james booker and smaller hands

for starters, i'm glad to see that booker has come up here recently.  i've been a fan for a while.  i didn't want to hijack the other thread completely so i started this one.  i was trying to play "papa was a rascal" the other day, and for the life of me, it seems like the right hand is impossible to play unless you have fingers that were as long as booker's.  has anyone else encountered or surmounted this problem?

by ziggysane on 02/17/2008, 13:16:10 # 40338

check out this: - i haven't had the chance to look at it properly (i'm at work!) but it seems there's a few good shots of what he's playing that might help.  i love youtube.

by g on 02/17/2008, 23:37:54

i checked out the video.  i have several of his albums, but i've never seen footage of him playing before. :)  it's amazing how relaxed he looks even though his music usually has so much going on in each hand. i also liked the funkier groove that this performance had from his solo versions.

i preface this next section by mentioning that the section i'm referring to (for non booker fans) is a groove in the right hand that actively alternates between a fifth (c3 f3, played with 1 and 2 according to the transcriber) and an am chord (a3 c4 e4, played with 3,4,5).

now for the nitty gritty: to play the above, i need to lift or significantly shift my hand.  however, his hand appears to stay in one place in the video.  i've been trying to figure out how much space is between his pinky and thumb, but no luck yet.  i also watched another video that shows a close-up of his hand, and his pinky is freakishly long, to say nothing of his other fingers.

by ziggysane on 02/18/2008, 20:30:51