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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
 Posted - 08/13/2010 : 10:26:08 AM
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| For small hands, you can always capo up a few frets. Sometimes it makes the guitar ring sweeter, too. |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2010 : 5:53:05 PM
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| A respected ki ho`alu master and kumu suggested that the guitar was a masculine instrument rooted in paniolo traditions. He also suggested that size was indeed an issue. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 08/13/2010 : 10:19:28 PM
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A lady I used to see at Old Time jams told us one night that guitars were made backwards for a woman's anatomy. She said the neck on a woman's guitar should be attached to the large end of the body to allow for the difference in feminine anatomical construction. That may have contributed to her preference for Hammered Dulcimer over guitar.
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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maggie
Aloha
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2010 : 3:36:35 PM
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| I'm jumping back in on this one. For me, it's not small hands that's the problem with big guitars - fretboards are fretboards, and if you have a wider fretboard, you learn to make the reach, or you figure out how to cheat. The problem with big guitars is figuring out to hold the dang thing when I'm sitting down. And the anatomical challenge may not be as obvious as you might think. The challenge is being able to play without wrenching my right shoulder or my neck. When I play my daughter's dreadnaught, I usually end up holding it like it's a hybrid between a classical guitar and a cello - a strap and foot-stand helps. But it doesn't take too long of a session before my picking hand starts to hurt - not my fretting hand - and then my shoulder and neck start aching. An old neck injury may be the reason why I have a problem with big guitars, but nevertheless, a smaller-bodied guitar does fit my hip-to-shoulder ratio much better and, if I ever wanted to wear a short skirt while playing ... well, let's just say I could so without concern. |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2010 : 4:00:24 PM
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| All those guitar-playing women in the old photos are playing what we now call "parlor guitars," because those were the standard size back then. And there doesn't have to be anything small about the sound, even of inexpensive, ladder-braced turn-of-the-century Washburns, let alone nice X-braced Martins. (My 1925 2-17 can take the paint off walls. Or maybe that's just my playing.) |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 08/14/2010 : 9:43:27 PM
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Maybe you should buy better quality paint, Russell. Here's the problem: Nearly everybody on here who answers is a man,a guitarist,or sometimes both. Those of us who fit one of those categories, and didn't do a survey already, aren't qualified to speak for the target group.Yeah, that includes me. Must be why I post semi facetious remarks, even if it is a true story.We need to hear from the non-guitarist women on this subject. All you non-guitarist ladies, tell us why no kika. All you guitarists,survey said go play music to conduct surveys by.
Unko Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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thumbstruck
Ahonui
USA
2168 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2010 : 04:28:45 AM
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| Ergonomic guitars are made, great sounding too. I tell those interested in playing that if they really want to play, they will. If they really don't want to, they won't. Like Slipry1 one says about being a musician, "I didn't have a choice." |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2010 : 05:54:24 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by maggie
I'm jumping back in on this one. For me, it's not small hands that's the problem with big guitars - fretboards are fretboards, and if you have a wider fretboard, you learn to make the reach, or you figure out how to cheat. The problem with big guitars is figuring out to hold the dang thing when I'm sitting down. And the anatomical challenge may not be as obvious as you might think. The challenge is being able to play without wrenching my right shoulder or my neck. When I play my daughter's dreadnaught, I usually end up holding it like it's a hybrid between a classical guitar and a cello - a strap and foot-stand helps. But it doesn't take too long of a session before my picking hand starts to hurt - not my fretting hand - and then my shoulder and neck start aching. An old neck injury may be the reason why I have a problem with big guitars, but nevertheless, a smaller-bodied guitar does fit my hip-to-shoulder ratio much better and, if I ever wanted to wear a short skirt while playing ... well, let's just say I could so without concern.
