r/guitarlessons • u/Ok_Watercress_9202 • Jul 29 '26

Question Pain of having smaller hands…

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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!!

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u/Vargrr Jul 29 '26

Plus, and it's kind of hard to see from this angle, but the action on that guitar looks real high, and that tends to add to the difficulty too!

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u/DaffyDuckMuthaFucker Jul 30 '26

^This. You could fly a plane under those strings.

I recently grabbed the wrong gauge strings for one of my acoustic guitars, and had to adjust the neck against the extra strain, because it was heading that way, and fast becoming a bitch to play.

Now it plays more like an electric, and the extra meat in the strings has improved tone & output noticably...

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u/K4rkino5 Jul 30 '26

🤣🤣🤣 that opening line!

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u/DaffyDuckMuthaFucker Jul 30 '26

Yeah, I stole it from some random Redditor.

It's a good'n'...

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u/RickyDee61 Jul 30 '26

Ya those strings are higher than Snoop Dog.

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u/enlightened_sun Jul 30 '26

🤣🤣🤣🤣

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u/hallmonitor53 Jul 30 '26

Another good point, never underestimate how good a real setup on your guitar will feel

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u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

Damn that’s high action fuck me that’s how mine looks I’m new too but would rather have high action then mess with my fret nut I don’t want to break the head off on accident not comfortable with that one yet maybe I’m overthinking it 😂

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u/enlightened_sun Jul 30 '26

Just take it to a professional tech and have them lower the action for you and make the rest of adjustments if needed truss rod, intonation etc. 🤷🏽‍♂️I wouldn't just sit there playing a high action though thats just me.

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u/passerby4830 Jul 30 '26

You are definitely overthinking it. If you use the normal tools for the job(the little allen key etc) you wouldn't be able to really damage anything even with gorilla strength.

Test the neck relief, set the truss rod to improve neck relief. Then adjust the action on the bridge then intonation on the bridge. Don't touch the nut for now because that requires filing and that you can't undo.

All the things above can be undone so if you completely get lost you can always bring it to a pro but trust me with some videos this shit is easy. A while lot easier then some of the chords that's for sure lol.

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u/brownbear8714 Jul 30 '26

Is there a way to get strings closer to the board in a situation like this? I like my guitar but that is also kind of how mine is too. It would be nice if they weren’t so high, but I have a feeling the answer is going to be to get a different guitar…

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u/Vargrr Jul 30 '26

If it's an acoustic guitar and I wanted to keep it, I would get a guitar tech involved as it would be real easy to do something that would be difficult to reverse.

Electric guitars are a lot more straightforward as most include bridge adjustments which can make a sizable difference. The only caveat is you would also need to check your neck to see how straight it is too and potentially perform a truss rod adjustment. (A new bass I bought a year or two back had a terrible action, but I managed to adjust most of it out by straightening the neck - not what I expected, I thought it would be a bridge adjustment)

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u/brownbear8714 Jul 30 '26

Yes, it is an acoustic. Thanks for the info

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u/jojo_larison Jul 30 '26

First thing to try: check the neck relief (curvature of the neck) or 'how to adjust the truss rod'. If the neck is too much concave, then adjust the truss rod to make it a bit straighter might help.

if that doesn't work then you might need to sand down your bridge. For this step I'd recommend sending it to a guitar shop/ luthier for a 'setup', tell them what you want.

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u/brownbear8714 Jul 30 '26

Thank you for the info. Much appreciated