"There is nothing wrong with your hand". Says the guy with fingers longer than my manhood.. Update: It's been two years and I can confidently say that I can play things I struggled with for a long time. Had nothing to do with the size of my manhood or length of my fingers.
I always say, it's not the hand size, it's length of fingers. I have short to medium lengthed fingers, but I know some female guitarists I like to watch, have a much smaller hand size, but they have these long beautiful digits and have pinkies that can really cover the frets. Joan Baez, I know, an older lady, but check out her fingers.
LOL, yeah. :( He has the finger length I always wanted. I don't have long arms so I never could play the Trombone. I never had long slinky fingers so the Piano was out. Guitar? Nope. Go play Trump/Coronet/Bass. I went to Trumpet/Coronet in school.
I just started playing guitar and I have very short fingers. It drains my motivation not to be able to reach the right strings with my fingers, however somehow your video gave me hope. Thank you!
My longest finger is just bit over the length of an AA battery. No way am I stretching it like he shows on a standard 25.5 inch scale neck. Heck, even on my 24in Mustang I would have issues so maybe on a 22in.
holy hell. i have literally been trying to play this chord for more than half a hour until i gave up because i couldnt reach the last fret with my pinky. i find this and it worked immediatly. thanks so much
Even if they are actually too small, just pick up a smaller guitar scale. Unless you have smaller hands than young kids, your hands are never too small.
"your hand is not too small" says the one with the extremely long fingers...(no hate, you are a cool dude but with short, fat fingers I'm just more limited than you with long, thin fingers)
Hand size doesn’t matter, if it did then there wouldn’t be any children playing classical music on full size violins that are larger than the child’s entire torso.
@@XYZLMNOP and his late brother Malcolm. I was surprised to find out they're 5'3" and under, i.e. shorter than me!! Prince and Paul Simon are short men who are both accomplished guitarists. Where there's a will, there's a way. The instructor in this video may have had years of training and practice to get his fingers to behave. I appreciate the fact that he's giving positive information to people like me who wonder if my hands are too small to successfully play guitar. I'll gladly take it!!
@@thelstancroix7555 Little children can't do what Frusciante or Hendrix do with their thumb. Stop lying to yourself. Find me a 5 year old that can fret the A string with their thumb while also fretting other strings with their remaining fingers. Get a fucking grip. There are certain techniques that are impossible with small fingers/hands.
I really like how u explained urself . How u explained problems and correction.i learn best from calm patient teachers and. Expecially if they show me where I'm struggling and correct it instead of most showing how and pointing out y a d a solution.. I like ur vibe and attitude. U have care in what ur showing and that's a teacher @100
Holy hell, this is literally a "magic quick fix". Despite having enormous hands (i can stretch from the first to eight fret), i struggled with comfortably stretching whole steps. This is actually magic, i cant believe that this worked immediately.
Wow! You can stretch from1st to 7th Fret. That's 3 frets more than me !! What are you doing teaching short fingered guitarists. Please why not stick to subjects you can talk about with experience. I struggle to stretch from 1st to 4th fret! I can speak with actual experience.
Wow! Just that one difference of stretching to the side has given me hope when I thought at 72 years old it must be arthritis that was stopping me reaching from 5th fret on strings G and B to the 2nd fret string F when trying to play Nothing Else Matters by Metallica! I couldn't understand why I had been able to reach sometimes in the past but could not do so now and this very clearly explains what I'm now doing wrong ... brilliant! Many many thanks Ross. JHDS
My fingers are an inch and a half shorter in length than my palm is (from wrist to finger joint). My hands aren't small, they're just built like freaking mittens so yeah, that stretch is pretty much a mathematical impossibility for me!
Opens things up catering to your pinky instead of the index finger “beast finger” as you called it lol. Some of the simplest and best advice I’ve run into in a long time. Thanks for the tip Ross🤙🏻
Thanks for the tip. I am sure it will help, and while I know everyone can play the guitar with enough effort and practice, it is equally true that some people do have an innate advantage due to mechanics. The bottom line is no matter how much stretch I achieve, I will never ever achieve the same degree or amount stretch of which you are capable or will similar ease. Why? Compared to my very average and rather short fingers, your indices are quite slender and long. Think of it this way. Former 5' 3" basketball player and NBA superstar Muggsy Bogues was exceptionally gifted and could easily reach the rim and dunk, but we all know that if his recorded height was 6'5" and up, slamming that ball through the 10 foot high hoop would have been a piece of cake. Long fingers do matter. Short will do, but not nearly as easily.
