The most common bad habit and why

There is one Very Bad Habit that afflicts the vast majority of guitar players, excluding many or most of those who started with classical training. It's a habit that creates tremendous roadblocks in speed and agility, which are the most common things that my more advanced students want to address. This nasty culprit is the location of the left thumb. Unfortunately, correcting this bad habit is not a simple process for one reason - poor thumb placement is a crutch for avoiding several other technical issues.

First, let's look at where the thumb SHOULD be placed and why. The left hand thumb should be at or BELOW the middle of the neck well over 90% of the time. Ironically, you'll probably see 90% of guitar players with their thumb above the middle of the neck or over the top of it 90% of the time. I'll come to why that is shortly.

What is achieved by placing the thumb lower?

In on sentence, it's the cornerstone for excellent left hand technique. More specifically, here are a few of the benefits:

•It brings the pinky, which is your weakest and shortest finger, much closer to the strings. The pinky, theoretically, adds 33% to what your other three fingers can do without it. That's quite a bit.

•It allows you to curl your fingers and get them on their tips, which gives much better control over intonation and vibrato and makes it easier to play clean chords.

•It puts your wrist in a more natural position, greatly reducing the possibility of tendonitis or other injury in the left hand.

•It facilitates stronger ligado (hammer-ons and pull-offs) with more efficient movement.

•It significantly increases mobility and range of motion for all fingers.

•It puts your hand where it needs to be for playing barre chords, which means more economical motion when getting into and out of them.

Why This Bad Habit Is So Common

The origin lies in the first time a person picks up the guitar, which is part of why it's so difficult to correct. Most guitar players pick up the guitar and either rest it on their leg or put on a strap that's far too long. The guitar wobbles all over the place and instinct kicks in - they grab the neck. Our hands are built first and foremost for grabbing things. They've been doing it for millennia and they do it well and without much thought.

You may not remember, but you had to be taught to hold a pencil. It was probably a pretty hard thing to learn at first, but it makes writing much easier. Holding the guitar correctly is similar. It takes focus and time, but it really pays off.

Another origin is that our fingers are just not strong enough to play guitar when we start. Grabbing the neck allows people to use their hand to compensate for the weakness of their fingers.

Other reasons for this have to do with compensating for poor right hand technique.

1 - Lack of accuracy. Strumming the right strings and only the right strings is hard. It takes a lot of practice. To get around this, the thumb is often used to mute the lower strings when playing chords. With good right hand technique, this isn't necessary.

2 - String noise. Bending strings and various other things that the left hand may do can create unwanted string noise. The thumb is often used once again to dampen strings. Good right hand technique involves using the palm and fingers to control which strings are allowed to ring.

How To Correct For This

Based on the things that contribute to poor positioning of the left thumb, there are a few basic things to keep in mind when you're learning to improve your left hand technique. I'll explore each of these in greater depth in future blog posts.

•Hold or wear the guitar in such a way that it's stable without the use of your left hand.

•Do exercises to develop finger strength in the left hand.

•Work on the accuracy of your right hand.

•Use your right hand to control string noise.

•Remember that your fingers on your left hand are going to have to relearn where things are because your hand is in a different position and that this is going to take some getting used to!