How to Play Guitar with Small Hands & Short Fingers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- Learn the top ways you can adapt your hands to playing the guitar.
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00:00 Intro
00:45 Choose the right guitar for you
02:29 How to hold your guitar
03:58 How to position your fingers
06:56 Use your guitar
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How to choose your first acoustic guitar: th-cam.com/video/eZxAS_mVrzY/w-d-xo.html
Smaller size guitar review Martin Dreadnought Junior: th-cam.com/video/rdBEPhnEP_s/w-d-xo.html
Thanks. Even those of us without small hands can benefit from this, especially the stretches and spider exercise.
Excellent! Happy to help and thank you for tuning in
The most important thing said. Get a guitar that is fitting for you. I did not do that and struggled for a long time with a jumbo
Dolly Parton one of my favorites, I read/heard that she often used open chord tunings.
Makes sense. She’s the G.O. A.T.
I just bought a new guitar and was have lots of difficulty playing it. struggled with getting each string to ring out, was really having to squeeze hard and really hurting my thumb and wrist. I took it in and they adjusted the setup and the difference is unbelievable. I wanted it as low as possibly without buzzing. it’s way better now. When the strings require changing I will go with lighter ones as they suggested. I am small stature and have small hands. My thumb will never be able to reach over the top but I just have to adjust how I play.
I just remind myself that there are children that can play very well with their small hands
Well done on the action set up. That will make a huge difference as will lighter strings. Stick with it and see you soon!
Have a Taylor GS mini and a Taylor 322 Grant Concert body, both of these have a smaller body and smaller neck. I have ancient arthritic small hands and both of these really help.
Good to hear!
Good to know! Thanks
You bet!
fat fingers can be a bother. I can barely do a 3-finger A on a full scale length. I see some people use the tip of one finger to cover multiple strings (so they do a 2 finger A) but I guess mine aren't quite fat enough for that. I do the one finger A that Kevin mentions although I find it hard to bend the finger back to get it right on the high E. I suppose fat fingers are a plus when it comes to intentionally muting adjacent strings (like the low E). the way I look at it, I could sit around worrying about my short fat fingers, trigger finger, etc. or I could just pick up the guitar and make the best of it and still have lots of fun anyway! watching those kids on TH-cam is inspirational in a way. if a little girl can play bass then I can figure out how to make some noise on my guitar.
Yep! Well said. Just play guitar and learn to use what we have. 👍
thanks for the video - from short fingers
Most welcome!
ive been practicing this for 2 weeks now this really helps alot thank you
Happy to help!
Dude thank you for making a clear and easy to follow video. 5 mins in and you solved so many issues for me.
Glad it helped!
thank you so much for this video great tips it has help me so much with placement of my thumb never thought of moving my thump around,once again trhank you
You are welcome. Stick with it and thank you for watching!
I’ve been practicing a LOT, with my new guitar. I have had others with smaller necks , but I had to rest hands due to years of playing piano , giuitar. Use it or lose it . Resting my tendinitis was still better payoff than surgery. No way ! lol. I think setting it up to my liking will do the trick . Love my Martin ! Can’t beat the mahogany sound ! Thanks for the video .
Rest is always good. Happy to hear you are back at it.
Hi Kevin, thanks for the tips. Sometimes my old hands will work in a couple of minutes; other times it takes 30 mins or more. I am also small but love that dreadnaught sound - LOL, so just decided to play a dreadnaught and go with it. I guess it is all about what you are trying to get out of the guitar. I just love the sound of an acoustic and play for fun and relaxation. Some days are better than others but it is all good and it is all for enjoyment and having a hobby that I enjoy and allows me to learn something new at my age. Thanks for your tips for us older strummers! Thanks to Vicky and Maggie also
You are most welcome JIm. Keep at it, I love the sound of the dreadnought too and you are never too old to learn! See you soon!
Thank you so much excellent exercise i found this really usefull also big shout out to your wife great camera work
You are welcome. Will do! Thanks for watching!
Thanks..Im older adult i been Playing on and off Long time..Short fingers..man pain..I Like your video though..😁👍🎸
Glad you liked it. Thanks for tuning in!
Gonna try that spider technique thanks
No problem 👍
Thanks for this! I’ve got small hands too. 😅
You are welcome.
Kevin, thanks for the tips in this video. Too bad I hadn’t seen instruction on buying your first guitar three years ago. My experience was absolutely no advice from the sales people when buying my first guitar. Rather than “how much do you want to spend”, they should evaluate your hand size and finger issues first. I’ve found that nut width, guitar body size, scale length and some travel size guitars can make it easier for me to play guitar. There are trade offs with these variables. Small hands are not a bad thing, just pick a smaller travel guitar (Martin Jr or GS Mini) with a short scale. A player with large hands can play a guitar with a wider nut and string spacing to solve that problem.
However as a guitar player with smaller hands and fat fingers has additional challenges. The guitar I finally chose has a 1 7/8 nut width, which allows me to fret strings with a little more clearance. The draw back for me is the wider neck is harder to stretch fingers and reach frets 1-4.
All said anyone can learn to play the guitar and enjoy the instrument and accomplishment to varying levels.
Thanks for all you do to promote learning to play the guitar.
Thanks and happy you found what works for you.
9 gauge flat wound strings. Flat wound strings don't roll under your fingers. It helps a lot. Ernie Ball Slinky Flat Wound in 9 gauge, try them.
