I know this may sounds like an excuse, and people would say it's just the matter of practicing and getting use to it. True, I agree, practicing takes the most part, but aside from that, does the size of your hands / fingers length really makes a difference in your playing? In other words, obviously people who have longer fingers can stretch and reach out further to hit notes faster that are further part away? Personally, I have a really small hands and short fingers. Most often when I compare my fingers length to others, mine is either shorter than the boys or the same length as some girls....sigh.

Furthermore, I found that people like to wrap their thumb around the neck and have it reach to the front side of the fretboard while doing solo to mute the unwanted notes, and also for helping bending notes. However, I found it a bit difficult to remain my thumb in the front side of the fretboard. My thumb tends to move to the backside of the neck, especially when I have to bend the notes far. It seems like I can bend the notes much further only when my thumb is at the back of the neck. The fat neck seems to stop my small hands from bending far when I squeeze with my thumb in the front, and there's no more space left, but the note still haven't reach far enough if you know what I mean...

I'm using a "Fender 57 Reissue Stratocaster Made In Japan Since 1993" 's 7.25" Radius C Shape Fat Maple neck. I'm wondering:

1) Is changing to another neck radius / neck profile going make playing easier? Usually is there a specific neck radius / neck profile that a guitarist with smaller hands would prefer more? Or is it totally personal preference?

2) Is there any advantage for smaller hands guitar players?

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jimmy- i can't tell you about neck sizes- there are people on this forum who can tell you way more about this, and i'm sure they will

i too have small hands. they can be a blessing and a curse, and not just in guitar playing i can't really do the far stretch, and some chords are more difficult than others. however, when playing chords that are fingered closer together, you don't have the big digits getting in the way.

as far as lead playing, i think it has to do more with dexterity, which comes thru practice. playing a fifth fret "a" note is probably going to sound the same regardless of finger size, but it is how you put all the notes tgether that really matters

good luck

hi jimmy , i to have small hands and i might have problems doing big styretches but you work with what you got and adjust you'r playing style to suit mate, also the neck on you'r strat is perfect for small hands , i prefer my mij 57 reis neck to the one on my 94 usa strat , and as for the thumb over i just use it for playing notes on the low E string a la Hendrix , sort out your strumming hand to prevent un wanted noise , practice and practice some more makes perfect cheers
Alan

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To answer your first question, yes, there are differences that make playing certain things easier. But it's universal, not just to people with smaller hands. A flatter radius (9.5" or flatter, like Gibson's 12") will make bending easier, as will larger frets. SRV preferred larger frets (and he had a flatter board due to wear and the number of refrets he had), and he had giant hands.

For your second question, I can't really think of any advantages but the disadvantages aren't as great as you might think. I can get my hand around a neck with the thumb over the fingerboard grip and bend and I'm a 5' 2" girl. I don't play like that all the time, sometimes my thumb drops back for chords and such but I don't really think about it anymore. It took some adjusting at first to get used to playing those big bends like that, but it was absolutely 100% worth doing. Once you can bend more with your wrist and with your thumb there supporting your hand it makes it way easier. I find bending with my thumb behind the neck almost impossible to do while making it sound good and hitting the right pitch now. And you don't have to get your entire first knuckle of your thumb over the board like some people do either. You don't have to over do it for it to work.

So don't be discouraged about how big or small your hands are, because in the end you work around it and won't notice anymore.

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Start out with chromatic scales up and down the board, simple chords up and down the board, scales and such in all shapes...up and down the board. Work on the areas where stretching is an issue...do it slowly over and over and over until the stretch spots are as easy as the scrunch spots (scrunch spots usually need lots of work too), then keep building up speed. Play around with stretches. Rest your hand when you got to.

When I do all that, I can stretch anywhere around the guitar.

Also, ease the tension and lower the action until you can handle higher tension and higher action.

Tonight I played on a guitar that I setup last week. When the strings fully stretched in, woe, I played until my hand wouldn't move...then, I relieved the tension on the neck and played the crap out of the guitar! But, if I tried playing the that much tension a few years ago...no way, not enough muscle development, I'd have broken down quickly. But, I do that like a runner does sprints for muscle development.

It's quite a chore.

You'll run into stretches you just can't do with small hands and scrunches you can't do with huge hands.

You'll have to climb the mountain if you want to ski down the hill of guitar playing and show everybody how good you are -- it ain't just gonna happen. Ask Steve Howe. He said..."everybody picks up the guitar thinking they'll just play." He works just as hard as every other player who plays!

Some stretches and scrunches take years to develop, so don't give up on the hard spots, you'll be missing out on some slick licks!

...I know tomorrow my forearms are gonna be sore until I warm up!

...my roommate loves my massages..."you got strong, strong hands." So, there's some perks in there too!

Take heed: Stay away from string gauges and neck adjustments and string heights that make your wrists sting...you'll end up getting surgery if you persist through the stinging. Many times I pushed it too hard and couldn't play the next day, sometimes for a week or so. But man, when I come back rested, I go liquid quicker and longer each time I push the envelope!

