> It would be very difficult to play much of the >later music with larger lutes (10+ courses) with thumb under -- you can't get >to the lower courses as easily.
I don't understand this. How does the hand position make a difference on the deep bass courses? Or, how does thumb under make it difficult to reach the lower courses? I am stretching to the max to hit the 12th and 13th courses on my B lute and thumb under or over doesn't really enter into it. I find there really is no thumb under or over until you get up to the higher courses and your thumb has to make a decision. Well, that's not quite true, there is a thumb out position, but for me, not when I'm stretched. I'm trying to get my hand to be thumb out on my B lute which is way different than thumb under on the Ren lute, but it is easy to slip into thumb under (even with a basic thumb out position) when I want a beatiful tone and the thumb and forefinger are playing adjacent strings on the B lute. I hope that is comprehensible. It's hard to explain. cheers, -- Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
