Your Hands Are NOT Too Small For Guitar

Alright Shredder, before we start, I have to be clear that this is a judgment-free zone. Everyone’s hands come in different shapes and sizes, and that’s totally okay. What you absolutely should NOT do is let that interfere with your playing. Or better yet, don’t let it interfere with what you think you’re capable of playing. I’m here to demonstrate that you can play anything you want regardless of your hand size. We’ll take into account different modifications you can use as well as how to use the fretboard layout to our advantage. In this lesson, I’m gonna show you how to play anything comfortably regardless of your hand size.

Alternative Movements

In the video, you see how I attempt to reduce the size of my hand the best I can for illustrative purposes.  This shows you how adaptations and modifications can take place to be successful as a guitarist regardless of your hand size.  I omit the use of my pinky, so that should be similar to having a fretting hand (excluding the thumb) that is about 25% smaller than what I’m used to.

Scales: Let's say you’re playing an F major scale, and you have to stretch from fret 1 to fret 5.  In this case, the stretch is uncomfortable and difficult to play cleanly if I have small hands (or if I’m omitting the use of my pinky).  Instead of keeping a stationary hand, I can move my wrist back and forth to make up for the discomfort and to play each note cleanly.   

Chords: When it comes to chords, your success in playing them has more to do with your fine motor strength than the size of your hands.  However, you can use different fingerings to play a chord other than what might be presented to you.  For example, you can play a Bb chord by using all your fingers with a stretch between your index and middle fingers.  You could also play the same chord by barring the notes on the D, G, and B strings with your ring finger.  One way may be easier for you depending on the size of your hands.

Understanding The Fretboard Layout

Let’s take a look at the fretboard layout to see how we can use its design to our advantage. The distance between one fret to another is a half step or a semitone.

It’s most likely that you’ll be playing in standard tuning where most of the strings are tuned to intervals of fourths. For example, the notes on the low E to the A string are 4 scale degrees apart. This is good for us to know because when playing a scale, chord, or melody, we would only need to stretch our fingers so far before we have another string to pick a note from.

The only exception to the standard tuning intervals rule of fourths occurs between the G and B strings. The interval between those two strings is a major third.

Play The Same Notes In Different Positions

Let’s say we want to play a G Major arpeggio (G, B, D) that uses a G note on the 3rd fret of the low E string followed by a B and a D note. We could grab the B note on the 7th fret of the low E string, then the D note on the 10th fret of the low E string. Unless you’re a more experienced player and you choose to tap the D note, this option is inefficient and takes more time to move your hand and fingers between each note.

You could instead play fret 3 of the low E string, fret 7 of the low e string, then fret 5 of the A string. In this instance, our fingers take up a distance of 5 frets as opposed to 8 which is much more efficient. 

But let’s take it a step further...

Let’s play the G note with our middle finger, but instead of playing the B note on the low E string, we can play it on the 2nd fret of the A string. We have even more choices with how we decide to play the D note. We can play the D note on the 5th fret of the A string and reduce the distance our fingers travel down to 4 frets. The other option is to shorten the distance even more by playing the open D string. In this case, the same exact notes of our G major arpeggio can be played with our fingers traveling a distance of 2 frets, 4 frets, 5 frets, or even 8 frets! 

Which way do you think is most efficient?

Conclusion

We don’t need to have hands the size of Paul Gilbert’s to shred. As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to guitar playing. There certainly isn’t a right or wrong way to play, especially since the same notes appear in multiple places on the fretboard. You can overcome painful finger stretching and discomfort by using efficient movement patterns, implementing effective modifications, and using the fretboard to your advantage. Put the principles I’ve demonstrated into practice, and you’ll have a much more comfortable time playing the guitar.

Watch the full lesson here: Your Hands Are NOT Too Small For Guitar