playing duo-style or split-string playing, I just had to realise it was physically impossible to do it cleanly no matter how hard I practice. But boy when I pick up the mandoloncello I really appreciate the elephantine digits I have and having learned to use the techniques I can achieve them on the mandoloncello.
The sad fact is I have cellists fingers but love to play mandolin.

[Musicwannabe]

Thank you all so much your input has helped me a lot I'm so glad i found such a helpful community

[LongBlackVeil]

Does Frank Solivan play a wide neck? Franks got some mighty big fingers and he can burn. Not sure if he plays a standard width neck or not though

I do believe that people with big fingers can adjust, just look at violins, they're thin necks and very few people if any at all play violins with wider necks. In the end though, it's whatever you want, it's not a matter of CAN or CANT, more just what you prefer

[Beanzy]

In the end though, it's whatever you want, it's not a matter of CAN or CANT, more just what you prefer

Nope it's what you're able to achieve given your physical limitations, if I just stuck to chords or playing sequential notes to play tunes then a standard neck could be all that is required for that, however if you want to play with all the technical proficiency you're capable of then you're going to have to work around the fat fingers. As per your example of the violin, ever wonder where all those viola playing and cello playing kids come from? Their teachers guide them to the instrument that will allow them to advance unhindered by their physical size. There are ways to work around issues of finger size, but wishing for slender fingers or pretending the stubby fat ones can be wished away are not steps on that road. I definitely would prefer slender fingers, but strangely enough that's never made my sausages any less of an issue.

[Al Trujillo]

You guys calling your fingers 'fat' need to be a bit more sensitive to their feelings. My fingers are 'healthy'...much like Kim Kardashian's bum.

[LongBlackVeil]

Nope it's what you're able to achieve given your physical limitations

i believe MOST of the time, our "physical limitations" are self imposed.

[k0k0peli]

i believe MOST of the time, our "physical limitations" are self imposed.

As you age and experience diminished vision, hearing, and agility (and maybe some blown-out knee-elbow-etc joints) you may change your view.

[LongBlackVeil]

As you age and experience diminished vision, hearing, and agility (and maybe some blown-out knee-elbow-etc joints) you may change your view.

Maybe so, fair enough. But for now, I still think it is true most of time.

[k0k0peli]

Maybe so, fair enough. But for now, I still think it is true most of time.

I stand 6-foot-5 in my size 17 shoes. It's not "self-imposed limitations" that keep me out of most cars' driver's seats and most commercial footwear stores; it's the reality of living in a world of products designed for smaller folk. Those are not insurmountable problems -- they merely have costly, time-consuming solutions. My big hands with their 9-inch spans aren't really suitable for fingering the lower frets of a picolo stringed instrument with a 7-inch scale. Again, not insurmountable; I'll use a slide (and sound not-so-good).

Size matters. Scale matters. My wife's breasts do not fit comfortably in A-cup bras. My large fingers do not fit comfortably on ocarinas made for small children, and my 5-year-old grandson isn't ready yet to handle my Ovation 12-string guitar. We do not do well in physically constrained situations. I may do better with a mandola than a mandolin. (Gotta try a mandola and find out!)

Actual physical limitations are not "self-imposed". As Beanzy mentioned, viola and cello players tend to be those whose fingers aren't suitable for violins. So we gravitate toward workable situations. It'd be kewl if we could all find or build instruments that suit us perfectly. I'll try building tin-can balalaikas when I return home from my current long road trip. Totally customized and personalized, so I'll have no complaints about my fingers not fitting! I'll make my physical limitations work for me.

[Capt. E]

Some of your difficulties may be solved by altering your hand position so that the tips of your fingers come straight down onto the strings. If you are fretting more with the pad, your big hands will create problems. Look at a violin player and how their hand is positioned. Mandolin is much the same.