Do Small or Big Hands Matter For Guitar Players?

Not sure if you're cut out for guitar because of your hand size? Watch this video and find out the TRUTH about hand size and how it affects your guitar playing ability.

[anthonylukins]

As a bass player I always loved my big hands, but for a couple of years I've been focusing entirely on guitar. I have questioned my potential because of my hand size. I appreciate what you said. Thanks for the good vibes.

[xPowerShotx]

Every limitations begins in the head, not the hands. So first, get rid
of the limitation in the head, and I am sure everything else will be
managed just fine :)

Important stuff in the video. I think hand size is greatly over emphasized by some people, including me sometimes, I have small hands. But then as the video mentions; what about this little kids from south chorea that nearly fit behind the big guitar, and other great super players with small hands, to big hands etc. They make it, and they are very good to.

And what about Jimy Hendrix. No one can possible have bigger hands than him. But he then played on a Fender Strat. But have you seen his hand, it's almost as big as the Fender body, and that's no kidding. He had super big hands!

I don't think great player are just the one with big hands, or perfect fit hands. There are things you can do like get a guitar more suited for your hands, but I don't think that's the ultimate must do solution to be a great player.

If that was the case, what about the little boys playing on this big guitar with tiny tiny small hands.

So, again back to: Every limitations begins in the head, not the hands. So first, get rid
of the limitation in the head, and I am sure everything else will be
managed just fine ;)

[ericaltman]

I shouldn't be tearing up right now but... I needed to hear this. I have years of pent up doubts that I'd ever really be able to play. I'm looking at buying a guitar and I have small, strong, but not particularly agile hands/fingers. The doubt and fear has been standing in the way of a dream for way too long.

[OldSkoolLegend]

I have small hands... and the difficulty i face is REACHING TO MUTE the low E and A string with my thumb while strumming. 41mm is the narrowest nut width you can find. I wish i could try something as narrow as possible without sacrificing string spacing.

[mstevenchapman]

Yeah but... I bought an Ibanez acoustic 20 years ago and practiced. Years later an actor on set brought his Gibson and I started plucking away at it during downtime. It felt amazing in my hands, and I realized the Neck was fatter than my own. So... yes with practice you can play whatever, but does that negate the need if you have the resources to find a guitar that you can play comfortably and enjoy the process?

[edwardcrooke]

Try a big Lou electric guitar I have bigger hands and it made a huge positive difference Instead of killing my self trying to get my fingers to work my fender strat to learn a riff I now learn riffs in minutes rather than days and am able to move on to new material rather than struggling to learn the same riff over and over

[Tennisers]

it is a limiting factor for pieces that require extremely wide stretches

[willemnoppen]

Good explanation. I have big hands. I pick up a basketball from the top with one hand. I started on a hollowbody with a small neck. I muted the string under or above the string i wanted to play. When i started i did not now and care. After a while i heard the mistakes i made. I had no cafs on the top of my fingers. So i got frustrated. I had a strat build with a nut width of 52mm by Vox Humana. Best choice i ever made. I had room to make mistakes. No more stringmuting. Love it. My playing improved fast. I now play an acoustic 12 steel string but with 6 strings. Top nut 46mm. I cant get used to these small necks. Believe me i have tried endlessly. I dont want to play fully concentrated, i want to play relaxed. Bit of room that if I miss my note i can correct fast. It is funny. Every guitarplayer plays with great pleasure on my (twelve) 6 string acoustic. My strat is only for me. Untoucheble for everyone. So for all the guys with the giant size hands. By a twelve string and ditch 6 strings. You want elektrick. Threat yourself with a larger topnut. 46mm Is good enough for me. Choose max string spacing on the nut. Just an another opinion.

[gvtshorts]

A good guitar salesman will first ask to look at your hands when buying a new guitar and recommend models with a suitable neck. I went in wanting a tele or a les paul studio and he immediately said tele after looking at my hands. I tried the les paul and the neck was playable, but it was indeed a bit too big for comfort

[deniskundrat]

In my experience what matters with my large digits and I want to play acoustic, classic and electric guitar ocassionally is that similar nut width for all your guitars matters. I might be able to play narrow neck guitar if I played only that. But when it comes to switching guitars, than muscle memory might not allow you to make a smooth transition. I've got classic guitar with 48mm nut, Harley benton acoustic 48mm nut, and, electric made from 12 string kit with 48mm nut. I find it easy to pick up any of these guitars and play them equally well due to not a lot of difference in placing my fingers without looking. In any case, I found 48mm nut to be perfect for my purposes. The difficulty arrises only when I want to buy a new guitar, but allas, standard sizes prevail in the market. Only quite expensive guitars have wider nut width. The least I would be comfortable is no less than 44.5mm nut width, but that again, only few manufacturers will make, not to speak about guitar body/pickup choice. But remember! Large digits will not fit in to normal chord shapes. And this is a key to consider when making choices. Thanks

[WolfsBlood]

I have an incredibly small hand for an adult. My middle finger is only 2
1/2 " long. I've tried many times to play the guitar but I just simply
couldn't do it. I became a drummer instead. Played for years in bands. I
really wanna try the guitar again but I know with fingers this short it
will be exceptionally difficult.

[OEDODRAGON]

This didn't give me the answer I was looking for.

[TheWisendorf]

You are the teacher but I disagree. Sure you can do it but why should anyone want to put all this extra time .energy, effort in learning work arounds. etc Don't students have it hard enough learning to play with out all the additional crap. When you bought your guitar was neck size not important to you. Not going to bother cramming my 9 inch foot into an 8 inch shoe.. Sure I could probably do it .But how do you think it would feel/ I see no good reason to do this.

[mrtweetybirdyt]

Please Play The Petender by the Foo Fighters

[TelecasterLPGTop]

Why put yourself through that, why not choose an instrument that suits your hands?

[ZdenkoJones]

My hand is like like an octopuss from palm down to top 13 inches. From thumb left right 8 inches. They dont make guitars for me

[TheWisendorf]

One more comment, sorta off subject .But many area in the country have lost there local music shops due to the internet buying.. None near me. You think when you buy that it will be a good fit for you. but you just don't really know till you get it . We get sold on the hype or the great sound as a world class player demonstrates it..

[ToTheMaxGaming]

But then again, Hendrix had massive hands

[mustardtiger]

wrong answer dont listen to him is a person with size 12 feet going to make a size 9 work ? stop giving advice is my advice

[eillcool]

my hands are big and my guitar teacher told me that Electric guitar didn't looks good in my hands