Confessions of a Thumb Hooker

[Robb in Sacramento]

If you play guitar, or as in my case play at guitar, you know what a thumb hooker is. In fact, you may be one; and oh, my name is Robb and I'm a thumb hooker. Now, for those of you who have never indulged in your rock and roll fantasy, or pictured yourself as Chet Atkins, you may not know what a thumb hooker is, but as the name implies, it reflects a certain lack of discipline regarding the use of one's thumb. A thumb hooker wraps his or her thumb around the neck of the guitar, a grip that most classical guitarist view with disdain and most guitar playing purists would tell you is a technique best left to the great unwashed masses of blues or folk guitar.

So, what does being a thumb hooker have to do with martial arts. Well, it's sort of the musical version of traditionalist versus the more free spirited and eclectic among us. Hooking one's thumb while playing guitar is one of the those techniques that just seems to come naturally to almost anybody who picks up a guitar, and it just seems to stick with most of us. And, while it can be a very useful technique in many musical styles, it is limiting. Much like learning a karate (or other martial art) technique correctly and then being able to adjust, being a thumb hooker means forever being limited in the breadth of one's playing because one has limited one's skills.

As I curled up recently with my copy of the Mickey Baker guitar course, it occurred to me that if I ever want to get out of Mr. C's play yard (an expression my piano teacher was fond of saying before I drove him over the edge in into computers) I need to give up my addiction to thumb hooking. I know it's going to be painful. There will be withdrawals, and likely and occasional relapse to Louie Louie, but in the end, I think it will be worth it.

I try and take the same approach to practicing karate, especially when I am training with somebody new or at someone else's school. I try and work on what they are trying to communicate to me. Sometimes its painful (as in black eye and bruised ego), and sometimes it frustrating, but most of the time it's fun. You see, I have recognized that in many ways I am a karate thumb hooker. I have fallen into patterns of comfort that generally work, but that will ultimately not lead to a perfection of technique. And while it may be weird for and American these days to be concerned with perfecting technique just for the purpose of perfecting technique, it's the journey I want to take. After all, and I know Van may disagree, given my line of work, karate is not so much about self defense as it is about development of character and trying to improve myself and the world around me.

So, what's my point. Nothing profound. I just wanted to encourage other thumb hookers to place their thumbs on the back of the guitar neck and embrace the classical technique of guitar, and to encourage others who may feel trapped by what works most of the time in their martial art to embrace the possibility that perfecting traditional techniques may actually be helpful in understanding the full range of their art. Unless of course, Louie Louie is the only song you need.

Peace
Robb in Sacramento

[Dana Sheets]

[gmattson]

That's what a "thumb hooker" is!

I thought it was a lady-of-the-evening hitch hiking on Boylston street!

[MikeK]

Don't throw away the thumb hook! I play correctly (alternate picking, all for fingers to fret with and thumbpkin on the back of the neck) but I still use the good old thumb hook to play some stuff. I'm also using more and more "incorrect" techniques along with the proper stuff to get more soul out of my playing. I've noticed that some of the most inspiring and influential pickers played incorrectly, (Django, Page, Van Halen[major thumb hooker], Dale, etc). There is no bad technique if it works.

[benzocaine]

Robb,

THat was worthy of a magazine column

[Bill Glasheen]

Robb

Very, very entertaining, Robb.

Might I suggest that you approach both your guitar and your karate in the spirit of what Mike is proposing? Technique is technique. It is a means to an end, and not an end unto itself. The best way to get rid of bad habits is not to think in terms of denial, but rather to think in terms of inclusion. Try the "traditional" way of doing things as well as the unorthodox approach. You may find over time that you pick up the classical approach. Or... You just might be a fellow by the name of Fosbury, and completely revolutionize an activity (the Fosbbury Flop).

Might I also suggest that you stop letting others' approach worry you? Everyone needs to find a path. Van is Van, and has his own. Plus, he says stuff for effect. That's his literary device to get folks to think. Van doesn't really condone minimizing work on technique. All he's saying - in effect - is that form must be a slave to function, and not the other way around. At the end of the day, it must be real. You need to be able to do what you do under "standard operating conditions" for a fight, or else go back to the drawing board.

So at the end of the day, good technique is important after all.

Work on technique all you want in the dojo. Just understand that for many, 20% goes down the toilet at the moment of truth. C'est la guerre. The study of what gets lost and what remains becomes an interesting endeavor of its own.

