Woman with Small Hands

Janis Ian is still going strong today, she is highly respected as a great songwriter and performer.

I was looking up some info on Janis and found this interview.
Carina: "Billie´s Bones" also includes the first instrumental you ever recorded. How did that come to happen and how do you feel about music without lyrics?

Janis: I'd played the piano since I was 2 ½ years old; it was like breathing to me. I have really small hands, though, and I was always reaching too far. One day I hit a particularly hard chord and blew out the tendon in my left middle finger.

I lost the use of that hand for a full year; I had dozens of incorrect diagnoses until a doctor at UCLA finally figured it out. And I discovered that I'd never play piano again, not the way I did, because that left hand can't stretch any more. That was a big blow, but I learned to live with it, and I noticed that my guitar playing was improving dramatically without the distraction of another instrument to play the hard stuff on.

This is even more amazing. Janis has very small hands to begin with, but also her left fretting hand cannot stretch well due to a piano injury.

But she is a great guitarist. :D

Interesting stuff, Wes! :D Thanks for that! You'll have to pull that out again the next time this topic arises! :D Quite inspirational!

nice video looks like the saturday nite set, to bad some of carlin wasn't included

wow didn't that bring some memories ..

17

I don't want to remember that , not too proud of them years

More info on Janis Ian:

http://www.janisian.com/ :)

and Living Room Concerts

http://store.janisianstore.com/liroco.html 8)

B.S. :lol:

I only skimmed through most of the posts so I apologize for redundancy.

If you are only a beginner don't fret so much over your finger size... yet. I am a woman and my hands are average size for a girl, maybe even large because my palms are so big but my fingers are definitely short and even worse stubby. I was so sure when I started playing that my hands could not finger a G chord or especially a C chord - I complained all the time my hands are too small and some chords were definitely painful. Now I do them with the greatest of ease and some times can't believe some of the good stretches I can get although, there are some advanced chords that now my hand size does seem to hinder, but who knows with practice. Your fingers aren't use to being placed into these odd patterns it is very awkward motions for them. When you practice you are literally giving them a work out and building your hand strength and flexibility - two very important things while playing. I think with practice you'll find the chords becoming easier and everybody unintentionally mutes the high E string when they first start playing.

Some things to remember, the neck should NOT sit on your hand between your thumb and forefinger. Your thumb should be in the middle of the back of the neck - Someone facing you while playing should not be able to see the top of your thumb (if it can reach the top of the neck :wink: - mine can't when fingering most chords). If you need to even slide your thumb down a little lower get a little extra reach. I also find keeping my finger nails really short on my fingering hand helps. I am not saying you shouldn't in the future buy guitars with smaller necks, but everything you complained about is normal for a beginner and should improve with practice. And as ElektraBlue said has been posted on here several times, even by men.

Good Morning GuitarNoise.com!

I wanna thank everybody who posted in this topic about perseverance being the solution to adversity.

See... here's my problem, I'm a guy, but I have notiriously small hands, and stubby fingers. Not freakishly small... I haven't joined the circus or anything, but I have found them to be a disadvantage in the past.

I leanred to play Bass Guitar fairly successfully when I was about 15. My friend Nick played everything, and was one of the best musicians I've ever known, Jame's Dad was a mercenary drummer, knew the basics and got himself a kit, and Nick was in the process of teaching Steve how to play basic rhythum guitar... so they needed a Bass player for the stereotypical Alternative band of the day. That was me.

I found it really difficult and sometimes even impossible to stretch my fingers far enough to play Bass. With a lot of riffs, where most people would, say be able to bar the 2nd fret and still finger the 4th off and on... my solution was simply to move my whole hand extra fast, and play the same thing. It was more work, but it worked.

I found that playing the drums it was easier to jam, and easier to rock out and knock over your cymbal stands, though, so after a time I switched to drums.

I tried to learn guitar a few years ago, but I found that my short fingers made this really difficult, so I quit before I really got started... something that I will probably regret doing for the rest of my life... Now I told my girlfriend that she should buy me a guitar for my birthday last Saturday. It's an Acoustic this time, a really nice red one too... Perfect starter guitar with a built in tuner and dual output pickup and all. However, after getting it home, and trying to follow online lessons (primarily on this site, I'd like to mention, which I've found to be the most helpful on more than one topic already) But even using the pinky finger on 4th with the index finger on 1st just doesn't seem possible with these damn' stubby fingers of mine, at least not without muting, or buzzing, or grunts of pain and the accomanying curses of anything available. In fact I'm still not convinced that I'll ever be able to play a Bm the way I gather I'm suppossed to...

This morning I picked up my guitar and after a week of what I admit was less than ultra-dedicated precticing, I still can't even play a C or a G let alone even think about switching between them... so I came to the conclusion that I must be doing something wrong technically. I just can't comfortably play supposedly simple chords and have them sound right. So I'm thinking somethimng along the lines of 'How am I ever going to be able to play at an open mic night, if I can't even play a chord, forget about working on switching between them???' So I went looking for advice from other people who've had a similar problem.

