do i have any chance with normal bass ?

[Robroy]

Leaving bass out of it, it is best to pursue goals which involve the ways you, yourself, are gifted. I've seen people without legs do amazing things, but their goal was not to do the thing, but to prove that a person without legs could do it. If the latter is in the spirit of your goal, go for it. But short fingers can be a blessing in some pursuits and a hindrance in others. A person that is really small can be a great jockey. A person that is really big can be a great lineman. Imagine the jockey pursuing being a lineman, or the lineman pursuing being a jockey.

Back to bass: If you have a passion for it, you should do it. Otherwise, find something else.

 

[Guitalia]

I have and play basses with scales of 35", 34", 33", 32", 30", and 28". My favorites are the 34"-scale and 28"-scale basses, The 28"-scale bass is a 5-string Ibanez Mikro. It's one of the most inexpensive name-brand basses around, but it sounds great and plays well.

If I were you, I'd get a 5-string Mikro, or else the 4-string version (I'm thinking of getting one of those myself). Easy to learn on, and sounds good, too.

And, whatever bass you choose, learn the upright bass technique of moving your hand instead of the one-finger-per-fret technique, since moving your hand means you can adapt easily to playing an upright bass.

 

[Sub-hoo-fer]

The great guitarist Django Reinhardt had a partially crippled left hand, and primarily played with three fingers, and he was no slouch. I have four good working fingers, and will never play like this:

Great point! Good technique is one thing. Making music is another. I think the overwhelming consensus here is that moving your fretting hand is totally fine.

But even if you don't move your hand, if you have four strings and can cover 3 frets then that is 12 notes you can reach. Add in slides, vibrato, hammer-ons, pull-offs, trills, etc and you have a wide pallette with which to express yourself.

You also don't need giant fingers on your plucking hand to hold down the groove. A huge part of what makes Victor Wooten and Bobby Vega awesome is their right hand technique.

I struggled with trying way too hard early on. I also struggled with "working out of the stretch" (I wanted a 5 fret range. I still don't have one). This was killing my confidence and I was obsessing over not being able to play a third on the same string as the root. To drive the "less is more" point home and to end my 5 fret obsession, one excercise my teacher had me do early on was to create a bassline over Gmaj using only the triad notes but not using the low G on the E string. Of course my line was overly simplistic and not very musical. My teacher then proceeded to lay down an extremely funky line using only the root at the fifth fret d string, the third - b - 4th fret g string, and the fifth - d - 5th fret on a. A good bit of the groove came from his right hand and how he approached the notes. The bonus for me was that I could reach all of those notes easily with two fingers.

 

[BassinCT]

Welcome to TalkBass!

Be inspired by the music you love to play the music you love.

If possible, find another teacher who will be positive and who will instruct you to use proper, relaxed technique.
My only technique advice: It is neither necessary or safe to keep your hands in a stretched position while playing. Always relaxed.

I wish you the best and hope you can start down a new path with your bass!

 

[macmanlou]

Your teacher should be showing you how to pivot your left hand on your thumb. If he doesn't know what that means, you need a different teacher.

 

[Helix]

If this guy can play with his feet, than you can play with your hands no matter what size they are

 

[rob2966]

My fingers are only slightly longer than yours, and I have no issues (including my Dingwall which is 37" scale on the low B). I can stretch quite a bit (years of practice but if you can't there is usually more than one way to play something anyway).

Later
Rob

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I have short fingers and have no problem playing 34" or 35" scale instruments. You just have to move your left hand and not try to play in one position only. I'm guessing your teacher is a classical guitar teacher. I would find another teacher, ASAP.

 

[aprod]

Your teacher is no teacher at all. He is an idiot. No need to stretch like a crazy man. Use the thumb pivot. A technique developed by the great Carol Kaye. Use fingers 1 2 and 4. The one finger per fret is a guitar technique. Check Carol Kaye's website for excellent instructional material. Good luck.

 

[Ron Johnson]

No teacher should ever tell you to stop, unless you lost all your fingers or something...
You don't necessarily need to have a big hand to play. My pinky is nearly atrophied from an injury, and I play just as fine with three fretting fingers. Pick up the bass again and teach yourself. Obviously that teacher is no good for you.

