How difficult is it to switch playing standard guitar vs. short scale?

Cafe Society
1

This applies to guitars and basses. Both are available in short scale.

I’m currently playing a Martin LX1 travel guitar. It has a 23" scale length. A Martin D18 is 25.4" scale length.

I noticed the narrower width between the frets immediately. I’ve been playing the LX1 since May.
My other guitars are at my house in the city. I may not get access to them until next Spring.

How hard will the transition be back to full scale length? Especially flat picking notes? You play F# on the D string and then move you hand back to reach the A on the G string. It will be a wider span on a standard scale length.

Basses are even more extreme. My Fender Mustang short scale is 30" and Fender P basses are 34".

Anyone here switch back and forth between short scale and long scale lengths?

2

I only have one guitar, so no switching back and forth. But I never noticed any difficulty when I put a capo on the second or third fret and that’s effectively changing the scale length. My guess is that you’ll adapt pretty easily. You may just have to look at your left hand more often.
Meanwhile, maybe someone with real experience will chime in and tell me how wrong I am. 8^)
Joe

3

I have played basses with 32 to 35" scale lengths. There is definitely an adjustment to make, especially if playing stuff with lots of fingering, but nothing too steep to overcome within, say, 15 minutes.

I don’t like either short-scale or extra-long scale basses for reasons beyond the scope of this thread.

4

(Nothing useful to contribute here…)

I switched from guitar to bass about 5 years ago and never looked back. About a year ago I picked up a guitar at church and went to strum some chords and was shocked at how tiny it felt–like a kid’s instrument.

Thing is, I am a tall guy with big hands, so a P bass fits naturally in my hands—anything smaller feels cramped and now weird. I can’t imagine switching scale lengths.

5

I never intended to switch to the travel guitar for so long.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if I played standard scale at home and the travel guitar on trips.

I think chords will be easier on standard scale. It’ll feel like there’s so much extra room.

Short scale feels like you’re playing with a capo on fret 4. There’s less room to play chords. The A chord gets crowded with three fingers on a fret. You get used to it but it feels nice playing without a capo.

I’ll probably fumble around for notes. Hopefully it won’t take too long to adjust to standard again.

They do sell standard scale travel guitars. The neck comes off for travel. I was concerned it would get too loose after reassembling it several times.