Thank you for the video! i find that in my case I'm not having so much trouble stretching my pinkie finger but rather....spreading my ring finger and middle finger out as they sure love to point towards each other when grasping for a chord. Or, heck, even placing all four fingers along the same string, i'm having difficulty keeping my middle and ring finger farther apart as they're almost always touching, if not a fraction of a millimeter apart. Thank you for this information! i'll have to find ways to stretch and hopefully gain some range with my middle-two fingers.
Very good tips on stretching with your index finger and placing your pinky finger first. Tried it for the first time. It makes it so much more comfortable and easier to stretch your fingers. Thanks.
The video made me think of a pro basketball star telling a midget how to compete against the pros. He kept showing us how big his hand is while playing a guitar with a 24.75" scale length. His video would have been more credible if he was playing a guitar with a 30 inch scale length.
you should've seen my dumb face when i did the thing with setting up the pinky first.... SUDDENLY im magically able to reach from the 1s fret to the 5th LMAO Simple but very helpful tip! Thank you ^^
When someone with longer fingers does stretching exercises, they will eventually be able to stretch even further! After decades playing and always hearing this "hand size doesn't matter", eventually realised it's a utopian ideal and size does matter! Perhaps it depends to what standard you want to get. Yes, everyone can "play" guitar. But the virtuoso guitarists, the famous ones, invariably do not have small hands. After years of daily left hand stretching exercises, the light bulb moment was my teacher saying "stretch both hands as wide as you can and put them together" and seeing that both hands were still identical. The span from tip of thumb to pinky is fixed and will remain the same forever. Also, a student of mine had largish hands and though only beginning, with no exercises, could already stretch from first to sixth fret, something most can't do however many years of practice. Basically, I think we have to be realistic and not expect everyone to be identical. Accept physical differences is the key to working around it *not* denying they exist. Guitarists with large hands (i.e .the majority of those famous for their actual guitar playing) will be able to play things that even the average hand size may never do. I think there are two possiblities a) change playing accordingly, rearrange those parts that need impossible stretches. Develop a style that doesn't *need* huge stretches. And b) get a smaller guitar built for you personally!
I am getting stressed because I am trying to learn a song for my dad's birthday, but I don't know how to play guitar at all. I need to learn a ton of chords like Dm/C and that stuff and I am a young teen like just started my teenage years and I have a hand the size of a nine year old. I just need bigger hands because your pinky is probably the size of my middle finger.
Also struggling on the GS mini here…. Currently the F bar chord seems to be a physical impossibility for me… forget about index finger strength , I can’t even place all my fingers on the correct spot :/
When I complain about my stubby little hands not being able to reach the notes. I try to draw inspiration and reflect on the Great Django Reinhardt who played the guitar with only two burnt and mangled fingers.
Hello! The middle finger and ring one is trying to kiss when I practice spider walk. How can I separate these two guys wide? I've stretched them wide for a few days but it does not work. Please don't say me give up.
Yes. I think I found a way. I just need to prectice more and push my two fingers on neck of guitar. I expect it's going to work. Thank you for you concerning. Buy~
.....When you look at GOOD players....Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Vaughn......they have large hands....they easily grip the neck to mute the low E string with their thumb.......small hands can be an impediment....
Low E and even A string is easy to mute. I can play triads with my Thumb fretting the Low E while mutting the A. Just a matter of positioning. For reference, my index is only 3 inches long. For me stretching is the real challenge.
For me this was the most helpful lesson in a long time, thank you so much! I do have small hands and always felt that should position my hand as parallel as possible on the neck. I tried your tip and all felt instantly much easier. Do you have any Book-recomendations, maybe for classical guitar where I can dice deeper into this subject? Again: thank you so much!
