Thumb over the neck.

Fingers

For years I used to use my thumb over the top of the neck to grab bass notes...as well as playing with "perfect" technique...thumb behind the neck. I would switch between the two as required.

A few years ago I developed a bone spur on my thumb right on the main joint by the nail..is that the first joint... located on the outside edge of the thumb...if you can imagine where you would hit your bent thumb with a hammer if you were holding a nail and missed while striking it. Probably how it started.

It got worse and worse and the spur started to affect the tendon which was moving back and forth across the sharp point...... so I had a small surgery, the surgeon assuered me I would not have any loss of movement ....well I have. I cannot bend my Lt thumb as much as my right without a lot of pain. I think the tendon shortened up.

Anyway, fast forward to today...I am wanting to get into GJ study.

So during my research I took a look at some of the samples in Michaels book and noticed in the rhythm book, the chords with the thumb in the bass.

Some of these chords involve using the 1st and second finger to grab two notes each....to me this gets the hand into a somewhat awkward position..especially if you are going to use the thumb to hook the bass note as well.

So my question is......what actual part of the thumb do many of you use to contact the string?

For eg....take a simple Gm7 chord straight across the 3rd fret..you can fret the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings with the 1st finger..mute the 5th string and fret the 6th string with the fleshy pad of the thumb...no problem.

But a more complicated chord like a Cm6/G....just as an example..

5
4
5
5
3
3

The thumb is grabbing the 5th and 6th strings at the 3rd fret.

Would the tendency be to roll the thumb over to the left..away from you..which brings the elbow in towards the waist.....OR to try get the notes with the pad of the thumb....which in my case makes me roll my elbow out away from me to bring my hand around?

I figure if I am going to be able to play these chords, some amount of pain is going to result...perhaps I can actually stretch the tendon out....BUT I need to know I am doing it correctly, or at least the way most GJ players are doing it.

I know it really will come down to what works for me.....I have been playing for over 35 years....but it sure helps to know what most people are doing.

Thanks.