Hand and finger size

by Nick P
(Rochester, New York)

For a male, my hands seem to be on the small size. Especially, the fourth finger is a whole inch smaller than the third.

This makes for some difficult and sometimes impossible stretches for the left hand. I was wondering how other people compensate for this problem.

It also makes it difficult when the fingering calls for the fourth and third, or fourth and second fingers in order to make the next chord/note change easily attainable, but I need to go with the fourth and first.


(I am so envious of the long fingered players)

Hi Nick,

I understand your problem because I think I'm a lot like you. My hands are also on the "smallish" side.

Over the years I have slowly developed the ability to stretch my left hand to reach most difficult stretches (for example in bar 15 of the Bach Prelude in D Minor) although, with smaller fingers there are of course limits.

I haven't had to do this but have you considered getting a smaller guitar, say, a 5/8 or 3/4 one?

Often you can get a guitar this size with the quality and tone color of a full-sized one. An added advantage is that it could also be less expensive to buy.

I hope this has been of some help.

Kind regards,
Trevor M.