left hand possition on the neck whats best?

Hi as you all can tell newbie here and a beginner as far guitar playing is concern. My quest just as the titles says. what is if there is such a thing the correct way to possition ones hand on the neck, many videos tell you to put the thum behind the neck, others grasp the neck. Should it be a confertable thing or what. Same for the right hand hoding the pick they say not to rest the fingers on the lowerside of the guitar, again does one do the confertable thing or stick with the unconfertable? :confused:

It's all about what's comfortable to you, but I was taught to keep my thumb on the middle of the back of the neck. It should be positioned between you middle and index finger. This also allows you to shift your hand if you need to do chords or runs on the thicker higher strings. THis would be the "classical" way to position your hand on the neck, but sometimes my hand will change and my thumb will go over, it just depends on what i'm playing. But you should defintaly start off this way and as you get better and learn to relax more when you play, you can do other things, but first and foremost is to do what is most comfortable to you. If it feels uncomfortable, or it hurts, you must be doing something wrong, that's the usual rule.

[font=trebuchet ms]Wrapping your hand around the neck is more comfortable, but it imposes some severe limits on what you can do with your fingertips. Try to get into the habit of playing with your thumb at the back of the neck so that it becomes second nature.[/font]

I used to get heat all the time for the way I held my left hand positioning, and the fact of the matter is - if you can play cleanly and concisely it does not matter how you hold your hand. When I hold my hand in the "classical" position, I instantly drop about two ticks in speed.

Me personally, between frets 1 through about 15 I have my thumb wrapped around the back of the neck so I can use it to fret bass notes (like Jimi Hendrix used to do).


It's ugly, indeed, and I have had instructors and friends give me grief about it, but in my honest opinion... if it works for you, then *it works* :D