 

[Fight4Bottom]

Hand size only matters in presidental campaigns. If you really want to play bass, you'll do it. A teacher can be great at helping you learn fundamentals—after all, you gotta know the rules before you break them. But if the teacher isn't interested in helping you, go on without him.

 

[pedroims]

There are hundreds of songs that can be played using your index finger only, you don't need big hands. Get a bass you like and start learning easy songs, with or without you by U2 as example, you wont need more than one fretting finger.

 

[lundborg]

Although I have quite big hands, the only time I have a promlem with reach is when playing complex chords onthe guitar. Clearly your teacher knows very little about playing guitar.

Get a short scale. I got the Epi EB-0 for my daughter, that's a nice affordable bass.

 

[Nephilymbass]

Hi guys,
My question maybe asked before but my problem is harder a little .
In my cou refunding short scale or 32" inch one is impossible .
Most bass are 34" or 35"
I practice bass for 9 month in past and my teacher told me I won't be successful and it's better give up ,instead of waste my time and money and go for an instrument that I match much easier and better .
I didn't develop well and most of his student improved much more than me.



The problem is my short finger

My index is 2.8 "
My middle finger is 3"
Ring is 2.6"
Pinky is 2 1/4 "

I had huge problem on stretching and even used stretching trains but didn't work .

As example on normal electric guitar (not bass ) my stretching is 5 fret at best day .after a lot of train nothing happen .

And because of my teacher I gave up on bass and sold my bass .

I want to know is there any chance I can become good bassist on normal scale bass 34" or it will be to hard that not happen and I should try guitar .


Sorry for my bad English .

I have average size hands and I've owned and had no issues playing a 34" 7 string. If I can do that than I don't see how having short fingers would prevent you from at least playing a 34" scale 4 string. My main player is a 35" 5 string. I think a lot of this issue it technique. Don't have your palm against the back of the neck, adjust your strap and play so your fretting hand thumb is the only part of your fretting hand that's behind the neck. This will also give you a lot more hand strength to play. I can reach all the way across the 7 string neck enough this way I could probably handle a 9 string with no reach issues.

 

[JKB1957]

If you want to play bass and you like to play bass, then play bass. If you have to adapt your style then so be it. Music is fun, enjoy it. Keep the groove.

 

[ThePresident777]

Consider this before you give up.

 

[warrplayer]

I was also told many years ago by an instructor that my hands were too small to play bass. I got a new instructor. She told me one fret per finger was guitar player nonsense. Some drummers I have recorded with: Pat Mastellotto, Gavin Harrison, Bill Bachman, Jerry Marotta. None of them seemed to notice the length of my fingers.

 

[Jimmy4string]

Good posts by everyone above. There is some good bass instruction here in Talkbass as well as Youtube.
I like Scott's bass lessons as well. His online courses have some good stuff.
You can play bass. Just might require a bit more effort.
This is the most honorable of instruments so it is worth the exxtra effort.

 

[Sweet Willie]

I'd just like to take this moment to say that I continue to be quite pleased with having an opposable thumb. Thanks.

 

[chivsjawn]

Hand size has absolutely no impact on whether you can learn to play the bass well. It's pretty much the same with any instrument, anyone can learn to play the bass well regardless of the size of their hands.
I knew a bassist in college, short girl, really small hands. She only played upright bass, even a 3/4 size bass was giant next to her. She played jazz bass as well as any of the other students there. My hands aren't so big either, you just use different technique.
Additionally, don't think that you HAVE to use a 34" scale bass. There's nothing wrong with short or medium scale basses, they're just different. I play 34" scale basses when I'm playing with the military band, but my personal bass is a 32" scale, and I love it.
So next time you see that teacher, tell him to go to . . . a bad place, and keep playing the bass. Jerks like that shouldn't be teaching, the fact that you weren't learning and getting better at the bass is because he limited your thinking by making you believe that you couldn't learn bass unless you had longer fingers.