# Can the Size of Someone's Hands Inhibit Their Ability to Play Guitar?



## Mark Lykkos (Jul 26, 2017)

Hi everyone! This is probably the dumbest question ever for this forum (even though "any question is good here" LOL) but I've been making very slow progress on acoustic guitar for probably five years, and I keep having the thought that what if my hands are too small for playing guitar? 

I'm hoping that maybe I just need to stretch them more and eventually things will fall into place, but I don't wanna be fighting biology. 

Is the "hands too small" thing just a myth or is there some merit to it? I'd really like to play acoustic with some proficiency. Thanks everyone!


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## synrgy (Jul 26, 2017)

To a certain extent, it _can_ matter, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it _does_ matter.

_Do _be careful about 'fighting biology'. I lost roughly 40% of my left hand's usability somewhere between my late 20's and early 30's due to severe cubital tunnel syndrome. As such, I can't stress enough that you'll want to take care of your hands. I did a lot of stretching when I was younger and playing all the time, based on some shit I saw in a Michael Manring home video tape (VHS, lol, get off my lawn!), but somewhere along the way I just stopped. Between guitar, and typing, and video gaming, I was nearly _always _using my hands/arms/elbows/shoulders 'incorrectly', and I now know that I'll be paying for that for the rest of my life - even after having surgery to correct the problem. So, word of warning, is all I'm saying. Stretch, but not too beyond your limits, and if something starts to hurt, _stop right away_ and properly rest until it doesn't hurt any more.

Most importantly, play within the confines of your biology. You can use any 'limits' you encounter as a way to bolster your own personal style, and/or you can find ways to work around them. I can't fret the top two strings on a G chord any more, for instance, but that doesn't stop me from playing it. I just do my best to mute those two strings and play it as a 4 string chord, instead.

Anyway, there are great players with hands of varying size, so there's no hard rule. It's really down to the work one puts in, and whatever talent they may have brought to the equation.


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## vilk (Jul 26, 2017)




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## Rawkmann (Jul 26, 2017)

I certainly think it puts people blessed with bigger than average hands and fingers at an advantage. After watching many videos of virtuoso players You notice that MOST of them do seem to have longer than normal digits. I myself have pretty small hands with short 'stubby' fingers and I do sometimes feel it inhibits my playing. And I'm not saying it makes it impossible to achieve a certain level of skill with small hands, but not many people are going to tell You that having big hands and long fingers puts You at a disadvantage when it comes to guitar playing.


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## Strobe (Jul 26, 2017)

I too notice that most of the virtuosos have long fingers. That said, I have a friend with big fat stubby fingers who shreds in a style very similar to early Zakk Wylde. One can certainly play very well with a wide variety of fingers. Hardly anyone is going to be the best ever at anything - and it's going to come down a lot more to how much time they devote to their craft than their finger shape.


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## bostjan (Jul 26, 2017)

What about Jimmy Rosenberg? That guy was absolutely shredding when he was 2 years old (exaggeration but you get the point). I don't think it matters as much as good technique.


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## JohnIce (Jul 26, 2017)

I wouldn't worry about it, lots of people have smallish hands and lots of people get started when they're kids and not fully grown. If you're making slow progress it's probably because your practice is inefficient. Maybe you're learning too difficult chords too soon, playing too fast, not spending enough time isolating your problems and so on.


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## USMarine75 (Jul 26, 2017)

There's tons of guitarists with small hands or impediments, just to name a few:

EVH
Tonny Iommi
Django Reinhardt
Nuno Bettencourt

Plus there are tons of female guitarists that probably don't have the hands of an NFL QB, yet have no issues.

The only constraint is going to be things like extended stretches, but you can more than make up for that in technique (legato, prepositioning your fingers before the next box - see Rick Graham, etc).

