Thumb Fretting

Thumb Fretting

As dedicated readers know, I am all about the hand. Lately, my left hand has been impressing me mightily: it has been throwing knives with confidence and panache; it has really come into its own on the tennis backhand; and its fingers have been performing nimbly on the guitar. Even my left baby (“little”) finger has been out to prove itself and has won several medals. However, I have not come before you today to celebrate my left hand in its entirety, though that would be perfectly apropos (it is doing a handy job, even if it says so itself). Instead, I want to single out my sinistral thumb, and for a very special reason. Drum roll, please: it has learned how to fret all by itself! I mislead you not, Jeeves (and Gussy Finknottle will back me up on this). I don’t mean that boring business of the thumb peeping over the neck of the guitar to hold down the E and A strings that that annoying fellow Jimi Hendrix made canonical. Oh no: I mean playing whole licks with the thumb. I know, you don’t know what I am talking about, but remember the hand has a mind of its own (it commandeers vast areas of the brain). Today it taught me how to play guitar using only the thumb for fretting! An example might help: just as you can use only one finger to play the lick in Day Tripper, so you can employ the thumb to do the same. You just press the strings down using your thumb with the rest of your hand resting behind the neck, cradling. The great thing is that your thumb is big and strong (the Goliath of digits) and does what you tell it to do. It has been dying to demonstrate its mettle on the strings, as opposed to lurking unseen behind the neck. There is very little learning curve (Jeeves, are you still listening?). You will be amazed: your thumb will veritably dance over the strings, or else I am not Link Wray. It’s even better than your index finger! True, it is only a solitary digit, but what a digit! Within ten minutes I was playing like a thumb demon (new band: The Thumb Demons). You know what I did next: I googled the blighter. To my everlasting surprise, the search brought up nothing (except that feeble Hendrix trick). Evidently, I have invented a new way to play the guitar, or my left hand has. Credit where credit is due. I will keep you posted on future developments… Jeeves, to where have you disappeared, old chap?