so Mark...hand position?

Grab hold of the neck, somewhere between the head and the body. Apply pressure to the veiny parts, in a rhythmical fashion.
 
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I can speak to that.

For the LH:

For pretty much any string instrument, the single most important thing is to have a straight wrist.

The others, in no particular order of significance...

Second, it's having all five fingers curved inwards, as if you were holding a ball.

Third, it's stay relaxed.

Fourth, unless you're barring, then you should be using the very tips of your fingers for fretting strings, perpendicular to the fingerboard, 90 degrees.

For the RH:

You have way more options depending on style.
 
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Flamencology said:
I can speak to that.

For the LH:

For pretty much any string instrument, the single most important thing is to have a straight wrist.

The others, in no particular order of significance...

Second, it's having all five fingers curved inwards, as if you were holding a ball.

Third, it's stay relaxed.

Fourth, unless you're barring, then you should be using the very tips of your fingers for fretting strings, perpendicular to the fingerboard, 90 degrees.

For the RH:

You have way more options depending on style.
Click to expand...
This is the core of it for me but because I play a lot more blues, rock and funk music I tend to use the left hand also for muting and controlling. In this vid from a class I was teaching I play along the lines of what you are describing (although for some reason my thumb is kinda sideways more that I would think):




In this one I'l playing harder on the instrument and I end up playing a little flatter with the LH fingers to control the surrounding strings. I also have the thumb higher on the back of the neck for leverage in bending as well as control of the open strings when I'm bashing away with the right hand for more intensity. This guitar has 12 gauge flatwound strings on it so I end up needing to play harder with both hands.

 
yeah, that's about where i figured the left thumb should be.

i got away from wrapping it over the top of the neck early on (except when that is cool to do).
 
frunobulax said:
yeah, that's about where i figured the left thumb should be.

i got away from wrapping it over the top of the neck early on (except when that is cool to do).
Click to expand...

That's not inherently a bad thing, as long as you follow the 'rules' that I outlined. Which is to say that "over the thumb" is stupid (if not impossible) on a classical guitar, but perfectly fine on a ukulele.
 
Mark Wein said:
This is the core of it for me but because I play a lot more blues, rock and funk music I tend to use the left hand also for muting and controlling. In this vid from a class I was teaching I play along the lines of what you are describing (although for some reason my thumb is kinda sideways more that I would think):




In this one I'l playing harder on the instrument and I end up playing a little flatter with the LH fingers to control the surrounding strings. I also have the thumb higher on the back of the neck for leverage in bending as well as control of the open strings when I'm bashing away with the right hand for more intensity. This guitar has 12 gauge flatwound strings on it so I end up needing to play harder with both hands.

Click to expand...

I thought (and taught) that playing harder with both hands was detrimental to actually achieving the sound you wanted. You can't bend a 12 like a 9 obviously, but the trade off in "tone" is noticable.
 
It really pays to work toward a traditional jazz/classical technique where the thumb is behind the center of the back of the neck. From there you can shift to get leverage for blues bends or go Hendrix using the thumb to play bass notes. My students who went Hendrix too soon wind up sloppy and have a lousy stretch using their pinky. They wind up being three fingered players. You eventually have to learn to shift. Especially for muting funk lines and thumbed notes.
 
i have very small hands so I can't do the over-the-top bassline thing at all.

I do play with 4 fingers so, with small hands, I can't have the thumb hanging over the top if I want the pinky to do anything at all.

generally, I have a very light touch. for both guitar and bass. the bass playing really helps with keeping the left hand in the right place.
 
I do the thumb over thing when I play a D major chord.

For my picking hand I have a habit of keeping my pinky extended which I think came from learning to do volume swells on my strat, but now its just a habit that I can't break. I don't know if it's bad, but what do you expect from a piano player who taught himself to play guitar?
 
As I said in the "picking position" thread a while back, it's whatever works for a given task -- there's no harden-fast rule, IMO. If only one way works for you all of the time, that's great. ONE way doesn't work for me. Classical left-hand technique is great -- for some things. On the other hand, there are times when I play with my thumb UNDER the neck. It's about using whatever works.
 
I never got used to the thumb over stuff. But I was "self taught" for so long I got bad habits, and I started late so I never had the flexibility I should. C'est la vie. I still try and play every day so I got that going for me

dalai-lama-caddyshack.jpg
 
Though I've been,"trained", by different music studios,nobody has ever tried to 'teach' me how to play 'properly'


I use my thumb over all the time...WHY NOT????

The last studio I was at I taught them....They listened and learned..


Why wouldn't you use your thumb?
 
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