Hello, I am new to guitar (3 weeks) and I am practicing every day (a bit too much some days which could be exacerbating) and I have pretty small hands. I think my middle finger measures about 3 inches.
I played a lot over the past few days and my left hand (fretting hand in my case) is sore not in a good way I don’t think. I kind of have to contort my hand if I am up near the head stock fretting 1 and 4.
I am not discouraged. It seems like all youtube videos just say don’t give up with small hands, not exactly helpful. I’m plenty motivated and want to keep going but I don’t want to injure myself.
So all that to say any advice on being able to fret well by the headstock with small hands? I also think my wrist is not in a healthy position but I can’t reach my fingers far enough apart without doing some hand yoga.
I also have pretty small hands. It gets easier when you have the right thumb position (even for easy chords like D, to make chord changes faster) and build up some strength and dexterity (exercises in the link below).
This is really good read: https://guitaristnextdoor.com/how-to-play-guitar-with-small-hands/
It also goes into gear stuff (scale length, thin and narrow neck, low action, lighter string guage, etc). Don’t know what you have, but I would definitely recommend starting with an electric instead of an acoustic, unless you really only want to play acoustic or don’t want to pay for an electric. It’s a lot easier if you don’t have naturally strong hands imo
It’s not mentioned in the article, and you’re in early days, but when you get into bar chords I recommend “strength training” on the guitar. Trying to hold the Fm chord (on the first fret) as long as you can, several times, with rests in between. But of course be careful, don’t hurt yourself
I have two electrics, I have a squire strat, and a made to order G&L ASAT Classic, I will checkout that article. I have noticed my thumb going sideways, parallel with the neck which is not correct from what I’ve seen so I do keep having to pull it back in.
Cool 👍🏻 good luck!