New to thumb wrap - need suggestions

[Deliberate1]

Friends, I am working on a couple tunes that have introduced me to the world of chords with a thumb wrap, specifically F and F#. I am new to this maneuver and find it a great challenge. I have no issues chording the fingers. But once the thumb is added, it throws everything off, and the chord does not sound clearly. I have tried all manners of contortions to try to accomodate the thumb while keeping the fingers firmly set. All with little progress. To the extent it matters, nut is 1.75". Thanks for any help.
David

[ssjk]

Suggest you get the feel of it by making an F chord with the thumb wrap instead of a barre. Play some song with a C/Am/F/G progression and play the F with the thumb and slide it up to the G. Will give you a feel for how much/little press you need on the low string.

I suspect you are moving the thumb more directly over the E string than is necessary. I catch it with the side of my thumb and kind of squeeze it over rather than pressing down.

[PeterM]

What SSJK says, just kind of pinch it with the side of the thumb. Don't try and be Neil Young who must have thumbs as long as my fingers as he can wrap both the E and A strings.

I also find it easier to do the D with the F# thumb wrap...maybe start with that until you get the feel.

Norman Blake used to refile his nut so that the E string was closer to the edge of the fretboard to help him (that one is a bit radical I think). Wonder if he still does?

[rick-slo]

If your hands are of a size that makes a thumb wrap unpractical then don't push it.

[Deliberate1]

Thanks gents. Perhaps I am trying to engage more of the thumb than I may need. I will experiment per your suggestions. Rick-slo, I got average hands. But I do have a bit of arthritis which surely does not work in my favor.
David

[ssstewart]

thumb wrap takes time to develop imo. practice and repetition will aid this of course, but took me around 5 years before i could do it with ease and then even longer to wrap both e and a with thumb. Tommy E has a vid where he shows how his thumb has actually deformed (positively of course) from years of practicing the thumb wrap and his 2 thumbs look entirely different from one another. so time is most important, if you practice it too much you may do more harm to your digit that allowing it the time to develop the deformity( you know what i mean) naturally.

[JonPR]

Remember that classical players never use their thumb to fret the 6th. They work with wide fretboards (2"), which would naturally make it harder anyway, but for most chords commonly played with thumb on 6th (F, D/F#) there are ways using fingers only.

Obviously you should be able to play F (and similar shapes) using the usual index barre (thumb over is just an occasionally useful alternative). And D/F# only needs 4 strings to be fretted, and you have 4 fingers....

Naturally, arthritis - or just normal ageing of the hands (if you start learning in middle age or beyond) - will make some chord shapes tougher however you fret them.