Short Finger? Stretching Exercises | Guitar for Beginners 

he has the face of someone who is really happy and it makes learning easier somehow (??????????)

He's so much like Bob Ross but for guitars T_T

My school friends from way back used to slag me for my spider fingers. Little did I know they were a blessing in disguise.

Yeah my pinky really does not want to start doing stuff :D

Justin, I know that you know but still I'm gonna say it - you are a marvelous teacher! The way you put yourself in our shoes (mentally but also literally by learning to play with your left hand) is awe inspiring for me. The amount of patience, encouragement, engagement, and emotional support is enormous. Thank you!

some tips I have for this would be to make sure your guitar is in the correct posture, if it's tilted so that you can see the fretboard easier then this becomes a lot harder (common mistake). Also remember to move your wrist and the position of your thumb along with the fingers while they're going down, try to keep your wrist relaxed, too much tension makes it harder to move the fingers and causes wrist pain

I have to say, Justin, your attitude alone makes me want to continue learning guitar! Thanks for all the great tips!

I could do this exercise on the first try only cuz I struggled for days on the Peter Gunn Theme lol.

I know this video is a little older and this may not get seen but I just want to say thank you. I’m am glad I found your channel. I saw your name mentioned on Reddit and you really have helped me. I’m going to work on this exercise to help stretch my fingers. I have big hands and short fat fingers and I was getting really frustrated. Thanks again

Wow, the kind of control you have on your fingers is amazing. I don't see any flying of the pinky from the fret board, nor are any fingers on the board displacing. I am also fighting the accidental pressing of the lower strings. This is the most disheartening stage. But you have motivated me enough to keep going. Thanks alot.

No matter how advanced I feel I've become, I am always returning to one of Justin's lessons for a specific exercise or idea of how to improve. I've been trying out some new Jazz chords that require quite a bit of stretching and it can become frustrating. I knew though, that Justin would have what I needed to get me straightened out.

E V E R Y B O D Y L O V E S J U S T I N ❤️

So cool that he learned left handed. Really put a lot of thought and time in this course... thanks

Any tips for not muting the next string down? I’m muting it every time with my pinky finger so it doesn’t sound good until I move the pinky down to the next string. I’ve tried everything and can’t figure it out

Amazing, mate. I'm getting back into guitar after a 15 year hiatus and I've found I can't do 90% of the stuff I could do back when I was playing more regularly. I have seen this exercise before but nobody ever bothered to explain that it's important to keep the palm horizontal. By the time this video was over I felt like my hand was stretching more and it became MUCH easier to curl my fingers around the fret board to reach the strings.

It’s crazy how hard this exercise is.

Ok, I've watched tons of guitar videos, but as a beginner, yours are the ones I've settled on. Hands down, you are the best!

Thanks again Justin!! You're the first person on youtube to address this issue. It's very frustrating. I keep shifting my hand to make some fret changes. You are special young man!!! You give me hope I can overcome this.

this is so helpful and makes me feel so much better about where i am at. thank you for sharing your knowledge and talent.

You are awesome! This is exactly what happens to me when I do this . I feel like I can continue trying now that you showed me that it’s ok to do it wrong and to keep going. I’m inspired to pick up the guitar again. Thank you!

There is a level zero of finger flexibility many of these finger flexibility / strength exercise videos start way beyond. As someone picking up guitar at over 50, this video starts at the right level for my stiff pudgy fingers :)

This is a great beginner exercise and it was good that you picked up the curling of your fingers. I was lazy and play the first (high E) and second strings with a flat little finger. It is a bad habit that I am struggling to get out of. As a beginner, I enjoyed watching this one. Also, good to know that you struggled with it left handed. Puts my struggles into perspective.

Great exercise. I slacked on the exercises because I was too desperate to learn solos and just practicing helped a lot.

I can’t even get my pinky finger down-

I started learning a few weeks ago and the G chord is what sent me here specifically. My fingers feel so short and tight but I have hope that with practice things will change! Thank you Justin!

Pinkie was not having any of it. 5 minutes later it is getting a little bit better. Btw, where is my thumb suppose to go?

Justin, this is exactly what I was looking for. Stretching my 69 year old bones is rather tough, as is finger independency. By the way ... what is it all about that blanket behind you in all your videos?

Strumming is where I'm having problems lol also some chord changes are just a mess but im working on them! Thank you very much!!!

Amazing exercise,will practice. I was struggling with this. Thank you for showing the way. The guitar tone is very nice. Which guitar is that ? . Thank you very much 😀🙏❤️.