Everyone who posted in this thread saying "I had a problem like this" or "I know somebody who had the same difficulties..." or "Here's something that might help..." I'm grateful. However, it seem to me that the consensus of this thread is that "you'll get it if you don't give up and if you keep practicing." Lemme tell ya when Purple says "and everybody unintentionally mutes the high E string when they first start playing. " I let out a sigh, 'cause that had been worrying me somewhat... although tht's not the only string I mute.

Anyway, the bottom line is... I've been having this problem initially trying to learn to play guitar, and I was beginning to worry about it. After reading this thread, I now intend to muster as much stick-to-it-ivness as is necessary for me to be able to play a C, a G, and switch between them. I'm just going to persevere.

Or tune open and put on a slide. :D

Mathais, how are you playing the G?
210003 (send first and third fingers- not thumb) works much better for small hands.
or if need be play a G7 while slowly working up to the G.
I've found that after a couple of years playing 320001 is now merely very difficult but not completely impossible the way it was when I started. Perserver with the C-G, just be careful, do things slowly at first, it really is easy to hurt yourself.

Mathais

Yes, perserverance is very important when learning to play guitar, it is a difficult instrument. But you missed something very important in this thread, TECHNIQUE. Once mariatherese sat in the proper position and held the guitar properly, she could chord easily.

So it's not gonna help to knock yourself out doing the wrong thing. You will just develop bad habits that are hard to get rid of.

I went to a company picnic this weekend and took along my guitar. A co-worker had asked me to bring it to give him some lessons. I usually do not like to give lessons. This friend of mine sat all wrong, he held the headstock way down, he held the neck like a baseball bat. I tried to show him the G chord. Of course, with the neck down and the bad grip he couldn't do it. This guy also had a death-grip on his guitar. I mean, he pressed his fingers down so hard I couldn't lift them to put them on the right notes. I had to tell him over and over to relax his hand and be loose. Finally, I got him to rest the guitar on his left leg with the headstock up. I showed him how to put his thumb behind the neck and take his palm off the neck. He even began to relax a little. He was able to hold the G chord easily, strummed it and all 6 strings sounded. He smiled.

So, of course you must stick to guitar to learn it. But learn proper technique and it will be much easier to begin with.

Thanks for all of the great tips Wes!

I'm a self-taught beginner who has been playing for thirty years and has developed a lot of bad habits over the years. Recently I have been trying to correct some of the bad habits (thanks in great part to GN) and wow what a difference it is making. I move my thumb to the center of the neck and, after a couple of weeks of getting used to the new position, I could finger much more smoothly and faster. Also, I just tried the classical position for holding the guitar you suggested. It is very comfortable and gives my left arm more space to move. Thanks!

Jeff

Primeta - Ummm... I'm playing the G 320003 so far... and it's sounding much better today actually. Thanks for the tip though. Once I'm onto the stage where I'm learning more than one phrasing for a chord... I'll likely switch.

Wes - Yeah... you're definately right, I'm really trying not to pick up any bad habits while I play. In fact, I intend to take professional lessons at some point in the future. I'm trying to learn some of the basics in the beginning, so I don't have to pay somebody to watch me practice G, if I don't need to. I've read all the beginner stuff that I can find, so I'm already doing things like not gripping the neck like a baseball bat. Thanks for your concern.

Jeff

Yeah, I can relate. I am also self taught and been playing 30+ years. And I've had to work out some bad habits too.

There are exceptions to the thumb behind the neck. Sometimes you have to extend the thumb over the top as when bending strings. But generally, when you want to play the bass strings you need to keep the thumb in the middle of the neck and there should also be a small gap between the neck and palm. This is especially important for folks with small hands. I do not have very large hands myself, so this technique is really helpful for me.

Mathais

If you get a chance to take lessons that would be great. I am glad I learned my own way, I think I developed a very good ear by listening to records and copying them. But I really wish I could sight read, I think that would be a terrific and useful skill. And also, a good teacher will make sure you use good technique to begin with, so you won't have to unlearn bad habits later.
Make sure to take a good look at the photos of the Classical position, that will be a great help to you if you have shorter fingers.

Keep on Rockin :D

Thanks Wes... you guys on this site have already been a big help to me. I'm going to keep practicing, and keep doing the lessons on here. I will eventually get myself some professional lessons though, because I think you're right, I want to make sure I don't have to unlearn bad habits years later.

You can approach it two ways. Change the way you handle/play the guitar and/or replace it with a small body guitar, your options will be but not limited to (Big) Baby Taylor, 00-size or little Martin, Folk/Parlor sized Norman/S&P/A&L or a concert size Breedlove Atlas.