- Bill

[Stryke]

Good post Bill

I find these kind of posts interesting because my initial reactions to disagree , which says a bit about myself

In my breif history studying MA I am still to figure out what someone actually mean by technique .

It`s such a variable definition , and the more you know the less you can define it , in fact It`s probably impossible to do the same thing twice .

[MikeK]

I agree with Bill that technique is incredibly important but don't become a slave to it. I was never asked to join a band because my technique was good but rather someone liked the overall package I brought. Back in the day I was a real snob about picking every note and I despised guys who slurred their notes, but it hurt my playing because it kept me from getting a certain feel on some songs. Today I legato all over the place and wish I could go back and redo some songs. Now that I'm starting to teach my sons to play I push proper technique but I'm also going to teach them whatever dirty little guitar tricks I know; nothing is off of the table. Technique is the method in which we use the tool but it's not the outcome, goal or end that we're trying to accomplish.

Same with karate. Proper technique is incredibly important but I've seen some people become rigid and predictable by making it their goal.

Note: My karate technique is as poor as my current guitar technique.

In my breif history studying MA I am still to figure out what someone actually mean by technique .

I'd guess it means doing something in a way that will most likely help you reach your goal, even though it may be improper to achieve a different goal. For example I know in the opening three turns of Kanshiwa that my parry hand may be too high, but I'm using it as a cover to protect my neck and jaw against a possible attack to those places as I do the turn rather than block the punch to the body. To me neither is wrong as long as it's helping achieve the goal.

[Norm Abrahamson]

Hey Robb:

I'm a self taught guitar hack and I didn't even know thumb hooking was wrong.

Thanks a lot! I was quite content being ignorant.

Norm Abrahamson

[jorvik]

Quote
"I'm a self taught guitar hack and I didn't even know thumb hooking was wrong.

Thanks a lot! I was quite content being ignorant.

Yeah I agree, I play guitar and all the really great guitarists break all the rules all the time, I don't know if anybody likes Stanley Jordan.but he doesn't just hook he uses both hands to touch tap his stuff.....listen to his version of "eleanor rigby".or then again Michael Hedges, or Preston Reed...or Jimi Hendrix.If you want to go back in time listen to "Blind arthur Blake's" thumbing technique.....then look at Karate greats like Bill Wallace who used his left foot like another hand

[TSDguy]

But can you play with your teeth?



The martial art equivalent of that must be capoera!

[Robb in Sacramento]

Sorry Norm, I know the feeling. Both as a guitar hack and as a karate student. And TSD Guy, you picked a great photo. The man revolutionized the electric guitar and left us way too early.

But, back to your comment Norm about being self taught and not knowing...as karate students, we are all self taught in one way or another. Please, I'm not minimizing the role of my teachers, and I will be forever grateful to Mr. Author and Mr. Earle in Uechi-Ryu and Mr. Warner in Shotokan; and I am grateful for the generous sharing of knowledge that Mr. Mattson, Mr. Thompson and others have offered me. I am also blessed with wonderful people to workout with, and some folks in Steve Goss, Mehran Shakar, and Don Uttenriether who continue to inspire me. But, as usual, I digress.

That said, aren't we all self taught in karate? We have teachers and we have seniors and we have peers, but it is the time we spend on our own, the time we spend doing the kata and hitting the makawara when no one else is around that forges our spirit and our character. If we do not have the discipline to train on our own and be introspective and critical about our training, then what discipline do we possess. If we don't do basics when nobody is watching, why would we do basics at all.

And since I believe we are all self taught in one way or another, being a thumb hooker concerns me. Not because it isn't a useful and comfortable device, and not because one can't be a fabulous guitarist and still be a thumb hooker, but because it reflects a lack of attention to detail. It also reflects a certain willingness to acquiesce into what is comfortable and expedient at the expense of pursuing what is classic and refined. And while I can accept that I am not likely to become an accomplished guitarist, I am not willing to accept that I have not tried. And as a karate student I can accept that I have few natural gifts, but I cannot accept refusing to let go of what is comfortable and expedient in order to explore and search for what is classic and refined.

That said Norm, the plain truth is, there are lots more of us hooking our thumbs and strumming Louie Louie than there are people plucking out Sor etudes. Just like there are lots more of us sticking our elbows out when we thrust, or leading with our noses when we do arm pounding with George than there are folks whose form, power, spirit and elegance of technique take over a dojo floor by their mere presence. But sorry about the whole breaking it to you thing.

Peace
Robb in Sacramento