Dammit ted, don't tell Marion about the "C barre" form!!

Actually, you can play some pretty good guitar without having to use that little bugger, whereas the Thumb F gives you that nice low bass and can used up and down the neck.

Yup split those fingers into a "V". My mum told me about this one. Seems when she was a kid, her piano teacher had a couple of polished dowels sticking up on either end of the ol' upright. She'd have the little girls force their little fingers onto it and slide up and down. She swore by it, and the proof was my Mum could easily do a 10th (C octave plus 2) on the piano and I with bigger hands could barely reach the octave.

Naturally these Thunb chords (which are played by merle travis, Chet atkins, and a lot of others, are easier on a narrow neck guitar, but I've never worked with anyone (in person) who wasn't able to nail it with a little work. (do you ever get to Toronto Marion?)

Now, John Hardly makes a good point. You don't need MUCH of the thumb...literally just the tip. Try it.

And from that Segovia of lyrics Bob Dylan, here's a GREAT and simple way to play an odd Eb without struggle. He used it in "Baby Let Me Follow you down"

play a normal C chord (five string version). now put your pinky on the first string third fret (G note). Now just slide the whole sucker up three frets. Don't play the sixth string. Presto, Eb.

Cheers

Rick