Fretscape doesn't have a single "small hands" switch, but the filter panel has the tools you need to find compact shapes — voicings that stay within a couple of frets, use fewer fingers, and avoid barres. The trick is to combine a few filters that target stretches and finger count at the same time. Most of these filters are part of Pro — Difficulty is the only one in this recipe that's available on Free.

Open the filters panel

Tap Filters above the result list to open the panel. The recipe below dials in a few settings together — see What do the filters do? if you want a full tour of each one first.

Cap the fret span

Under Position, set Max Fret Span to 3 (or even 2). This is the biggest gap Fretscape will allow between your lowest and highest fingered fret on any voicing. Three frets is what most open and movable shapes already use; two is tighter still and rules out a lot of barre chords.

Turn off barre chords

Switch Allow barre off. A full barre asks the index finger to flatten across multiple strings, which strains smaller hands and shorter index fingers. With barre off, Fretscape only returns shapes you can play without one.

Cap the number of fingers

Open the Fingering section and set Max Fingers to 3. That caps the total number of fretting fingers any voicing uses — three-finger shapes are usually the most comfortable to land on. Drop to 2 if you want the simplest voicings only.

If the pinky in particular is the weak link, untick 4 (Pinky) under Allowed Fingers below. Max Fingers caps the count but doesn't say which fingers — a three-finger shape might still use fingers 2, 3, and 4. Unticking 4 (Pinky) is what actually keeps it out of the results.

Favour open shapes

Flip on Open chords only to surface voicings that use at least one open string and stay near the nut. Open strings ring out without effort, which means fewer fingers fretting and less stretch overall. See How do I see only open chords? for the longer walkthrough.

Tune difficulty to your level

Set the Difficulty dropdown to Beginner to lead with the simplest voicings. The label on each card shows the rating of the easiest fingering Fretscape has for that voicing — see What do Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced mean? for what each band actually involves.

A starting recipe

If you're not sure where to start, try this combination:

• Difficulty: Beginner
• Max Fret Span: 3
• Allow barre: off
• Max Fingers: 3
• Open chords only: on (for chords that have open shapes)

Filters stay set between searches, so you only need to dial this in once per session. If a chord has no voicings under those constraints — some chords genuinely don't, especially anything that's normally played as a barre like F or Bb — switch Open chords only off first and Allow barre back on, then narrow from there.