Thumb fretting

Jack-Flash-Jr

I use it a lot... the stranglehold is useful to me for damping but since I have long fingers (thumb) I fret 5th or even 4th string with my thumb for fun sometimes. I find it comfy too to wrap my hand around the neck. Scoff? Agree?

(old forum) Poll Results: What is your perspective on fretting with your thumb?

It's bad technique, I avoid it: 3
It's useful for free up 1st finger to do other stuff: 10
Handy for barre chords: 8
Handy for muting 6th string on 7#9 and other chords: 7
I do flashy slides with my thumb: 1
What the hell is thumb fretting?: 0

Bob-Dubery

Very handy when fingerpicking, and probably unavoidable if you want to do serious ragtime stuff. It frees up a finger, though not necessarily the first, to move around modifying the chord that you're fingering.

WantzChas

I have only ever used my thumb to fret in one song, Hero of the Day by Metallica for the intro acoustic guitar part.

VellaJ

I wish I could get it right. Really useful from what I've seen, but I just can't do it...

singemonkey

Standard technique for blues players - makes bending and heavy vibrato easier. Not ideal for super fast playing. Hence classical and shredders tend to avoid it with good reason.

It makes it more difficult for your fingers to come down directly onto the fretboard which makes some barre chords harder to play cleanly.

Edit: It's best to stick to one way and not switch around. That's slow and inconvenient. But it can be a little hard to get used to playing all your barre chords with the thumb.

AlanRatcliffe

Also handy for flatting the root note. Or is that just me? ?

LooneyAtTheGate

It's sacrilege to play the verse of Purple Haze WITHOUT using your thumb to fret the low E string!

Hammeron

I noticed Richie Havens doing it at Woodstock but he got a damn Loooong thumb tho....fret all six at once with that thumb.

Malkav

My string count makes the use of my thumb as a fretting device a little tricky ? Generally not advantageous to the style I play but a useful technique for some nonetheless ?

FruitarGeek

I always teach my students to never use the thumb until they can Master Barre chords with the other 4 fingers. Ironically, I ALWAYS use the thumb, except for generic barre chords. Even when I play a simple camp-fire D chord, my thumb instinctively sits over the neck and touches the E string. It never used to do this. I don't have a problem with this style though. If Piano players can use ALL their fingers... why can't we?

Keira-WitherKay

? if hendix can use his thumb then no one can argue with that and tell you it's wrong ................

as for my personal style i don't use the thumb to fret at all...........as in play a note but i definitely use my thumb to "mute" the low E and sometimes the A when i play ...... (see my profile pic ..i'm doing it there )

yes by classical technique it's a no no and will get you a fail in any classical guitar competition ? but only a few of us follow the strict discipline of classical and ...then only even fewer of them want to keep the technique true to the tradition........... i'm sure 10 string classical maestro dominic fresca will break "traditional technique" and use any digit if it can get an extra finger in play ? (if you have not seen his work look up " impossible guitar" by dominic frasca on you tube)

i have the take that tradition is good ......and for the purists it's "written in stone" and there's no deviation ........... BUT for players like me and many others who are more experimental in our technique and approach to creating music , i'll use any technique as long as it does not have the potential to cause long term "stress" damage to my hand or fingers by using fingers in unnatural positions........ so safety first is my motto . ............ so no limits if it's safe ...........hell fret with you tongue if you can .......thats of course if it won't leave you speaking funny after ?

Sebber

I'm all for thumb-fretting, I've done it for years, don't even recall when I started doing it. I do have to move my thumb to the back of the neck if I'm going into a lead break and need some "speed" as the thumb-over-the-top tends to restrict me hitting fast notes cleanly, otherwise I use the thumb to fret notes on the 6th string pretty much all the time, as well as to mute the 6th and 5th strings as required.