Your Fret-Hand

[chewy60]

i wear my guitar high and play with the thumb under the neck....

[daveinspain]

Actually I do a little of both.... Depends on what chord I'm playing or what I have to mute....

[RichCI]

I play with both my thumb behind the neck and over the neck depending on what I'm playing. Playing under the neck sounds uncomfortable.

[Cruznolfart]

Behind and sometimes over. I use it a lot for muting.

[b-squared]

Little of both, depending on what I'm playing.

 

BB

[Big Bill]

My hands are to small, my only option is behind the neck. Funny, I never thought of the use of my thumb till now.

[matiac]

I do Jimi Hendix's bad habit of using my thumb to fret the high string when playing chords. So I curl that sucker right around the neck.

[Notes_Norton]

Both.

 

Barre Chords usually finds it behind the neck, but while playing small chords or lead, it can go either way. So I didn't vote.

 

Notes

[djroge1]

I do both depending on the chord. Playing lead it is almost always behind the neck.

 

I'm unable to vote for some reason... anyone else having that problem? Did the poll close?

[ChanMan]

Both. Sometimes it's easier to fret the chord with my thumb directly behind the neck... and frequently it is easier to play lead licks that way.

[KSG_Standard]

both

[AXE®]

I'm ALL thumbs.

So I guess both.

[MikeRom]

Yeah, where the sometimes option? I'd have to vote yes for both

[saturn]

I said Over because that's mostly true, but there are times when it's Under. I do the Hendrix/Townsend technique of fretting the bass note with my thumb over the neck quite often.

[retrosurfer1959]

I use my thumb also - damn we have some bad habits

[FirstMeasure]

Over. But, of course, not all the time.

 

I depends on the last Chord or Riff and the Next chord of riff. Like if I have to Grab a "Fingery" chord like a 7th or 9th, I probably play the chord before it with all fingers, no thumb. If i'm moving to another Barre Chord or flying into a lead, I'll use my thumbs on the bass notes.

 

Fore leads, if I need to keep the bass notes in there (ala Stevie Ray) I use thumb for bass. If I'm going into wide Arpeggios or Fast Diatonic stuff, It Thumb on the BAck of the neck and fingers on the board.

 

My Guitar hangs Moderately low, my hands are small and my wrists are relatively Inflexible, so I'm always moving the guitar neck around.

[surfpup]

I lost my thumbs in a hitchhiking accident. I still shred though.

 

Just kidding of course. But I have no idea where they are whilst I am playing. I have too much other stuff to think about.

 

I do have a hard time with the Hendrix thumb chord thing though, so I don't think they spend much time over the neck.

[bostonpaul03]

Both.

How else would you be able to play the rhythm part of " While My Guitar Gently Weeps" ?

[milod]

In ways I think a lot of this has to do with what you want to do.

 

Merle Travis apparently did lotza "thumb around" for various stuff. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But I'm mostly fingerpicking nowadays, too.

 

I got admonished that I'd done too much bluegrass when I lucked out for a cupla private classical guitar classes with a "name" teacher-performer who watched my thumb creep occasionally to the low "E." "Your right hand is doing well, but..."

 

Frankly I figure that to get various stuff out of a guitar, different left as well as right hand techniques might be required.

 

I'm not claiming I'm "good," just that there are times I like the sound I get from playing a root "D" up the neck with my thumb playing the same "E" as the high finger making that triangle. Then the open strings give me some neat bass.

 

Other times I do a barre so I can get a full "C" root chord shape so I can do bass runs.

 

Neither with what I do is likely to set the world on fire, but I'm more or less happy with what I come up with - and I'm always looking for alternatives.

 

I'm with Notes. I didn't vote. <grin>

 

m

[Laney1566]

I play behind and over. Not a conscious decision on my part. It just happens!!

I have noticed that Ace Frehley often plays below when doing a lead.

[FirstMeasure]

I love it when someone tells me "That's wrong, you're not supposed to use your thumb." I tell them , "Listen again without looking and tell me that."

 

If not using your thumb is comfortable, then don't use it. But players with their thumb on the neck are using 5 fingers, the proper players with the Mel Bay approach are using only 4????? What's so proper about that?

[TommyK]

Over, or rather along side the neck binding if my guit tar had neck binding. I know, I know, it's a bad habit, but EVERBODY does it!... 'ceptin' classical guit tar guys. But then again they need more furniture to play and they hold the guit tar funny anyways.

[FirstMeasure]

I think the only Bad Habit in guitar playing is concentrating on "proper" thumb positioning instead of Note Values, phrasing, Vibrato, tempo, and Audience Reation.

[Cruznolfart]

I think the only Bad Habit in guitar playing is concentrating on "proper" thumb positioning instead of Note Values' date=' phrasing, Vibrato, tempo, and Audience Reation.[/quote']

 

And I'm here to tell you that the LAST thing on a pickers mind is spelling!

[ClassicNick66]

I lost my thumbs in a hitchhiking accident. I still shred though.

 

Just kidding of course. But I have no idea where they are whilst I am playing. I have too much other stuff to think about.

 

I do have a hard time with the Hendrix thumb chord thing though' date=' so I don't think they spend much time over the neck. [/quote']

 

that was funny though... cause you couldnt tell from your avatar... i actually kind of freaked out