Thank you! Everything is possible untill you start playing polyphia. LMAO! Although I have yet to see a vid someone with average size hands play (40 ouncer). The problem also in Dorsel 'back part of hand'. Micheal romeo has short fingers and is no slouch in shredding. There's big difference from playing style from 80s guitarist Steve Vai Marty Friedman etc, to modern guitar Tim Henson ,ichika, charlie Robinson, manual gardner. It's easier to see when you learned without musical advantage. Learning guitar is hard without ’instinctive' rhythm, natural feel for notes. Anybody who spends enough time can play anything by slash entire discography. Slash is now considered intermediate level.
Right, I’m trying to play Satisfaction and I literally can’t reach with breaking my wrist, I have my index on A2, my ring on A4 and my pinky on A5 and I can’t do it and I’m about to throw the guitar in the bin
Can I just ask, is the slight pronation acceptable or even advised in classical guitar circles? Also could you put up a video showing your technique of forming standard chords, please? I know it might sound a bit weird, but you have delicate hands & I can really see what you're doing. In fact, I bet you can play Rachmaninov on the piano too, with those stretches you're making!?
Question please, this technique really gave me hope and worked to get it stretched over! but....my pinky points inward, when i stretch my hand, i cannot 'bend' it unnatural, my bone structure goes inward, so i can't put the tip of my pinky down with pressure, any hints?
This guy is BS. Buy a guitar that fits you physically. Forget this stretch BS. They make shorter guitars. Get a guitar with a narrow, flat or tapered C neck. Put light gauge strings (8 or 9 gauge) on it. Get a pick that is good for you. Practice.
Thank you Ross, lots of people dissing your hands for not being small but I appreciate the knowledge you share from teaching stubby fingered people like me! I was having issues with 2nd and 5th fret chords but can now reach and despite it sounding awful still I know that eventually it will click. Thanks again!
I've just started playing bass guitar and a concern I've been having is that my pinky finger is a small little stub of a thing, and can't reach higher than the third string on certain chord shapes. Are there any tip or tricks that would help with this?
I'm sorry mate I'm not intending to discredit your posting but sometimes people with long elegant fingers as big as yours talking about people with short fingers irritate me. Firstly you can stretch 7 frets? Well I can barely stretch 4 frets especially at the top end. I've been playing guitar long before you were even thought of and I'm telling you that long finger guitarist always give solutions but you have to have short fingers to know. .My middle finger is barely 63mm ( my Thumb is 48mm. Look at your middle finger and compare it to mine. Your middle finger looks about 85-90 mm.? Take a look at a video I posted some time ago and you'll perhaps appreciate the difficulties that people like me have.
When i do C chord for example , i place my thumb behind my weakest finger which is my ring finger to add support or behind my first finger when i do bar chords.
I've been thinking of cutting my hands and fingers a little. I have a problem separating my middle finger from my ring finger, as well as a problem with my fingers touching multiple strings at the same time.
I'm a new player during this crappie time I can't get (really want) to take lessons so I have been learning by utube videos. I bought a really cheap guitar and it sounds bad no matter what I do I have to tune it every day with a tuner. So I am looking at a better guitar I have small hands compared to other players I see so I'm thinking that I may need a smaller type of instrument like Taylor gs mini. Am I correct or dose size of hands really matter?
DAMN i need some stretching gear from china do discepline my fingers to go where they should belong to ! xD . they just wont magically detatch to the right position
To all the people leaving comments: I have small hands - my middle finger is only 3 inches long. I can also stretch between the 3rd and 7th frets without problem or really warming up. Stretch your hands and warm up properly before playing and find angles that work for you. I'm not an amazing guitarist but the size of my hands has never held me back, and won't hold you back either with proper practice and exercise.
BS tips. first of all its not just hand size alone. my hands are average for a male, but i have a short pinky which severely limits me in advanced bar chords. furthermore other anatomical factors of the hand matter. some chords i can physically not play. played guitar for 12 years, im a good player but my hands will forever limit me, fact.
My middle finger is 2.6" long, so I'm trying to stretch and use angles as much as possible, but I can't change my bone size. I may look into getting a 3/4 sized guitar though. Cheers!
Thank you for this!- I came looking to find out how to play a melody in the 3rd-5th and 7th fret- so according to this, I would use my index, major and pinky respectively for these notes right? (as opposed to the index, ring and pinky).
