# Chuck Berry's Hand Size Made Him Guitar Star

> Chuck Berry's huge hands let him play guitar notes most people couldn't reach.
- Title: Chuck Berry's Hand Size Made Him Guitar Star · Guitar World
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: chuck berry, guitar, hand size, gibson es-355, doublestops, chuck berry jr, Chuck, Berry's, Hand, Size, Made, Him
- Source: Guitar World — https://guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/what-set-chuck-berry-apart-from-other-guitarists
- Published: 2026-10-18T12:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: chuck berry, guitar, hand size, gibson es-355, doublestops, chuck berry jr
## 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
## Key takeaway

Chuck Berry's large hands enabled him to stretch across the guitar neck, creating unique playing techniques.