Thumb wants to curl

Thumb curled over the top of the neck. Thumb perpendicular to the neck. Thumb parallel to the neck pointing towards the headstock. I do all those depending on what I'm playing. It's not necessarily a matter of practice but which position, or combination of positions, that over time becomes comfortable and natural for you.

silvertone

My thumb tends to "travel" around the neck, as well. I try to keep it in the center of the back of the neck, but, when I'm fretting something on the E or A strings, I find that my thumb usually "travels" down to near the bottom of the neck to compensate for the reach and to allow enough room for my hand to arch over the strings so that I don't deaden the e or B strings. IMHO, you might just need to concentrate on getting your thumb back into position after fretting the E or A strings rather than leaving it in a position that causes you discomfort. Like anything else associated with learning to play the guitar, this will just take practice. You'll have to force yourself to do it until it becomes more natural than curling toward the body. (I tried this, btw, and I don't know how you do it! That's the most uncomfortable position! No wonder your thumb hurts!)

:D

Just my two cents worth. I just started with a new teacher after not taking lessons for several months and he has been adament about keeping my thumb anchored in the middle of the neck.

Any other position is incorrect! When we work on scales it's not to bad and I can actually feel like I can go a little quicker keeping my thumb in that position but when playing chords it's hard for me right now to keep my thumb from coming over the top of the neck and holding it like a baseball bat. So I am consiously trying to overcome this bad habit.

Thanks.

I'll have to concentrate on keeping the thumb flat in the center. Maybe my problem is that I'm trying to hard to have my fingers come in perpendicular at a 90 degree angle to the neck - both 90 degrees looking down at my hand, and 90 degrees if you were to look from the head. If I hold my fingers on some frets and make them almost straight down 90 degrees, my thumb will tend to angle over, and if I straighten my thumb, then my fingers will angle over knuckles towards the head, tips toward body of guitar.

When I see experienced players, their fingers are always angled - tips toward body of guitar. Never straight down on the strings.

-Tim

You're right! Mine angle toward the body. Had to pick up a guitar to figure that out. :D

EDIT: Here's a picture of me (it's in a rather artsy format, though!), but you can see that I'm fretting a G chord and that my middle finger (no, I'm not flipping anyone off!) that frets the E string is definitely angled toward the body.

Aha ! Maybe that's my problem. trying to keep my fingers to straight. Try and straigten your fingers, and see what you thumb does..

I could be wrong and Noteboat can I'm sure give you the correct answer but I beleive that technically the thumb should be placed on the back of the neck and should not be moving around all over the place. Of course mine moves all over the place and always wants to come around the neck as I described earlier but I'm trying to change that now.

if i tried to pay attention to what my thumb was doing i wouldn't be able to fret a note/chord.
guess that's why i'm just a hacker and not making the big bucks eh?
i think that unless you're trying to mimic perfect classical posture and execution it doesn't really matter as long as what you are playing sounds good.
maybe practice will eventually build up strength and the pain should dissappear, but i could be wrong.

From a technically correct standpoint I think the thumb in back is the proper way so you can curl your fingers around to get them to hit the strings with the tips...Can you play with your thumb all over the place..of course a million people do..some pretty well some not so well.

I was just repeating what my teacher is having me do and trust me I'm as bad as anyone with my thumb flying around especially coming over the top.

Any other position is incorrect!

I'm sorry but that's 100% nonsense. Having the thumb behind the neck is usefull for increasing stretch, but there are many situations where you need the tumb elsewhere. Bending for example, or some jazzy chords that use the thumb for the 6th string.

Maybe you're teacher is trying to go back to the basics and will explain later the various uses of the thumb, but on itself the statement is very, very incorrect. The idea that your thumb must be behind the neck will severely limit you further down the road.

Aha ! Maybe that's my problem. trying to keep my fingers to straight. Try and straigten your fingers, and see what you thumb does..

I tried it! And, once again, I have to say ... No wonder your thumb hurts!!! :D

Thanks for the tips. I think I figured it out, after watching my son and his teacher. I was cradling the neck ever so slightly at the first knucle under my index finger in the palm. Never noticed that. Also, my thumb was closer to my middle finger and not my index finger. Much easier to hit frets with my pinky now when I leave a nice space under the neck, have my thumb closer to my index finger.

Now, to unlearn that habit!!!!!

Playing the low E, when I start arching my fingers, my thumb seems to naturally want to arch as well. Like wrapping your hands around a small pipe. Picture the guitar neck as a pipe, then grab it from below, like you would the guitar neck, and see how your thumb curls toward your pinky, that is what happens.

Gotta do lots of consious practice to unlearn this one. Been doing it almost 3 months like that.

Thanks for the pointers.

-Tim