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small hands – I can’t reach!!
Brand new here and to guitar. I have very small hands. I can’t reach the ring finger to the fourth fret when my index is on the second fret. Can I just use my pinky instead or is that going to mess me up down the road.
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6 Replies
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@karlawehling There is no definitive way to determine which finger to use. I would subscribe to the any way that works approach. For example, I have a partial amputation on my pinky. As such sometimes I slide the 3rd finger over. Also, since the same note gets repeated on the fretboard, the same note/chord on another location might suffice. There are also stretching exercises you could/should do. Yet one more option, if your guitar fretboard meets the body at the 14th fret, try one that meets at the 12th fret. That would marginally reduce the distance between frets.
It is not a big enough problem to give up altogether.
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Jeff – thank you so much for your quick reply – I truly appreciate it! I didn’t even think about stretching exercises to help with that – I will definitely give that a try! Great options!
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@karlawehling hi and welcome to guitar geekdom!! That was some great advice from @JeffM.22 and might I add another tip, that is to use your capo maybe on the 3rd or 4th fret. That will also have the same effect of making those frets smaller and you might be able to reach more easily. Once you can do it with capo 4th fret easily, try it with capo 3rd fret, keep moving the capo down until you don’t need it any more.
I agree that any method you use that results in you playing something is the right way for you. Everyone has different abilities and limitations so find the way that works best for you. Best wishes, C
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Carol – What a great idea! Thank you! I am getting some great advice here and I truly appreciate it!!! I think that using these tips and ideas along with maybe some finger strengthening I will be well on my way! Thank you for taking the time to help me!!!
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I started using some hand stretching exercises on YouTube.
One was Essential Hand Stretches For Guitarists or Any Instrumentalist. That one is easy to do, and it seems to work well.
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This reply was modified 10 months, 1 week ago by ProbablyBryan.
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This reply was modified 10 months, 1 week ago by
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Practice, stretches and time will help…. watching tiny kids with tiny hands play full size classical guitars and flying over the fretboard like they own it gave me hope that one day my small fingers will get more agile… 😉.
good luck and happy playing 🙂
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