I’ll give it a try thanks for the tip
Hi, I have three 3/4 guitars, two strats and an electric acoustic. They're great for me as I really do have small hands and fingers but this size guitar is good for me. Still cannot play bar chords tho, tried, did exercises, pulled on fingers trying to stretch them. Nope, no go lol
Stick with it! You can get to that F chord :)
My fingers don't look any longer than yours and I never got told they were too short. Although there is a few things I haven't been able to do. There is a walk down in the James Taylor son Fire and Rain that I can't do cleanly, It always frustrated me. When I was much much younger I played a lot of James Taylor's songs.
Stick with it.
Bruhh i think guitarist had no idea to teach short finger play guitar lol, especially for barre chord and they just said "stick with it"😒
Hi, Kevin. What is that very pleasant melody you are playing when the video begins? It sounds familiar, but I can't place it. Do you have a separate 'how to play...' video for it?
Hey there. It is just a chord progression where I am using my pinky to embellish the chords, Here is the lesson that covers that: th-cam.com/video/DeWSQEa-Cq0/w-d-xo.html
@@Relaxandlearnguitar Thank you!
I appreciate this video. I've been trying to learn for a few years but my biggest challenge is the tips of my fingers aren't well padded. I feel like I trim my nails every other day and have tried playing more on the pad of my fingers. It's pretty frustrated as I still can't get many chords to ring clearly.
You are most welcome. Do you have any callouses built up?
@@Relaxandlearnguitar I do but it doesn't seem to help a great deal. I guess I really need an in person lesson....haven't found a lefty teacher though
@@ARM317 I see. Stick with it though. Maybe a lefty guitar youtube channel....
@@Relaxandlearnguitar I haven't come across one yet but I'll keep looking. I like how you teach songs in phases, I started working on Sweet Home Alabama last night. Thanks for all you do!
@@ARM317 Most welcome! By all means keep tuning in! We appreciate it. I am happy to help, If I come across any lefty folks that could help. you out, I ll pass that along too.
Please what is the title of the song you played in the intro of this video?
Just fiddling around with a progression: C. Fmaj7 Am and G I believe.
@@Relaxandlearnguitar Great melody from such a simple progression ❤
Kevin
This is my issue, shorter fingers. I have mastered the formation and my barre chords ring out nice but I can’t get my pinky to get to the right spot like with open chords. So if I’m playing a D chord for example I have a pause to get to Bm. Like my fingers even after 12 months now just won’t land on the right string. I’m getting to the point of frustration now and feeling like I peaked. Amarillo by morning has the F#m and I mean I have tried it 200 times and still don’t land the D to F#m. My muscle memory was great with open chords why does my pinky finger drag with barre chords? I’m at a loss now. Is my pinky just to small and weak?.…Help! Thanks for your channel. -Ryan
Hey Ryan, thanks for your support here on youtube!
You have made a ton of progress! You may want to check out this lesson to help practice that D to F# minor chord change. th-cam.com/video/CFu-VIM62Sc/w-d-xo.html
And here is an older video where i answer a similar question from one of our members: th-cam.com/video/x8Kvdk5s-j0/w-d-xo.html
Don't give up, keep at it a little each day
@@Relaxandlearnguitar thanks brother for getting back. I wont give up. Just seems like I learned to play songs so fast strumming open chords and then I hit a wall. Have you heard the new song by Luke combs, going going gone? Well it’s got to be the easiest finger picking song ever and I still struggle to pluck the right string at the right time. Then there’s barre chords. Ugh.
Thanks!
@@R.L.Humpert I will check out that song, I have not heard it yet. I am publishing a fingerpicking video soon so check that out when you see it :)
@@Relaxandlearnguitar thank you Kevin :)
I have short fingers and use an alternate fingering for D. Middle on string 3, pinky on string 2, ring on string 1. I do it this way so I can mute strings 5 and 6 with my index since there is no way I'm ever doing thumb muting. In the alternate D fingering you've already got your index set up for barring and you can pivot the rest of your hand down. It'd be a shame to lose the muscle memory you've built but if you're super stuck it might be worth a try.
ALL of a sudden as i have aged and got more overweight, after sitting it down for 7 years...my dang palm skin/fold/fat is unintentionally muting the high E strings on say C and F chords and individual note playing...the guitar, some metric unknown to me is at play....
I know its ( im to old to start over and cramp easily ), neck metrics as while my original collection got gone when i got sick, i picked up a crappy im talking $20 ready for garbage old g series takamine ive been trying to bring back to life....its neck i can play with my grandson on my lap no problems...but sounds like it has a pillow stuffed in the box...
I have tried 2 guitars purchased online both 1 11/16 nut ( seems all under 1000 are ), and its super frustrating i cant play either without SIGNIFICANT fret hand palm muting....if i could put the old Takamine neck on these new boxes boom done.......
It seems to me the distance between the High E and edge of neck may be the main variable, the old Takamine is over .125 while both new ones are half that however the nuts are precut...??? Kinda stumped
Keep experimenting to find the right guitar :)
Can't play a guitar with little hands, fingers? Yeah, right, watch this, th-cam.com/video/DeGdJgWXJ6Q/w-d-xo.html My experience has been many issues are do to a lack of finger independence as opposed to other issues. To grow finger independence place four fingers, one per fret, at the fifth fret or closer to the nut if able. Now hold all four fingers in position on the third string and take your pointer finger and extend it up to the 6th string, then down to the first string. Repeat 10-20 times and then return it to the third string. Repeat for the index finger and then down the line to the ring and pinky. The pointer and index should be pretty easy. The ring and pinky are always the hardest. Do that every day as part of your warm up routine to improve finger independence. These are called "finger pushups."
Thanks for the tip!