I would argue it's easier than having big fat chubby fingers, which would crowd the fingerboard... Your chords would probably ring out much cleaner.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jul 26, 2017)

small hands just means a different approach to playing the same stuff. Incorporating slides and taps are often a way to mitigate stretches, which I do even though I have quite large hands (I can easily stretch from the 1st to 7th fret on a strat and my 26.5" 7 string). Luckily most chordal shapes don't have huge stretches to play them so that shouldn't be an issue.


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## Rawkmann (Jul 26, 2017)

I'll put it this way, I think guitar players born with small hands wishes they were bigger, but I doubt any guitarist with larger than average hands wishes they were any smaller.


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## CrazyDean (Jul 26, 2017)

USMarine75 said:


> There's tons of guitarists with small hands or impediments, just to name a few:
> 
> EVH
> Tonny Iommi
> ...



Don't forget Angus Young!

I remember about ten years ago, there was an Angus Young signature SG. It was made with small hands in mind. The neck was smaller and had closer string spacing. There are also child-sized or travel-sized guitars if you think a smaller form factor will make a difference.


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## Shask (Jul 26, 2017)

As someone with small hands, I think it can make it more difficult. You have to stretch a lot more to hit things that others can do more easily. That being said, I dont think it limits your playing. You learn how to work around it, which will create your unique style.

However, I will say that I think it is MORE important to get a guitar that matches your hand size. I am SUPER picky about neck profile, scale length, nut width, etc... and wrong combinations of those things will give me wrist cramps like crazy. I know acoustic guitars typically have wide flat fretboards, which is a no-no for me. Would kill my thumb and wrist. You should try something like a long scale narrow neck Fender Strat, and a short scale wider, but shorter, Gibson style neck. I bet if you try some different styles, you would find something that feels more natural in a smaller hand. Personally, I find 24.75" scale guitars, like Gibsons, to be the easiest to play for my tiny hands. However, 25.5" is not bad either, as long as they have a 1 5/8" nut, which is narrower. Longer 25.5" scale combined with a 1 11/16" wide nut width can cause me problems depending on the neck shape. It gets pretty technical, lol.


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## Shask (Jul 26, 2017)

As far as acoustic, I have an old Ovation (forget model, but around $350) that has a neck that is narrower than normal for an acoustic, and is also thinner, and not as round. Almost more of a "V" shaped neck. That is one of the few acoustics I have been able to play since the neck is not mega-sized like many electro-acoustic guitars.


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## Rawkmann (Jul 26, 2017)

Shask said:


> As someone with small hands, I think it can make it more difficult. You have to stretch a lot more to hit things that others can do more easily. That being said, I dont think it limits your playing. You learn how to work around it, which will create your unique style.
> 
> However, I will say that I think it is MORE important to get a guitar that matches your hand size. I am SUPER picky about neck profile, scale length, nut width, etc... and wrong combinations of those things will give me wrist cramps like crazy. I know acoustic guitars typically have wide flat fretboards, which is a no-no for me. Would kill my thumb and wrist. You should try something like a long scale narrow neck Fender Strat, and a short scale wider, but shorter, Gibson style neck. I bet if you try some different styles, you would find something that feels more natural in a smaller hand. Personally, I find 24.75" scale guitars, like Gibsons, to be the easiest to play for my tiny hands. However, 25.5" is not bad either, as long as they have a 1 5/8" nut, which is narrower. Longer 25.5" scale combined with a 1 11/16" wide nut width can cause me problems depending on the neck shape. It gets pretty technical, lol.



Can confirm all of this. One guitar that fits me like a glove is an old Kramer ProAxe I got years ago. It's 24.75 scale, 24 frets, and has the most narrow Floyd Rose nut they made at the time. I have a regular Fender Strat that I love, but admittedly I do find it difficult to play a guitar with 25.5 scale. Guess that's why I generally gravitate more to Gibsons.


