Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Good afternoon, dear community and dear Mr. Fujita. I have been playing guitar for about 7 years, after six months with a very experienced teacher, he said that my hands are perfect for guitar (I was a teenager then), and that I have great prospects in classical guitar. Later, however, I had a dissonance - I didn't want to play classical music, I liked rock. Later, from 20 to 22, I became interested in blues-rock, blues, and then jazz. For 3 years out of 7, I was practically standing still in my guitar playing, playing the same thing, not learning theory. Thanks to Mr. Fujita's interesting videos and jazz, I started learning more complex things on guitar wisdom again. The gist of my question: I found that my fingers are significantly shorter than the fingers of many guitarists. I have to bend my hand unnaturally for some positions, which brings a lot of pain. I train no more than 3-4 hours a day (every day, except Sunday). My goal is to try to enter an adult music school in my country. This is quite realistic if you do it this way, but the pain increases. I see that people with longer fingers do not bend their hand for some positions, so the hand does not hurt. Are there any tips for people with short fingers? How to avoid bending of the hand and pain? Thanks!

Greetings, Maygreed. I’m right there with you experiencing the same frustration. I came across a chord in the Leavitt book 1, pg 23, First Solo. The chord in the 8th bar (C to E) is causing me grief. There is simply no way I can stretch my index and pinky enough to where the notes are clean. My daughter has much shorter fingers than me, and she can play the chord easily. My problem is that my pinky is somewhat curved inward from an old injury, making that particular chord physically impossible to play. Maybe over time with more finger exercises I will eventually be able to do it, but I have my doubts.

I also practice 2-3 hours a day. I started playing in April and improvement has been good. That blasted chord is the first road block I’ve come across! I can tell you one thing that has been helpful to me. Before starting Guitar Wisdom my daughter gave me her guitar books from when she took lessons. One of her books that I really like is called Guitar Technics by Mel Bay. I spend on average 20 to 30 minutes every practice session doing the finger exercises in that book. The exercises have not lengthened my fingers (I wish) but I have noted a big difference in my ability to stretch my index and pinky (and other fingers) much farther, and I am also finding it easier to play some awkward phrases more fluidly than I could when I first picked up the guitar 3 months ago. The book is inexpensive and far better than any of the other books I looked at or bought. I’m just thinking it might be helpful to you like it has been for me. I do want to caution you though to always take it easy on your fretting hand. If you begin to experience pain trying to get your fingers to do something they aren’t ready to do and you keep playing, you can cause permanent damage. I know from experience. I have an overuse injury from working outside doing brush clearing. I had been doing it for several weeks when one morning I woke up and couldn’t make a fist with either hand and developed trigger finger of my right 3rd finger. I was shocked and at first just thought it would go away on its own within a few days, but it didn’t. My orthopedic surgeon told me he sees these types of injuries all the time due to repetitive use. There have been times when I am practicing that I will get a sharp pain in one or more of my fingers and when that happens I call it quits for the night and give my fretting hand a rest. It is better to take a day off than end up with a persistent problem and not be able to play at all. I also use heat and massage on my hands and fingers which helps keep them from becoming stiff and sore. These are things I did for physical therapy after breaking my right wrist and severing my thumb tendon two years ago. I never want to experience that kind of pain ever again, so I take really good care of my hands now! I hope you will do the same. And also, maybe get some of those picks Tomo has. Doesn’t one of them say something like take care, don’t hurry or something like that? Whatever it said, I often think about it whenever I’m having an off day.

I know that some guitars (Gibson or Martin???) are easier to play for people with shorter fingers. Also, you can experiment with how you hold the guitar, such as having the neck pointed more upward. My daughter gave me that tip and it really does help, just not with that one chord I’m stuck on! There’s no way I’m going to be able to play that chord; the only thing I can do is try to come up with something similar. Good luck to you, Maygreed. I know you can do it! We both practice 2-3 hours a day—WE WILL FIND A WAY!

It's hard to comment on your technique since we can't see it. With that said, I definitely have small hands/fingers, and a lot of guitars are not comfortable for me to play. It's important you go to a guitar store and try out different guitar necks, because there is a lot of variation. I personally play an Ernie Ball Music Man Axis and the neck is the most comfortable I have ever played for small hands, and that's because the neck is slim and small in profile. For a lot of people, that guitar neck is uncomfortable because their hands are too big. So go try out a lot of different guitars, because some will definitely fit your hand profile better than others!

Hi, i have no clue how small your fingers or hands are but i have fairly smallish hands myself but with practice and good technique even kids hands are able to play full size guitars (you can watch child videos of the famous fingerstyle guitarist sungha jung, pretty tiny hands he had as a kid and played with no problems, same with other kids i have seen).

I am left handed so i fret with my right hand and play lefthanded guitars, what i have discovered is that i can spread my fretting hands fingers much wider than my picking hand and that is only because of guitar practice, no mutant genes or anything.

For example, i can grab and hold/pinch my Phone (16,4 cm) between my pinky and thumb with my fretting hand, can't do that with my other hand since the hand/muscles are not as flexible as the other hand. I would tend to say that the phone is too big for my left hand and right size for my right hand :D

So if i wanted to learn guitar right handed, i would have to train my left hand and get it more flexible, it would require time to reach the flexibility of the other hand and dedicated training, not just noodling the easy stuff i play since years (you get too proficient and stress/stretch your muscles less that way).

I have a 25.5 inch scale ibanez acoustic with thin neck, a classical guitar with wide neck, ESP electric guitar with 24,75 inch scale and thin neck and i can play all of them BUT when i play the ibanez, i have to pay more attention to good technique, especially when not warmed up properly before playing, for example i only play with strap or footrest, elbox not too close to boy when i feel tension, good thumb positioning etc.

When i play my "Gibson-Scale" guitar, i can be a bit more lose when playing cold but in general i would say good technique, proper warm up, streching exercises and with a bit time you can play anything even with smaller hands.

Sure some crazy chords and fingers can be physically impossible but those are also very challenging for big hands, maybe not so much for huge hands but those guys have problems on other areas and the said chords and fingerings are probably not even needed to write or play brilliand music.

You should not train your brain to limit your ability and desires. The guitar has been around since so many years and todays guitars are so ergonomic and so much science and research has been put to this instruments so that literaly everyone can play them. I mean have you seen Django Reinhards fretting hand?

Sorry for my bad english, it is the third language i have learned.

Here is Tomo's comment:

"Thanks so much for subscribing to my Guitar Wisdom. First, don't worry about your fingers! Do your best, and don’t pay attention to anyone’s opinion!

"You can create your own way of practicing. Start by practicing a chromatic scale, until you can play it beautifully, without any noise. In the beginning, play from the 5th fret to the 9th fret. Focus on thumb position! Use a strap. Pay attention to posture.

"You will be fine! You just need to adjust your practice routine."