New guitar, new player - small hands

Hi
I've been playing around on my little brothers guitar for ages and have finally saved up enought to get my own second hand guitar.

All I do is mess about trying to mimic bits from the radio - which is probably a bit sad, but nevermind, but I've looked on lots of chors sites and I can't seem to get my fingers around loads of the chords - I have fairly small hands, but I really want to be able to play! Any ideas?

I love U2, The Stereophonics, and anything from Radiohead to Queen to The Boomtown Rats and just really want to play!

How can I learn to play when I can't even hold the guitar properly!???!
Thanx Rach

:) I have small hands too, so I understand where you're coming from. It really isn't that big of an obstacle, once you get used to playing you'll be able to reach further and have higher flexibility. I think every size hand has its obstacles (from teaching I've observed this). I mean you could have really fat fingers, and I honestly think that is one of the worst hand shapes for guitar.

Good luck to you, and stick with it.

Trying to mimic what you hear on the radio is a great way to develop your ear. Nothing at all wrong with that....

I have really small hands also, and it does make some chords harder for me to get. I'm more of a single note player, just kind of turned out that way b/c I had the same problem with the hands. Small hands make it harder to fret some chords. I bought a 7 string a few years ago and eventually sold it b/c the neck was too wide for me.

My whole point is to not let the small hands keep you from playing the guitar. It never stopped me.....

There's a company called Daisy Rock Guitars that makes guitars for smaller handed folks. (ok, it is marketed a little more heavily to the female gender).
But I read a great review on these guitars in "Guitar World" (July 2005).
Check 'em out here: http://www.daisyrock.com/
:)

Originally Posted by: iiholly:) I have small hands too, so I understand where you're coming from. It really isn't that big of an obstacle, once you get used to playing you'll be able to reach further and have higher flexibility. I think every size hand has its obstacles (from teaching I've observed this). I mean you could have really fat fingers, and I honestly think that is one of the worst hand shapes for guitar.

Good luck to you, and stick with it.

Meh...Stevie Ray Vaughn had HUGE fingers.

Originally Posted by: AkiraSmall hands aren't a problem, there's bound to be a guitar neck to suit your needs. Maybe an Ibanez with the wizard neck would suit your needs more; their necks are super thin. Try before you buy though, Ibanez is the the guitar equivilant of Marmite.

The hell is Marmite?

My Music Man is great for smaller hands.

Originally Posted by: Akira Maybe an Ibanez with the wizard neck would suit your needs more; their necks are super thin. Try before you buy though, Ibanez is the the guitar equivilant of Marmite.

i agree, ibanez has some reaaaal thin necks. but me personally, i dont like mine very thin.... i guess cuz i have big hands.

go to a music store and look thru a bunch of guitars till you find one that suits you... that what i did for my first.

Originally Posted by: AkiraOhhhh right, didn't realise Marmite wasn't about in the states. Marmite is some spread stuff that you put in sandwiches, or on toast etc.

Piccy:



People either love the taste, or hate it. This was picked up upon and made part of the Marmite advertising campain. In the advert there woud be people who hate it and who love it, and funny things would happen around it. Then something like "Marmite, you either love it... or you hate it" would come up on screen.

And with Ibanez guitars it seems that people either love or hate them.

I love Ibanez, but hate Marmite, yuck.

[font=trebuchet ms]Would this be something like that Oz 'delicacy' Vegemite?[/font]

Having small hand isn't a problem!!
I've seen guitarist with 2 or 3 fingers play faster than Malmsteen!!
Just do streching excersises and try to keep your hands at shape!!
So yo need to do them everyday!Be carefull not to hurt yourself!!when your hand feel like being tired you have to stop playing for a while!!then start again but always try not to "overwork" your hand!!!!you can make it!!c yaaaa!