Difficulty physically using a guitar?

Question

I really want to learn to play the guitar because I'd love to be able to play my favourite pieces of music. However, I have small hands for my height (6ft) which are smaller than most 5.5ft peoples hands, and my fingers especially are very small, unflexible and stubby. Also, my fingers are weird in that the tendons must be connected differently because I can't make a 'cowboy gun' shape with my hands by having two fingers forwards and two back, because the fingers next to my little fingers can't move much without the middle finger moving too. But, I can move my little finger down to touch my palm whilst keeping all 3 fingers completely up.
This makes it difficult to strum the guitar and to place pressure on the strings

help 
pls

? · Accepted Answer

Hello there,

It is not great to be blessed with short stubby fingers if you want to play the guitar. I know because I have them. But I have been playing since 1957, so it can be done.

Most beginners have trouble forming chord shapes at first. You are asking your fingers to bend into shapes they have never done before. It does take time to develop the coordination to do that. Time and regularly repeated practice.

Also, many beginners press the strings too hard. You don't need to embed the strings into the fretboard; you merely need to depress the strings enough that it makes contact with the frets. Depress a string at any fret and pluck only that string. Use as little pressure as needed to make the string ring clear. When you get the point of the least amount of pressure that the string will still ring clear, that is the amount of pressure you should be using.

If you really have problems with the reach of your fingers, check out the Fender/Squier Mustang and Jaguar. Those have a shorter scale length neck and are easily to play with small hands. If those 24 inch scale length necks still feel too large (frets too far apart), take a look at the Squier Duo Sonic. It has a 22 1/2 inch scale length.

Talk to you later,
Norm

Russell E · Answer

My middle finger is 2 1/2 inches.(If that) More like 2 3/8.

I play Fender guitars because the necks are the thinnest.  And they are comfortable to play.

all beginners have trouble at first separating finger movements and coordination to make chords.
And most chords only require about 1/3 flexibility in the joints.  Not even close to a "cowboy pistol" 

The right hand holds a pick in a pinch between index finger and thumb.  The other fingers can be fully extended if you wish. Usually they just hang loosely in a slight curve.

For an acoustic guitar, I recommend an Ovation guitar. Celebrity is their entry level brand.
They also have smaller necks and a comfortable neck for small handed players.

Little kids of 11-12 yrs old can play full sized acoustics, so you should be OK.

Just remember it doesn't happen overnight and it takes a while to play even the simplest chords.

Jake · Answer

get a strat. they have great sounds. although a rickenbacker would be good. the frets are small and easy to stretch

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Difficulty physically using a guitar?

3 Answers