Proper form for fretting hand on neck?

If he can't play with his thumb in the middle of the neck with proper technique it's the result of his bad habits. Those bad habits that are limiting his reach.

If he still has to bend his wrist he might be angling the top of the guitar closer to his body than the bottom or have some other alignment problem that's messing him up.

And I personally feel the baseball bat grip is fine to use, but don't use it exclusively or in situations where it limits reach. Shift between proper and the baseball grip as you see fit.

If you can show your friend some barre chords and have him practise them, he'll find that unless his hand is in the correct position they are very difficult to play.......most people would disagree about introducing Barre chords to a beginner, but they are great for building up hand/finger/wrist strength and muscle memory.......and it can't do any harm to try.....!!!!

Vic.

I usually play like that too, I diddnt originally, but when it came to powerchords, I found playing like that helped immensly with muting strings with my fretting fingers.

It sounds like the guitar is being held at the wrong angle to his body. It should be parallel to his chest. I think that he is angling the guitar down the side of his rib cage, with the neck much too far away from his body, thus causing the need to bend the wrist.

Thanks guys, next time I see him I'll try some of the suggestions.

I've seen guys have the guitar neck literally parallel to the floor. That requires very long fingers to reach the right chords. I'd try to have him get that headstock pointing upward and (the headstock only) about parallel to the chest or shoulders.

I taught my best friend how to play when I had only 9 months experience. But I knew what bad habits I learned and stressed to him, “Do as I say, not as I do.” My baseball bat grip limits my chord extensions. Say I'm playing an open Em. If I want to put the pinky on the 2nd string, 3rd fret (D) to get an Em7 (with the middle and ring fingers) it's tough. So I taught John to keep his thumb behind and in the middle of the neck for about every chord. He can reach much further because of that and it's served him well.

Hi. your friend, if he's a beginner, might do well
to try and find an old Mel Bay guitar book...
yeah the lessons are boring, the song to learn with sucks,
but in it has( one of them anyways :) ) photos and a
description of how to "correctly" play the guitar.
Uhh if all he's ever done before playing the guitar was
play video games, or the computer, he probably
needs to stretch his hands and fingers as those things
tend to mess with your tendons.
but in all honesty, I really don't think there is one
sure fire correct way to hold the instrument.

Show him Barre Chords... yeah that might help
also there are 5 different positions you can play
almost any chord on a guitar. learn all the five positions
for a chord. I learned with the "C" chord - and it was a ***!!!
but that kinda crap will stretch your fingers and your patience
and will make the fret hand more flexible.

I say almost any chord, cause there's always some odd ball
like a I dunno a tenth fret d major minor augmented 9th
sharp 13th kinda thing that no one ever uses anyways :)

People ask this question all the time, and it's not always so easy to explain. I went on Google Images looking for a good picture that shows good form. They were more difficult to find than you might expect.

But I found this picture of the famous guitarist Peter Green. I like this pic because it is taken from a nice angle, so you can see a lot. I am not saying it is "perfect" form, but pretty close.

First, notice Peter keeps the headstock up. If you angle your guitar slightly upward you will get much greater reach. Notice he keeps his thumb behind the neck. Now there are exceptions to this. When you are playing lead guitar and especially when bending strings, it is necessary to extend or wrap your thumb over the neck. But when playing chords the form Peter is showing here is near perfect. Notice that his palm is not on the neck. If you grip the neck like a baseball bat it will greatly reduce your reach. Also notice how Peter arches his fingers over the fretboard and that his fingers are pretty parallel with the frets. It might not be so obvious, but notice Peter keeps his elbow relaxed and away from his body. If you find your elbow poking into your ribs you are holding your guitar wrong.

This is very good form shown here.

Peter Green