Originally Posted by: Finger Pickin Good

I recently started practicing electric guitar and I have (very) small hands.

When trying the 'Spider Legs exercize' the muscles in my hand hurt quite bit around the connection between my thumb and my wrist, and the other side of my wrist.[/quote][p]Some of that might be just normal building strength & dexterity. But like other members have correctly posted, don't hurt yourself! Stop if you feel continuous pain or discomfort.

It sounds like you might benefit from better technique which I will address as I answer the parts of your post.

[quote=Finger Pickin Good]

I have to use my right hand to place my fingers on the strings and even then I can press down the first and the second fret at about the right location, but I can only reach the third fret at the beginning / half.

[p]It's not necessary to hold on to lower notes as you play higher notes. In fact it will become an invaluable skill to learn to slightly adjust your hand position in order to accomodate for this technique.

I also have relatively small hands. I have to anchor my thumb and use it as a pivot on some wide stretches. I have to move slightly from position to position as needed to make up for this.

It's also important to relax. Beginners often sqeeze too hard when fretting notes. At first it's necessary just to get notes to sound! But gradually as your finger strength & calluses build you should make a conscious effort to relax and back off on the amount of pressure required to fret any note.

Fretting any note only requires a certain amount of pressure. Any more is wasted effort that will actually hinder your dexterity in getting to the next note on time. It will also cause finger pain & fatigue which in turn affects your endurance making it hard to play for very long.

With all that in mind, try this.

Play the 1st fret with your index finger. Then as you play the 2nd fret with your middle finger, relax your index finger pressure. Don't move it too much, maintain light contact with the string, just release pressure.

As you start to place your ring finger on the 3rd fret release the middle finger pressure. If necessary slightly slide your hand position up. This might mean that your index finger slides up the string past the 1st fret. That's okay. Just make sure it maintains light contact with the string. That way you don't have to move it as much when you get back down to using it.

Same thing with your pinky on the 4th fret. The lower fingers release pressure but still maintain light contact with the string. Slide them up if necessary.

Reverse the pocess on the way down.

Make sure you are creating a good, solid tone on the current note, while using just enough pressure, and minimizing your motions to move through the exercise.

Hope that helps!