Hands too small for the fretboard of my guitar?

Question:

Hands too small for the fretboard of my guitar?

I can barely reach and execute certain chords. What can I do?

[I have a 38" acoustic currently]

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: im not sure if there is such a thing as having hands that are too small for their guitars fingerboard

but if so, maybe its just that you not acustom to playing with acoustic b/c acoustic guitars have slightly thicker and shorter fingerboards.

so i suggest that you practice using grips to stretch you finger, hand and wrist muscles so that you don't have to put so much strain on you hands.

i think it just takes practice, when i was starting out, ithought that i coudnt do it b/c i felt the same way.

just practice.

itll take a while, but if you really practice, it will help
=]

plus when i started out, i seriously didnt think i could reach chords that had my fingers on frets 3 spaces apart!
but now i can.

all it is is time, practice and a little exercise[i know, i ronic]

lmao
hope this helps. just buy a half size gitbox Basically, you have two choices.You can practise stretching for the chords, but if you really can't reach them, go t toyur local music shop and try out a rew smaller ones, or at least ones with narrower necks. You could even consider a travel guitar.Martin make a good one, or for a cheaper option, Vintage do a nice one too. Hope this helps. It may not be the size of the guitar so much as the width of the neck. You do not mention what style of guitar you play, but if you have a nylon string classical, the neck may be a little too wide for your fingers. Try a thinner neck, more like a steel string guitar would have on it. Some of the ovation classical style guitars have nice thin necks that facilitate this type of playing.

On the other hand, thumb placement has a lot to do with this as well. If your thumb is pointing up toward the peg box, or hanging up above the fingerboard, you are robbing your fingers of valuable space. Try putting your thumb right at the arch of the curve of the neck and see if that doesn't ease some of your finger trouble. I have my students place their fingers straight across the neck from the first joint where the finger connects to the palm. Then I have them spread their fingers until each finger fills in the space of one fret (actually, the little box behind the fret. Never put your fingers directly on top of the frets. It will give you a dull sound and may bruise your fingers) Then I have my students slowly raise their fingers until they form a perfect arch over the strings. When they play perfectly perpendicular to the fingerboard (straight across) with a good tunnel (or arch) even my fifth graders can pretty much reach any note or chord they want.

That brings us to the last thing to check. Are your fingers perfectly perpendicular to the fingerboard, or do you play at an angle? If your fingers are pointing down towards the soundhole, you are wasting valuable inches. Angle your guitar up and out a bit so it is comfortable to reach straight across and you will discover that your fingers are longer than you ever thought they were. I usually have to go over this one on one with about a fifth of my students, but once they get the hang of it they start blossoming like hummingbirds.

If all else fails, take a look at some of the parlor sized, three quarter size and even half sized guitars that they specifically make for people with shorter fingers and smaller hands. If it frees you up to play the music you need to play, size should never be an obstacle. . Yamaha makes some excellent smaller guitars. I have an FG75 that I have played for years and love to death. It is certainly not one of those dreadnoughts that some people prize, but it has a sweet sound and is very versatile. Best of luck no matter whaqt you decide and I hope my rather long winded reply is of some benefit to you.