Always appreciate your videos. This one is great for us older folk who have learned some bad habits. Thank you for the nudge in the right direction.

This exercise pisses me off so much -.- Edit: But I think I found some ways to approach this if you really struggle: Start with the e-string, not the E-string. Or start in a fret that's nearer to the body and work your way up the neck.

Nice

As someone whos hard on themselves in general it's super nice to hear that it's normal. Thanks a ton!

This is a really tough one for me, I cant avoid trying to place my hand higher to be able to reach some strings and that causing my wrist to hurt really bad

The farther up the neck I go, the harder time I have. Especially reaching trying to reach the low E string. I have short stumpy fingers and would think the smaller the stretch the easier, it it's the opposite for me.

I lost the tip of my little finger in an accident as a kid. Hopefully this helps me out haha.

First of all, thanks for a decently explained exercise! And a huge thanks for being nice about failures. I struggled a lot years ago cuz I was afraid of making failures. So this is pretty important to have someone remind you that it's okay :)

Many thanks for this tip I'm having problems playing power chords. And I think a lot of it is because I don't have enough stretch in my finger's, so hopefully this will help 👍

I find my wrist bending 45 degrees when doing this exercise when high up the neck. Is that normal? Or am I using my wrist to over-compensate my finger strength?

Hi Justin, great lessons as always. Could you also post a lesson on bit complex John pettruci finger exercise/runs for intermediate players please. Thanks for all the great video lessons

I am 66,about 1.5 years in. I was an auto mechanic for 40+ years, the job kind of twisted my fingers,especially the left pointer. I need finger spread increase and I need to straighten out my left pointer finger. At least you are not repeating the "easy lesson" line. Thanks.

this is where my almost addiction of stretching, cracking and tapping my fingers way before starting guitar pays off, didn't struggle with this really at all, only small struggle was with going downward while trying to keep my other fingers on their positions on the upper string, I'd sometimes mute the lower ones with them

Thanks for your encouragement 🙏 to just keep at it.... baby steps 😊

while doing this on the thickest string my fingers also press down the other strings bellow it is it bad?

Thanks for the video! I have a strange problem - I can do this exercise easily on the first four frets, but when I try to start from 5th, I struggle with positioning my pinky on the thickest string. Just a fun observation, because in theory it should be easier. 🙃

Thank you! I started about 1 month ago and have been struggling as I've tried to stretch things out.

Your videos are so helpful and encouraging for beginners, thank you!

i LOVE this Advice! "There is NOTHING Stopping you from Playing Guitar!" that is 100% TRUE! Keep up all the AWESOME vids! and Letting Kids and Beginners know...It JUST Takes Practice! ;)

Hey Justin. I endorse all of the positive comments here but I was just wondering if you could say where the thumb should be? I'm guessing it's straight (not splayed, which is a bad habit I have) but can you confirm this as my (bad habit?) is so ingrained I'm finding it difficult, and would just like confirmation as to the exact positioning. Thanks.

Tried it, but had to move down to around 9th fret 😄

Love the guitar. I have the Prestige Guitars version of it. Mine is almost too heavy.

Sometimes I feel like a dwarf being told that I can get into the NBA, if I only try hard enough. That being said, I enjoy playing the guitar and I'll definitely keep stretching and practicing ;-)

I wish I had bigger hands. Stretching does help somewhat, but unfortunately there is a limit. All my hand size went into my feet. I have small hands but size 11-12 feet(depending on the shoe).

Hey Justin a very nice session again but my fingers are very small i cant stretch it further will it make me comfort for over and over again with month of practice

Appreciate your positive teaching style.

This has been a good video to stumble onto because I have very small hands

hey Justin i just started playing guitar my self but late to party i am 36 when i play i cant stretch my fingers all stuck together lol hopefully theses exercise will help me in long run thanks for all videos

I'm having a hard time keeping my pinky finger from muting the other strings especially when trying to stretch to the 6th string. It is almost flat across 5th and 4th strings. Is the end goal to have each finger only touching one string or preventing the slide up and down the fret board?

Brilliant, thank you 🙂

Hi I don’t know you had a channel as well learn guitar from your app now I know you have a channel as well and it’s very good

Norm Macdonald just taught me finger stretches, neat

Can you please tell us what guitar you're using here?

Do I need to keep my palm parallel to the neck for the whole time or just on the high E string?

6:00 mark. I felt I was at the horse races. LMAO. Or maybe at an auction. ;-) Thanks for the tutorial.