I agree about size of people and size of guitars. I started playing guitar back in the late '50's on a Goya, then a Martin 00-18, then a Martin 000-28. When I had to sell the 000-28 in 1978, I got a D-18, which has never felt comfortable to me. Three years ago, I bought a 000-28 again, which feels much better. I can get my arms around it. |
keaka |
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slipry1
Ha`aha`a
USA
1511 Posts |
Posted - 08/16/2010 : 06:03:06 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by thumbstruck
Ergonomic guitars are made, great sounding too. I tell those interested in playing that if they really want to play, they will. If they really don't want to, they won't. Like Slipry1 one says about being a musician, "I didn't have a choice."
Too true. My earliest memories involve me playing with a stick or something like it was a sax, or singing along with records. A true experience, re Thumbs' comment: I was playing in a country band with my buddy, Dave Elson, when a drunk came up and said to Dave "I want to play guitar like you do." Dave said "No you don't!" I thought "boy, we're in trouble now", as the drunk showed signs of becoming unhappy. Dave said "I was an obnoxious, fat little guy (no longer true by that time) that nobody wanted to have anything to do with, so I sat in my closet and played guitar many hours a day. What you want is for the Blue Fairy to come down and -Ding!- make you a guitar player!" The drunk said "ya know, you're right!" and walked off. Dave looked at me, with my mouth hanging open, and said "Sometimes, you have to tell them the truth." |
keaka |
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kaneohegirl
Aloha
USA
8 Posts |
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kuulei88
Akahai
USA
75 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2010 : 08:30:22 AM
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This has been an interesting thread to follow on so many levels. What if Aunty Wandaʻs original question were rephrased ever so slightly?
Instead of: Why do you believe are reasons that so few women play slack key compared to the number of men?
What if we asked: Why are so few women slack key players as prominent as men?
One of the posts on my blog gathered pretty much the most prominent slack key anthology CDs since Dancing Cat Records began its remarkable production: http://wp.me/plq1i-6y. The statistics are sobering. There are 13 CDs listed on the page. Only ONE woman--Owana Salazar--appears on only THREE CDs, all issued on only ONE label--Daniel Ho Creations. [The tracks on these CDs are all from Uncle George Kahumokuʻs concert series on Maui.] And of course, Cindy Combs is the ONLY woman to have recorded solo slack key CDs on Dancing Cat and Windham Hill Records--but none of her tracks made it onto Dancing Cat slack key anthologies.
So -- why are so few women prominently featured? Last Sunday I wandered around festival in Kapiʻolani Park, and chatted up vendors and browsers. And guess what? I met up with quite a few women who do play slack key guitar--leading me to think that perhaps the question we should be asking is not so much why women donʻt play slack key guitar, but rather why women who do play slack key guitar do so in the shadows of men who get the spotlights? |
amy k |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2010 : 08:50:52 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by kuulei88
This has been an interesting thread to follow on so many levels. What if Aunty Wandaʻs original question were rephrased ever so slightly?
Instead of: Why do you believe are reasons that so few women play slack key compared to the number of men?
What if we asked: Why are so few women slack key players as prominent as men?
It's a good twist. I don't have an answer.
Again, I say that guitar, in general, has more prominent male players than female. Slack key guitar may have its unique roots, but I see ratios not dissimilar from your anthology example in other places too.
http://www.crossroadsguitarfestival.com/index.php/artists
National Finger Style Guitar Championship
National Guitar Flat Pick Championship |
Andy |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2010 : 09:15:57 AM
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Perhaps there is just no gender equality when it comes to guitar. Case in point, see here.
To counter that ridiculousness, here is an article where female guitarists talk about gender and their instrument. Guitar Heroes, Make That Heroines, in Indie Rock
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maggie
Aloha
USA
40 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2010 : 3:04:05 PM
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".... a pink pick clutched in her teeth, she tipped her small, ski-jump nose in the air, closed her eyes, and lets her blond hair fall behind her..."
Hmmm... after reading a description like that, one has to wonder... "what was the question?"
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 08/17/2010 : 6:25:57 PM
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| Why aren't we asking Joni Mitchell? |
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Women Playing Slack Key
