Hunter,

Don't worry, you don't need to be able to have a long reach to play everything on guitar. For sweeps, there are a variety of different patterns which utilize more of the fretboard as opposed to one position with long stretches. Make sure to search for as much different positions that you can find.

For example:

Too big a stretch?

e-17-12--------------------------
b-------13------------------------
g----------14-------------------------
d-------------14----------------
a----------------15--12-----------


Try this-( Same notes . different pattern)

e-17-------------------------------------
b---17-----------------------------------
g-----17---------------------------------
d-------19-14------------------------------
a-------------15-12------------------------

This can also apply to scale patterns as well.

I hope that helps give you some ideas.