Originally Posted by: bain888I try and play an acustic/electric Ibenez and being a very large person 6'8", I find it very hard to fret without touching other strings, any solutions or shoud I give up playing?
Also have a shallow body ovation same prob.

Give up playing? No, I say. Just need to find a way around it.

Can you do it with the equipment you currently have? Hard to say, there are some wonderful guitar in the market that I just won't play because the neck is not a good fit for me. Though I'm 6ft tall, my hands are not that large if just pretty average sized. So, I know that some guitars aren't workable for me.

That said, if you are a beginner, the hitting of other strings is part of the experience and learning of guitar. If you're fingers are very long, that is an advantage and not a shortcoming. Players in rock like Paul Gilbert have very long fingers and are fantastic players. Chubby fingers? Roy Clark had some pretty chubby fingers and Roy could wail.

The point is, fingers are the initial enemy of all guitars players and you should not get down on your self because it's a bit frustrating right now.

To help though, you may want to consider a different guitar. Necks are not all created equal and you probably would want a guitar with 1 13/16 neck (Martin, I think, does some). Also, the neck radius does play a part too. If you have longer hands, having a thinner neck profile (beck to front) gives you less girth to hold on to. For me that is better but for you, maybe not as much.

Thing is, I wouldn't give up so much as a I would go looking for that neck that is more comfortable for you but also understand that you do have to learn past a certain amount of sloppiness in your playing until you can fret cleanly too.