Hello Malcolm, I think finger stretches are a really helpful practice. I do them always at the beginning of my daily practice routine.
I started out at 9th and 8th fret, and I know it was hard to do. Meanwhile I do the stretches on 3rd and 1st fret and that’s just fine.
So keep on practicing. You’ll get there 
.
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Hi @LeTyrmitte
Looks like your question got lost. Sorry about that.
A picture of your hand in position goes a long way to answer this kind of question. Without it, we are guessing a lot and may send you off in a useless direction. I’ll risk a wrong direction here…
See if your hand is rotated around the neck enough. your thumb should be somewhat centered on the back of the neck and this should give your fingers plenty of length needed to get the curl onto the strings.
I can think of other things as well, but it depends a lot on the chord you are trying to form and position of arm, wrist, thumb, guitar, etc. This is where the picture is important.
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Gagan
This is something to work up to not start with. 1234 should be your end goal. Start higher up the neck where the frets are closer together, work down slowly. As folks have suggested start around the 7th or 9th fret to begin with. You need to develop your flexibility slowly and not jump in at the deep end.
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Here’s my exercise routine - 10 to 12 minutes.
Helps with the arthritis too. (See what you have in store for you when you’re old enough to be called “elderly” or “Gramps” or “Old Man.”) 
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> My pinky finger is 2 1/4 inches long, from base of finger to the tip. 57mm. This is going to be rough. @DeeGee1967
Hummm. Interesting. Mine is 2 1/8 inches. I never really gave that a lot of thought.
I know I have realitively small hands. So does Angus Young. You may be able to find some interviews of Angus talking about his hand size. He just - Adapted. So those like you and I aren’t somehow impared, we simply need to find a way to adapt our playing to fit the hand we were dealt (pun intended). 
Welcome to The Dinky Pinky Platoon!
I hereby welcome you as a charter member! 
In time, we’ll do fine. Promise!
Just saying…
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When I first looked at YouTube videos, I found that a lot of teachers (who otherwise appear very solid) took it for granted that beginners can start spidering on frets 5-8. I had to start on 9-12 and even that was tough. I’m at 8-11 now, but my end fingers still curl a bit. (I did finally see some videos that acknowledged the difficulty middle-aged beginners might have when making their fingers do something they’ve never done (or haven’t done in several decades).)
There is also a stretching exercise I got from Lauren Bateman. Start similar to the spider across four frets, but with fingers on the D string. Move one finger up to E and then down to e. Move it up and down several times (10?), then do another finger.
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I use the finger stretching exercise (aka caterpillar, starting on the 5th fret) and the four riffs I’ve learned so far in beginner grade one as my warmup every day. I’ve seen improvement in stretch as well as fretting and picking accuracy. When I first started doing the exercise I couldn’t do it on the 5th and 6th strings but now I can. It’s a good exercise. And I do the Peter Gunn Theme and Seven Nation Army riffs over all 6 strings. It’s really helped me. Ill soon move the caterpillar to the 4th fret, then 3rd and finally back to the 1st as abilities improve.
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I agree that practice is better than any sort of gimmick, but I can’t pratice while I’m at work, on the bus, waiting in a queue for coffee, watching TV or any number of other things I’m doing where the guitar isn’t available. It’s those times when a $12 finger stretcher (or whatever) can come in handy.
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Where do I place my thumb if starting with 5th fret? Also in order to get my ring and pinky on the 7 & 8 fret I struggle and really twist my wrist, and that only gets me just past those frets not to the bottom where it needs to be.
My hand span is 203.2mm and the length is 190.5 mm.
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If you’re really struggling with the exercise at the 5th fret, go a little higher up, to the 6th, 7th or even 8th until you can place your fingers comfortably, then go back one fret to start the stretching exercise. Then when you’re comfortable with that fret, go back one more, and so on.
Your thumb should just find itself a reasonably comfortable position at the back of the neck
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Just wanted to give this exercise it’s props. I didn’t really need help with dexterity at this level, but I’ve always felt like my hands were too small to play certain chords. Dropped this exercise into my practice routine and after about two weeks I had gained more than an inch in my reach between my pointy finger and my pinky. Legit. 
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After working this exercise for a while, try this:
Put your hands together & line up the pinkies… stretch your fingers apart as far as you can… if you’re like me, you won’t believe the difference between your fretting hand & your strumming hand!!! My thumbs are more than an inch apart!!!
It works!!!
Tod
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I can’t say I’m diligent in any particular stretching exercises as although I do need the stretch my attention tends to swing more towards independent movement to help with chord changes. So any improvement in stretch will be coming mainly from practice in general.
Just did what you suggested, wow, genuinely surprised at the difference between hands. That’s given me a boost for the day, things ARE improving, measureably…
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I understand the stretches but I’m confused about what the app is showing me while I’m doing it, is it really only used for the timer while doing the stretches?
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Hi @Mincic92 , and welcome to the forum! I suppose you are talking about the exercise in the practice session? There it is indeed just the timer, to make sure you don’t overdo it - this stretching exercise is quite taxing on your hand, and overdoing it could result in injury.
Have fun learning!
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What do others do when they are feeling pain? My fretting thumb joint hurts when on the thickest string, and I get pins and needles in the palm. it gets easier down towards the thinnest string. Thinking i’ll practice in shorter but more often intervals and fingers crossed it doesn’t get worse! I guess that’s what you get when you start learning at 60+ !
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Get this corrected quickly. Muscle fatigue is normal, but pain like this should not happen. If you let it continue, you may need to take an extended break from guitar that you didn’t want to take.
Take a good look at your hand shape when you feel this. just stop when you feel this and look at it. are you gripping way too hard? Can you make some adjustment to still get the chord and remove the pain? Is your wrist only slightly bent? What position is your head and shoulder in?
If you don’t see a way, post some pictures of your hand position at both front and back. This can be challenging not to move out of the real position as you 1-hand the camera for a good photo. If you can, get help taking the photo.
Also, think about what you have done most of your life with that hand. What position was it in, and could the change be stressful to the position for playing? I had to make some judgement calls about how I placed my thumb because it would not go comfortably on the back. I had spent a career placing it daily in a very different position which my body adjusted to.
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Hi Sally-Ann @csallier, I developed thumb pain in my picking hand due to bad technique and too many drills. I found the guitar-specific techniques presented here incredibly useful. Seriously, I felt relief within two days. I still have a bit of residual discomfort, but when I feel it I use it as a reminder to check my technique. Keep us posted on how things are going, and don’t be shy to ask more questions!
Edited to add: I’m over 60 as well. 
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