I'm almost a year into playing bass and I was genuinely surprised to find out that while not perfect, I do half the things on the list subconsciously already. My small hands didn't hold me back or make me look up how to play with small hands. It does make me a little smug though.

Ahh, I needed this. As a small girl with small hands... THANK YOU, JOSH!

I chose to go with a short scale one because the normal sized ones I felt were almost my height when I saw them in the shop. The short scale felt better for me and more comfortable and they're less heavy. Since I'm learning and I have back issues, I decided to go that route, so far no regrets.

About the pick vs finger debate, it's not a debate. Learn both. They are different tools that have different functions and can help you spot muting problems among both kinds of playing. Learning is fun!

What he says about bad positioning is seriously good advice. I used to play the wrong way until I got tendonitis on the base of my thumb and couldn't play for months. After slow healing, I started paying attention to the positioning, and though it was awkward at first, I got used to it quickly. It feels easier, more comfortable, and I can play way better.

Ive been playing bass for a while now. The whole time, i just played by ear and never really had any technique. I found this channel about 2 months ago and i have improved so so much. I cannot thank you enough for posting these videos, and for free. We love you!!

I've been playing for about five years now and when I first started, I avoided many basslines because I thought my hands were too small. Once I learned how to micro shift (and use my pinky lol), I went back to those "impossible" basslines and learned all of them!

I'm a 5Ft2 54 yr old Australian Woman - grew up with piano but this year started teaching myself guitar - its very hard with small hands and I'm improving but sometimes its just so hard and not fun. I just bought myself a Fender Mustang Bass (in Butterscotch Blonde - so pretty) and I've been learning from your videos the past few days - I think I've found my instrument...I'm having so much fun and I'm in rhythmic love!!! Thank you, helpful, witty guy from the other side of the World

This has got to be one of THE BEST channels for musical instruction on KZfaq. Not only is the information super practical, but the video production is tops. Thanks for your effort, gang.

Probably the best video out there for us folks with short fingers and smaller hands. I've switched to bass from being a guitarist over 40 years and videos like this have been invaluable to helping me with a successful transition. Thanks for clearing up the myth that you have to have long ass fingers to play bass effectively!

63 years old and with small hands. I’ve been playing normal scale my whole life and I found this video very informative. Sometimes I have to be reminded to get back to the basics.

I'm a girl with small hands (5'4" so semi-short lol) and I started playing bass in August, this video helps a lot! Thanks Josh! :)

i've been playing bass for about 4 months now, your videos have helped me improve so much. i record myself playing the same song every month and can see a vast improvement. thank you!

Another great video to help us newbies out here struggling to sound half way decent! Thank you Josh!

I recently sprained my pinky so I couldn't use it for some time and limited my fretting fingers to the first three. This seriously improved my micro shifting and even altered some aspects of my playing afterwards. I am happy to have my little one back now but to be honest I can play almost everything with just three fingers. I have big hands but it is mostly about positioning and not the size. Don't use this last sentence on a first date ;)

Came for info on hand size and appropriate fretting technique, stayed for the warm-up flexibility practice move. Things can be so simple sometimes, if someone just points them out to you! That's what makes Josh's videos so valuable to me.

As a PT student with a huge carrying angle who’s been trying to learn bass for years, this is super helpful!! Thanks so much!!

I have a short scale bass and love it as I am a short scale dude...just picking it up again after 30 years and it feels great! Thank you for these lessons.

This is SO encouraging! I’m originally a cellist, and started my bass journey on a Taylor minibass - such a sweet instrument, especially with acoustic guitar! But when I got my electric bass (a Fender P bass) I was disoriented and discouraged when I realized I suddenly couldn’t play a finger per fret anymore. Some lessons on the Fender app have helped, but your video has given me a welcome boost! I shift all the time on cello. I got this!

Thanks Josh! I’ve been playing bass with small-ish hands for around a year now. Your videos are always helpful!

Thank you so much I started playing bass three weeks ago and you’ve helped me so much you really are the best dude

YAAAAAS a new vid!! This is so me (small hands). Thanks for putting new content out. Looking forward to your next course after “B2B.”

I've started watching your videos only recently because I want to start playing bass. I (a small handed person) appreciate these tips so much!

Another great vid Josh, loved the dash of comedy you put into this i was laughing my heart out Thanks for teaching me bass for the past few months and im glad to say i apply all the right techniques mentioned

I was just trying to correct this issue today! Great timing! You’re a lifesaver!

It hasn't been long since I picked up the bass and I really started to feel it in my wrists. This video was so helpful and fun, I wanna get back into it and apply these tips! Thank you!!

Thank you so much for making these videos. You have brought back my confidence and motivation to learn how to play instruments. I gave up on ukulele a while ago complaining my hands were too small and I didn't have rhythm. Thanks to your KZfaq channel and beginner to badass I've learned I can play anything with good form and practice. So glad I found this channel!!!

Just this one video has done more to improve my bass playing than all the ones I've seen so far. When the instrument doesn't sound good, you don't want to play it. Now when I do, I enjoy it. Playing clean notes and running up and down the neck having fun. Dude, you ROCK!🤘

You are simply the best teacher. 😃👍 Love your content. Your Beginner2Badass course is worth every penny.