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## High Plains Drifter (Jul 26, 2017)

I just tried to stretch on my Strat from 1st to 7th... crap!!I can successfully navigate to the 6th fret but that's as far as I can go before I damage something lol. My hands are on the smaller side I guess. There are still certain solo's and leads that I just can't quite master but with all of it, I know that it's the technique, fluidity, and speed that I need to work on. It's not the reach and subsequently not the size of my hand(s) regarding my limitations. Can't offer any better advice than what's here already but don't let this hang you up nor burn you out. Keep playin!


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## Shask (Jul 26, 2017)

Rawkmann said:


> Can confirm all of this. One guitar that fits me like a glove is an old Kramer ProAxe I got years ago. It's 24.75 scale, 24 frets, and has the most narrow Floyd Rose nut they made at the time. I have a regular Fender Strat that I love, but admittedly I do find it difficult to play a guitar with 25.5 scale. Guess that's why I generally gravitate more to Gibsons.



Yep. Although, I usually dont like 24.75" guitars, even though they are easiest to play. I think it is because I am not a fan of Gibson (dont like the high neck angle), and the far-and-few-inbetween superstrats that are 24.75" usually end up having necks that are too tiny, or I dont like them for some other reason I can't control because there are next-to-no choices in that category. I had a Peavey V-Type with the smallest neck known to mankind, lol. I actually like the tone of 25.5" guitars better, even though they are harder to play. Most of the guitar styles I like are all 25.5". Heck, I even have a 26.5" 7 string Schecter with a neck the size of a boat that is hard as crap to play, but I still love the tone of it, so I keep it around, even if I dont play it often.

Over the last year I have really gotten into 25" scale guitars like Kiesel and PRS. I find PRS necks with rounder neck profiles to be very comfortable. Not as bendy as 24.75", but not as much of a stretch as 25.5". They are a little wide, but not bad if the back is rounded more than flat. They are nice compromise in between all of the other extremes.


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## Unleash The Fury (Jul 26, 2017)

Shawn Lane had little baby hands. End of discussion!


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## Rawkmann (Jul 26, 2017)

Michael Romeo also looks like he has fairly small hands with stubby fingers as well.


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## Mark Lykkos (Jul 26, 2017)

Thanks everyone! These answers are definitely helpful! I appreciate the feedback.


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## Mark Lykkos (Jul 26, 2017)

Shask said:


> As someone with small hands, I think it can make it more difficult. You have to stretch a lot more to hit things that others can do more easily. That being said, I dont think it limits your playing. You learn how to work around it, which will create your unique style.
> 
> However, I will say that I think it is MORE important to get a guitar that matches your hand size. I am SUPER picky about neck profile, scale length, nut width, etc... and wrong combinations of those things will give me wrist cramps like crazy. I know acoustic guitars typically have wide flat fretboards, which is a no-no for me. Would kill my thumb and wrist. You should try something like a long scale narrow neck Fender Strat, and a short scale wider, but shorter, Gibson style neck. I bet if you try some different styles, you would find something that feels more natural in a smaller hand. Personally, I find 24.75" scale guitars, like Gibsons, to be the easiest to play for my tiny hands. However, 25.5" is not bad either, as long as they have a 1 5/8" nut, which is narrower. Longer 25.5" scale combined with a 1 11/16" wide nut width can cause me problems depending on the neck shape. It gets pretty technical, lol.



I'll definitely have to look into this. My acoustic guitar is a Yamaha, nothing too special, pretty standard. And when I form chords on the fret, it just feels...big, though I know that there's more than just that that goes into it. I do need to modify my practicing efficiency. I'm a bit impatient too....lol



JohnIce said:


> I wouldn't worry about it, lots of people have smallish hands and lots of people get started when they're kids and not fully grown. If you're making slow progress it's probably because your practice is inefficient. Maybe you're learning too difficult chords too soon, playing too fast, not spending enough time isolating your problems and so on.



This is a good point. Thank you. I do need to change some things with my practicing and probably need to stretch more. But it's good to know that there are things I can do to help me along despite having small hands.


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## Rawkmann (Jul 26, 2017)

If You are in the market for a good acoustic guitar suitable for smaller hands check out the Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-45. I just picked up one for myself a couple weeks ago and it fits my smallish hand quite nicely.