Wow I really like the technique for stretching my fingers. Was practicing 30 minutes ago and was really frustrated so got on TH-cam and found your video. Going to use you more often. I really need good constant lessons.
Having short fingers isn't the end of the world, unless you are trying to play that Police song every breath I take, then get ready to do some heavy stretching...
I couldn’t play that first chord you played to save my life. I’ve got mad Trump hands. Been playing for a long time tho and lately have been stretching my fingers/hands more. A little over a year ago I feel and landed/broke my scaphoid. Was in mad pain for months ‘till I started stretching that crap out. I’ve gotten around to playing chords in different ways so I don’t always have to play the hardest version of it.
Woah, finally! I've been strugglign so hard with the C chord because I have tiny fingers, and it really helped to set up the "weakest" finger first and make my first and second finger stretch out!
if youre a beginner your technique limits you the most. if youre not a beginner and had proper training, its probably your hand/fingers/anatomy of your hand. reached a sealing. hand soze does matter. its just most beginners often think they reached a physical limit when their technique just sucks.with better hands you can get away with worse technique though.
"There is nothing wrong with your hand". Says the guy with fingers longer than my manhood..
Update: It's been two years and I can confidently say that I can play things I struggled with for a long time. Had nothing to do with the size of my manhood or length of my fingers.
Hahhahahhahahaha
Monish Kumar LMAO 🤣
I always say, it's not the hand size, it's length of fingers. I have short to medium lengthed fingers, but I know some female guitarists I like to watch, have a much smaller hand size, but they have these long beautiful digits and have pinkies that can really cover the frets. Joan Baez, I know, an older lady, but check out her fingers.
jajajajaja Saludos amigo!
LOL, yeah. :( He has the finger length I always wanted. I don't have long arms so I never could play the Trombone. I never had long slinky fingers so the Piano was out. Guitar? Nope. Go play Trump/Coronet/Bass. I went to Trumpet/Coronet in school.
I knew the dude with the man bun would be the expert to solve my problem. Thank you.
lol😂 thats hilarious
Hilarious 😂😂
He doesn’t even have a man bun
He also makes a mean latte.
@Outta That’s what I say! Where’s the man bun?
😜🤪🤓
I just started playing guitar and I have very short fingers. It drains my motivation not to be able to reach the right strings with my fingers, however somehow your video gave me hope. Thank you!
@James bond 007 I FEEL YOUR PAIN
Hope things are going well re your guitar playing! Did you get a 3/4 sized guitar maybe?
Same here dude..!!! :( my fingers don't reach some chords
How have you been doing? It’s been 2 years
My longest finger is just bit over the length of an AA battery. No way am I stretching it like he shows on a standard 25.5 inch scale neck. Heck, even on my 24in Mustang I would have issues so maybe on a 22in.
your pinky finger is like my index finger, my fingers are so smalllllll
holy hell. i have literally been trying to play this chord for more than half a hour until i gave up because i couldnt reach the last fret with my pinky. i find this and it worked immediatly. thanks so much
Even if they are actually too small, just pick up a smaller guitar scale. Unless you have smaller hands than young kids, your hands are never too small.
That is my point. Otherwise I would be able to play 120-basses accordion which I hardly can (short fingers).
I am a young teenager and I just got a guitar for Christmas.. My hand is as small as my nine year brother's hand. This is stressful..
@@kittenmarie5668 RELATABLE LMAO IM 15 AND HAVE BABY HANDS
im 13 4'11 with a full sized guitar 🤓 not easy
I'm 17 and have the same size hand as my 12 year old sister.
"your hand is not too small" says the one with the extremely long fingers...(no hate, you are a cool dude but with short, fat fingers I'm just more limited than you with long, thin fingers)
Same here!
Hand size doesn’t matter, if it did then there wouldn’t be any children playing classical music on full size violins that are larger than the child’s entire torso.
2 words, Angus Young.
@@XYZLMNOP and his late brother Malcolm. I was surprised to find out they're 5'3" and under, i.e. shorter than me!! Prince and Paul Simon are short men who are both accomplished guitarists. Where there's a will, there's a way. The instructor in this video may have had years of training and practice to get his fingers to behave. I appreciate the fact that he's giving positive information to people like me who wonder if my hands are too small to successfully play guitar. I'll gladly take it!!
