I think the terms 'common' and 'replete' are very exaggerated for 19th century guitar repertoire. The LH thumb is used occasionally, but almost only in Viennese/Austrian solo repertoire, not in French or Spanish music. For it to work you need a guitar with a very thin neck, and it still messes up your left hand technique (in my experience, playing on original 19th C French & Viennese guitars).
Jelma van Amersfoort On Oct 1, 2015, at 22:43 , G. C. wrote: > Hey Chris, that's really interesting. So the 19th century repertoire is > replete with this technique? I'm surprized and feel there is much to > this matter, which hasn't been thoroughly analyzed yet. :) G. > > On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 6:28 PM, Christopher Wilke > <[1][email protected]> wrote: > > The technique was common in 19th century guitar playing, where it > was > often marked with a "^". It does have some advantages and there > are > spots where it facilitates fewer chord shape changes. In that > repertoire, I haven't encountered any pieces that I absolutely > couldn't > finger without the thumb over the neck. (I did, however, perform > one > contemporary piece in which the only way I could figure out how > to get > a particular combination of notes was to use the left hand thumb. > This > was not due to cleverness on the composer's part, but rather > because he > wasn't a guitarist at all.) > I suspect that some lute players did this and some avoided it. > There > might be the odd piece that absolutely requires it. There also > might be > some performance practice insights one could gain from > experimenting > with it, but due to the risk of wrist injury, I'd be hesitant to > make a > regular practice of using it all the time. Even in the 19th > century, it > wasn't universal. Sor, for one, disapproved of it. > Chris > [1]Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone > On Oct 1, 2015, 12:01:01 PM, G. C. wrote: > One obscure feature of plucking which has always fascinated but > eluded > me is the technique of using also the thumb to play on the lower > strings. Supposedly mainly feasible on 6 course instruments and a > narrow neck, it has apparently been in vogue and an open "secret" > for > the initiated since the days of Francesco at least (see famous > painting > by Giulio Campi on the cover of Doug's History of the Lute if it > indeed > depicts such a practice). I know that it is very common in Rock, > (where > its so widespread, that it has to be meaningful somehow). To me, > (classically trained), it looks bizarre, and more like someone > has > learned to play the wrong way. But it has to have at least some > advantages, as it seems to be so popular (at least among the rock > music > pluckers). Not only for barrA", particularly chords where the > index > presses on a fret in front of the fret that the thumb is stopping > look > bewildering. Might there be an ergonomic/finger mechanical > reason? > (Concert playing for hours so thereby avoiding carpal tunnel > syndrome?) > Is there someone here who could explain the inner workings and/or > advantages of this technique in a simple way or point to a > website, are > there any uses for it in lute-playing (skewed barrA"?), and does > the > practice have a consensus name? > Best regards > G > -- > To get on or off this list see list information at > [2][2]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > References > 1. [3]https://yho.com/footer0 > 2. [4]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. mailto:[email protected] > 2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 3. https://yho.com/footer0 > 4. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
