What's your take?

heyjoe
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Sun Dec 12, 2010 2:44 am

Hello all,

I'm very much a newbie guitarist and am just curious as to others take on how they position their left hand on the neck when playing chords. I have been positioning my hand so that the thumb can reach up and mute the 6th and even 5th strings when necessary. Essentially, the neck rests somewhat in the "V" created by my thumb and first fingers. It is very comfortable this way and provides a nice stable platform.

In the early beginner lessons, Neil instructs players to always keep the thumb behind the neck of the guitar and strum such that the pick only hits the strings for the chord in question. He also uses mostly hand and wrist action for strumming, rather than arm action as I'd been taught elsewhere. I am working on this technique, but with my thumb behind the guitar, it seems I don't have as good of feel for where my other fingers are in relation to the strings. I am also hit or miss on striking only the correct strings with the pick.

Anyway, I want to get off on the right foot and I'll try to change my technique if need be, but it seems that a lot of the players in the Student Reviews hold the guitar more or less like I do, so I'm wondering what is acceptable.

Any comments from the TG crowd??


haoli25
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Sun Dec 12, 2010 3:10 am

Hello Skypilot and welcome to TG and the TARGET program.

Neil stresses the 'economy of motion' in his instructions. This will be a huge benefit to you down the road as your guitar playing progresses. You said that you were an early beginner, have you tried any of the barre chords yet? To get barre chords to sound cleanly, it is essential to have your thumb behind the neck and aligned behind your index finger. That may feel awkward at first, trust me, it did for all of us when we were first starting out, but it is a technique that works.
If you try the 'baseball grip' with your thumb over the top of the neck or on the 6th string, it may seem comfortable at first, but you will find that grip severly limits the range of motion of your ring finger and your little finger. As a new guitar player you have the opportuniity to learn the right way from the beginning. Neil Hogan knows what he is talking about and teaching.



Bill Image


AcousticAl
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Sun Dec 12, 2010 7:47 am

Hey there Skypilot,

Nice to see that you signed up to BOTH TG AND target. You won't regret it, and you'll see big improvements in your playing in no time. Also, you'll get out of TG what you put into it, and it's great to see you posting already. There's no shortage of friendly people and great advice on here. I look at it as my own personal music encyclopedia.

Regarding your specific question- as you tackle more complex songs, you'll find your left hand position VERY important. As Bill said, your range of motion is very restricted that way. You'll also see Neil explain this in quite a few songs and lessons throughout tg and target. Get it right at the beginning.

Edit- I should mention that Skypilot had messaged me on youtube asking how I got to where I am now. Of course I told him about TG! So roll out the welcome matt, kids!!


Lavallee
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Sun Dec 12, 2010 8:56 am

Hi Skypilot!

I understand what you're saying, the 'baseballgrip' really feels comfortable and in some occasions it's just fine.

But you have to take it the other way around, first make sure you can play with your thumb behind the neck, you can do the baseball grip, if suited, later. But starting with the baseballgrip and then change it to playing with your thumb behind the neck (wich you háve to often) is way more difficult, wich you already found out. So it's the changing thing, if you can change between the two ways easily, then no problems there, but if you can't wich is usually the case when you start with the baseball grip, then you have a problem.

Conclusion, start out right, thumb behind the neck, you can always do the baseball grip later! ;)

(And yes, in my own video's especially when I play strummings and chords, my thumb is not behind the neck, but for instance with fingerstyle it ís behind the neck, because of the range of motion-thing explained by Bill.)


sws626
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Sun Dec 12, 2010 6:30 pm

Hi Skypilot,

I guess you know from Neil's lessons and the other comments that the position you've described as most comfortable is less than ideal in most situations. I've found that this is more a matter of making sure there is a gap between the neck and your hand (what you describe as the V between your thumb and index finger) than exactly where your thumb is placed. This will give you the greatest range and ease of finger movement over the fretboard.

That said, Vanessa's comment that "you can always do the baseball grip later," hasn't been true in my own experience. I find myself having to perform all sorts of acrobatics to form the chords that some very accomplished baseball grip players use when fretting the sixth string and leaving the 4th and 5th open (Damien Rice, Ian Anderson, and Eric Clapton, for example).

But if you are looking to establish a good habit, you'll want to keep your left thumb on the back of the neck and work on right hand control to avoid hitting unwanted low strings. That right hand control comes with practice and there are plenty of songs on the site with open chords in the keys of G and E that will give you a chance ot practice at that. When you play barre chords higher up the fretboard, another little trick (I'm not sure what Neil's view on this may be) is to mute the 6th string on, for example, an "A shape" chord, with the tip of your left index finger.

-Stuart


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