You have THE BEST videos!!! Thank you for this!!! As a budding bassist with small hands, this was sooooo freaking badass helpful!!!🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾

Excellent video! Everything here is spot on and I incorporate all of these techniques in my playing. There's no reason to make things more difficult than they need be, and it actually opens everything up for future progress. 👍🏾

Great information. As a guitarist, I purchased a Sterling Stingray SS-4 and I'm really enjoying learning all the old Motown bass-lines, along with classic-Rock and Reggae. It plays and sounds amazing. oNe LoVe from NYC

Absolutely love your videos! They are so fun and encouraging n just what I need when I am so discouraged sometimes. I am very early in my learning process and some days I'm like oh forget it! Once I revisit some of your videos or lessons, they seem to reenergize me to want to push on. Thank you. You're a great teacher ☺️

Just grabbed my bass while watching this to try out the pinkification exercise, and it immediately helped me understand how to position my tiny hand and solved a lot of the problems I've been having!

This is a great vid, super useful. I find my short, 30", scale bass makes the shifts and positioning even easier/more intuitive.

Love that Josh used A Squire Bass. Showing that you don't need pricy stuff to get a great tone. my Squire Jazz has one of the nicest feeling playing experiences I have ever played. 2nd only to a Luthier's work and its only £219

I love your videos!! Its easy to follow and understand it’s my first day and i’ve been binge practicing with your videos 🤍

Thank you so much for covering this topic!!!

This vid is awesome. Many years ago my brother said that my hands were way to small to ever play the bass. Well, now that I have returned to playing the bass, those words still echo in my mind. Thank you so very much for this vid! I can now start playing again without anything holding me back!!!

I recently purchased his DVD course. I'm in module 2. I really, really like this course. The pace is excellent. Bass is awesome! Cheers! (Ellen is the reason I decided to give it a try... I don't have alien fingers. )

Wow, I've been playing bass for years and even though my positioning isn't bad, that simple exercise of lining up with the pinkie took some strain off my wrist which I didn't know I had. Super useful. I've got weirdo genetics; 6'3 with size 13 feet and big palms, but with these little stubby fingers attached. Thanks dad.

Aweseome video! I’d love to see a Geddy Lee bassist breakdown! Thanks again!!!

yessss!! such a necessary video... I struggled a lot in the beginning, but it gets better with practice

Actives streches are the best! I love your fretting exercice. And again, you got me at the guile theme. You have something for it lately.

Yay, you're back! I missed you :) Hand size definitely doesn't matter, and thank you for pointing it out. You touched on stretch briefly, but I'll chime in an anecdote. After playing bass for most of my teenage life, I realized my fretting hand stretches almost an inch more than my picking hand when I fan my fingers out naturally side by side. I picked up a short scale bass earlier this year to teach my elderly mother how to play bass (by doing the Beginner to Badass course with her). She was really struggling with my jazz bass due to having smaller, older hands. So far she's doing really well after switching to the short scale. For her, it's more about having fun than trying to become a gigging musician. I love how the short scale bass sounds; honestly, I love the sound of the $200ish short scale more than my fancy Fender jazz bass. However, my hands are too big to comfortably play the short scale. I can fret 1-6 with the reach of my giant hand that is used to playing 34" scale.

Very good explanation! 👍

As always great advices with a really laid back demeanor that justs make me wanna play 😊 Cheers from Switzerland 🇨🇭

Excellent video and advice, as usual Josh. Your "Hey, no problem, you can do this" attitude in everything you teach is such a relief and I use it often when struggling with something. Keep the vids coming Josh, you're the best. And Holy Snykies!!!!! How tall are you and Victor Wooten?

I was taught the hand positioning many years ago, been in bands through the years played various basses and it has served me well along with the sliding. Have to stay in playing shape to play bass with small hands for me.

I've been binge watching your vids, also subbed :) Currently looking for my first ever bass and will definitely be following along. Can't wait

I play a Fender and I have another bass that is a 24 fret long scale bass and I don't have long fingers like Josh. An exercise that helped me was keeping my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd finger in place on the corresponding frets and placing my pinky on the 4th and then stretching it to the 5th fret without moving the other 3 fingers. I took me about a month to be able to do this where it felt natural but it really improved my reach.

Another great video. I started playing bass years ago as therapy due to autoimmune diseases that have destroyed my hands, fingers, joints. I loved music and the bass so decided to try to learn. Needless to say with my small hands and painful fingers that don’t work or have feeling it was a chore and I wanted to just quit many times. But I’ve adapted through the years. My technique looks ridiculous but my goal was to play the bass no matter what I had to do. I simply cannot stretch, and it only has gotten worse. Thank you for these tips and info, they’re helping me get around better!

Thanks I needed this bro 🫡

This has given me the confidence to play bass again. Thank you very much

It feels like my little hands grew after watching this video. Right now I'm feeling ROBERT JOHNSON LIKE, YEAH! Thank you, Josh, for all the lessons (and laughters)!