Also, practice songs you want to perform until you can do them without looking...while being distracted...some songs, I don't remember playing now...I am immersed in them when I play them...but am watching myself play...sometimes thinking multiple other thoughts...listening to the radio, watching a TV program...without a mistake, purely robotic playing that I can then entertain on top of live!

oh, one more thing...guitarprincples.com, she teaches the guitarist how to play with perfect tension throughout the body so your fingers can do their jobs, check her out -- absolute first place any guitarist should go who needs help as she covers all issues, she's an amazing teacher with lots of books, vids, etc.!

Hi Jimmy: many people would tell you that playing with your thumb on the back of the neck is the "correct" way. Both shredding and classical guitar tend to require you to have the thumb plumb in the center of the back of the neck and your fingers raised high above the fretboard, reaching down to fret the notes. So stick with what you're doing, it's a good thing, not bad.

BTW: often when people reach round to the bottom E string with their thumb they are not muting but actually fretting it to get the root note in a chord. A lot of rock & roll is played that way. Take a look at what Hendrix's (very big) hands are doing, for example.

I also have small hands for a guy. Like TGS I can't think of much advantage and the fact is there's things I just can't do and other things I can do but which are tough. Decades ago I needed to be able to play Message in a Bottle. After much practice I finally could just about do the add9 chords fingered the way Andy Summers did them -

E - x
B - x
G - 8
D - 6
A - 4
E - x ... etc

- but by half way through the song the back of my hand would be screaming in pain and I'd need a night in hospital to recover from doing the whole number. So I invented a different way of playing the same chords:

E - x
B - 4
G - x
D - 6
A - 4
E - x ... and so on.

It works exactly as well and doesn't leave my left hand in spasm.

In other words, you just have to learn to work with what nature gave you. Think stuff through and it'll be fine.

Cheers - C

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Ooo - actually, perhaps I just have thought of an advantage. Because of the short reach of my smallish hands I'm sometimes using my pinky where other people would be using their third finger, or even their second. I've noticed I seem to be more nimble with my fourth finger than some players, which can only be because I use it more.

Gary Moore, for instance, almost never used his pinky. In fact, most of his fretting was done with just his first two fingers - which was a bit Django Reinhardt of him!

TGS, do you find you use all four fingers more than some other players?

Cheers - C

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I think we look at hand size backwards. Small hands are an aid, not a hindrance.
Is your index finger shorter than 2 inches? If no, then you're ok.

Think about it, that is about all you need on finger length. Conversely having massive sausage fingers is going to be a hindrance when it comes to any degree of accuracy.

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No no and no

It's much better to have big hands for playing guitar. Jimi Hendrix, Tal Farlow (who they nicknamed the spider because his hand was a like a gigantic spider moving over the fingerboard) SRV as well had huge hands. They aid in everything, strength, stretching, ability to fret two strings easily with the tip of one finger etc etc etc

That being said i have very small hands so struggle with a lot of those things.

Pat Metheny has really small hands too and look how good he is!!!!

You can be great even with small hands but it'll be easier for someone with big hands.

Lenny Breau had really small hands as well (according to Ted Greene) and look how incredible Lenny was.

But massive hands are a big advantage. Jimi Hendrix could fret the 5th string with his thumb easily leaving the other fingers free to do other things whereas us with smaller hands would need to finger it normally.

Bottom line: big hands are a definite advantage but you can still play great without them so don't let it discourage you.

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I agree with phreddybee.

I've watched my daughter, who has the smallest hands in the world,
execute some intricate feats on the fretboard,
especially when it comes to really tight chords whereas I (with normal sized hands/fingers) would otherwise fat-finger 'em.

She has a hard time stretching for some Fs, but wow, her tiny fretting hand looks like a tiny nimble spider running the length of the scale.

Actually come to think of it, I do find myself using my pinky quite a lot. For a lot of rock lead playing I actually find it more comfortable than using my third finger for a lot of licks.

The other thing I've found is that if your pointer finger and thumb are parallel to other other you can't reach all that far. Placing your thumb in the middle of you two farthest reaching fingers (like a bass player) gives you more reach. And actually, I might have just thought of another advantage to people with smaller hands. We have to adapt to using and switching between different styles of holding our left hands more than most people. Someone with larger hands might only use the three fingered, thumb over the board style. But we have to use that, plus switch between a classical style or other styles on the fly. We can't really just stick with one style for everything.

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I don't know if this is the best place to ask, but do you think a 10year old should start on a half or three-quarter size guitar, or a full size?
And if I can ask, how old is your daughter and what size guitar does she play?

I do believe Fender's thinnest profile was an A neck and you could also go short and get a Music Master.

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i started off with a musicmaster 3/4 size back in 1960. it is still a comfortable size to play. isn't the mustang a slightly smaller scale?

I started noticing famous players hands, and have since looked for them to check their size. In my scientific study I've noticed that the players seem to more than not have big hands, long fingers. My latest study, Joe Walsh. FWIW YMMV IMHO