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## Humbuck (Jul 26, 2017)

The size of your hands is an absolute non issue...play yer guitar!


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## Lemonbaby (Jul 27, 2017)

Shawn Lane had small hands as well, so you're excused if you can only achieve his level of speed...


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## Jacksonluvr636 (Jul 27, 2017)

absolutely not. No elaboration needed.


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## prlgmnr (Jul 27, 2017)




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## Mark Lykkos (Jul 27, 2017)

Rawkmann said:


> If You are in the market for a good acoustic guitar suitable for smaller hands check out the Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-45. I just picked up one for myself a couple weeks ago and it fits my smallish hand quite nicely.



Thanks for the suggestion!


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## J_Mac (Jul 27, 2017)

Yeah lots of good advice here. Clicked this thread because I have the opposite problem, probably some of the biggest hands you've ever seen  you can maybe see in my profile pic that they would nearly wrap around the neck twice. Perfect for my 7 and 8 strings though!



Rawkmann said:


> I'll put it this way, I think guitar players born with small hands wishes they were bigger, but I doubt any guitarist with larger than average hands wishes they were any smaller.



Actually I do some days! 

I find acoustic work and stretched Opeth style mid-fretboard licks a breeze, but struggle when it comes to fast intricate high fretwork. My fingers seem to get in the way of each other. I noticed that Dimebag has small hands, maybe there's something in it...

Switch to metal solos! Or get your capo up on a higher fret, I wrote a lot of stuff with my capo in silly positions like 10th fret upwards. And like everyone has said, finding the right guitar is a must. As well as having it set up correctly. Also, 'Standard' acoustic string sets tend to be 12 or 13 gauge, maybe crank it down a couple to 10 or 11.


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## Tom Sklenar (Aug 4, 2017)

Hi Mark, I can confirm many things, which were already written. Smaller hands are not the reason of slow progress in your playing. There must be other reasons. How do you practice? What do you practice? I already saw many people, who struggle with the same problem, but it falls away after they bought new guitar. I don´t mean a size of the guitar, but higher quality of your instrument, which moves you forward a lot. Your playing should be more comfortable also with thinner strings.


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## Bearitone (Aug 4, 2017)

I would say no only because every now and then you'll see child prodigies with crazy skills and tiny hands.


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## GuitarBizarre (Aug 5, 2017)

Simple answer: No, not really.

Yngwie has tiny sausage fingers. Vai has alien hands. 

Both of them rip, and anything you're struggling with, they can play. Anything else is just excuses.


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## USMarine75 (Aug 5, 2017)

No issue with my hands, but I have noticed my penis isn't big enough to use as a slide lower than the 12th fret...


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## lewis (Aug 5, 2017)

i have tiny fecking girly hands and I slay an 8 string with absolutely zero issues. Im a shred type player too and alot of speed is in my style.
I get cramp occasionally if I go relentlessly without breaks but for the most part I have no problems

except buying gloves that fit. Legit have to wear childrens............


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## Spaced Out Ace (Aug 6, 2017)

GuitarBizarre said:


> Simple answer: No, not really.
> 
> Yngwie has tiny sausage fingers. Vai has alien hands.
> 
> Both of them rip, and anything you're struggling with, they can play. Anything else is just excuses.


What?! YJM will not be happy when he hears this.


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## cip 123 (Aug 6, 2017)

People with no hands play guitar. So no.


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## GuitarBizarre (Aug 6, 2017)

Spaced Out Ace said:


> What?! YJM will not be happy when he hears this.



When is YJM happy about anything he's not being paid for?


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## lewis (Aug 7, 2017)

cip 123 said:


> People with no hands play guitar. So no.


which means that even people with no hands can do something that people with hands try to do and fail at...

imagine being those people?.
Lil WAyne springs to mind.


