Short, Fat, Fingers

I have fairly short, stumpy fingers and am having an extremely difficult time properly fingering many chords. In many cases, I am not sure that it is possible in the physical universe I occupy. Is it possible that my hands are just not capable of doing much of this or am I just getting frustrated too early?

Any advice is much appreciated.

when i started guitar my hands were small and it seems the more i used them the more they wanted to grow. you have to keep trying chords and stuff till your fingers can stretch and spread evenly. naturally.

Just keep exercising those fingers. Whenever you've got a spare moment, pick up your guitar and do a bit of a workout with the techniques that you find most difficult - barre chords, double-stops, scales, whatever is challenging you. Even if performing one of these techniques necessitates you contorting your fretting hand into some excruciatingly uncomfortable position, do so! Practice that position until it doesn't hurt any more! :D

The key is, persist, and before you know it, your fingers will be lean, mean fretting machines.

you might find that there are different voicings of the chord you want to play that better fit the shape of your fingers. a voicing is when u keep the notes the same but change were they are played. in a normall majour chord there are three notes (although they may be several octaves of the same note). an example of this is open G and a g chord made from a barre chord at the third fret have different voicings, and therefore shapes, but are the same chord.

I agree with the last 2 posts that were made...since the guitar neck repeats itself...there are so many options when it comes to chord fingerings. Some are a lot easier than others. When working with your muscles in your hand...be sure to go slow, and definitely stop and stretch your hand when you feel any type of pain. DO NOT continue if it persists. Give your hand a break. Eventually, "muscle memory" will form, and you'll eventually won't have to think about it anymore. It'll get a lot easier. Not all of our fingers are exactly like Vai's...lol

~*Krystle*~

Don't sweat it man. Just cause you have shorter fingers doesn't mean you can't find other ways to finger chords.

This is slighly off topic but when I first started playing guitar, my pinky would shoot straight out no matter how hard I tried to keep it close to the strings.
Even now it does the same thing. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't play fast shredding leads cause my little finger wouldn't come down fast enough.
Over the years though, I learned alternate ways of compensating for it.
I learned to tap... use tons of pull offs and hammer ons, etc etc...
now... you couldn't tell the difference. Plus you develop your own style of playing.

Just learn new ways of fingering chords. Learn how to mute strings that you can't play etc... Eventually you'll develop your own way of doing things.

Originally Posted by: schmangeDon't sweat it man. Just cause you have shorter fingers doesn't mean you can't find other ways to finger chords.

This is slighly off topic but when I first started playing guitar, my pinky would shoot straight out no matter how hard I tried to keep it close to the strings.
Even now it does the same thing. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't play fast shredding leads cause my little finger wouldn't come down fast enough.
Over the years though, I learned alternate ways of compensating for it.
I learned to tap... use tons of pull offs and hammer ons, etc etc...
now... you couldn't tell the difference. Plus you develop your own style of playing.

Just learn new ways of fingering chords. Learn how to mute strings that you can't play etc... Eventually you'll develop your own way of doing things.

thats exactly how i am. i wanna cut my pinkie or tie it down to the neck... and yea your advice is the same thing i'd give. also since i started playing, my fingers grew so just keep playing and your fingers will grow... to adapt to the stuff you try to do.

Yes, don't get discouraged. You can definitely learn to do it with time and practice. Follow everyone's advice.

Mike.

this guy does not have lengthy digits......and i heard he can play pretty good ;)

Another thing you might want to consider is that guitars all are different. Some are wider at the nut than others which gives you a little wider string spacing. This is one reason I chose a Jackson, they have a nice wide string spacing. I have big hands and find that tighter string spacing on some guitars makes it very difficult to play them. Also, consider the scale length when buying a guitar. It can make a huge difference as well.

Originally Posted by: free2bfree420Another thing you might want to consider is that guitars all are different. Some are wider at the nut than others which gives you a little wider string spacing. This is one reason I chose a Jackson, they have a nice wide string spacing. I have big hands and find that tighter string spacing on some guitars makes it very difficult to play them. Also, consider the scale length when buying a guitar. It can make a huge difference as well.

if you have small hands go for the smaller scale length. les pauls have a scale length alot shorter than stratocasters. that makes it easier to reach frets 7 spaces apart.. like frets 15-22.. but their strings are less tense than a stratocaster.. that cam be a good or a bad thing.

neck shape also influences your ability to reach frets.