Brilliant video. I don’t play bass and don’t plan to😊, but I loved this video with great tips that I could see using today. Josh, you have a warm and encouraging teaching style. I see why you are a great instructor.

Josh, your videos are great. I do most of my practice on my long scale jazz but when i play with others, i play my Mustang.

I really enjoyed this video! I have small hands, yet after learning some piano I took up the bass at age 15 in 1980, before there was the internet to help me find my way, so I had to discover a lot of things on my own. Through trial and error I taught myself every technique you describe in this video, and have since played in many kinds of bands (including pit bands for musical theatre), but it sure would’ve been helpful to have had it clearly explained to me back when I was starting out. So in a way, this video explained to me “why I do THAT,” because it’s become so automatic that I don’t think about it anymore - it’s just the way I play. Today, I make my living as a cocktail lounge pianist, but now, after hardly playing bass since the pandemic lockdown in 2020, I’m really getting back into my bass, and videos like yours are helping me get my head back into it. So thank you, and I’ve subscribed!

Good no bullshit video that leaves more questions than answers thanks man

Excellent video. I am always learning something of great value from you. Thx.

This is totally true for the double bass too. Great video.

My eyes have been opened! I've been saying for a long time that my hands were too small to play bass, now I want to start playing again. :)

These lessons are helping me soooo much, I am just learning to play the bass and have violin positioning stuck in my head. Thank you

superbe info, presented very well. i thought i'd fail on bass due to those damn small hands. learning about microshifting was a revelation and prevented me from steering away from learning bass. a big thank you to you, sir ❤

This is such a helpful video!

I'm more of a guitar player, basically everything you covered here is why I never stuck with the bass. something about it did not feel natural, but after watching this video (multiple times with bass in hand) now I know EXACTLY what to do to get around with accuracy. i dont have small hands, theyre quite adept to piano playing (octave +2 stretch) however my hand angle to the neck was causing a pinch in my wrist before, now its fine. the micro shifting is something I do on guitar but didnt think about it with bass, now my accuracy is better, feels more natural, not hurting my hand even on my massive triple neck instrument "The Galaxian Trident" I'm having a much easier time. Thank you so much for this video breakdown. I can now play on my bass guitars better, now im off to go through your whole channel learning everything I can.

thank you so much for your help god bless you and your family

Microshifting works perfect for me! Working on "closing the gap"technique.

josh coming through with that motivation as usual 🛐

I LOVE Precision basses, but I never got one because I always thought they were too big for my hands, so I played a short scale jaguar bass. This video convinced me to go buy one, thank you!!

Thank you!

Great video!

super good advice!!!

the best video intro! My small hands thank you!

I still like the small scale bass (as does Paul McCartney, Tina Wymouth, and Bill Wyman).

I plan on starting to learn bass after graduating (I don't have time nor money right now to start lmao) and I was afraid that my small hands would be an obstacle Thanks man! Your channel motivates me to learn bass even more!

This video was right on time. My bass is coming today and Ive owned one before and trouble with how my fingers were positioned on the neck.

Good job sir !

Love your channel

This has definitely encouraged me to go ahead and get myself a bass despite my small weak hands

Thanks, this is helpful.

My main problem is not only the small hand, but also that I am a violinist, I play violin for... 34 years 😃 and I started playing bass one month ago. My left fingers are used to be rounded. Too rounded to bass, but I work on it! I realised it all by myself.

Yes.

Every one of your videos is an improvement for anyone wanting to learn the bass.

thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I use short scale basses due to extremely small hands (I cant even find gloves my size) and when I get any good on my short scale, short fret basses I practice the same song on a regular size Fender! Works out and boosts confidence.

Short answer .. no. Try playing double bass. Everybody has small hands on that.

Nice vid, and great editor!

You have saved my wrist health this feels so much better thank you so much

Thank you! Now I'm going to take my nubby little fingers & play my recently bought Epiphone Thunderbird Gothic Bass IV!

Learning not to force your hands to stretch has helped me tremendously over the years. And the interesting things, now I can stretch more than I used to be able too. Big hands and long fingers are not Necessary to play bass.

Hey Josh, I'm Josh too. I have small hands and I can attest that you are on the money here in explaining how it's possible to be a badass on bass no matter your hand size.

Easy fix. I switched to the Sterling short scale basses. Played standard six basses for years. Never again. Theses basses still have 22 frets. Not missing anything. Even have an ibanez short scale fiver. There is simply no need for standard size bass if you choose not to play one. Easier on my shoulders too. I actually never had a problem playing the standard scale bass. I have small hands too. It’s the weight of the bass I did not like.

my man... i hope this comment finds you well :) over the years you helped a lot with my bass guitar studies MUCH LOVE from Romania

Thank you thank you thank you!

I knew this was possible. I just didn't know 'how'. Thanks 🦋

Thank you! I was definitely struggling with my tiny hands. 😅

Watching you play the trooper with just one fretting finger made me visibly gasp. Bravo

Whoohoo fantastic a big like smash and subscribed

i have a bone deformity and i can’t stretch out my hands, this video was very motivating for me. practice micro shifting and smaller stretches