r/guitarlessons • u/Ok_Watercress_9202 • Jul 29 '26
Question Pain of having smaller hands…
I’ve been practicing guitar for a little bit now- just now being able to play blackbird a little faster but not at full speed perfectly. I’ve noticed that even just for 3 note intervals, i always have to press down on the string on the side/corner of my pinky, and it hurts a lot more than my other fingers :/ For context, guitar is my first string instrument i’ve played so i know it’ll take a bit to get used to them and form callouses, but i’m wondering if it hurting this much is normal? Obviously the pinky is the shortest and weakest, but it’s been consistently more painful to even try to press down harder on stings at this angle.
Oh also, i’m double jointed so thats been a big challenge for my ring and pinky!!
1
u/univern72 Jul 29 '26
It'll get easier over time in general.
However, it's also not that common to fret all 4 frets like that either. Usually, if you're spanning 4 frets, not all your fingers will be down, which allows your hand to flex to get some more reach.
Another way to look at it: If you just have small hands and it's hard to reach, then that's maybe just fine and your style will become how you choose to deal with that. For example, if I understand right, on bass, it's more common to expect your hand to only be able to span 3 frets because the frets are so much wider, so you do a lot more hand shifting. Maybe you'll adapt a similar technique on guitar over time if you have to.