@@thelstancroix7555 Little children can't do what Frusciante or Hendrix do with their thumb. Stop lying to yourself.
Find me a 5 year old that can fret the A string with their thumb while also fretting other strings with their remaining fingers. Get a fucking grip. There are certain techniques that are impossible with small fingers/hands.
I couldn´t figure out sol mayor and after watching your video I CAN. Thank you so much!!
I really like how u explained urself . How u explained problems and correction.i learn best from calm patient teachers and. Expecially if they show me where I'm struggling and correct it instead of most showing how and pointing out y a d a solution.. I like ur vibe and attitude. U have care in what ur showing and that's a teacher @100
Holy hell, this is literally a "magic quick fix". Despite having enormous hands (i can stretch from the first to eight fret), i struggled with comfortably stretching whole steps. This is actually magic, i cant believe that this worked immediately.
8 frets? what the fuck
@@pacheco3328 my thoughts exactly haha!, I can only go from 1st to 4th fret lol
Dude! Exactly! Set the pinky up first. Plus the angle of the stretch. Way easier. Great tip
Wow! You can stretch from1st to 7th Fret. That's 3 frets more than me !! What are you doing teaching short fingered guitarists. Please why not stick to subjects you can talk about with experience. I struggle to stretch from 1st to 4th fret! I can speak with actual experience.
This is a decent video, but his pinky is probably longer than my index finger or about the same size.
Wow! Just that one difference of stretching to the side has given me hope when I thought at 72 years old it must be arthritis that was stopping me reaching from 5th fret on strings G and B to the 2nd fret string F when trying to play Nothing Else Matters by Metallica! I couldn't understand why I had been able to reach sometimes in the past but could not do so now and this very clearly explains what I'm now doing wrong ... brilliant! Many many thanks Ross. JHDS
My fingers are an inch and a half shorter in length than my palm is (from wrist to finger joint). My hands aren't small, they're just built like freaking mittens so yeah, that stretch is pretty much a mathematical impossibility for me!
I could physically see the lightbulb above my head when I tried it
This helps a lot actually
That second tip is great. Thank you!
Damn, your fingers are like giant spider legs!!
Thanks so much mad was revealing getting pissed that I couldn’t reach even after stretching. Just saved me so much time and frustration.
THANK YOU.
setting the pinky first really works, thanks a lot!
Thanks for the tips. Came here exactly for the pinky hammer issue. Well see if I get it figured out haha
I'm going to surprise my teacher. Tnq bro
Just tried this and like all things guitar- very uncomfortable at first, but ultimately a great solution. Thank you!
simple and effective, just saved me countless hours of insanity on the fretboard. thank you
Will try this in the morning trying to stretch for the rhythm for b flat Johnny be good
Thank you so much!
Opens things up catering to your pinky instead of the index finger “beast finger” as you called it lol. Some of the simplest and best advice I’ve run into in a long time. Thanks for the tip Ross🤙🏻
Very welcome 🙂
I was doing it the opposite way. Such a "duh" moment. Thanks for the help.
There are several channels on YT from players who really have small hands/short fingers and know how to work with it.
The issue is not merely '"reach." It's knuckle spacing and finger strength.
yes!! thank you so much
Oh my.. I've just started, this is huge help I'm now going to go try this!
Thanks for the tip. I am sure it will help, and while I know everyone can play the guitar with enough effort and practice, it is equally true that some people do have an innate advantage due to mechanics. The bottom line is no matter how much stretch I achieve, I will never ever achieve the same degree or amount stretch of which you are capable or will similar ease. Why? Compared to my very average and rather short fingers, your indices are quite slender and long. Think of it this way. Former 5' 3" basketball player and NBA superstar Muggsy Bogues was exceptionally gifted and could easily reach the rim and dunk, but we all know that if his recorded height was 6'5" and up, slamming that ball through the 10 foot high hoop would have been a piece of cake. Long fingers do matter. Short will do, but not nearly as easily.
Thank you for the video! i find that in my case I'm not having so much trouble stretching my pinkie finger but rather....spreading my ring finger and middle finger out as they sure love to point towards each other when grasping for a chord. Or, heck, even placing all four fingers along the same string, i'm having difficulty keeping my middle and ring finger farther apart as they're almost always touching, if not a fraction of a millimeter apart.
