Try this: put finger #1 on the high E and B strings on the 5th fret. Try to
extend your 4th finger up to the low E string. I found this positon in a magazine article describing an exercise for barre chords.
I've found this to be physically impossible for me. In fact, my hand can span three frets well enough to "play", but four? No way. When I try to stretch and mangle my hand to try and reach I have to have my arm and hand an odd angle and it hurts!
Now get out your ruleer and try this for comparison: the width of my left hand is 7.5cm (about 3").
When I put my hand on a flat surface and stretch each finger as far/wide as I can the distance from the center tip of my #1 finder to the center tip of my #4 finger is 13cm (about 5"). No, my hand won't grow anymore--I'm 35 years old. :lol:
Any of you with hands that small playing? Have any teachers out there encountered a student with such small hands? I should note that many girls I've met have bigger hands than I do. My wife can span four frets no problem, for example.
A buddy of mine who plays guitar measured my span against his and said "holy cow...um..." etc.... He suggested a parlor guitar and said there is no shame in it. I agree, however it is very irksome!
From the base to the tip finger #1 is 7mm (about 2 3/4") and finger
#4 is 5.5mm (just under 2.5"). Anyone have that or smaller?
Anyway, advice or encouragement please!
Cheers,
Bothwell
My hands aren't quite that small, but they're close.
The width of my hand is 3-1/8", just slightly wider than yours. My index finger, base to tip, is 3", just a hair longer than yours... and my little finger is only 2-3/8".
The difference is reach - spreading my hand out flat, I go 7" from index tip to little finger tip. I just grabbed a classical guitar, and I can fret high E on the 5th fret and low E on the 11th - and get both notes cleanly
I wasn't always able to do that. 30 years of playing have made my fingers a lot more flexible - technique and persistance will pay off.
I have a lot of students with smaller hands than mine, and at least half of them play full-size guitars. Last Saturday I started teaching a 6 year old, and by the end of his first lesson he was cleanly fretting a 3/4 size steel string in four frets (ninth position - we'll move down next week).
I'll put up pictures in a couple minutes so you can see my hand size and reach.
EDIT:
Here's the pics of my hand size and reach. You can't really see it in the picture, but both my middle and ring fingers are clear of the fretboard, and I get the four middle strings to sound cleanly, as well as the two fretted ones.
One thing that's always amazed me - when I play, people will often say "oh, you can do that because you have such long fingers". T'aint so; it's working with what I've got that does the trick.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Ah..the pinky is supposed to reach three frets up. Ack! It's from an article (on barre chord exercises) in Guitar One's August 2004 issue. I'm a beginner so I'm sure it's practice and just plain old keeping it up that will help. BTW, do you have any suggestions for hand exercises? Thanks!
Cheers,
Bothwell.
I also have SMALL hands. When I first started to play blues shuffles it was all I could do to reach from the second fret (index finger) to the fourth fret (ring finger). There was NO WAY ON EARTH that I could stretch my pinkie to hit that fifth fret without moving my entire hand. So, I could stretch across three (from second to fourth frets) and that was it. I practiced and practiced and practiced. Then I practiced a little more. Then one evening I picked up my guitar and started shuffling. Without even thinking about it my pinkie reached right out and planted itself in that fifth fret!! I could now span FOUR whole frets!!!!! WOW!! I shuffled my butt off that night! Since then I've kept on practicing and keep attempting stuff that makes me try to reach one more fret. I don't usually make it, but on those rare occasions when I have spanned five and gotten SO close to spanning six (haven't made it yet, don't know that I ever will, but I intend to keep trying) it's like having reached another plateau. I have a friend, with just average sized hands, but he has an amazing reach. He taught me to do variations on the 'Star Trek' hand thing (I forget what it's called, but it's where they separate between ring and middle fingers). He has me stretch my little finger as far as I can, then I add my ring finger and stretch as far as I can, and so on until I reach the end and then I start back the other way. Looks kind of silly, but it's something I can do while I'm watching TV or standing in line at the grocery store without looking like a total idiot and it appears to be working! That's my two cents worth! Hope it helps!
..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-
"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Hey just keep playing. I've found that my fingers have grown longer since I've started. Try to find Your own way of playing, and look into capos.
Most importantly don't let anyone tell you that you can't play.
"The answer is practice.
Now, what's the question?"
Words by David Mead.
For increasing your reach, lay your fretting hand flat on a table, and use your picking hand to gently spread your fingers apart - work one pair at a time. Only do this for a second or two, and don't force them. Over time you'll stretch the ligaments and have greater span.
Be sure to combine that with plenty of guitar practice - putting your fingers to work on the strings will motivate you to stretch more, as Elecktrablue pointed out.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Bothwell,
Another soilution to your problem would be to move that same exact excersize UP until it is comfortable. Then bring it down a fret, and work at it until that is comfortable, and then down another fret, and so on and so on, until your hand can reach from the 1st to the 21st fret.
Kidding about the last part.
Bothwell, my hands are just a little bigger than yours, and I can do that strecth Noteboat mentioned. A few months ago there would have been no way on earth I could have done that. Your fingers will reach farther in a short time, and you probably won't even notice it at first. I can't make that strecth fast enough to use it in a song yet, but my fingers do reach.
keep pluggin away, Gene
My hands are not big at all. My palm is about 3-1/2" across. My index finger is only 2-3/4" long. My pinky 2-3/8". But when I stretched my hand open, from the center of my index finger to the center of my pinky was 8 3/4". But I also have been playing over 30 years. So, I think you just need to keep stretching.
I spend a lot of time doing exercises like fretting the 1st fret with my index, 3rd fret with my middle, and 5th fret with my pinky. Believe me, it is a stretch and I can feel it. But if you keep doing it your hand gets flexible. You also have to keep your thumb low on the neck for this.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
It really doesn't matter if you have small hands. I have small hands too so I couldn't play the scales in the way some players do. So I play many "in between" notes. For example, if I'm playing on E- pentatonic scale in the position between the 9th and 12th frets, I often play this pattern:
String 6 Frets 10,11,12
String 5 Frets 10,11,12
String 4 Frets 9, 12
String 3 Frets 9, 12
String 2 Frets 10,11,12
String 1 Frets 10,11,12
That way you can play as many notes as the fastest guy without stretching your fingers.
Guitar wallpapers, anyone?
