Small hands and B

Hi Guys,

I'm new to guitar and to this site. Completely self taught, only been at it for a few months. I can play a few pretty simple songs so far and I've learned a few chords.

I am currently trying to learn B chord but it seems my hands are not big enough?

Just doesn't seem like my fingers can stretch far enough to do this chord?

I can't seem to get my first finger to reach the 5th string second fret while keeping my 2nd, 3rd, 4th fingers are on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings 4th fret.

It just doesn't seem like my fingers are long enough?

Are there any exercises I can do to increase flexibility, strength, dexterity in my hands?

Or are people with small hands just not capable of playing some chords?

Any suggestions or advice?

that's how i was taught to play B when I first was learning, and I really hated it. your hand gets so scrunched, and it's horribly uncomfortable.

what I would do is start working on barring chords. for example, instead of playing
-----
--1--
-----
--2--
--3--
-----
for C, try playing
e --3-- (optional)
B --5--
G --5--
D --5--
A --3--
E --x--

to play this you would use your index finger to play the notes on the 3rd fret and "bar" your pinky on the 5th fret. it'll be pretty uncomfortable at first and will take some time to build up strength in your pinky.
whatever note you play on the A string is the base of the chord. in this case, you're on the 3rd fret, so you're playing a C chord. in order to play a B chord, you would just move it back 1 fret. it should look like this:
--2-- (optional)
--4--
--4--
--4--
--2--
--x--

like I said, it'll take some time getting used to playing like this, but it's pretty essential when you get further down the line with playing

Hi there Tea,

B is a bear. My advice would be to work up to it, with strengthening, and also to explore some alternative voicings of the chord which may work in some contexts. Perhaps the easiest B that works to replace a B Major in some contexts is a B7 chord. Try the non-bar-chord version.

I have couple of tutorials that might be helpful for you. The first is a set of finger warm-ups and strengenthing exercies. Here is a link to that tutorial: http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=424

The second is a series on Open Bar chords, which offers some alternatives to a straight-up B Bar chord, which may work in some contexts if you like the unusual harmonies brought in by the fact of the chord being "open". Check out the tutorial and you'll see what I mean. Here's a link:
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=432

Good luck and have fun! - Lisa McCormick

There's also a little cheat you can use with barre chords if you find them difficult to play. This works well mostly on A and B chords but you can move up and down the fretboard and play just about any major chord.
The trick here is to lift your fretting hand slightly so that the first two strings are playing open at all times. Instead of a B chord, you'll get a Badd11 chord, but in quite a few songs it actually adds to the flavor of the tune your playing.

http://guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=1583

Another advantage of this little trick is you can leave the 1st and 2nd string ringing on at all times so that it sounds like all your chords are flowing together.

Thanks for the advice guys :)

Got the spider drill down, thanks Lisa, still can't seem to get the fingers to reach on that B chord but working on it. lol
Will give those alternatives to a straight-up B Bar chord a try.

Thanks again everybody for your quick and helpfull response.

The reason a lot of guitarists have difficulty 'reaching' chords is that they are pressing way too hard with the left hand. Remeber, you are not pressing down the strings onto the frets like buttons. The only function of the left hand is to shorten the strings. I would suggest lightening up your touch a bit: Try this to prove my point: Press down a string onto a fret with all of your might....Play a note. Now try the same thing again, but this time just barely press down... just enough to hold the string onto the fret, keep the finger right behind the fret, not towards the middle..... play a note... It is exactly the same sound. So why play harder, you are just wasting energy. Once you get this down, even with small hands, you should be able to reach and play any chord with ease. For that chord, you don't need a stretch, but your hands are way too tense, that is why you think that they need streching. Again, try just lightening up your touch a bit. Hope that helps!