Short Scale - How Small Do Hands Need to Be?

[jabsys]

I haven't got huge hands but I don't find playing a 34" an issue, I can comfortably play "one finger per fret" in the first position (closest to the nut)

middle (line to tip) : 79mm
pinky : 54mm
palm (wrist to finger join) : 100mm

[Liv3rman]

My hands are the same size as my 11 year old son lol. I play 34" scale no problem. You just have to have quick hands and jump around the fretboard a bit.

[Misterwogan]

Originally Posted by jabsys

I haven't got huge hands but I don't find playing a 34" an issue, I can comfortably play "one finger per fret" in the first position (closest to the nut)

middle (line to tip) : 79mm
pinky : 54mm
palm (wrist to finger join) : 100mm

Thanks. I'm really glad I started this thread as it has well and truly banished my size complex.

[Bassmanbob]

Originally Posted by Misterwogan

Thanks. I'm really glad I started this thread as it has well and truly banished my size complex.

You know what they say about guys with big hands and big feet?






"They wear big gloves and big shoes!"





.

[Rip Topaz]

I have the tiniest hands of anyone I know. Seriously. I have girl hands.

But ALL of my basses are 34" scale, anything lower and I tie my fingers in knots. My son has a shortscale Rondo P, and from time to time I good around on it and its just too small for me.

I've owned one 35" scale bass, and I had zero problems playing it. Only got rid of it because five string basses just aren't for me. The scale length had nothing to do with it.

[3234718]

My hands are fairly large and I manage to play my ubass without any problems. 34” is more comfortable though

[lfmn16]

Forget about stretching and learn to shift. Forget about scale; just look at good bass players playing a string bass and you'll realize that scale is irrelevant. My teacher in college had short, fat, stubby fingers and he could tear up a Precision and a string bass. I studied with the Principal Bass in the National Symphony Orchestra in the 80's and he had short, fat fingers too. If you have short fingers, shifting is your friend.

I actually have long fingers, but still use the Simandl fingering. Buy the Simandl method, you can probably find one cheap on amazon.

[lunarpollen]

length/size of hands has little to do with it, what's WAY more important is how your hands and fingers are shaped when you wrap your hand around a neck. I have very long fingers and hands, but when I curl my hand into a fretting shape, the way my joints are aligned, my fingers generally want to come to a point at the center of my palm, which makes stretching across large expanses impossible. So I find shorter scale instruments to be much easier to play. There are players out there with tiny hands but their fingers stay more or less parallel to one another when they curl their hand into that claw shape, and they have an easier time on any scale instrument, even super long ones.

[RED J]

I have short fingers and a thumb frozen at about a 15 degree angle from an injury. I too have found that shifting is what helps me. I do feel maxed out on a 34" scale and prefer a 1 1/2 " (`39mm) nut width, but love my full size basses. I also have several short scales, I go back and forth with ease. Most important is having a traditional shaped bass with a top horn where the strap attaches at about the 12th fret, my short arm is fuly extended fo position 1 !

[gurensan]

Originally Posted by lfmn16

...
I actually have long fingers, but still use the Simandl fingering. Buy the Simandl method, you can probably find one cheap on amazon.

+1

I use the Simandl fingering. It's a billion times more comfortable to me than 1-per-fret. When I see beginners doing that I mention Simandl and show them how I hold it. It's more comfortable for some; even more say their teacher told them to bend and stretch and that their teacher is always right.

Oh well.

I can stretch 6 frets in half position on a 34" bass and I still rarely go more than 3 in the same position. Hand size doesn't matter much. It's more how long the arm is!

[agent77]

Originally Posted by Bassmanbob

You know what they say about guys with big hands and big feet?

They're over-compensating for something else.

[nukes_da_bass]

I have never measured my hands, but they are quite small.
I HAVE measured my ----------), it is big!

Alas, I cannot play bass with that!

All joking aside, make sure your bass neck is approaching an angle similar to an upright bass.
I have found its not the stretching of the fingers that causes stress rather it's the awkward position many bass guitarists reach wayyyyyy out with a horizontal aimed neck when they could cut half the distance by keeping the neck more vertical in "classical" position.
Just get a good strap!