Playing the bass with small hands (and finger pads)

[pnchad]

but Eddie Gomez has tiny hands & gets around pretty damn well

I was surprised when I saw him close up in person at a clinic

darn I wish I had his facility

and then there's Esperanza Spalding who is quite petite but has excellent long interval shifting muscle memory ( at a stupidly young age)

she jumps around with ease and nice intonation

I think the physicality of playing is greatly inhanced by good technique - I've always had a heavy hand and can atest that strength is NOT the answer

[AClark]

Hey hey small handed person over here! It's funny because in reality, my hands are considered large for a female, but for bass, they're quite small. I don't really have any solutions because I am also trying to work around it, but it's nice to find someone to relate to.

My current issue is intonation. I have to stretch my hand in unnatural ways, which causes pain. The only solution is to a) stretch, and b) slave over scales.

[mjac28]

I have very large hands which makes it difficult to play my Hofner I wish I had smaller hands.

[notchuck]

I've got small hands, too (my gloves are men's small). I used to play on an engelhardt 3/4 size, with main difficulties in half and first position. I recently started playing again and picked up a Kay junior bass. Once i get some cash I'm going to go for lemur's 5/8ths.

Just because i can make the 3/4 work doesn't mean i want to deal with the painful finger stretching.

So anyways, op, if you're not doing well with you're current setup, shorten your scale length (nut extensions are popular), or get a smaller bass. 3/4 isn't mandatory.

[ChuckCorbisiero]

Originally Posted by gerry grable

Anybody remember Vinnie Burke?

I've been searching for video with Vinnie Burke. There isn't much. Here's what I found. Art Ford's Jazz Show 1958 with Prez and Coleman Hawkins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DmtPvFa_W8

[Ron Plichta]

I'm another person with smaller hands. My current bass has a 42.25' mensure and I am considering a bass with 41" mensure. It doesn't seem like a lot, but I feel like I can get better intonation in the half and first positions with less left hand discomfort with the shorter mensure.

[Phil Smith]

All of you fellows talking about your small hands, here's something to consider, there are many female bassists with hands smaller than yours that don't have a problem playing and realizing their full potential.

[AClark]

Originally Posted by Phil Smith

All of you fellows talking about your small hands, here's something to consider, there are many female bassists with hands smaller than yours that don't have a problem playing and realizing their full potential.

I'm a female bassist with small hands. It really does cause problems. (But there are ways to overcome it, obviously)

[Ron Plichta]

Originally Posted by Phil Smith

All of you fellows talking about your small hands, here's something to consider, there are many female bassists with hands smaller than yours that don't have a problem playing and realizing their full potential.

That may be true, but regardless of gender, smaller hands presents a challenge. I've spent the past few weeks experimenting with basses of various mensures and talking to several luthiers in the process. What I found out for my situation was simply changing from my current 42 1/4" mensure to 41" made a difference. My intonation improved in half and first position with more left-hand comfort.

[chicagodoubler]

Ron, I've see people with big hands shorten their scale length to make a bass more playable, including my old section-mate, who happens to own this websight...

[Ron Plichta]

The funny part about my bass search was holding up my left hand to every luthier I visited. They understood my situation right away.

The good news is I'm adapting to the 41" mensure quite well. There's not as much stretching going on in the lower positions and so I'm happy. Since my old bass has an E flat neck and 42 1/4" mensure, I'm giving some thought to having a false nut installed if it will bring it down to equal dimensions to my new bass and use it as a jazzer.

[David Potts]

I play 4 fingers all over the neck, including 1/2 and 1st. Positions. My palm is rather square, index finger shorter than ring ringer and little finger rather long.

I have some trouble making the stretch comfortably in lower positions until I can play the D Major scale 2-4-1-2-4-1-3-4 without trouble. My way around this is not to over-stretch but part stretch and part pivot in order to keep fingers arched and rising/falling comfortably. My problem note is usually A flat on the E string where lack of strength and wrist pronation give me some grief. When I settle on a note for long enough I allow the finger spacings to contract a little. I don't advocate fingers collapsing unless there is no other way. (because of the risk of injury and lack of clarity of articulation in fast passages).

As well as a shorter string length I suggest creating your system of half stretch/half pivot and also judiciously turning your bass in more towards your right so that your left arm comes in a little more from behind the neck and you press the strings down a little further back from your finger tips (where there is more meat).

Also a thicker combination of neck and fingerboard will help you space fingers more comfortably (new fingerboard?). Try this. With flat palm and fingers (open hand) stretch all the fingers apart then observe how your fingertips come closer together as you curl them towards a fist. For this reason I have thicker necks/fingerboards on my basses.

Best wishes to you all,

Dp