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## Matthias Hornstein (Aug 7, 2017)

Mark Lykkos said:


> Hi everyone! This is probably the dumbest question ever for this forum (even though "any question is good here" LOL) but I've been making very slow progress on acoustic guitar for probably five years, and I keep having the thought that what if my hands are too small for playing guitar?
> 
> I'm hoping that maybe I just need to stretch them more and eventually things will fall into place, but I don't wanna be fighting biology.
> 
> Is the "hands too small" thing just a myth or is there some merit to it? I'd really like to play acoustic with some proficiency. Thanks everyone!



Like a lot of all the others already mentioned:

You set the limit of what you can achieve!
Remember the time you tried to ride the bicycle? It was a tough time at the beginning but focused and continuous actions finally led to success! As long as you remember that you WILL master your guitarplaying! It may take time, but you will succeed


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## Mark Lykkos (Aug 8, 2017)

Matthias Hornstein said:


> Like a lot of all the others already mentioned:
> 
> You set the limit of what you can achieve!
> Remember the time you tried to ride the bicycle? It was a tough time at the beginning but focused and continuous actions finally led to success! As long as you remember that you WILL master your guitarplaying! It may take time, but you will succeed




Thanks Matthias! I'm very glad that my doubts on this have been quelled!


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## Winspear (Aug 8, 2017)

The answer is obviously yes to a degree but you wont find much material that the average hand can't play on a standard scale guitar. 
However - PLAY IN CLASSICAL POSITION! I can't stress this enough. It's much better posture in general and it also adds several frets to your stretch ability.


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## Matthias Hornstein (Aug 8, 2017)

Mark Lykkos said:


> Thanks Matthias! I'm very glad that my doubts on this have been quelled!



You are very welcome!
Looking forward to hear about your progression on the guitar


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## Mark Lykkos (Aug 9, 2017)

Matthias Hornstein said:


> You are very welcome!
> Looking forward to hear about your progression on the guitar



I'm looking forward to having some progression to report on!


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## Matthias Hornstein (Aug 9, 2017)

Mark Lykkos said:


> I'm looking forward to having some progression to report on!



Hell yeah!


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## Hogie34 (Aug 20, 2017)

Like already said in an earlier post, the guitar is more important than the size of your hands. Play many and you'll find the neck profile that fits your hands. A good guitar will do more for progression in your skills than practicing all the time with a guitar that just doesn't suit your body .


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## MrBouleDeBowling (Aug 20, 2017)

No. Guitars have so many different neck profiles. Find one you like and are confy with and learn everything you want on it. It shouldn't be a problem.


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## Sermo Lupi (Aug 20, 2017)

GuitarBizarre said:


> Simple answer: No, not really.
> 
> Yngwie has tiny sausage fingers. Vai has alien hands.
> 
> Both of them rip, and anything you're struggling with, they can play. Anything else is just excuses.



People always underestimate Yngwie's size for some reason. Probably because of his stocky build. But I think he's like 6'2" or 6'3"--big hands to be sure, whatever their shape.

On the topic of hand size, I remember seeing a blog post years ago where this guy went to a Hard Rock cafe of sorts--maybe it was the Hollywood walk of fame?--where they had hand impressions from dozens of famous guitar players. I couldn't find the original post, but I did find some of the images rehosted on some forum. Here's the link, but I'll include the pics below for convenience's sake. As you can see, Yngwie's and Vai's hands aren't too far apart in size, although it looks like Yngwie 'slid' into his impression a bit (giving that slightly oversized, cartoonish look to the impression), and I'll leave it up to you to spot the fuckery going on in Vai's photo...

Would help a lot if I knew the photographer's hand size. All I remember is that he said his hands were average. In general though, yes, hand size is going to give you an advantage when it comes to playing certain types of music. When it comes to those wide intervallic stretches Paul Gilbert is famous for, he manages it better than most because of his size. Yet if you want to see an 11-year old with literal baby hands play the exact same thing, look up Anton Oparin. Obviously hand size can lend an advantage, but when you see kids like Oparin playing the same stuff with much smaller hands, it is hard to argue it 'matters' in any general sense...
































