VEGANGELICA

Hi, Schizotypic,

I recommend you do *not* copy what the man in the picture is doing with the thumb of his left hand...bending it around the neck of the guitar as if he were trying to choke the thing. This thumb position appears to be common among many electric guitar players, and probably many steel-string guitar players, but I prefer the classical guitar position where your thumb is fairly straight and is supporting the *back* of the neck (or somewhat on the side of the neck), but *not* curled around it. When I play guitar, my left hand is actually positioned much like a violin player's is (at least on the open chords)...though this may not help you visualize the position.

I do feel using the very tips of your fingers is crucial (so that your finger, where it contacts the string, is at a right angle, straight up and down), however when you play I recommend you tilt your hand (and thumb) however you need to (as long as it feels comfortable) in order to get your fingers to contact one string at a time, which is crucial when playing chords. I tend to tilt my hand in such a way that I don't need to bend my wrist much at all when I finger chords.

I recommend you try to keep your hand in as natural a position as possible. So, for example, if you just put out your left hand, palm up, bending your left arm at the elbow, and then curl your fingers with your thumb in a relaxed position, then you would just fit in the neck of the guitar into your hand and try to maintain this relaxed position when you finger chords.

The first guitar I played was a nylon string (classical) guitar, and I didn't realize at that time that, like Toretorden says, the neck of such guitars is very wide (to allow people to easily finger and pluck individual strings rapidly), so I remember thinking, "Arrggh! I'd love to play guitar but I don't think my hand can stretch this far!" I took it to a music store for advice and got to experience that a steel-string guitar does, indeed, have a narrower neck, and is built more for playing chords. The electric guitar (Fender Squire) that I have has an even narrower neck, which fits my hand better, but the close distance between strings can make chords trickier bcause my finger positions have to be very precise to avoid hitting other strings. I often wonder how people with big hands play electric guitar, since I think it would be impossible for them to finger chords without hitting adjacent strings.

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