Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Fingers, Fingers, Stubby Fingers

I am coming to terms with the fact that I have very stubby fingers.  OK, maybe not very stubby; but, a long line of peasant ancestors has imbued me with very strong, very capable, rather compact fingers.  Great for kneading bread dough and scrubbing bathrooms.  Not so great for fingering guitar chords.

I think I've finally competenced Dmaj, by the way.  "Competenced" is a word I have coined to be somewhere between "bumbled" and "mastered."  Now, according to the Feel Free songbook, I only need 584 other chords in my repertoire to play all the songs therein.

So, as I was lamenting my cruel genetic lot on the phone with my dad, he said, "Hey, how about Carolyn's fingers?  Have you ever put your hand up to hers to see how they measure up?"

OK, Dad, totally creepy.  Can you even imagine how that interaction would play out?  Neither can I; but, I'm not about to try it. 

But, it got me searching the Internet to try to find good pics of the Mighty C's hands.  Not easy, I tell ya.  Then, I realized that the best picture I've seen of her fully extended hand is on this very site, to your right. 

So, what do you think?  They seem longish to me, but not overly long.  Of course, that's her strumming and picking hand; but, I'm assuming the chord-fingering one roughly matches.

I've been on web forums, looking up advice for my stubby digits.  It seems that the only answer is practice, practice, practice.  So, I'm off to do that right now!  Peace!

4 comments:

Mark.D said...

Remember - that's the answer to how to get to your concert at Carnegie Hall - practice, practice, practice . . .

Mark.D said...

Oh, and isn't that Carolyn's left hand? That would be the hand on the neck - forming chords - not the pickin' and strummin' hand . . .

There are so many styles of guitar-playing . . . keep on playing on developing your own style. Just, like I said before, practice, practice, practice . . .

Justine said...

Actually, the hand on the green background is a random, anonymous one I found on a Google search for "stubby fingers." The Carolyn pic I was meaning to reference is the official publicity photo to the right above the "disclaimer." That one features her right nand, right? Or is it some kind of mirror image thing?

[sigh] I practice, practice, practice . . . and I'll never make it Carnegie Hall. But, I'll be content if I can only switch smoothly someday from D to C to G on the chorus of "I Can Hear You." LOL!

I envy your musical abilities, Mark. You can enjoy C's music on a whole other level than I. But, I'm getting there; I'm getting there. One thing that I've really appreciated is having the backing track for "ICHY" -- it really helps me focus on the chord changes and the rhythm, instead of the lovely vocals and charming lyrics.

Further up and further in to the land of guitar!

Mark.D said...

Okay, I'm big enough to admit it, I looked at the wrong picture. Duh! How would I even know that was Carolyn's hand . . . it was obvious that you meant the other picture. Perhaps I was tired.

Just listened to "Dance Like No One's Watching" today. Came up on my iPod during a trip to the gas station in "shuffle" mode. Since we have a dance group at church, it hit me that that song would be excellent to use. We have a mandolin player, a flute player for the violin break, a drummer, even a guitar player. Might be time to transcribe it!