Yeah Meebs, practice is great and if you've been practicing something wrong for 30 years, you acquire a "perfection" of sorts with that too.......sadly enough.

Yeah, Mick, the classic 1st barre E, but the master (and he really is) Mister Fielding will tell you that the thumb over on 5 & 6 at the first is the best. In truth I've been trying for years to work my thumb in after seeing everybody do it and skipping the whole classical method that I read about 30 years ago, ie. NEVER use your thumb, stays below the neck, etc.

Now I gotta' tell ya', there is no way in hell that my thumb is long enough to do this properly and my hand just doesn't want to bend that way. Add this to the fact that I'm incredibly lazy and you can see my problem. I would say that about half the time I get the thumb into play and the rest is 4 or 5 string F's with some other finger gymnastics to try and cover the fact that I'm basically lousy. This gets me by and not being or having aspirations of being a pro (because I sing lousy too), gets me by most times and I still have a lot of fun!!!

But Meebo and Rick are certainly right and as you well know, Brother Rick is a PICKER (so's Meebs if you haven't heard him)....and I truly admire his ability and hard work. I admire him more as a friend though, just as you do.

Spaw