Hand Size DOES Matter

[@TheNotDerek]

How timely, Dean Lamb just did a little video about his tiny hands lol

[@sillyness3456]

And Justin was in the background at 02:24.

[@TheNotDerek]

@@sillyness3456 Good eye!

[@armanpgrigorian]

Small hands guitar player here, Was a pleasure running into you at NAMM! \m/

[@fleroviux]

My hands are roughly 6.7 inches / 17 cm in length and I think what helped my playing the most (besides practicing a lot) in the last year was getting a guitar with slightly shorter scale length but still a good neck for shredding. In my case I ended up getting a PRS student edition and the shorter scale length and neck profile feel great in my hand. Relieved my left hand a lot.

[@assaultedpeanut9]

She lied to me

[@epickgarcia]

Thanks for the shout out man! I actually started practicing with my hand in neutral position instead of parallel and I’m already noticing the improvement in speed and being more relaxed , even my vibrato has improved! Everyone should definitely pay attention this video!! 🤘

[@saiyaniam]

Have a look at Jason Beckers hands, and EVH's hands. The thumb is massivly important in fretting. The hand size absolutely matters. Any hand flexability matters. Type in jason Becker hand twist. Look at that image...

[@saiyaniam]

Look at shawn lane, small hands, massive reach, superflexible.

[@saiyaniam]

Hand size matters, and so does flexability.

[@MILLERTRANSCENDENT]

Anton used to shred with small chubby hands

[@SylverANGL]

I found what you said about the forearm Supination very interesting. With the pinky top being very low compared to the index top, position those two fingers on frets15 and 19 would require massive supination/index flexion. The supination in that case can be reduced by positioning the guitar in classical position, on the fretting-hand side leg. You also said that limiting the forearm supination helps all the other flexer muscle to flow better. Pretty interesting, remind me of some vocabulary used by Anton which remain mysterious for most of us.

[@Chillnote]

Thank you so much for this video!

[@guillotinedeath]

Michael Romeo

[@KyleL-t6z]

Tiny hands are what made Romeo to practice tapping so much

[@nickbelcher8079]

Interesting video! One thing you might be interested in exploring is fast twitch vs slow twitch muscle fibers and maybe more interestly, how/where the muscles are attached to each bone (for an individual person). Watched an MMA interview where they talked about Connor Mcrgrgor's explosive punches being a result of where his muscles connect to his bones.

[@justin.hombach]

Since a few months I‘m extremely into this topic. Doing a lot of research regarding wich fiber type is better for guitar playing (so far, in my opinion it is IIx) and how we specifically can train them. Really interesting stuff too :))

[@katzensprung7449]

Very interesting video, thank you Justin!

[@mr.bluenotedoobop]

I got raccoon hands but started on bass, which really helped my hand stretching. I’ve got shredder neck guitars and a 50’s les Paul, I can play both no problem.

[@PeteHawthorne]

Hey Justin, I'm a relatively new subscriber and viewer to your channel. I just wanted to ask if you like Tony MacAlpine and if so, which albums?

[@justin.hombach]

I love t-Mac. I was just listening to maximum security. My favorite is probably evolution :)

[@justin.hombach]

And welcome to this channel :)

[@RobinRockGuitar]

Crazy nerdy 👌🤙

[@edguy24]

Great video! I have big hands, but my fingers lock on me, so I definitely need to put my hand in weird-looking positions sometimes on the guitar.

[@honigdachs.]

The type of nonsense people will obsess over ...

[@mattlisch8952]

That „most German thing ever“ there is called a „Gliedermassstab“, directly translated into English would mean a linked measuring rod. Just as an explanation to non-Germans wondering what the heck this thing is

[@justin.hombach]

Der Begriff war mir aber auch neu :D für mich ist das ein „mess-dingens“

[@FountainheadTV]

That's what she said! 😜🤌🏻

[@primushimself604]

I love your playing man. Your solo for Akróasis is my favourite solo of all time!

[@FountainheadTV]

@primushimself604 awww, that's so cool to hear - thank you very much! 🙂🙏🏻

[@spitefulwar]

Well what I have learned today? My palms were made to strike the bongo drums. Now excuse me while I burn my guitars... :/

[@BlackAxtant0]

This is interesting thanks

[@akin519]

Which one do you think is more beneficial to guitar playing, skinny fingers or fat fingers?

