Problems getting clean notes with the thumb wrap in This Shirt

michelew
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:39 am

I just realised that the student Review uploader may be working now. If it is, I'll reload this.

Hi Ness,

So I'm back working on This Shirt, intending to finish it properly this time. My worst section is the jump from Em7 to Fmaj7 in bar 30. After practicing the move slooooooowly it's coming together, so I'm confident I'll get it working properly if I keep doing that.

The frustrating thing though is when I wrap my hand to thread the sixth string with my thumb I almost always end up touching and muting the first string... i also often find that the sixth string isn't fretted properly. I assume the answer is practice slowly doing it correctly so I engrained the right move in my head before moving on. But... I'm finding I can't get both clean - the 1st string and the sixth; it's one or the other or neither. I'm finding it hard to position my hand properly to get the space I need.

The wrap on the Fmaj7sus2 seems to be much better incidentally.

I've got a video showing how sloppy it sounds. How do I get more space when I'm fretting the sixth string with my thumb?

Do you have any advice for me?




Thanks!

Shel


wrsomers
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 9:45 am

Hi Michele,
If I may jump in here, I'd like to make an observation. As a thumb wrapper, I can tell you it is virtually impossible to keep from muting the first string when you use a guitar with a nut width that is more than 1.75 inches. It looks like your guitar has a nut which is too wide for the size of your hand. If you have a guitar with a 1& 11/16 inch nut, you'll probably find that you can make that move. If you don't have a guitar like that, I'm sorry to add to your GAS :laugh:
Bill


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neverfoundthetime
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:36 pm

That Larrivee (nice tone!) of yours sure looks like it has a wide neck, Shel.... hmmmm, wonder what the teacher says....


davidrfinn99165
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 3:38 pm

Gosh Bill, you are always so practical...based on the thread title I was going to suggest wearing a different shirt....


davidrfinn99165
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 4:35 pm

OR...
- drop the 6th string one step..to D (ie ignoring capo)
- finger F bass notes at 3rd fret, G at 5th fret etc

i haven't tabbed it for the whole of the song but this would work with modest fingering changes and avoid the wrap-over issue.

/ david


michelew
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:32 pm

Thanks guys. I do prefer a wide neck. My guitars are 1 3/4", 1 7/8" and 2" at the nut; except for the lecky and the bass of course. ;) it's good to know that that could be part of the problem rather than just sloppy technique.

So get a new guitar, a new shirt. :p or go to dropped D. Or I could just cheat and play a little Fmaj7 or an Fmaj7/C instead. Or ... grow a bigger hand. ;)


wrsomers
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:56 pm

David and Shel,
You guys are so funny. David, leave it to you to come up with a twist :-o

Bill


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TGNeil
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 6:47 pm

michelew wrote:
Thanks guys. I do prefer a wide neck. My guitars are 1 3/4", 1 7/8" and 2" at the nut; except for the lecky and the bass of course. ;) it's good to know that that could be part of the problem rather than just sloppy technique.

So get a new guitar, a new shirt. ;p or go to dropped D. Or I could just cheat and play a little Fmaj7 or an Fmaj7/C instead. Or ... grow a bigger hand. ;)
Michele,

Try not putting all your fingers down at the same time, place them in playing order. You don't play the C on the 2nd string until late in the measure. The order seems to be T-2-3-1. That might get every one cleaner in general.

Neil


michelew
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Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:12 pm

Thanks Neil. I'll give that a go tonight when I get home from work.

Cheers.

Michele


michelew
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Tue Dec 20, 2016 12:12 am

TGNeil wrote:
Michele,

Try not putting all your fingers down at the same time, place them in playing order. You don't play the C on the 2nd string until late in the measure. The order seems to be T-2-3-1. That might get every one cleaner in general.

Neil
Progress report - Neil I tried doing that. The order doesn't seem to matter. It seems to be moving my third finger to the third fret of the fifth string that mutes the first string. So I propose to use a different voicing of the Fmaj7 chord to eliminate that problem. Instead of using 133210 (FCFACE), I propose to use 103210 (FAFACE). I'm still using my thumb to fret the sixth string. The fact that my third finger is on the fourth string instead of the fifth, and my pinky isn't in play, seems to give me enough extra space to allow my hand to stay clear of the top string. The first string seems to be ringing pretty consistently now. Yeh! :)

Hmmmm... I probably should have tried harder to work that out for myself I guess.

It still sounds good to my ears.

Of course let me know if this solution sucks for some reason and there's a good reason to persist.

Thanks for the advice. I'm sure it will come in handy in other dilemmas.

Michele


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