Stupid Question - I Want Big Hands

[bobbykunkle]

Hey guys and gals. I know that this is a stupid question, but let me know what you all are thinking...

I was wondering if anyone has figured out or found a SAFE and effective way to stretch your hand's out wider so that you can reach bigger intervals? I was not blessed like some with big hands (and it sucks!), so I can only really reach a 9th. If the music isn't moving by too fast, I can get the edge of the key and hit a 10th. I just really wish that I could always get that magical 10th sound, comfortably! Does anyone have any insight on this?

Thanks!

[Heist]

cut your hand off and buy over sized robotic hands

OR...

just play the inversions of spaced out chords and stick to closed voicings.

who cares about the 10'th anyway? the ninth is where it's at and it sounds like you got the ninth covered.

my teacher has the smallest hands in the world and he still kicks my ass up and down the keyboard.

[Yuperdo]

Or just slam a 1,2,9,10 with thumb and pinky. Or use a quick 1,10 jump with sustain.

I also got to get to the edge of the keys to get a 10th without hitting the rest. It's like pretty useless to play cause hitting the keys too hard and my hands will slide off the keys.

[RAN7ARAVE]

lol i just realized i can hit 10 :P but its not 100% i have to drop my palm a bit im 15 now hopefully my hand grows longer from carrying heavy keyboard gear :P

[Zubby]

I can reach a 9th comfortably, and a 10th if i stretch, there is no way to increase the span of the hands. However, basic hand stretches before you play should make it feel more comfortable. Before I did hand stretches 10ths were almost impossible, it has become more comfortable for me now. Just don't hurt yourself.

[jenius_92000]

I can play a tenth comfortably, but I have to put my hands on the edge of the keys (that is, without stretching!)

[-=AnatomiC=-]

If you can play octaves - your hands are big enough for anything.

[Staccato]

If you can play octaves - your hands are big enough for anything.

Not entirely true though, but you will get by. And bigger chords you can always play them sweeping. If you wanna play double 5ths, meaning that you play C to G and then G to D is hard if you can't reach it(obviously:P). And you can make really cool chords, like a Cminor 9 chord. Left hand C, G, D and the right hand starts on the Eb a semitone from D and goes Eb, Bb and F. Sure, you can play it otherwise.. but it is really nice with a widely spread chord likte that from time to time.

[Analogkid]

Ive posted this story a bunch of times but heres the cliff notes version. The last time I had met Jordan at the XM radio studios a few years back I asked him to compare hands and his were only a little larger than mine. my span is about an octive+1, +2 is very uncomfortable and kinda usless. When I was talking to Rick Wakeman last year after a show( he usally does an autograph session) I asked him to do the same- Ricks hands dwarf mine:biggrin:

[gylfih]

I used to be able to get 9ths comfortably, then I started doing some exercises where I played a slow trill getting faster on 10ths (ie C-D) and now I can gets 10ths ok...

[Narek]

^ Actually C-D is a 9, a 10 would be C-E :tongue:

[gylfih]

^ Actually C-D is a 9, a 10 would be C-E :tongue:
Hmmm indeed... I meant C-E really :biggrin:

[Mush]

Robert Schumann wrecked his playing career with a hand stretching device he devised.

[mlunapiena01]

Poor Robert also was locked in an insane asylum-ish place for much of his later life, and his wife began a very serious relationship with the composer who he brought to the public (that would be Brahms) ...

Got to love music history ... it's so quirky

[RAN7ARAVE]

i was practicing the piano parts for some Jordan Rudess songs and i realized i can comfortably do a 10 :D Jordan likes to move the 3rd up an ocrave alot :P

[Ivory-Shadows]

Yeah I don't know, I think reaching a ninth is fine. I can reach a tenth if I need to, but I've never found that necessary, like ever. If there's some really big chord just roll it. There's ways around it basically...

[Naminator01]

I can do 11ths.

[RainstormRich]

This is a good question; I can only really get to octaves and I have always wondered how to get by better with smaller hands. Some of J.R.'s exercises (like "Shortnin Bread") are hard for people like me to pull off!

Still, on the positive side, I can play just about all I ever want to play without this problem though! You can still be an amazing player w/o those left hand 10ths or whatever!

My friend, who has similar sized hands to me, said he plays the different notes quickly in succession when necessary and he is as highly trained as possible at the piano!

[romanticshred]

Hey,

Did you know HGH injections can make your hands and feet grow because they don't have any growth plates like our arms and legs do. So when you stop growing taller you can make your hands and feet etc to continue to grow.

Seriously ask you doctor for HGH injections man. Your head will also grow so that will add maybe 2 inches to your height as well no joke man. I seen this happen to people.

[Ardude_rjn]

Sounds kinda creepy to me tbh

[gylfih]

This is a good question; I can only really get to octaves and I have always wondered how to get by better with smaller hands. Some of J.R.'s exercises (like "Shortnin Bread") are hard for people like me to pull off!

Still, on the positive side, I can play just about all I ever want to play without this problem though! You can still be an amazing player w/o those left hand 10ths or whatever!

My friend, who has similar sized hands to me, said he plays the different notes quickly in succession when necessary and he is as highly trained as possible at the piano!

I can get by on most pieces only comfortably stretching a ninth (I can do a tenth semi-comfortably, and it hurts getting to an 11th). I normally roll big chords, but sometimes it just isn't appropriate, or not possibly. Any Liszt piece for example. Also, quite a lot of Ravel has big chords, and the piece is ruined if you roll them.