Thank you for this information! i'll have to find ways to stretch and hopefully gain some range with my middle-two fingers.
These tips made me subscribe
Very good tips on stretching with your index finger and placing your pinky finger first. Tried it for the first time. It makes it so much more comfortable and easier to stretch your fingers. Thanks.
The video made me think of a pro basketball star telling a midget how to compete against the pros. He kept showing us how big his hand is while playing a guitar with a 24.75" scale length. His video would have been more credible if he was playing a guitar with a 30 inch scale length.
you should've seen my dumb face when i did the thing with setting up the pinky first.... SUDDENLY im magically able to reach from the 1s fret to the 5th LMAO
Simple but very helpful tip! Thank you ^^
Wow,you've given me hope,my short fingers....
When someone with longer fingers does stretching exercises, they will eventually be able to stretch even further! After decades playing and always hearing this "hand size doesn't matter", eventually realised it's a utopian ideal and size does matter! Perhaps it depends to what standard you want to get. Yes, everyone can "play" guitar. But the virtuoso guitarists, the famous ones, invariably do not have small hands. After years of daily left hand stretching exercises, the light bulb moment was my teacher saying "stretch both hands as wide as you can and put them together" and seeing that both hands were still identical. The span from tip of thumb to pinky is fixed and will remain the same forever. Also, a student of mine had largish hands and though only beginning, with no exercises, could already stretch from first to sixth fret, something most can't do however many years of practice.
Basically, I think we have to be realistic and not expect everyone to be identical. Accept physical differences is the key to working around it *not* denying they exist. Guitarists with large hands (i.e .the majority of those famous for their actual guitar playing) will be able to play things that even the average hand size may never do. I think there are two possiblities a) change playing accordingly, rearrange those parts that need impossible stretches. Develop a style that doesn't *need* huge stretches. And b) get a smaller guitar built for you personally!
My teacher had straight up sausage fingers and seeing him play was something to behold....
Awesome!! I was trying to stretch my pinky finger to reach the high e string. This will help a lot. Thanks!!!
ye
It works wonder. Tqsm
Who else has small pinkies 🙋♀️
I am getting stressed because I am trying to learn a song for my dad's birthday, but I don't know how to play guitar at all. I need to learn a ton of chords like Dm/C and that stuff and I am a young teen like just started my teenage years and I have a hand the size of a nine year old. I just need bigger hands because your pinky is probably the size of my middle finger.
Demo the booggie woogie power choirds with the pinky going out towards the 6th and 7th degree of the chord.
I still suck rn but huge help!
Says the freaky long finger dude.....:-) All good stuff.
I tried your advice ….and had one of those fantastic aaahhah moments…
Great job..
Good Tip I need bigger hands lol!
Yeah I envy everyone with bigger hands than mine too heh. Just gotta use what you got, and use these tips to get the most out of what ya got. :)
Thanks for the tips, really appreciate it. Beyond frustrating, when you can't even reach the frets on a GS mini...
Also struggling on the GS mini here…. Currently the F bar chord seems to be a physical impossibility for me… forget about index finger strength , I can’t even place all my fingers on the correct spot :/
Sry for random comment here. I thought you were talking about paintball because there is a marker called the mini gs
When I complain about my stubby little hands not being able to reach the notes. I try to draw inspiration and reflect on the Great Django Reinhardt who played the guitar with only two burnt and mangled fingers.
Thank youuuuuuu
Hello! The middle finger and ring one is trying to kiss when I practice spider walk. How can I separate these two guys wide?
I've stretched them wide for a few days but it does not work. Please don't say me give up.
Men same story.....
Have u found any solution on this....plz Enlighten me...
Yes. I think I found a way. I just need to prectice more and push my two fingers on neck of guitar. I expect it's going to work. Thank you for you concerning. Buy~
This video solved my PRoblem thanks
total rubbish his fingers are three times longer than mine.
Thanks, I had never figured out how to solve this before...this helps!
Fantastic. Thanks. Careful with the V sign there.
V Sign?
.....When you look at GOOD players....Hendrix, Chuck Berry, Vaughn......they have large hands....they easily grip the neck to mute the low E string with their thumb.......small hands can be an impediment....