3:53 how do I angle my fingers like that lol, they go straight down!

JUSTIN WHAT GUITAR IS THAT I LOVE IT

is it okay if during this exercise my fingers mute the string underneath it?

Thanks for advise Sir🙏

i feel like i missed the part about how I make my fingers move to the proper frets. Even on the first string my fingers are all basically touching, so how do I begin to get them to do anything.

I couldn't stretch my fingers out to the frets until I tried a few times but I must admit I probably should've been doing them from the beginning. my fingers are all over the place now.

My problem is that the tip of my ring finger wants to gravitate to the tip of my middle finger. No matter how hard I try it won't move away from it. Anyone else have or had this problem?

my pinky doesn't want to stay square to the fret, it keeps bowing outwards and end up pressing the string with the outside of pinky. Any tricks to fix that? I can physically place my pinky correctly with my other hand but as soon as i let go of the pinky it pops out. Very frustrating

I can just about get my 4 fingers inside 3 of the frets.....I'll need some spacers !

oh man...... that guitar is gorgeous. I love one-pickup one vol knob guitars. They don't make them that often anymore.

thanks for the vid man! Although the stretch seemed to not be really stretching my fingers, and it was easy to reach all the strings on the first fret. Am I doing the stretch wrong? Is there a certain way my hand should be positioned against the neck of the guitar?

The first teacher I saw who actually told that this is not about speed otherwise all other guitarist used to amaze uss with their fantastic speed on the fretboard and me wondering how could I get even close to that

A great exercise for my dear friend Kelly! 😊

Thanks.

Okay nice

Hey uh, how do I make a chord that spans from 3rd to 7th fret stop hurting? I'm trying to play strawberita by remo drive and that thumb muscle you're talking about is hurting and so is my wrist. The thumb muscle of my fretting hand is like twice as big as on my picking one tho lmao

I measured my hand its 17cm long and when my fingers are together pressed together, the base of my 4 fingers, ie the width of my hand, measure just 7cm I actually think it's physically impossible to do this exercise. to even touch the thickest string with my pinky I need to jam the palm of my hand into the neck. stretching my fingers across frets is possible when there is space between my palm and my the neck but impossible when my whole palm is sticking to the neck. I guess I will be sticking to micro shifting when handling the thicker strings

Guitar is now tougher and tougher.Thanks

That is one nice guitar!

Thanks for vid, I needed this, I thought my fingers had something wrong with them 😂

Hey, I have a sore wrist after practicing this for a while, is this normal or my posture is wrong?

I've got a short winkie (Whoops! Freudian slip! I mean "pinkie", not "winkie"...!), and I find some chord shapes quite hard to get...particularly the "John Lennon" type banjo-style D-chord.

Tx JUSTIN👍👍👍👍👍

i have a condition in my fretting hand , its called carpel tunnel, its very light, but its there, like a constant tingling feeling in the pink and ring finger, the pink is frequently missing the string or fret im trying to hit, i have less control in my left pinky , its mostly occurring i want to add a note to a D , any exercises for that?

I need to get to where I can use my ring finger instead of my pinky for 2 note chords near the top of the fretboard

OMG!! This is so difficult & discouraging. 😢 If I hit the string below my fingers mute them.

M a self taught guitarist so joined for basics luckily not even one complete day and half of the course is done . Don't feel bad I practiced it enough to do this moving on forwards and best of luck to all

This is great but where is my thumb supposed to be positioned? Anyone know?

Tried this for the first time, doesn't seem too bad but my forearm cramps if I do this a lot, is this normal or am I doing something wrong?

Is it okay if other strings get muted in the process of performing this exercise? Or should I really work on my angle and make it 90°

I was wondering: For some reason my hand prefers doing constant up-picks instead of down-picks. Is there anything wrong or bad about doing that, instead of constant down-picks?

see i can fo it fine on the last 3 strings but the first 3, my fingers just fold up and i cannot get them apart

This exercise is really hard because my 2nd and 3rd finger just don't want to sit together. Well, the tips of those finger are almost glued together, but the rest of the fingers repel eachother like they're super strong magnets..

I need help with my flexibility so much. My fingers literally can even touch the fret. It makes me so upset. Someone help me🥺🥺

Hi Justin.... I can play chords but not Barre... Also I can sing a little bit.. wanna learn finger style picking and without pick strumming.. let me know what videos should I follow... Do u take online classes also??

T.T My pinkie just wont bend on the lower strings! It's going to take so much to get my hands to work the way I want them to...