D chord with thumb

[tysteel78]

I noticed that there are some players out there who barre the D chord (and E) chord with their thumb.

If you are a player who uses their thumb, how would you transition from D to a D7?

Would you leave the thumb in place to barre notes and use the ring finger to press on the c note? Or would you use a different way of transitioning?

Thanks

 

[TimWilson]

I have the same question for folks who play D as a barre with their index finger. I play a lot of songs that bounce across D, D2 and D4 (including Closer to Fine, which does all three in rapid succession), or D with Dsus2 and D4 (You've Got To Hide Your Love Away). Using a single for D would make these songs impossible for me to play, whereas a 3 finger D works out perfectly! It's one reason why I've stopped trying to master the one-finger D. Its applications are so rare for me, and its disadvantages outweigh any advantages I can see, which is I guess what they mean by mileage varying....

So maybe that's the answer? Use different fingering for chords depending on the song and what chords are on either side? Of course, as I type this out, it sounds incredibly obvious, but I'm not very clever about this sort of thing, and not having actually mastered either a thumb or single finger approach to D, I'm looking forward to hearing what other folks are finding!

 

[Mike $]

I play a D with my index barred on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings sometimes. Obviously if I have to do something else I choose a more appropriate fingering. I also do it with the index, middle and ring fingers, or middle ring and pinky, sometimes I bar the 3rd and 4th strings with one finger and use either the ring or pinky for the 2nd string. I can't imagine only having one way to play a chord. I never saw someone play the entire D chord with their thumb. I have played the low string with my thumb, but it's not the norm. I do it when I have to use the usual finger elsewhere. I use my thumb quite often on my guitar and sometimes on the banjo, but the Uke only has 4 strings, and usually my fingers are enough to get by. But once in a blue moon, I reach my thumb up there.

 

[DJ Mango]

It's thumbthing you shouldn't do .

 

[merlin666]

I have the same question for folks who play D as a barre with their index finger. I play a lot of songs that bounce across D, D2 and D4 (including Closer to Fine, which does all three in rapid succession), or D with Dsus2 and D4 (You've Got To Hide Your Love Away). Using a single for D would make these songs impossible for me to play, whereas a 3 finger D works out perfectly! It's one reason why I've stopped trying to master the one-finger D. Its applications are so rare for me, and its disadvantages outweigh any advantages I can see, which is I guess what they mean by mileage varying....

So maybe that's the answer? Use different fingering for chords depending on the song and what chords are on either side? Of course, as I type this out, it sounds incredibly obvious, but I'm not very clever about this sort of thing, and not having actually mastered either a thumb or single finger approach to D, I'm looking forward to hearing what other folks are finding!

I do whatever gets the job done. Usually barre for D7. My KoAloha has narrow neck so often I end up using just two fingers for regular D instead of 3. I don't do partial barres at all.

 

[man0a]

I have the same question for folks who play D as a barre with their index finger. I play a lot of songs that bounce across D, D2 and D4 (including Closer to Fine, which does all three in rapid succession), or D with Dsus2 and D4 (You've Got To Hide Your Love Away). Using a single for D would make these songs impossible for me to play, whereas a 3 finger D works out perfectly! It's one reason why I've stopped trying to master the one-finger D. Its applications are so rare for me, and its disadvantages outweigh any advantages I can see, which is I guess what they mean by mileage varying....

So maybe that's the answer? Use different fingering for chords depending on the song and what chords are on either side? Of course, as I type this out, it sounds incredibly obvious, but I'm not very clever about this sort of thing, and not having actually mastered either a thumb or single finger approach to D, I'm looking forward to hearing what other folks are finding!

Don't Aldrine and Aaron recommend learning to play the 1-finger D (and 2-finger E)?

Regarding fretting with the thumb, the only reason I would try to do that is to make chord transitions faster. That means not doing it all the time just because you can.

 

[LorenFL]

It all depends on how your fingers work and what's comfortable for you. I find "wrapping around" to grab strings with my thumb awkward, though there are some chords that I want to learn to grab G-string frets with my thumb (like BbMin) because I'm incapable of "reaching over" with a finger.

If I were going to barre a D with my thumb, it would put my ring finger in position to make it a D7. Easy. It's the thumb part that's awkward.

Personally, I usually barre D with my middle finger, lean into the A string for the D6, and use the ring finger for D7, DMaj7 and D7sus4.

I'm one of those people with fingers that bend backwards at the first joint, so I can shorten that D Barre to just cover the G and C strings for Dsus2, and again use the ring finger to pick up the Dsus4.

The way my fingers like to bend (and not bend) makes my chord fretting a little weird. I find it easier for me to hook the neck in the crook of my thumb using that textbook "poor technique". But, it's comfortable and it works for me.

Just gotta do what works for you.

 

[CeeJay]

Try playing the balalaika.

 

[merlin666]

Wrapping thumb around with D is done for guitars to get an F# when you don't want to mute the string.

 

[Peteslp]

There are no rules in ukulele. Do what works for you.

 

[Canada Jim]

I most often use a single finger barre, which makes it easy to go from D (2220) to D6 (2222) to D7 (2223) for a blues shuffle.7
I sometimes use the D7 with no root (2020)
I also sometimes make a D by barring the 3rd and 4th strings with my index and the 2nd with my ring.
I think my fingers are too fat to do the 3 finger D.

 

[don_b]

Look I’m not trying to stir it up here but anybody playing the D chord with their thumb better not have any opinions on whether somebody is using a strap

 

[chris667]

I would say it is bad form. If you're just starting out, why learn technique that will slow you down later on?

I normally play a d chord with either my index or ring finger on the 4th, 3rd and 2nd strings. That will take practice to do but it allows you to play all over the neck. That's what will allow you to play up and down the neck as you get better.

You need to practice getting your hand in the right place, and always think about the smallest possible movement. What's the least amount of pressure you can use to get a clean sound?