I have seen quite a few messages from people questioning thumb
under technique who are 1) teaching themselves and 2) only
giving it a few weeks. I think this is a mistake! I myself am
one of those people who has picked up a lot of musical instruments
on my own, with sometimes good results, but it took me several
years of lessons with several excellent teachers to get a good
thumb under technique, both tone and speed. I also feel that
the advantages of thumb under technique manifest themselves on a lightly
strung instrument, whereas the standard classical guitar technique
brings out the best of a more heavily strung instrument. So people
who put guitar weight strings on their lute won't hear the reasons
for a thumb under technique.
My advice - go to the LSA seminar. Really! No excuses! You will see and
hear it all there in one place, in one week.
Wayne
>
> But I am still not convinced that the thumb-under technique is really an
> advantage over the classical guitar technique of thumb on the lower
courses and
> index and second fingers on the upper courses. The thumb-under technique
still
> seems to be some sort of musical hairshirt to me. And I don't see how it
is
> any less awkward than the thumb-upper-course, index-lower course classical
> guitar technique. But I have never tried either that or the thumb-under
> technique. I just don't want to spend six months learning some awkward
right-hand
> technique like that when I could be building my repetoire with real music.
>
> Please understand I am self-taught on the guitar and the lute. I have
used
> some instruction books. But never have I never seen anything that
describes
> the thumb playing the three upper courses and the index finger playing the
lower
> courses on the guitar. Why would anyone use anything as seemingly
difficult
> as that? In what kind of music would that be an advantage over the thumb
> playing the lower courses and the index, middle, and even third fingers
playing
> the higher courses? You say that there are some passages that require the
thumb
