The other day, I got tired of my fingertips hurting all the time. I also got tired of trying to play those difficult stretches.

Then it dawned on me that I could make one simple adjustment to my guitar that would change everything. Afterwards, my guitar playing became much easier and more comfortable.

I’m not the only guitar player who has this problem. I get lots of calls from players who are hampered by arthritis, small hand size, or other conditions that make it difficult for them to play a standard-sized classical guitar.

Here’s how I solved the problem

Instead buying a shorter scale guitar, I just tuned my current guitar two steps lower and put a capo at the 2nd fret. This greatly reduced the tension on the strings, lowered the string height at the new first position, and effectively reduced the scale length from 650mm to 520mm. (Tuning the guitar only one step lower, instead of two, would effectively shorten the scale length to 615mm.)

An additional advantage of this adjustment is the ability to reduce the over-all pitch of the guitar by removing the capo. This could prove very helpful in cases where you want to lower the key without having to change your fingering. The only drawback is the increased difficulty of reaching notes above the 12th fret, but who of us actually plays very much up there anyway, right?

Another advantage of this technique is being able to start a child on a standard sized guitar that they can eventually grow into. Child-sized guitars generally produce less volume and poor sound quality. Give it a try, and let me know how it works for you.