[@axel9473]

Big hands with long, skinny fingers are probably the best. Fat fingers simply require more precision, both in the higher and smaller frets and in order to not accidentally touch and mute other strings. Don't quote me on this, tho. There may be advantages of fat fingers over skinny ones as well and there are certainly players with thick fingers that play like gods.

[@EsaValkama]

How do you determine where to start measuring the finger length?

[@justin.hombach]

I start at the middle of the wrist knuckle

[@BiasProd]

Why is my middle finger 23.2 cm? There's no way I'm measuring the same way lol, middle of the "knuckle" where the hand meets the wrist right?

[@soilsample]

When we're dealing with tenths of a centimeter, but the starting point is kind of subjective from person to person measuring. So i guess a grain of salt is in order, unless we're comparing results all from the same measurer. It's a thought-provoking, interesting video, for sure though. EDiT: Im not saying the video is flawed, so much as people who go on to measure their own. There's room to be generous by a few tenths, at least. Heh.

[@justin.hombach]

@@BiasProd I take the little bone that sticks out on the side of the wrist

[@justin.hombach]

@@soilsample The cm compared to other players is not so important imo. I think more useful could be to understand the relation between the fingers on your hand. And there it is not to important to you have the perfect measuring point

[@pellolopez3764]

Watching this video I measured my hand and discovered that I have stupidly big hands, wtf

[@Returnality]

It's literally just basic physics. What is the maximum possible amount a big hand can stretch vs a small hand? Obviously the bigger hands have an advantage there. That's not an excuse though, plenty of great players have small hands.

[@justin.hombach]

Yes and no, our posture has a huge effect on how far we can stretch, and which kind of joint we activate. And the relation between the fingers. So yes it is kinda just basic physics but it is also a bit more complex I assume. And 100% you can have the biggest hands, doesn‘t help when you don‘t really practice correctl

[@Returnality]

@@justin.hombach Sure, but a practiced person with big hands using the right posture is going to be able stretch farther than a practiced person with small hands using the right person. There isn't any way around this.

[@juanmiguelaranavelazquez9116]

Also, grip strength plays an important role, doesn't it?

[@RCKola281]

Nope

[@reidmarshall1368]

Dont let anyone tell you it doesnt. It only makes sense. As my grip strength had increased i have beenable to use a more controlled technique and practice for longer overall without fatigue. However my grip strenght was initially only 34 pounds, so keep that in mind...

[@juanmiguelaranavelazquez9116]

@reidmarshall1368 Is that value actually hand-dynamometer measured? On that device, my current grip strength goes up to 85 lb.

[@reidmarshall1368]

@juanmiguelaranavelazquez9116 yes, and under the supervision of a physiotherapist

[@geoffh8077]

A badass vibrato that makes the strings your bitch requires strength

[@nuitari666uzgurzmor6]

Von wo hast du gemessen? Von der Handwurzel aus?

[@justin.hombach]

Korrekt, der kleine Knoche der da ab und an rausschaut

[@saiyaniam]

Be carfull in trying to get you pinky in line..... you will loose groove. If you wana be a machine... don't... you're an amazing player, please don't turn into a robot.

[@saiyaniam]

I can buy a robot.

[@operaticandroid459]

Yesn't

[@2good2betrue3]

Big hands only matter with girls🤭, in guitar not much. It's right "practice" that matters.👌

[@JimKkoi]

No, man. U have to watch A Oparin bro . Loot at his hands dude

[@RafalLabuda777]

Utter bollocks

[@justin.hombach]

Okay, why? :)

[@RCKola281]

@@justin.hombachBro definitely can't play a Fountainhead solo XD

[@Oldireiters]

Mach doch eventuell paar deutschsprachige Clips. Denke das du viel mehr Reichweite bekommen würdest.

[@justin.hombach]

Hab ich versucht, aber die Zielgruppe ist für das was ich mache ist auf Deutsch zu klein. Und ansonsten bin ich ja ab und an bei Bernd und co zu Gast, und es gibt ja noch den Podcast der auf Deutsch ist. :)

[@Oldireiters]

@justin.hombach Danke für dieine Antwort. Hätte ich nicht gedacht. Aber nachvollziehbar. Schade auf deutsch ist manches einfacher zu verstehen. Mein Englisch ist halt so Semi.

[@soilsample]

I want to stop and thank you both for making the very best hardware under the sun. My Schaller is phenomenal. Good work.