Django Reinhardt's Hand

[AndyV]

[AndyV]

Probably the best photo I've seen of his fretting hand. He had exceptionally long 1st & middle fingers.

[MarkRhodes]

Never saw that picture before. It's the best shot of his fretting hand that I've ever seen. It looks like he's doing a full barre with only the top half his index finger!

[feral guitar]

that picture has clearly been doctored...

[pubylakeg]

"Nuits De Saint-Germain-Des-Pres." The hand in motion !.

[MarkRhodes]

"Nuits De Saint-Germain-Des-Pres." The hand in motion !.

Thanks! I hadn't seen that.

[Greentone]

Django had _huge_ hands. Hands come in all sizes, regardless of the size of the person. Jimi Hendrix had very large hands, too. I had two authorities on Django's hands. One was Les Paul, who told me in an interview that Django had the largest hands of any guitarist he knew. The second was my boss, whose ES-175 I owned for about 35 years. This guy used to see Django nightly in Paris after the war. He commented that Django's hands were disproportionately large for a man Django's size.

[Incidentally, Stephane Grappelly commented once that Django's two good fingers on his left hand were so long that he could actually fret the middle finger _behind_ the index finger by crossing his fingers.]

[Rob MacKillop]

Back to the first photo, note the (probably) cigarette packet paper under the bridge to raise the action. Only Galloise will do!

[wintermoon]

[Jehu]

Interesting that in that video Django's playing seems very economical. He doesn't appear to have many of the technical quirks that you see in many of the gypsy players that have followed -- the exaggerated motions, the extreme RH wrist angle, the picking way back by the bridge.

[MarkRhodes]

Yes, Tal had big hands too.

[medblues]

"Nuits De Saint-Germain-Des-Pres." The hand in motion !.

Which movie is this from ?

[Stuart Elliott]

It's froma 1953 Italian/French movie.

• La Route du bonheur
  
• Italian title: Saluti e baci
  

There is also a scene with Sidney Bechet playing in a recording or radio studio and one with Louis Armstrong in a street scene night club.All three performances in this youtube clip.

The movie maker portray Django in a stereotype Gypsy manner, pickpockets and the like. And with Django playing a Selmer guitar. But the music they chose was from one of his last recordings in which he played an electric guitar and the band included saxophones, vibes, and drums. The music that Django recorded in his last sessions really showed a bop influence and, imo, very different guitar playing from Django.

[pubylakeg]

Back to the first photo, note the (probably) cigarette packet paper under the bridge to raise the action. Only Galloise will do!

Or a Metro ticket.

[medblues]

It's froma 1953 Italian/French movie.

• La Route du bonheur
  
• Italian title: Saluti e baci
  

There is also a scene with Sidney Bechet playing in a recording or radio studio and one with Louis Armstrong in a street scene night club.All three performances in this youtube clip.

The movie maker portray Django in a stereotype Gypsy manner, pickpockets and the like. And with Django playing a Selmer guitar. But the music they chose was from one of his last recordings in which he played an electric guitar and the band included saxophones, vibes, and drums. The music that Django recorded in his last sessions really showed a bop influence and, imo, very different guitar playing from Django.

Thanks Stuart.

[DRS]

that picture has clearly been doctored...

Good proof for the next time you're at a party and some wag says that Django never played a strat.