Originally Posted by: excexeit's hard for me to do this:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/excexe/guitartricks/DSC00707.jpg

You wouldn't want to play like that; that's just bad technique.

The way to finger most notes when you play is to have a kind of pinching action with your finger and thumb. You palm shouldn't touch the back of the neck. You don't want to be supporting the weight of the neck with your left hand, either. Most of the time your thumb should point roughly towards the ceiling. This is the correct technique for playing most chords as well.

There are exceptions, of course. You can really do it any way you choose, but these are the classically-taught, most efficient ways to play. However, if you are bending notes, you'll want your thumb hooked over the neck. Also, there are some chords formed by using the thumb to fret the low note(s). Sometimes it's more comfortable to have the thumb resting over the neck a bit when playing open chords. It's no big deal, you can do it either way.

By the way, I have small hands too. My longest finger is only just over 3 1/4 inches long. And I hate the trend of modern necks to be big. It used to be that if you had small hands then you played Fenders, because the necks were small, and if you had big hands you played a Les Paul or something, but now they're all much the same. Older Strats and nearly any Telecaster have fairly narrow necks and you will find it easier to play on a small neck.