Bad habit?

Fremen

Hi,
I've been teaching myself guitar, and I'm a little worried that I'm picking up a bad habit. In pictures, guitar players seem to have most of their palm against the back of the fretboard, with the thumb running along it.
I find it a bit easier to play chords with my hand streched out more, so that only the top of my thumb touches the fretboard. Is this a bad habit?

Oh, one other stupid question
I bought the guitar new. When it arrived, the pickups were covered in plastic, which I removed. I'm not sure if there's more plastic covering the white part underneath the strings, or if it's just a crappy varnishing job. I can see little blisters on the edge of the white bit. Should I try to take this stuff off?

Thanks for your help.

brendansmith

Fremen wrote: »

Hi,
I've been teaching myself guitar, and I'm a little worried that I'm picking up a bad habit. In pictures, guitar players seem to have most of their palm against the back of the fretboard, with the thumb running along it.
I find it a bit easier to play chords with my hand streched out more, so that only the top of my thumb touches the fretboard. Is this a bad habit?

Oh, one other stupid question
I bought the guitar new. When it arrived, the pickups were covered in plastic, which I removed. I'm not sure if there's more plastic covering the white part underneath the strings, or if it's just a crappy varnishing job. I can see little blisters on the edge of the white bit. Should I try to take this stuff off?

Thanks for your help.

Your way is the correct way:


The white part that you speak of is the pickgaurd. There is plastic on it. Take it off if you want, it'll come off eventually by itself.

NoQuarter

Yeah as brendan said, the thumb on the back of the neck is a much better way to play in the long run as in a couple of years you may be looking at techniques where its pretty essential! (eg. sweep picking)

Wish i played like that!

PS. make sure when your picking your alternativly picking as in up AND down strokes, just a bad habit i picked up just using downstrokes and i had to re-learn everything the right way!

Voodu Child

The way you're playing (thumb on the neck and fingers arched) would be termed a 'classical' posture, used by classical players, and also by technique-driven players (rock, metal, etc). The other way of playing (wrapping the hand around the neck) is common with blues players - look at Hendrix for an example of someone who couldn't be further from the classical posture if he tried.

There's advantages and disadvantages of both, and most decent players will be actually move from one to another (or in between) as the situation arises. Go with what you're comfortable with, but as with a lot of things, try not to restrict yourself by sticking too rigidly to one approach.

Fremen

Great, thanks for the advice guys.
Thank fcuk I don't need to relearn anything

demanufactured

LOL , i thought you were gonna ask how to play Bad Habit by The Offspring