Exausted, injured, and still cannot play chords

I think I'm about ready to quit, I cannot even get off the ground to start, and have injured my fingers and wrist multiple times with sprains. I simply cannot make chords needed to play guitar, my fingers are too short and I cannot make them space out far enough no matter how hard I force them and pull them, and my fingers are also too fat and block out the strings above and below them. Let's say for example a chord required me to have fingers on frets 1 and 4, my fingers cannot come close to reaching that far. My fingers are so short I'm having to bend the finger and place the back side of the entire finger nail on strings to hold them down. My middle finger is three inches long, the others fall in the 2 inch range on my left hand. [br][br]If my hands are the wrong size and I cannot make chords I might as well just pawn the guitar and quit. I don't know what to do at this point.

I feel for you. Guitar is hard. You don't say whether you're using an acoustic or electric but I'll assume acoustic because they're the most difficult to start on what with string tension and all. Maybe first thing is to get the guitar checked out and make sure the setup is good. The action could be too high which adds to your problems. If they think it can be lowered more then have them do that. That will improve the playability a lot.

Another option is to trade your current guitar in and get a smaller body guitar such as a baby Taylor. Frets will be closer together which will help.

Another quick fix is to capo the strings higher up the neck, say 2nd or 3rd fret. That will reduce the action and bring the frets closer together. In fact, try that first and see how things go before moving on to the other suggestions.

Good Luck.

Electric guitar. Yamaha pac012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDig2EMTYIo look here at Poppa Chubby how thick and short his fingers are and listen him play, don't understand which chord you mean which spreads out over 4 frets though? since you 've joined I guess you follow Lisa's lessons and only 2 months in I don't think that there are such chords to be learned already.

Been playing for 50 years now and met litterally thousends of people of all kinds and all sort of hands and fingers from who you absolutely didn't expect them to play the guitar because they had short and fat fingers but they could play really good so what you tell here looks like the lamest excuse I've ever heard to give up.

Don't give up on it. If you know anyone local to you who plays get them to check your guitar it may be that it needs that set-up that someone already mentioned to make it a bit easier.

You may find a set-up makes all the difference in the world as you won't have to apply a force commesorate of a steamroller against the strings (if this is what is happening at the moment), then your wrist and hand can relax and you should be able to bend your fingers better on the chords. If you do decide to change the size of your guitar, make sure you get one that can be adjusted otherwise you could be in the same situation again.

Originally Posted by: hsnoeckx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDig2EMTYIo look here at Poppa Chubby how thick and short his fingers are and listen him play, don't understand which chord you mean which spreads out over 4 frets though? since you 've joined I guess you follow Lisa's lessons and only 2 months in I don't think that there are such chords to be learned already.

Been playing for 50 years now and met litterally thousends of people of all kinds and all sort of hands and fingers from who you absolutely didn't expect them to play the guitar because they had short and fat fingers but they could play really good so what you tell here looks like the lamest excuse I've ever heard to give up.

With respect, and to be fair to Lee, I'm not sure Poppa Chubby is a great example of somebody with short fingers! Poppa's hands are like a bunch of bananas sure! but his fingers are relatively slender at the end and very long. Just take a look at his little finger in the vid, that thing is about 4 inches long! ;~) A better example might be Angus Young from AC/DC, now that guy does have small hands, though he too has relatively long fingers for his hand size. https://youtu.be/VcGAScb_woY I'm a newbie and going through similar pain, stick with it Lee and take the advice of the other guys on the forum. Best of luck

Originally Posted by: vjy

Don't give up on it. If you know anyone local to you who plays get them to check your guitar it may be that it needs that set-up that someone already mentioned to make it a bit easier.

You may find a set-up makes all the difference in the world as you won't have to apply a force commesorate of a steamroller against the strings (if this is what is happening at the moment), then your wrist and hand can relax and you should be able to bend your fingers better on the chords. If you do decide to change the size of your guitar, make sure you get one that can be adjusted otherwise you could be in the same situation again.

By the way I am having to strain to push down strings on the higher frets like the 10th not just the first few ones.

Have you tried some one and two finger chords ? Do a YouTube and Google search for one finger chords and two finger chords. Hope this helps a little. Keep making sounds !

Hi, something really doesn't seem right with the guitar, whether you got it second hand or new it may be that it really does just need the tlc of a 'set-up'. If you can find a local luthier, it should be money well spent on the set up and not that expensive. The servicing cost so far on my guitar is running at just under £2 per year. You may be surprised by how a small adjustment can make lots of difference. If it is new and the neck isn't right then a luthier can check out what is going on there too.

Might be worth checking that you don't have it tuned a whole octave too high which is trying to twist the neck and make the strings harder to press.

Originally Posted by: lee05503

I think I'm about ready to quit, I cannot even get off the ground to start, and have injured my fingers and wrist multiple times with sprains. I simply cannot make chords needed to play guitar, my fingers are too short and I cannot make them space out far enough no matter how hard I force them and pull them, and my fingers are also too fat and block out the strings above and below them. Let's say for example a chord required me to have fingers on frets 1 and 4, my fingers cannot come close to reaching that far. My fingers are so short I'm having to bend the finger and place the back side of the entire finger nail on strings to hold them down. My middle finger is three inches long, the others fall in the 2 inch range on my left hand. [br][br]If my hands are the wrong size and I cannot make chords I might as well just pawn the guitar and quit. I don't know what to do at this point.

Hi there,

There has already been quite a few good responses with many good tips so I`ll just add this. Find a good, reputable guitar shop near you. Explain your situation to them and see if they can work with your guitar to make it more playable. If not, they may work out a trade in or some kind of buyback and get you fitted with a guitar that you can play rather than have it continually fight against you. Guitars come in all sizes, widths and lengths and they can even be customized if need be. Getting the right guitar in your hands is half the battle right there !

That being said, this is quite a challenging instrument to learn to play. As the old saying goes, if it were easy everyone would be doing it ! However, the payoff is worth it. It`s immensly satisfying once you begin to acquire the skills to play. The toughest part is the beginning. As you get better, it actually gets more fun and the more you learn, the more you WANT to learn.

Good luck,

Jeff