• Guys, we've spent considerable money converting the Les Paul Forum to this new XenForo platform, and we have ongoing monthly operating expenses. THE "DONATIONS" TAB IS NOW WORKING, AND WE WOULD APPRECIATE ANY DONATIONS YOU CAN MAKE TO KEEP THE LES PAUL FORUM GOING! Thank you!

Any tips for fretting the low E with your thumb (for Hendrix style chords)?

RyanTyler

Banned
Joined
Sep 2, 2019
Messages
1
For me to cleanly be concerned the low E with my thumb, my hand is in this kind of position that i will’t cleanly agonize the alternative notes and vice versa. It’s no longer that i can’t play it smoothly in a development, i can’t even truely get it in role at all. I exercise looking to get it down regular and feature visible a totally very tiny bit of development however was questioning if all of us had any recommendations that helped you with this or any assets that helped. thank you
 

mdubya

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
1,020
Narrower necks and more rounded fretboard radius helps (i.e. 7.5, 9, 10 as opposed to 12 or flatter). It is harder to do on modern Gibsons. Easier to do on vintage-y Fenders. JMHO.
 

LeonC

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2002
Messages
799
I have the same problem. Watching old videos of Jimi, I can tell that either his thumb joint just works better than mine for this sort of thing, or his hands are way bigger...probably both.

It's mainly an issue when you have to finger stuff on both the low E and the high E that isn't necessarily done with a barre formation, e.g., because you want some of the middle strings open or played on other frets. What I've done is come up with lots of work arounds.

An example night be the funny +9 chord that he uses on the end of the intro to Little Wing or in parts of Castles Are Made of Sand. I'll play the low E with my thumb...strike it and then quickly--almost simultaneously--ease up on it so I can finger the 5th and the +9 on the B and high E strings, while leaving the G open...


But again, in Little Wing, I suspect Jimi fingered many of the chords with his thumb...I've just found ways of doing most of them other fingers.

Another work-around involves using the tip of my index (typically) finger on the low E and using the bottom of my index finger--near the knuckle--to finger a note on a DIFFERENT fret on the high E string. I have to do this to hit the last chord in the intro on the Steely Dan tune, Josie, for example.
 
Last edited:
Top