Hello, I am new to guitar (3 weeks) and I am practicing every day (a bit too much some days which could be exacerbating) and I have pretty small hands. I think my middle finger measures about 3 inches.
I played a lot over the past few days and my left hand (fretting hand in my case) is sore not in a good way I don’t think. I kind of have to contort my hand if I am up near the head stock fretting 1 and 4.
I am not discouraged. It seems like all youtube videos just say don’t give up with small hands, not exactly helpful. I’m plenty motivated and want to keep going but I don’t want to injure myself.
So all that to say any advice on being able to fret well by the headstock with small hands? I also think my wrist is not in a healthy position but I can’t reach my fingers far enough apart without doing some hand yoga.
Having good form, like others have said, will go a long way. Some things about that which I didn’t see mentioned are: try to keep your thumb centered on the back of the neck and get the guitar in a position so that you can move your elbow outward, almost to the point that your hand is parallel to the fretboard. This will keep strain off your wrist and let your fingers stretch more easily. Another thing is, if you’re playing standing up, it’ll be much easier to play if your strap is short and the guitar is high. It might not look as cool, but you’ll see some real technical metal players do this because it really does help.
I’m not quite sure I understand what you mean by hand is parallel to the fretboard, do you mean perpindicular, oh or do you mean parallel with the frets themselves?
Yeah it’s hard to explain with words rather than visually. Check out how Ana Vidovic is positioned in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inBKFMB-yPg
There’s almost no bend in her wrist, so her hand can stay relaxed.
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Try to focus on having a good form. Maybe research how to correctly hold your hands. Strain on the wrist is definitely not good or nomal. Try t hold it a natural as possible.
Bigger hands make it easier to play notes far apart. But as someone with small hands aswell it is not impossible by anymeans. You definitely have to improvise when some tabs expect you to play notes 4 frets apart but it should not come with hurting wrists.
Try to get feel how you can hold your hand naturally focus on playing easier sheets without straining your wrist.
I’m having the same issue, kinda, when playing bass. The fingers are long enough, but at 50+ the joints aren’t that flexible anymore. I found the tips from bassbuzz on youtube useful, especialy on the fretting techniques.
Biggest improvements here were a correct setup of the bass (still need to setup the frankenfender), correct position of the bass/guitar and correct position of the hand/fingers while fretting. Some microshifting helps me a lot, as the pinky is my main challenge. (Not strong enough for pushing down the snares)
Alright, I’ll checkout bass buzz, do you remember the title of any specific videos you found helpful. I’ll definitely check out about microshifting! thank you!
If you need inspiration to push through dexterity shortcomings on bass just watch Tal Wilkenfeld and try to adopt some of her techniques. She’s got small hands and plays unbelievably well. She does a lot of sliding to avoid stretches.
@AstralPath @TheInsane42 His DVD with Tal on bass is fantastic.
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I also have pretty small hands. It gets easier when you have the right thumb position (even for easy chords like D, to make chord changes faster) and build up some strength and dexterity (exercises in the link below).
This is really good read: https://guitaristnextdoor.com/how-to-play-guitar-with-small-hands/
It also goes into gear stuff (scale length, thin and narrow neck, low action, lighter string guage, etc). Don’t know what you have, but I would definitely recommend starting with an electric instead of an acoustic, unless you really only want to play acoustic or don’t want to pay for an electric. It’s a lot easier if you don’t have naturally strong hands imo
It’s not mentioned in the article, and you’re in early days, but when you get into bar chords I recommend “strength training” on the guitar. Trying to hold the Fm chord (on the first fret) as long as you can, several times, with rests in between. But of course be careful, don’t hurt yourself
I have two electrics, I have a squire strat, and a made to order G&L ASAT Classic, I will checkout that article. I have noticed my thumb going sideways, parallel with the neck which is not correct from what I’ve seen so I do keep having to pull it back in.
What kind of guitar do you have? There’s a big difference in neck size between say, a classical guitar and an electric.
I didn’t even think to include that, I apologize. I have an electric guitar, I don’t know what the neck profile or scale length are off the top of my head but I can find them if I need. I think its maybe a 9.5 in radius?
All good. Just wanted to check you weren’t trying to play some beastly classical and thinking “what’s wrong with me?!” when the neck is a mile wide haha. You’ll probably be fine with most electrics, just give it time or refer to the other advice in the thread. You could go to a guitar shop and try a short scale guitar like a fender mustang/Jag - see if it makes a world of difference or not.
