How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

[FuseG4]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

I have medium-small hands and never put my thumb over on a gibson style neck. totally uncomfortable.
seldom put it over on my tele with 9.5" radius. It doesn't feel natural for sure.
But it loves E and A string on the 7.25" V shape mexican 50's strat I have. It's like it was made for that almost.

 

[Zombiwoof]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

I agree with a lit of the above here. I too have smaller hands, and Hendrix chords, a LOT of Mayer stuff and even simple SRV rhythms cause me a lot of issues. Even simple stuff like the Cold Shot rhythm I couldn't do like the guy from Texas Blues Alley showed. I can only do it on very specific guitars with:

- narrow profile. 1 5/8 nut at the most, though I don't think anything makes anything smaller
- round fretboards. Small but important difference, and allows your thumb to wrap more easily.
- for me, asymmetrical necks works the best. I can do most stuff on my Peavey Wolfgang. My ideal neck would be the Musicman Axis because the scooped lower side allows for a tiny bit more grip
- in terms of profile, I prefer rounder vs V. There's somewhere to rest you fingers on a C, vs a V. If you have smaller than average palms a V may work better.

The one thing I found helped me a lot is 'pushing' my palm into the back of the neck. Sounds obvious but I was surprised at how much room I had because I would reach and bar with my fingers, rather than giving me that extension with a push. I think it was habitual because when you play classical or solo, you usually anchor with your thumb on the back and try to keep your fingers and palm as free as possible.

Hope that helps!

There were those late 60's(?) Gibsons that went down to 9/16" at the nut, I think the SG's that Townsend used were those skinny necks, and he used the thumb chords sometimes (Pinball Wizard is a good example). It also is important to have a good setup on your guitar, if the string heights get off (like my Strat that I keep by my bed has gotten lately, have to go over it next time I change strings), the thumb bass chords get harder to pull off. It does take a lot of practice and trying different hand positions to master that type of chording. Some guys learned to play chords that way from the beginning, and don't find it difficult at all, but I was one of those as mentioned that were taught that proper chording involved the thumb always on the back of the neck, it was just Hendrix that got me into trying the thumb thing.
Al

 

[AxlOz]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

A CBS era strat will have a narrower neck at the nut, which is exactly what jimi was playing quite often. Then as mentioned by a few others, neck profile will affect how easy this feels, and then also how you sling the guitar will change the angle of your hand wrapping around.

I've always played barre chords this way, mainly because I'm lazy, but I like using chord patterns to structure licks and melody progressions. My guitar friends always ask wtf I'm doing.. I find the thumb-over thing works well on my Fender guitars and my Ovation acoustic, but not so well on my Gibson LP due to its chunky neck.

I picked up a '73 strat recently that has the narrow CBS era neck design and giant jumbo frets and this style just works nicely for me. I think Jimi was just playing the hand he was dealt so to speak - and the narrow neck in his hands led to him finding the thumb-over thing. Only do it if it works for you, otherwise find a better way to rock the f*^k out.

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

I sort of disagree with these oversimplified statements, It's not necessarily a narrow neck -it's more complicated because "small hands" means nothing on its own -it's more palm size and thickness versus finger length -if you have a large palm a wider neck won't be as much of an issue. If you have a small palm and long fingers, thumb over will probably be annoying with a wider neck but V or D might feel better to get the finger angle. the shape and dimension of your palm with the neck profile is critical -sometimes a meaty U or V is better for a thumb over playing approach.

-it so individualistic with about 20 variables... thumb over playing sometimes begs for a thicker neck for comfort if you play long gigs -a thin C can seem uncomfortable for some players over time but magical at first -also fretboard radius can affect the reach comfort for the lower strings for thumb over playing. An Asymmetrical neck profile can seem magical sometimes for thumb over playing (try a Music Man guitar or a SRV Fender and you will be amazed -even though MM guitars are fugly). The only way to understand the geometry of your hand for thumb over playing is to play about 50 guitars and keep notes on the stats of the necks and come to a conclusion -UNLESS you get lucky and fall in love with a guitar before you need to go through that trouble.

I used to go into stores with calipers to know if the neck was 15mm 17 at the nut and what the taper was and if it was 42 or 43mm wide at the nut etc etc to understand why my hand likes certain setups -I found a very narrow neck was great with certain profiles and a wide neck was fine with other profiles. You have to get reps in on some guitars to really dial in a comfortable thumb over playing experience -then step 2 develop an iron fist and an attitude -as you can't play thumb over without one. lol

 

[Adieu]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

15mm at nut?

That's much thinner than an 80s Wizard, where the heck did you find that???

 

[NegativeEase]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

15mm at nut?

That's much thinner than an 80s Wizard, where the heck did you find that???

Oh I dont own anything that thin, I meant as an example -most of mine are probably 19-22mm? havent measured any of mine in a few years. perhaps my example of a thin neck was too aggressive -I would guess 17 is as thin as Ive ever owned.

 

[gilt.suspect]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?


Here's a vintage Fender neck. It measures 1-9/16" at the nut and the edges are rounded over from hours and hours of playing. It's easier to wrap your thumb over!

 

[Mincer]

Re: How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

Those Lead necks are indeed, tiny! Cool little guitars, though.

 

[Gtrjunior]

How to better play thumb barre chords a la Hendrix?

View attachment 93847
Here's a vintage Fender neck. It measures 1-9/16" at the nut and the edges are rounded over from hours and hours of playing. It's easier to wrap your thumb over!

My Tele has a 1 5/8 nut, so 1-16th larger than this neck. And I feel like that neck is tiny. And I don’t have large hands. It’s probably the biggest reason that I seldom play that guitar.
OTOH, my Kramer has an R2 nut, which is also 1 5/8 but the neck profile is very different. It’s a bit flatter and wider (in the shoulders) and it’s super comfortable. Of course it’s an ESP made neck so there’s that too.