Bonus round for famous piano players:






EDIT: an Anton Oparin video. The wide stretch from Scarified is at 2:27ish.


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## Splenetic (Aug 20, 2017)

[email protected]'s 6th finger on the left hand


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## Spaced Out Ace (Aug 20, 2017)

Malevolent_Croatian said:


> [email protected]'s 6th finger on the left hand


He's a damn dirty cheater.


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## cGoEcYk (Aug 29, 2017)

Just get a guitar which suits your hand, they have so many options these days. I like flatter necks on both guitar and bass but once knew a dude with a small fat hand & stubby fingers who preferred an "oar" styled neck. Each to they own. I have small-medium hands and use a 35" bass and 27" guitar, just adapted to them.


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## ElRay (Aug 29, 2017)

Hogie34 said:


> Like already said in an earlier post, the guitar is more important than the size of your hands. Play many and you'll *find the neck profile that fits your hands*. A good guitar will do more for progression in your skills than practicing all the time with a guitar that just doesn't suit your body .





AlexCorriveau said:


> No. Guitars have so many different neck profiles. Find one you like and are confy with and learn everything you want on it. *It shouldn't be a problem*.



This is the key point. If you've got thick (i.e. top of nail to pad of finger), blunt (i.e. flat, non-pointy tipped) fingers, neck PROFILE won't have much effect. What becomes important is the string spacing at the nut. There's a reason Classical guitars have 1-7/8" to 2-1/8" wide nuts. There's a reason why high-end Finger-Style Acoustics have 1-7/8"+ wide nuts. There's also been an increase in the number of custom guitars posted here that have wider nuts (~.33" center-to-center string spacing).

Essentially zero off-the shelf electrics are in that realm. Big Lou Wide Neck Guitars is the only retailer of off-the-shelf wide-nut guitars I know of. Warmoth and USA Custom Guitars sell after-market wide-nut necks. Warmoth are drop-ins, but USA Custom will require the neck pocket to be modified.

I've gone the "stringectomy" route. I have a Revenger-7, that I've replaced the nut and bridge. The Bridge is a standard 6-string bridge and the nut is an off-the-shelf 1-7/8" six string acoustic nut. That's the only electric I play. In the queue is an Agile 92528 that will go to an 82528 and an RGA8 neck that will eventually go into the Revenger-7 (to return it to a 7-string).


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## CerealKiller (Aug 30, 2017)

Lol, 12 inch hand span on Rachmaninov... knew he had large hands, but that is massive.


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## willy25 (Aug 30, 2017)

I have smalls hands. what helps me is putting the guitar on my left leg ( classical style), using my pinky and shifting like a bass players,( females play bass and most have small hands) instead of doing big stretches. also, apply relaxation and you will play any type of neck, the thumb is a passive participant, not used to squeezed the neck. now i can play my friends Epiphone better and without pain. but it everyone has its favorite, mine is thin necks, like Ibanez.


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## prlgmnr (Aug 31, 2017)

biog hjands cann masdke akkll sports of thinghs dsiffgivbcult


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## Tech Wrath (Sep 1, 2017)

I have tiny girly hands I play an 8 (multiscale 25.5-27" though) with tons of weird and odd stretches without a problem. Bigger hands would of course give you some what of an edge but I don't think it really matters in the grand scheme of things. It's all about determination and goal setting. If you don't think you can play great, you probably won't ever play great. I just started playing piano a few months ago and that picture above is really great. My left hand can reach a 9th but it is a bit of a stretch which is still pretty damn small and my right can only reach an 8th (Probably because my left hand is more stretched and trained from guitar) but most men can comfortably reach a 10th. Maybe if you're learning certain stuff from someone somewhere, you might need to be able to do crazy stretches but that's a rarity and most stuff you'll be able to play with proper technique and of course you'll be completely fine writing your own stuff. 

It's not about size it's about surprise.


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