left hand thumb position?

[ironlionzion]

i was wondering if there was any particular way to hold yuor thumb when using the fingure board. mine is getting a lttle sore...and i dont have a strap but it think that will help some...thank you all
~Steve

[TommyK]

i was wondering if there was any particular way to hold yuor thumb when using the fingure board. mine is getting a lttle sore...and i dont have a strap but it think that will help some...thank you all
~Steve
Your LH is doing two jobs, fretting and holding her head up. #Get a strap and all your LH will need to do is fret. #Therefore, you won't have to have a death grip on the neck. #Your thumb and other fingers will thank you for it. #
As far as position. #Since the teachings of Fernand Sor to current tutoring the usual mantra is "du must haben your tumb in zee zenter of der neck!" (excuse my butchering of my fore father's native tongue)#However, I've never seen any big name performer do this consistently. #Their thumbs are usually anchored on the bass side of the neck. Heck some even (Orbeson for one) fret with the thumb. #I try to keep my thumb center and back, but it always creeps around. #Maybe if the neck were shaped to prevent the thumb from reaching around... but that's too radical... or is it? http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

[jimbob]

I will offer an opinion based on many years of frustrated learning...I think the left-hand thumb position should be the same for guitar , banjo and mandolin...resting on the back of the neck directly behind the fretboard. The hand should e relaxed to enable free movement.
I have always wrapped my thumb around the neck too far, as if holding onto the neck. I know this is incorrect, but it is like the golf grip...hard to change once the habit is engrained. I think it would be wise for all new players to learn proper fundamentals so they don't have to struggle through issues caused by such things as poor hand position.

[JiminRussia]

I hold the neck all the way down into the web area between the thumb and index finger. It is probably the number one reason that I have so much trouble fretting accurately with my pinky finger. Although I have tried and tried, I just can't seem to consistently change to a higher popsition in my hand. When I am successful at holding the neck up higher between my fingers, I find it much easier to get the fingers to fall straight down on the strings and I don't get as many "semi-fretted" notes.

[picksnbits]

I came to the mandolin from guitar and tried to put my thumb directly centered on the back of the neck as I (mostly) do on the guitar. I found that not to work for me on mando due to having to turn the hand at a more extreme angle to cover a wider spread. I think I was later instructed that the thumb did not belong back and center on mandolin, but that my newly acquired habit of letting it hang over the top of the neck was a no-no as well. So...

My thumb moves around a fair amount now, but mostly rests flat along the upper back of the neck, horizontal to the fretboard, not perpindicular. I sort of hold the neck between the ball of the index finger and the ball or meaty portion of the thumb.

Sounds kind of wierd when put into words.

Probably lots of ways to approach it and I'm certainly not an expert.