From Guitar World · · 50s
Chuck Berry's Hand Size Made Him Guitar Star
Chuck Berry's huge hands let him play guitar notes most people couldn't reach.
In brief
Chuck Berry's huge hands let him play guitar notes most people couldn't reach. Chuck Berry's large hands enabled him to stretch across the guitar neck, creating unique playing techniques. Originally reported by Guitar World.
Chuck Berry's Hand Size
Chuck Berry's son says his father could stretch the entire octave with his hands.
“Well, my dad could do things on a guitar neck that most people couldn't, just because of the physical size of his hands”
Hand Size Advantage
His hands were so large he could reach eight or nine frets up the fretboard easily.
“His hands were gargantuan. Even his first finger he's going easily eight or nine frets up the fretboard”
Guitar Model Used
Berry played a mid-1950s Gibson ES-350TD with a nut width of 41.3mm.
“Berry made his name playing a mid '50s gibson es-350td, and at that time the guitars coming out of kalamazoo had nut width of 41.3mm”
Doublestops Technique
His large hands made doublestops easier, playing two or three strings at once.
“His fingers were really big, too. So they were long and they were thick, that's why he did a lot of those doublestops because it was easier for him to play two or three strings at once than individual picking”
Playing Style
Berry played with minimal technique, using downstrokes and rarely upstrokes.
“He just played, it wasn't like he was andres segovia playing an acoustic guitar with every finger on both of his hands”
The headline
Chuck Berry's large hands enabled him to stretch across the guitar neck, creating unique playing techniques.
