Michael Thames wrote: > Is Dowland suggesting thumb out, rather than thumb under?
Yes. It comes up pretty often here. There's a remark in Johann Stobaeus' manuscript that Dowland changed from thumb-in to thumb-out in mid-career. For newbies, here's a more complete quote from Dowland: "...stretch out your Thombe with all the force you can, especially if thy Thombe be short, so that the other fingers may be carried in a manner of a fist, and let the Thombe be held higher then [sic] them, this in the beginning will be hard. Yet they which have a short Thombe may imitate those which strike the strings with the Thombe under the other fingers, which though it be nothing so elegant, yet to them it will be more easie." HP To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
