Comments on: Tip: for those with small hands

By: Kenny C

Kenny C — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:09:35 +0000

Trailblazer, thanks for your input. I’m just know starting to learn barre chords and trying to stretch my index finger across all 6 string…it’s not gonna happen. I measured my pinky as you suggested and it’s the same as yours. So I’m going to start looking at 3/4 size guitars. Any suggestions that’s reasonably priced? Kenny

By: caroline

caroline — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:21:15 +0000

I’ve been play a full size Orpheus Valley (Kremona co.) for a year now and am still having a hard time reaching many chords. I’m going to look at the 3/4 size, same fabulous company. I hope the sound is as, or almost as good. Caroline

By: Marla

Marla — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:10:54 +0000

I’m a beginner guitarist AND a female. Just a thought. There is a company out there called “Daisy Rock Guitars”, the make short scale (full sized), light weight guitars specifically for small hands. They are geared toward women, but there are plenty of guitars in their selection a guy could play. My personal fave is the “Rock Candy” which I think would be fine for a guy (well maybe the star on it is a lil corny for a guy)…Great sound, super light, and my hands fit the neck like a DREAM~

By: Jeff Wilson

Jeff Wilson — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:20:47 +0000

I have been playing the guitar for about 3 1/2 years and I am just now getting serious about it. I have very small hands for a male also. I have been playing standard 650 cm scale guitars since I began and I have improved vastly especially in the last year or so. I think the key is determination. Although the fact of my small hands has lingered in the back of my mind since I picked it up, I have forced myself to just play and learn. I do believe that it is harder to play with small hands but I have gained a deep appreciation for it and feel that I am beginning to accomplish some of the things that I never thought that I could. The human body is amazingly resilient and adapts very quickly. I suggest paining through the first couple years with a standard guitar and then switching to a custom or smaller scaled guitar. I played my friends’ baby Taylor the other day and was overjoyed by how easy it seemed. Keep picking and you WILL get better

By: Trench Kamen

Trench Kamen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:32:10 +0000

I am a female with very small hands–I’m short to begin with, and proportionate to my body size, still, my hands are small. I tried picking up guitar my senior year of high school playing on my Dad’s full-size acoustic (he has gigantic hands), but I felt that even dislocating my fingers I would not be able to make some chords work. This is part of why I quit.

I play alto saxophone with no trouble, but, then again, the buttons on a saxophone are very close together. I recall how difficult it was to learn the proper mouth position, how much it hurt like hell at first. I assume guitar is no different with hands.

Four years later I am considering trying to play again, this time on a smaller guitar. Threads like this have helped me realize maybe I’m not just pathetically bad at guitar. Thank you.

By: trailblazer

trailblazer — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:31:54 +0000

as a classical guitar player of countless years…..i tried and tried to get more advanced
past grade 8 trinity coll….exam….and after trying so many suggestions about the
difficulty i had with the left hand……came to the conclusion it was not me but the instrument was just too large for me….that is the 650cm scale and for last 10yrs have had two custom made guitars one 580cm….a wee bit too small but very very nice tone…..and a 640…what a difference in fluency……..

there are available 3/4 size guitars on the market….try them out first….a custom built can be much more expensive ..so start out trying an off the shelf first…before any investment..

one can only say as some people do….oh yes she or he has small hands….it is
just not acceptable…and means nothing..ie….take proper measurements…..esp of the pinky…..
left palm up…..measure the bottom of the little finger from the bottom crease in the centre of the crease where it meets the palm… to the tip of the flesh…..is one good example of just measuring one finger…..and that will really tell you what is small and what is not…..ie my pinky is….5cm

measure the other fingers likewise……and compare them with some of your friends….and you will get a big shock…..at the difference…..

everyone having to play the same scale length to be any good doesn’t make sense….

way to go………..trailblazer

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:59:07 +0000

In regard to having a baby to improving your hand stretch: If you had a baby, you wouldn’t be playing the guitar, unless someone else is taking care of that baby. Human babies are a full and overtime job.

I’ve played guitars on and off for many years and always avoided the F chord, as I just didn’t have the fingers to reach. Now I’m looking into a smaller guitar

By: Sean S.

Sean S. — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:58:06 +0000

I have a related story.. but also an unrelated story. I learned the guitar in spite of the fact that I have a broken 4th finger on my left hand that healed improperly. Eventually, it became clear that this old injury was causing problems with playing a lot of common finger patterns from the reportoire. So, I’m relearning the guitar left handed. It is going well, so far. The odd situation with my right handed playing was that I could do wider stretches easier than I could play notes on adjacent frets in some cases. My warning to guitarists: take care of your hands, and go to the doctor if you become injured!

Also, I have never come across a classical guitarist that plays left-handed. I am naturally left-handed, but my reason for playing the guitar that way is my injury.

Sean

By: Rose

Rose — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:41:12 +0000

I tried playing the guitar many moons ago and the pain and the size of the fret board and the height of the strings was just too much, alot of blood and depression.
But a guitar sale in town and I rushed down to find a smaller necked guitar with strings lower towards the fret board. I bought a Fender Acoustic Sonoran California.
Sure my fingers have been hurting like mad for the past 4 weeks, but I can play! I can even play an F chord. So happy with this guitar. Lots of fun, playing Hotel California this week, and practicing, picking. It’s very challening, but such a lovely sound, the guitar really rocks and I can take it with me to a freinds. My hands are the size of a 10 year olds, very very small, My thumb will probably never wrap around to grab the E, but who cares, I can do so much more with my Fender, just having a blast! a painful one, but again, who cares.

By: jrldev

jrldev — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:19:00 +0000

My personal experience with guitars ( I play classical guitar) is that the first rule in choosing
the guitar is to consider the instrument’s scale length just like when you buy a pair of shoes
your feet size is the one consideration. Sadly most (not all) mass-produced guitars (both nylon and steel-strings) are made to a “standarized” scale-length size around 25.6″or 650mm.

A prospective buyer should check various instruments to find the right “fit” before investing in
an insrument that will turn out not conducive to ease-of-playing due primarily to the wrong scale length for the player.

By: Jim Lawrie

Jim Lawrie — Sat, 24 May 2008 21:24:59 +0000

Darrin, I’m a classical guitarist and guitar teacher. For a male, I have very small hands. I started playing when I was about 20, but didn’t get serious until I was 26 years old. That was back in 1974. A couple of years later, I noticed my left hand was about an inch longer than my right hand. The difference in my hand spread is also quite considerable.
I mentioned my age (26) because children’s hands are more malleable than adults. But still as an adult I’ve adjusted to the demands required for playing the classical guitar.

Many beginning students often express anxiety over their basic equipment. I stress upon them that the guitar is not an ergonomically friendly instrument. In fact, it’s a rather perverse thing to do to your hands. But through correct practice and over time, we reach that stage where playing the guitar becomes, if not a perverted thing, then at least a semi-normal thing to do with your hands.

One final comment: over the years I’ve noticed many female students with small hands often have considerably more stretch than guys with huge hands. I mentioned this observation once in a class. A student who was a nurse responded by telling the class that it’s the presence of estrogen in women that causes that elasticity. During this time I was giving private lessons to an OB-GYN doctor. I asked her if what the nurse said was correct. She said it was true, but if a woman really wanted to improve her stretch she should have a baby!
I don’t know if “C” is a woman, but if she is, pass this suggestion on to her.