Are there any chord shapes designed specifically for six fingered guitarists? Would the music sound fatter or wierder? Could they find the “lost chord” or am I just rambling due to fatigue?
They would need guitars specially designed by the late, great Spanish luthier Diego Montoya.
(Sorry, I had to get that out of the way.)
I doubt there have been enough six-fingered persons who played guitars to develop any variations in style.
There’s no real logical basis for a ‘lost chord’. You don’t have to tune to 440Hz, it’s just a historical standard.
You’d be able to do a lot more with six fingers on a guitar, but I doubt it would sound fatter or wider. Barring a chord with one finger does that. It would probably help with more complex chords where you have to barre twice, or for augmenting the chords in various ways.
I don’t think that many polydatyl people actually have additional digits that are functional to the point of being useful for playing an instrument. Indeed I’m not sure any do. Mostly it seems additional digits are non functional or have reduced functionality - sometimes with the digit that is duplicated and its pair both being less than normally useful. Even with a fully formed additional finger it isn’t clear that the tendons and muscles are distinct, or that the nerve bundle or motor centres distinct. So, there may never be people for whom the additional digit actually presents and advantage. It would be interesting to hear of anyone who did have complete separate function in all normal and additional fingers.
I doubt that there are any special chords that are otherwise out of reach. Odd chords is often about contorting the hand so that you can cram the fingers into patterns where there isn’t really room for them, or stretching one finger out to some lonely fret. If you want to explore wild chord voicings, try a piano, or tune the guitar to a non-standard tuning. Interesting chords are often about the notes that are removed from a conventional voicing than adding a host of other notes. Guitars have enough problems with intonation as it is without throwing ever more notes and their inharmonic harmonics into the fray.
Did I miss something? Both guitarists had ten fingers each; however, it seemed to me that the one standing was using just his left thumb and his right index finger to play the number. That’d be twelve fingers, not twenty.
From the film Gattaca:
Ah yes, Domingo’s lesser known, more peace-loving brother. 
Huh? 
What do those have to do with each other?
“The Lost Chord” was a poem about organ playing and mysticism by Adelaide Ann Proctor in 1858. The Moody Blues’ 1968 album In Search of the Lost Chord interpreted the phrase to mean the Hindu mantra ॐ om. It’s just an evocative, poetic phrase about the sense of longing for something in the soul expressed in terms of music. “No logical basis” is an odd thing to say about it.
It was Count Rugen with the six fingers.
Yes, but it was Señor Montoya who did the custom build for him.
Exactly. Craftsmanship was encouraged in that family.
More elaborate fingering in this one, but both are just thumb strumming, but they are strumming the strings the other fellow is fingering! …bonus points for the eefing at the end.
Six fingers? :eek:
Who has six fingers? :dubious:
Weirdly, there are famous nine-fingered guitarists.
Hound Dog Taylor. He had 12, but during a night of drinking he decided to saw one of them off with a broken bottle.
Moved to Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Without more to go on, I fear you may be rambling from fatigue
Six-fingered?! Heck, unless you are using your thumb in some creative way, you only have four fingers to chord with normally. Now, I hang my thumb over the top and fret some notes in a classic blues style, but I don’t think that is what you are referring to…
Other thoughts regarding “six note chords”:
- Most “cowboy chords” - open chords typically on the lowest frets - are six-note chords
- Chords played up the neck with barre’s are six-note chords
- Chords where you fret a few strings up the neck but play all the strings and some of the “drone” - are six-note chords
Is that what you mean? Coming at your OP from a different direction, there are players like Eddie Van Halen and Stanley Jordan who use both hands to fret notes on the neck - you can argue that they are using more than a standard four fingers at various points.
Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Guitar Hero. Prepare to die.