Are my fingers too small?

[supermike]

I find it hard doing some chords, especially power chords involving barring most of a fret. Such as the B chord, or when you say have to do something like 446644
My hands may be too small because its very uncomfortable but even with small hands is it possible to master these chords?:confused:

[SteelSlider]

Hi SuperMike.

Here are two links that may help you.

http://www.cyberfret.com/chords/barre/index.htm

http://www.cyberfret.com/chords/power/index.htm

I've seen men and women with small hands rip up the fretboard of a guitar, just as well as someone with large hands. I'm sure they had to work a bit harder to do it though.
My hands are probably average, and I know I have to work a bit harder sometimes to master a few moves.
I guess the only time I ever played with small hands was in my pre and early teens. Somehow I managed. Perseverance and a little extra practice on those difficult postions come to mind. I remember using a chord book that showed different chord positions too. Some times I cheated.
I hope those links help you. Possibly someone else has small hands and can give you a bit of their experience and insight into what they do.
Keep checking back.

[cyberfret]

In my experience the one thing that causes 99% of all problems with power chords and barre chords is hand position. If your thumb is too high on the back of the neck, these chords will be nearly impossible....even with big hands. Bring your thumb down lower on the back of the neck. Also make an effort to separate your first finger from your 2nd finger. Separating these 2 fingers so that they are not touching will bring your fingers, and hand into a position that makes these chords easier.

Here is a lesson on basic left hand position.
http://www.cyberfret.com/first-fret/left-hand-position/index.htm


Good Luck
--Shawn

[supermike]

Thanks for the quick and helpful replies ;)
If anyone else has small hands and would like to give away tips ill be here ;)

Cheers

[jaytee]

hey.....
ok i have small hands.....and im a woman....so...prolly smaller than yours.....

when i bought my guitar i looked at the guy and held up my hand and i said "look at my hands! how will i ever handle this? they are too small!"
and....he laughed at me...
then he pointed to a 6 year old who was in the soundproof booth getting lessons and he said...."no...THOSE are small hands..."
then he told me really its kind of nice to have smaller hands....because your fingertips fit between the strings better....

and i thought..ok he has a point....and i bought my dreadnought (anything bigger would be a mistake for sure for me) and mostly found out i had to get used to the size of the body (umm i have a couple more obstacles than you....lol)...and work a little harder at certain stretches...but thats about it....

so i say.....youre prolly worrying too much....and you should concentrate more on form....

--jt

[AnUprightMan]

I've been playing for about six months and I have small hands as well. I have found it to be a matter of practice. I remember stretches on a lot of songs that I did not think were phyiscally possible. Now they seem easy. Just keep trying to reach them and I bet you will be get them.

[E-string]

Like jaytee, I'm also a woman... so my hands are probably smaller than yours, although I am blessed with longer-than-average fingers, which sometimes helps.

Shawn is right... hand positioning is very important. The proper hand positioning will fix most problems where the mechanics of are concerned... (and yes, I have to struggle with that one myself at times...)

I have played the guitar for only three years... but I've played keyboards and piano for about 30 years, and understandably, I am a far better keyboard player... but the keyboard is more limited in how I can play something sometimes... I remember recently I was trying and trying to stretch my right hand across to play four keys very far apart, while my left hand at the time was playing two, and I finally gave up and decided to let my left hand pick up the lowest note my right hand was supposed to play... Okay, it worked for me!

Now this is not really about barre chords, per se, what I'm about to say now... But the reason I bring that up is because the guitar seems more versatile in the sense that there is more than one way to play almost ANYTHING!!! (Having the same note in several places is a nice thing sometimes.) Everyone's hands are different, but there is almost always a way to play anything on a guitar, regardless of hand size and shape... On the keyboard, middle C is middle C is middle C. You play that one white key there for that one note, or you don't get middle C... LOL

So don't give up... Believe me, it is EXTREMELY rare to find a person who simply can't play because their hands aren't big enough. :)

[Zero]

I have just started electric guitar (I just bought it two days ago.) I have VERY big hands, especially for my age (I am 15.) To give an idea of just HOW big, I can easily palm a basketball, and have been able to for a long time. It makes it sound easiy to reach across the frets but it makes it hard to get my fingers to fit into some of the chord positions and I find that sometimes I almost have to bend my hand in half to reach some of the higher strings. (Especially D chords) What can I do that would help with this? I know I have to practice a lot, but it makes switching between chords difficult because my fingers tend to touch other strings. and mute them, for the opposite reason as small hands. I find that if I let my hands relax, they end up on, say, the third string instead of the first or second. Does anyone have or has anyone else ever had this problem, who could tell me some tips to deal with this?

Thanks,
Zero

[GuitarGuillermo]

The chord mentioned in the first post... 446644... how is that a B chord? That would be G#, C#, G#, C#, D#, and G#, assuming that you are in standard tuning. I'd call that a G#sus4, not a B.

[GuitarGuillermo]

Never mind, i just saw my own mistake. Anyway, i used to wonder if my hands were too small, but after a few months bar chords just started coming naturally to me and now i have no trouble at all with them. hang in there.

[disturbed_pyro]

I'm like Zero, big hands @ 15. I can stretch from pinky to index 1st to 6th fret. The problem is doing chords like an A. Instead of doing the 3 fingers, one finger each string, i use my ring and middle fingers to fret the notes, since three fingers wont fit. So I guess you can be thankful for small hands rather than big.;)