Hello Chris,
I'm about 6 feet 2 inches and I always sit when I play, with my left
foot (assuming a right-handed player) raised about 6 inches or more off the
floor. The center of the body of the guitar is about in the center of my
body. I use a suction cup/ strap tucked under my right leg. This way I can
balance the instrument without supporting it with my arms. I let my arms
hang down and then act as if I were picking the guitar up. My right arm has
freedom, and this is important if you decide to use mostly arm on certain
phrases for tonal variety. It is tempting to hunch over, but I have the neck
of the guitar marked so that I know where I'm at if I need to glance for a
position shift. If I need to work on something and really see my fingers, I
sometimes use a mirror.
Body position aside, my thumb is rather long - I am able to tuck it between
my 3rd and 4th finger and see the whole nail (this is a good exercise, by
the way) - and it was only necessary to pivot my wrist slightly. I do not
bend my thumb pip joint toward the palm during the stroke, letting it relax
to minimize tension. I always follow through with my fingers toward my
shoulder. It is fun to experiment with different positions and I highly
recommend persisting; you will be happy with the results.
Best wishes,
Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Jason Kortis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Lute List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, December 31, 2005 7:56 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Thumb-in guitar
> Jason,
>
>
> How do you deal with the height of the guitar?
> (I'm assuming from Leonard's original post that we're
> talking about a modern nylon string instrument.) I've
> tried thumb-in with guitar using a footstool but have
> found that, because of the angle of the instrument, it
> sits too low for me to use the lute technique to much
> advantage. I have to lean way over to the right and
> still hunch down. The other option: bring the guitar
> way up high; much higher than typical classical (or
> lute) position. Then, however, my left hand seems to
> be at a disadvantage.
>
> Part of my problem is finding a way to support the
> guitar for thumb-in... - With the figure-eight shape,
> supporting it at the waist means that part of the
> instrument itself is lower than your support's (in
> other words: your leg's) point of contact. This puts
> the rest of my body in some contorted positions to
> compensate.
>
> Thumb-in works great for the lute and, perhaps not
> surprisingly, the shape of that instrument puts the
> strings exactly where they need to be for the
> technique (Whew - is that a backwards way of looking
> at things or what?)
>
> How do you make it work?
>
>
> Chris
>
>
> --- Jason Kortis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> Hello Leonard,
>> I play guitar both thumb out and in, and it
>> works exceptionally well if
>> you attack at the right angle. If you are using
>> nails, you will have to
>> shape them a little differently, but you have as
>> much power and facility
>> with practice.
>> Good luck.
>> Happy new year,
>> Jason
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Leonard Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: "Lute List" <[email protected]>
>> Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 6:08 PM
>> Subject: [LUTE] Thumb-in guitar
>>
>>
>> > Does anyone out there play guitar with
>> thumb-in technique? How
>> > does
>> > it work out with the higher tension strings? I've
>> got a young person
>> > interested in playing stuff on a guitar, not
>> interested in a particular
>> > style or technique; all I could responsibly show
>> him is thumb-in, lute
>> > style.
>> >
>> > Thanks, and best regards in the New Year!
>> > Leonard Williams
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > To get on or off this list see list information at
>> >
>>
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
