Roger Hardin wrote:Roger Pratt wrote:Joey......I have small hands and can get the 5 & 6 strings when i need to. It takes practice like anything else you do. I've seen pickers use barre chords and still play great Travis and Chet style. Practice Practice Practice!!
Roger that Roger. I have small hands and stretching the thumb to choke a few strings is one of the easier moves. I have more trouble stretching the 4th finger of my LH. I also like to stay away from Bars. This prevents my notes from sounding slurred.
Roger,
I think it really boils down to the width of the neck or the size of a person's hands. I could probably be able to thumb chords with a little practice on my Gibson LG-0 but when I switch to my Harmony or my Gretsch 5120 all that practice would be for naught.
I have no trouble stretching my LH 4th finger to make chords so I guess I should be thankful of that.
Years ago, I learned "Villa" off Chet's album and I was always able to make the last chord in the song which is a D 6/9 at the 10th fret using my thumb to bar the 6th string along with my first and third LH fingers to make the chord. Today for some reason I can't make that chord using my thumb unless I use my 2nd and 3rd LH fingers with my thumb. I don't know but maybe it's old age setting in.