Hand position questions

[RudyH]

I started playing in March and made some good progress learning blues guitar. Now I'm pausing to concentrate on the instrument itself, and devloping best techniques.

 

I'm having some difficulty mixing things like string bends with the classic left hand position where the thumbprint part of the thumb rests relatively low on the back of the neck.

 

What hand position have you found to be most practical for blues? for jazz?

 

Thanks.

[MikeRom]

I don't know that there is just one position. I use whatever is comfortable and whatever makes it (what I'm doing) work.

[RichCI]

I have really bad playing habits but I keep my thumb draped over the top. Sometimes it's actually an asset for muting the low E string or even fretting a note on that string but it's mostly just sloppiness born of quitting lessons too soon when I was a teen (Mel Bay Method does not equal Detroit Rock City).

[deepblue]

(Mel Bay Method does not equal Detroit Rock City).

 

Oh man aint that the truth! lol

 

 

I wanted to rock out. My teacher wanted me to learn where the root notes were.

[SRV-Zeppelin]

No offense, I know you're just a beginner, but one of the worst ways to learn an instrument is by hand positions. I teach piano and constantly tell my students not to get used to keeping their hands in the same position all the time... if you really want to get good at the blues you need to loosen up and move your hand however you need to to fret the note you're playing. I just go with whatever's comfortable... don't worry, it will come with time and practice. Just make sure you don't tense up your shoulders!!!

[RudyH]

SRV-Zeppelin:

 

That's a point well taken. I'm not so much trying to work with a fixed position, I'm responding to a problem in my technique: I've been too tense and pressed the strings too hard. This did not cause a problem with relatively slow tunes, but has become a problem with faster tunes that require using more of the fretboard.

 

The reason I'm looking at the problem from the point of view of hand position is that position seems to affect how much I can stretch my fingers apart, and how I can hammer the strings without muting adjacent strings or getting string buzz. At the same time I need a more relaxed technique.

 

In other words, I'm rethinking how to handle the guitar so I can develop greater speed and accuracy. Hand position is one variable, but it seems important.

[SRV-Zeppelin]

If stretching and muting adjacent strings seems to be your problem, try these tips:

 

1) While playing chords or lead riffs, try curving your fingers exaggeratively. This will teach your hand not to interfere with adjacent strings.

 

2) Try to play standing up with a strap. This will make it easier to relax your shoulders and loosen up your arm and wrist.

 

3) If you play guitar sitting down, make sure you absolutely do not have the guitar resting against your torso. It should rest on your leg at a 90

degree angle.

 

4) Try finger exercises to help with stretching. One good technique is to press the tips of your index (first) and third fingers together while touching the fingernails of your second fingers to each other. This should hurt a little as it will stretch the skin between your fingers. If you stay vigilant with these exercises, you'll eventually develop "spider hands" and be able to stretch across 4 to 5 frets on the lower end of the neck (by the headstock). I know this from experience.

 

For other tips, try consulting a guitar teacher. I'm no pro. Good luck, all the best, and keep on rocking!

[stymye]

you can play with the thumb over the board and it's easier to bend strings(bb king) but for fast or scaler type runs you want to get it behind the fret board .

learn to utilise both ways.

[brundaddy]

Gotta be flexible in all things concerning your left hand IMO. Learn some multi-position drills that use up lots of fretboard and you'll learn how to be loose & when to have a light touch as well as more note positions. Avoid the 4-fret box position whenever you can-- work with multi-position, multi-octave versions of the pent. blues scale.

[milod]

Okay, this may be too late to do anybody any good...

 

I'm pretty much self taught, but came from a folkie - bluegrassy - country/rock background in the early 1960s. But I also got a bit into some classical and flamenco. A very famous 1970s classical guy had master classes in the little town where I was living at the time and I was the only guitar guy who knew the difference between Lester Flatt and Segovia. So I got solo attention I've always remembered.

 

His comment was that my right hand did fine, but that my left showed too much bluegrass. When I pushed the "thumb on the back of the neck," I also did better "flamenking."

 

So... I've concluded that a lot of hand positioning has to do with what you're playing. When I was teaching, that's basically what I said to help students relax a bit.

 

Switching from a root "G" chord barred up three frets to a "C" chord barred up five frets, then doing a bass run or counterpoint while holding the trebles clean, requires a thumb on the back of the neck.

 

But other than "classically" style stuff, I've seen excellent players who do lots of different thumb stuff. I've heard that Merle Travis (as in Travis picking) moved his thumb all over the place on the bass strings and above. If that ain't true, it probably could be.

 

Most of us play best when not trying too hard to play well and/or to modify fingerings. Since I use the guitar instead of booze to forget work stress and just do a half dozen gigs a year, my thumb goes with whatever I'm playing unless I'm trying to figure new stuff.

 

So... relax and enjoy. If you're taking lessons, try to do what the teacher tells you to do. It's a good exercise if absolutely nothing else. If you're being self-taught, try to watch as many pickers doing your kind of stuff. Youtube and some of the lessons on this Gibson site can't be beat along those lines and I wish I'd had that advantage as a kid.

[L5Larry]

(Mel Bay Method does not equal Detroit Rock City).

 

Hey now' date=' Mel Bay was a friend of mine, say your sorry!

 

Here's a picture of his building on our towns "main street"

[img']http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3155/3029453280_4c5bc38f3b_o.jpg[/img]

[Thundergod]

Most people (specially youngling shredders) will tell you the correct position to play is for the left thumb to rest on the back of the neck (center). But that couldn't be more wrong... just go to youtube and take a look at how most great players play... most of them don't do that and the majority have a caracteristic way of positioning their hands...

 

So there's no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to hand positions (ok AXE go ahead and make this comment into something it wasn't meant to ).

 

I usually play as Rich just said: thumb over the edge of the bridge... prety usefull for muting the 6th string. When the riff requires it I play with my thumb on the back of the neck.

 

As noted avobe, I've heard lots of people whining about how you must have your thumb on the back of the neck always, but, I have also read in a lot of books that there is not a correct technique for this: you do as you feel more confortable, or else you will not play as you can.

[Thermionik]

One of the nicest guys I ever met, briefly at an after-gig jam.

 

Richie Havens once said 'use your thumb'. I said 'what?'. He said.....

 

Use your thumb to oppose your hand on the back of the neck if it suits, use your thumb to fret the bass strings if it suits, use your thumb to hitch a ride if it suits, but use your thumb.

 

.....but he is blessed with very long, articulate thumbs: