Short fingers

I have been cursed with short fingers. One of the problems that I have is I cannot spread my fingers with lifting them off of the neck when I have to go two or more frets when picking notes. Is there anything I can do to help with this problem?

Hi Swining..
Welcome to GT
It's not a curse, just a minor inconvience.. people have adapted when they have fingers missing or deformed.. I have seen one fellow play with his toes.. Not much stretch there..
It will come easier with practice.. If you have played guitar in the past you may have done so with improper technique. If you have not gone thru fundamentals 1&2, you should start there..
Lisa McCormick has some exercise that may be of help..

I didn't find Lisas tutorial, but this one from Neal may help..
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=14390
Good luck learning..
Gordon

Hey again swinings..
Here the one from Lisa.. the first 2 lessons there should give you another good start.

http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=621
Gordon

Thanks some how I missed that part. I tried running the videos but they keep freezing up on me but I get the picture. Thanks again.

I too have short fingers. I just started tonight and was given a acoustic to borrow. I am wondering if I should learn on electric because of this issue. I heard that it was easier to play with short fingers. Is that correct?

OK I think I found somethings that seem to be working. I started doing the spider legs thingy that Lisa shows. I also have been stretching my wrist and fingers. A guy at a guitar shop showed me an exercise which helps too. It is easy, spread your fingers and push them across your knee while in a sitting position. He told me that his instructor in college had all the students doing this anytime they were in class listening to lectures. It is easy and you can do it anytime and any where. I have been doing it while I drive or watch TV. I also bought my first electric yesterday. It is a little easier for my fingers to reach the strings. I picked up an Epiphone Les Paul Standard.

Spider fingers (Thank you Lisa) and pentatonic minor scales.

Many guitars have different scale lengths. The smaller the scale length the closer the frets are together. I would advise next time you go and purchase a guitar you ask the people in the store to show you the difference between a guitar with a really long scale length and one thats short. Shorter fingers work better on a smaller scale length because the stretch isn't as far between the frets. :)

I didn't know whether to post here or start a new thread. I have a problem, potentially, with "chubby" fingers. I can not play some chords that require my second finger between two strings. No matter how hard I try.

As an example, if I try playing G7, no matter how I position my 2nd finger it is "bumping" one or the other string next to it. If I position my finger on the A string (second fret) so it isn't bumping the D string then it is bumping the E string. Conversely, if I move my second finger down a little then it is bumping the D string.

I know that I am clearly doing something wrong but no matter what I try my finger won't "fit"

Thanks Ryan. I didn't know that about the scale lengths.