Modifying chords for students with small hands
Found in: Blues, Musicality, Pedaling, Technique
Heidi M., Canada
Today I encountered a challenge with my 6 year old trying to learn Bishop Street Blues. He can do Jackson Blues and understands the concepts and the 12 bar progression and the concept of replacing the I, IV, and V chords with other chords. BUT. His tiny hands physically cannot play the I chord or the IV chord not even with a big stretch. I didn’t want to discourage him by saying you can’t play this until your hands are bigger. (1-2 years from now maybe?) so I got creative and replaced the D note in the I chord with the 1-octave-lower D (so he is playing D E and Bflat with fingers 1, 2 and 5 respectively) and made the same kind of replacement for the IV chord so he is playing D Eflat A with fingers 1, 2 and 5 respectively. So this preserves the essential notes in the chords but not the same shapes (particularly no big triangle for the I chord). He was able to play those chords (with a bit of stretch) but still he could do it. So he felt encouraged.
I just hope I did the right thing. I explained to him what we were doing and why we were doing it and he seemed to understand it and so did his parents and I explained the video will be different just so they are aware. They all felt ok about it and but I hope this was OK and would welcome feedback. I am sure that I am not the first SM teacher to encounter this kind of situation. He can play all the previous songs though some he has to do slowly
Rebecca G., Colorado
The advice that Neil gives in the training is to just have the child drop F5 from the chords and just play F1 and F2. Then when their hands grow they can add the top note without having to change the entire shape of the chord. I tell my students with small hands that we play F5 on the D but we’ll wait to add it when their hands are bigger so they’re expecting to revisit that again down the road.
Cate R., Australia
Yes, I drop the five but ask them to try it at home and check on the stretch every week or so and celebrate their success as their hands grow!
Patti P., Hawaii
I also have them play the D on the 5 chord if they can reach that one.
Robin Keehn, Washington
I had a very tiny 5 year old several years ago and I did what Neil recommends and what Rebecca pointed out. As tiny as he was and as impossible as it seemed, he did it.
Joanne D., Australia
Whenever i have a student with small hands who can’t reach the black note in Night Storm tailpiece or the full Bishop chords, I tell them to leave out the pinky in both instances.