Exactly. But don't tell the ectomorphs that. It dents their "it's all me" ego.
@@theblytonian3906 What? People being confident in their abilities? Heresy!
Low E and even A string is easy to mute. I can play triads with my Thumb fretting the Low E while mutting the A. Just a matter of positioning. For reference, my index is only 3 inches long. For me stretching is the real challenge.
Thànk you sure
For me this was the most helpful lesson in a long time, thank you so much! I do have small hands and always felt that should position my hand as parallel as possible on the neck. I tried your tip and all felt instantly much easier. Do you have any Book-recomendations, maybe for classical guitar where I can dice deeper into this subject? Again: thank you so much!
Helped instantly. Still hurts 😆
G chord low e and upper e I can't do the pinky and ring finger. Can I use my 1st finger?
How w do I stop my fingers moving while using 3 finger power chords? they keep creeping back together and losing their shape.
Relax them
Thank you! Everything is possible untill you start playing polyphia. LMAO! Although I have yet to see a vid someone with average size hands play (40 ouncer). The problem also in Dorsel 'back part of hand'. Micheal romeo has short fingers and is no slouch in shredding. There's big difference from playing style from 80s guitarist Steve Vai Marty Friedman etc, to modern guitar Tim Henson ,ichika, charlie Robinson, manual gardner. It's easier to see when you learned without musical advantage. Learning guitar is hard without ’instinctive' rhythm, natural feel for notes. Anybody who spends enough time can play anything by slash entire discography. Slash is now considered intermediate level.
All true statements here.
Some pretty good advice. The best that I received on this topic.
Glad it was helpful!
Deffos. Really helped with a 5 fret stretch that was annoying the life out of me.
Share some strumming classess
Right, I’m trying to play Satisfaction and I literally can’t reach with breaking my wrist, I have my index on A2, my ring on A4 and my pinky on A5 and I can’t do it and I’m about to throw the guitar in the bin
Can I just ask, is the slight pronation acceptable or even advised in classical guitar circles? Also could you put up a video showing your technique of forming standard chords, please? I know it might sound a bit weird, but you have delicate hands & I can really see what you're doing. In fact, I bet you can play Rachmaninov on the piano too, with those stretches you're making!?
Question please, this technique really gave me hope and worked to get it stretched over! but....my pinky points inward, when i stretch my hand, i cannot 'bend' it unnatural, my bone structure goes inward, so i can't put the tip of my pinky down with pressure, any hints?
Sounds like you are squeezing too much. You have to relax your hand, and squeeze almost zero. Finger pressure comes from pulling with your arm.
This guy is BS. Buy a guitar that fits you physically. Forget this stretch BS. They make shorter guitars. Get a guitar with a narrow, flat or tapered C neck. Put light gauge strings (8 or 9 gauge) on it. Get a pick that is good for you. Practice.
Something tells me that this piece of advice is not mutually exclusive from mine...
Thank you Ross, lots of people dissing your hands for not being small but I appreciate the knowledge you share from teaching stubby fingered people like me! I was having issues with 2nd and 5th fret chords but can now reach and despite it sounding awful still I know that eventually it will click. Thanks again!
This is a great finger stretch video, concise, and very much focused on achievable tips. Just brilliant!
I've just started playing bass guitar and a concern I've been having is that my pinky finger is a small little stub of a thing, and can't reach higher than the third string on certain chord shapes. Are there any tip or tricks that would help with this?
I'm sorry mate I'm not intending to discredit your posting but sometimes people with long elegant fingers as big as yours talking about people with short fingers irritate me. Firstly you can stretch 7 frets? Well I can barely stretch 4 frets especially at the top end. I've been playing guitar long before you were even thought of and I'm telling you that long finger guitarist always give solutions but you have to have short fingers to know. .My middle finger is barely 63mm ( my Thumb is 48mm. Look at your middle finger and compare it to mine. Your middle finger looks about 85-90 mm.? Take a look at a video I posted some time ago and you'll perhaps appreciate the difficulties that people like me have.
Most of the advices for small hands on TH-cam came from people with extremely long fingers. Stretches is only part of the problems for smaller hand.
