Proper Technique?
Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:46 pm
Hi Neil,
I hope you can find time to reply.
I'm very much a beginner and have really only been working on beginning chords, and various strumming patterns before I joined the site just days ago.
The question I have relates to proper left and right hand technique while forming and strumming chords.
Do you recommend "always" keeping your thumb anchored behind the neck? Other online sites and instructors often show resting the neck more in the "V" of the hand such that the thumb can reach up and mute the 6th, and even 5th strings, depending on which chord they are strumming. They then use more of an arm swing in strumming and don't worry too much about hitting the strings that aren't to be strummed since they are muted. You play with a lot more hand and wrist action than other instructors I've watched and it seems that you rely on hitting only the strings that are appropriate since you don't mute them with your thumb.
Obviously one can't play individual notes without the thumb being placed behind the neck, but is it acceptable to play chords this way? I have been trying to transition to the method you show, but it seem that I don't have as much of a frame of reference for forming the chords with only my thumb on the guitar. I am also very inconsistent in striking the strings just perfectly to hit only the appropriate ones with the same force to get consistent strumming sound. I'm sure it just takes practice, but upon watching several of the student video reviews, it seems that people have a wide range of teqhniques regarding this.
Anyway, just curious as to your thoughts?
THX
I hope you can find time to reply.
I'm very much a beginner and have really only been working on beginning chords, and various strumming patterns before I joined the site just days ago.
The question I have relates to proper left and right hand technique while forming and strumming chords.
Do you recommend "always" keeping your thumb anchored behind the neck? Other online sites and instructors often show resting the neck more in the "V" of the hand such that the thumb can reach up and mute the 6th, and even 5th strings, depending on which chord they are strumming. They then use more of an arm swing in strumming and don't worry too much about hitting the strings that aren't to be strummed since they are muted. You play with a lot more hand and wrist action than other instructors I've watched and it seems that you rely on hitting only the strings that are appropriate since you don't mute them with your thumb.
Obviously one can't play individual notes without the thumb being placed behind the neck, but is it acceptable to play chords this way? I have been trying to transition to the method you show, but it seem that I don't have as much of a frame of reference for forming the chords with only my thumb on the guitar. I am also very inconsistent in striking the strings just perfectly to hit only the appropriate ones with the same force to get consistent strumming sound. I'm sure it just takes practice, but upon watching several of the student video reviews, it seems that people have a wide range of teqhniques regarding this.
Anyway, just curious as to your thoughts?
THX