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Author Topic: is it bad technique to play with your thumb not on the back  (Read 3624 times)

PoshCollins

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is it bad technique to play with your thumb not on the back
« Reply #15 on: June 22, 2008, 12:05:06 AM »
I tried using my thumb under the neck but it has its advantages.

For classical (of course) and M.A.B-esque speed picking it would be better to have your thumb under.

Over the neck has a lot more advantages IMO. You have a generally better grip over the guitar and it'll make Vibrato and Bending easier.

I use both actually, for example when I play a Paul Gilbert piece (for example Scarified) I use both. For that manic pentatonic stretch at the end I switch from thumb over to thumb under, then again I suppose it comes naturally.

In essence I'd just play and not think about it  PDT_015

WezV

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is it bad technique to play with your thumb not on the back
« Reply #16 on: June 22, 2008, 01:12:54 AM »
... i tell you what... never claimed to be good or owt anyway.. but i realised today how much i do rely on my thumb for notes on the low strings... it may have had someting to do with the fact i have played more today than in the last year but i had 340 patches to go through on the  Boss GT-8 i just got from HH.  

Tbh its never something i have worried about but i did notice i was getting some hand pains tonight... it may just be the amount i was playing  but i did become very aware of my bad posture and fretting hand position - the two things were definately connected

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is it bad technique to play with your thumb not on the back
« Reply #17 on: June 22, 2008, 01:38:16 AM »
Quote from: WezV
... i tell you what... never claimed to be good or owt anyway.. but i realised today how much i do rely on my thumb for notes on the low strings... it may have had someting to do with the fact i have played more today than in the last year but i had 340 patches to go through on the  Boss GT-8 i just got from HH.  

Tbh its never something i have worried about but i did notice i was getting some hand pains tonight... it may just be the amount i was playing  but i did become very aware of my bad posture and fretting hand position - the two things were definately connected


I developed my pains when i was playing for along stretch continuously without breaks too.

Elliot

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is it bad technique to play with your thumb not on the back
« Reply #18 on: June 22, 2008, 11:39:53 AM »
You have to also take into account that in classic guitar it is not just the thumb on the middle of the neck that is correct but also that the thumb stays parallel to the middle finger, so that the tendons remain both relaxed and strong whilst the fingers move, allowing for maximum speed and stretch.  This also necessitates the classical holding position (if you try it in the folk style position, your hand will hurt after a while).

That makes sense due to the big fretboard of the classical guitar where the style is such that you tend play fluently around chord positions.  Classical guitarists don't bend, and their vibrato is in a nut to bridge direction.

That entirely reasonable logic doesn't make much sense with a skinny neck like an strat or an Ibanez (although the classical position works better on my baseball bat necked Tele) unless you are doing arpeggio shredding.  If you are playing lead that is based on scales and bends (like most blues and rock guitar), the natural point of balance in skinny necked guitars is not with you thumb on the middle of the neck parallel to the middle finger, but at the side of the neck.  So it is difficult to see how it is wrong, its just a different technique for a different style.
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38thBeatle

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is it bad technique to play with your thumb not on the back
« Reply #19 on: June 22, 2008, 12:41:26 PM »
For my 2p worth, I sometimes play with my thumb over the top of the neck and add perhaps a 3rd or 5th bass note to a chord. Like Elliott says, it is just a technique and not"wrong".
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