Hey guy's, I've decided it was time to take my playing to a higher level. Over the years of self teaching and even having a teacher, I have taught myself some bad habits. I put this in the beginners section because, 1, I feel like I'm learning all over again, 2, it's easier to learn how to play correctly when first starting out. I actually have quite a few bad habits to work out but will take them one at a time.
1st bad habit.... My fretting thumb. Sometimes I notice my thumb way out of whack, sitting way over the neck when I know that it should be behind the neck. I'm having a problem changing between these chords cleanly and fast. My thumb is up over the neck on the D and then moves sideways and drags on the neck(clean hands and polished neck) when moving to the C.
--2------3--
--3------5--
--2------5--
--0----------
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What exercises can I do to help relearn proper thumb placement? so far I have slowed my playing way down and making a point to monitor my thumb.
changing the position of your guitar may help. higher and with more tilt is better for grip and reach than is low and parallel to the ground -- but latter IS cooler looking!
-=tension & release=-
Cool Greg, but i almost always play sitting down and I play in classical position. Rt handed, guitar on left knee, tuners at shoulder to ear level.
Teach this old dogs some new tricks :lol:
you aren't going to get much better potisioning than that, Sid! this probably will require simple determination -- I have to do that every once in a while to correct any number of lazy or ingrained habits. ... or maybe some razor wire across the top edge of the finger board (and play over drop-cloths :shock: )
-=tension & release=-
or maybe some razor wire across the top edge of the finger board
That might be smoother than the edge of the frets on some new guitars that I see on the shelf. :roll:
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
unless it's causing a problem with your actual playing, i wouldn't worry about it. thumb behind the neck is proper classical position, but being rigid about it will probably just force your hand into unnatural positions that will cause you more problems than it fixes. the idea is because it provides an opposing force to your fingers, and to keep people from doing that jimi hendrix/richie havens thumb stuff, which has its use, btw. however, on a d chord, the opposing force is going to be off center. like i said, don't worry about it unless you have reason to believe it's slowing you down.