I know right ? Someone show me a tutorial from an adult with hands the size of a ten year old please ! 😮💨😩
Very useful. Thank you
Thank you, this solved 2/3 problems. When I try to hammer with my pinky it is cramping - just practice?
Yes, and relax after making contact with the string
When i do C chord for example , i place my thumb behind my weakest finger which is my ring finger to add support or behind my first finger when i do bar chords.
This was great thanks. Why is every video old? No matter what I ask TH-cam, the videos r many YEARS old
I got burned out. I am starting up again.
I've been thinking of cutting my hands and fingers a little. I have a problem separating my middle finger from my ring finger, as well as a problem with my fingers touching multiple strings at the same time.
Please don't do that.
I'm a new player during this crappie time I can't get (really want) to take lessons so I have been learning by utube videos. I bought a really cheap guitar and it sounds bad no matter what I do I have to tune it every day with a tuner. So I am looking at a better guitar I have small hands compared to other players I see so I'm thinking that I may need a smaller type of instrument like Taylor gs mini.
Am I correct or dose size of hands really matter?
A smaller guitar might be good for you
Nice video thanks.
great tip Im a 45 old mann and I have small strong hands the size of a 12 year old girl so thangs
I was born with a bent pinky finger and it's bent next to my ring finger. What should I do in this situation?
I have that same problem with both pinkies.... 😭
DAMN i need some stretching gear from china do discepline my fingers to go where they should belong to ! xD . they just wont magically detatch to the right position
No one has magic my friend :)
Easy for you to say banana hands
I noticed you are also holding the guitar very high on your torso. Is that a help as well?
It helps beyond belief.
Trouble with middle and ring finger separation??? What do I need to do?
Fan your fingers instead of trying to separate them.
The biggest thing he just said was to put your thumb behind your pinky. Omg...this may be a game changer.
To all the people leaving comments: I have small hands - my middle finger is only 3 inches long. I can also stretch between the 3rd and 7th frets without problem or really warming up.
Stretch your hands and warm up properly before playing and find angles that work for you. I'm not an amazing guitarist but the size of my hands has never held me back, and won't hold you back either with proper practice and exercise.
BS tips. first of all its not just hand size alone. my hands are average for a male, but i have a short pinky which severely limits me in advanced bar chords. furthermore other anatomical factors of the hand matter. some chords i can physically not play. played guitar for 12 years, im a good player but my hands will forever limit me, fact.
My middle finger is 2.6" long, so I'm trying to stretch and use angles as much as possible, but I can't change my bone size. I may look into getting a 3/4 sized guitar though. Cheers!
Thank you for this!- I came looking to find out how to play a melody in the 3rd-5th and 7th fret- so according to this, I would use my index, major and pinky respectively for these notes right? (as opposed to the index, ring and pinky).
Wow this is super helpful! Thanks Ross man
You are most welcome Gabe! I know you already have a heck of a stretch though haha :)
Wow I really like the technique for stretching my fingers. Was practicing 30 minutes ago and was really frustrated so got on TH-cam and found your video. Going to use you more often. I really need good constant lessons.
I really thought the blisters would be the end of my pain
Nope. Guitar will cause some level of pain forever if you aren't careful.
Having short fingers isn't the end of the world, unless you are trying to play that Police song every breath I take, then get ready to do some heavy stretching...
Haha I'm trying to play Message in a Bottle
I couldn’t play that first chord you played to save my life. I’ve got mad Trump hands. Been playing for a long time tho and lately have been stretching my fingers/hands more. A little over a year ago I feel and landed/broke my scaphoid. Was in mad pain for months ‘till I started stretching that crap out. I’ve gotten around to playing chords in different ways so I don’t always have to play the hardest version of it.
Good video
Woah, finally! I've been strugglign so hard with the C chord because I have tiny fingers, and it really helped to set up the "weakest" finger first and make my first and second finger stretch out!
I am learning through utube only....so this video really helped me.... Thanks bro
Him: is there something wrong with your hand.
Me: yes, that's why I'm-
Him: no
if youre a beginner your technique limits you the most. if youre not a beginner and had proper training, its probably your hand/fingers/anatomy of your hand. reached a sealing. hand soze does matter. its just most beginners often think they reached a physical limit when their technique just sucks.with better hands you can get away with worse technique though.