The Guitar Player's Resource
"I have problems with the size of my hands. Should I quit electric guitar?"
There is a preconception that you need to have long and slender fingers to be able to play the guitar properly. This is not true and absolutely not necessary! Each hand/finger shape and size has its own strong and weak points, so there are advantages as well as some disadvantages to having either big or small hands.
Honestly, when it comes to playing the guitar, there is no significant competitive advantage to having any kind of specific size fingers or shape.
Long fingers have the ability to reach further down the neck — since they are longer. However, they also tend to have less mechanical strength in their stretched position. If you are playing classical guitar, longer fingers do help, since they make it easier to curve your wrist in a way that lets the rest of the strings vibrate sympathetically.
This is not the case with the electric guitar, where you need to mute the rest of the strings when playing to avoid extraneous noise. And guess what? This happens way more easily if you have short hands and a little chubbier fingers. Besides the fact that you can mute the strings easily, short hands tend to have more strength and even more stability. Take as an example Michael Romeo from Symphony X or Shawn Lane. They are excellent proof that small hands do not matter when it comes to virtuosity.
What I would suggest is that you should not worry about having small or big hands. The size of the hands does not make an appreciable difference. Unless you are somewhere in the absolute extreme, where your hands are really big like a giant, or really small like a child's hands, in any other case it does not matter.
I hope this was helpful. You can watch the video below, where I explain this topic in more detail. If you're interested in developing your guitar skills and reaching your music goals, please check the different Elite Guitar Coaching Academy packages and how you can get private coaching from me.
Ioannis Anastassakis is a guitarist from Greece who has produced recordings in a variety of moods and styles, including flamenco and fusion.
His CD is entitled "Suspension Of Disbelief", his long-awaited rock/fusion instrumental album.
