thumb wrap or bar

[twangman51]

Thumbing over the top is essential and so is barring. If you can do one or the other you can get by. If you can't then go and try some other guitars with different necks hey do that anyway, even electrics to see how thumbing over works. You'll get there in the end though

[Scotto]

it's funny..... when I read that last post I actually had to go pick up my guitar and strum out a few to see my hand position. For me, my first thumb joint is straight (the one nearest the nail) the second joint is bent. The pad of my thumb is planted firmly in the center of the neck. I dont think barre chords are really all that hard. It just takes a while to develop the hand strehgth to play them cleanly.

The problem I'm having with the thumb wrap thing is that it's painfull and I really have to squeze the neck hard to get my thumb to fret the E string. If I dont squeze hard it just mutes the string instead. I"m probably doing something wrong. Im sure that it's not supposed to hurt.

[Oracle]

It's all about teaching the left hand something new.
Try relaxing your hand and try to just get the low
E to give you a thud sound. Keep working that, and
slowly add a little pressure. Don't be concerned so much
with the sound, but with the feel of it. If it still hurts,
take a break, shake it off, and try again. Most importantly,
try to relax.

Hope this helps,
Mike

[wcs02]

I guess from a classical perspective, thumbing the sixth and maybe even fifth string would be considered "unorthodox" if not a cardinal sin. Hence your teachers unfavorable reaction.

First of all, I think if your hand is to small, or the neck is too big, this won't work for you. Even if these things don't apply, it will feel uncomfortable because you haven't done it before and it really sort of trashes the foundation of classical playing. I could be wrong, being that I've never had a formal guitar lesson in my life.

I was pretty confident I couldn't thumb bass notes on my Squier strat at first, which has a tiny 1.61" nut width. But now I can do it with relative ease on my 1 3/4" nut Taylor. Playing on my cheapo strat now is a different story, because the strings low on the neck feel like they are so close together.

Secondly, if there aren't physical limitations on thumbing bass notes, it is probably a matter of technique. Thumbing is easiest right behind the fret, and angling it can help avoid that A string. Maybe like tilting it so that your fretting the string with the inside edge of the thumb instead of the meaty underside(where the fingerprint is) will help.

What song are you trying to play by the way?

[JedimasterPaul]

Originally posted by mapletrees


sometimes you can get around not wrapping your thumb...

and sometimes in the alternating bass style you just can't ....gotta change the arrangement somehow...nothing wrong with that...learning opportunity...

Yes!

If you can't do it, maybe it's just not part of your 'style' I wouldn't worry about it.

About the only thing I do a thumb wrap for is a D/F# chord.

[Scotto]

Originally posted by wcs02

What song are you trying to play by the way?

it wasnt a song..... it was just an exercise. the chord was an F chord near the nut. fingering was
e open (not played)
B-- 1
G-- 2
D-- 3
A-- open
E--1 with thumb

you fretted like that and used a picking pattern. the F on the low E string and the open A were the alternating bass notes

i dunno if I displayed that right but the Letters are the strings in normal tuning and the number is the fret played. I didnt specify the actual note played cause I figgure y'all know that anyway .

I'll keep working on it. It's probably something I just have to keep at until i find a hand position that works. Thanks for all your help

[stratokatsu]

I have the opposite problem. My hands are huge and my fingers are long. My thumb on the fretboard is like my tongue at the dentist - it just won't stay out of the way.

I even use it on a D chord, leaving my index finger off and playing the treble with the three smaller fingers and the thumb on the low E.

[Beeblevrox]

the thumb wrap (or warp??) is essential and even with my small hands it came natural to me. I hate barring and almost use these chords! Each to their own eh?

If any gets a chance listen to Stephen Bishop's "Little Italy". I tried for years to work this one out and gave up. Then I emailed his website for songbook/tab details quite prepared to pay. ****ed if the man hisself didn't reply with a hint.... Thumb over the 6th at third fret and work the runs on 234!!

oh yeah! easy for the thumb.... my fingers won't reach the 234's to play the runs!! Anybody know what size fingers he's got????

[david_m]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'd sooner run down the street naked than use my thumb to fret a note.

If it's not something you can do or want to do then don't sweat it. If it is something you want to do, then practice, practice, practice. It will eventually come.

David

[kcollins]

I have fairly small hands and I've been able to learn, through practice, to use my thumb to fret the 6th string without muting any of the treble strings. In a sense, the nylon string classical guitar is a completely different instrument than the steel string fingerstyle guitar and each requires their own technique. Anchoring your pinky and palm muting bass strings are anathema in the classical world too. Don't sweat your teacher's (or anyone else's) reaction, its just different techniques for different instruments. Practice will get you wherever you want to go.

[plexipunk]

never used my thumb.....

[Andromeda]

I have large hands yet very skinny narrow fingers, I guess I was born to play the guitar. I never have had a problem using my thumb on some chords. Yet I remember a local guitar teacher who really disouraged using the thumb for some reason or another. His replacement, who is probably the most phenominal guitarist I ever met, see's no problem in using the thumb.

This thread makes me think of Paul Simon. He has small hands and he uses the "fret what you need" method of guitar playing. He doesn't always play the full chord. He just frets the notes he needs and can reach. I don't think that has hurt him one bit.