Hey, I hope that this is the right place to ask this, so here goes:
I'm just starting to learn guitar, but I used to play bass. Now when holding the neck, I would hold it with my thumb on the back of the neck, and I assumed that one would use the same grip on the smaller neck of a six-string.
I've started to notice now that most "famous" guitarists, and many semi-professional ones that I've seen live hold the guitar more like a baseball bat or something, with their thumbs on the upper edge of the neck.
Do people play this way just because it looks cool? or is there some kind of benifit? Should I be investing time to practice this way, or would I be practicing bad habits that would come back to haunt me?
Thanks for any advice!
Almost_Famous 8)
It's really not "best" for proper technique. If you watch guitarists exensively you can see that many of them switch between the proper thumb behind the headstock and the "baseball bat" grip. It depends on what you're doing. It really comes with some personal experience with what feels more comfortable.
I personally use the thumb method mostly with chords, it gives me a better pinch to apply pressure between my fingertips and the fretboard. For lots of riffs and scales I can get away with the baseball bat grip. I might shift out of it to thumb grip if I have certain notes to reach on the bass strings.
In all it's about what makes you most comfortable, but in most cases you should use the more techinically proper thumb grip. Use the other when you can get away with it.
-Metaellihead
