FWIW, this is exactly how I play the C chord, the neck resting on that fleshy pad (@jkahn, too, from his photo).
I will say, that in this position, the thumb naturally rides up the back of the neck, which would go against the idea that beginners should play chords with the thumb behind the neck. I find that playing with the thumb behind the neck is a real hindrance in some cases.
Stacy, I’m not an expert concerning hand positioning, but I also had issues with a bent wrist and I explored a lot of hand and guitar positions during my first year.
Regarding picture 1) I tried your hand positioning on my guitar and my wrist gets bent too. I think it’s caused as you leave a lot of space between your palm and the neck. Lifting up the palm towards the neck leads to a less bent wrist. When I play a C Chord without muting, there is much less space to the neck and my wrist isn’t bent. When muting and thumb comes over, my palm is enclosing the neck without muting the high E.
Apart from experimenting with the neck angle relatively to your body and finding the right hight too , another thing to consider, would be: how is your elbow position? In picture one it seems to be relatvely close to your hip. In the beginning I tended to “press” my elbow against my body, when it got tricky. This led to tension body-arm-wrist-fingers. For me, it was helpful to “free” my elbow, to keep him relaxed.
Hello Stacy.
Lots of good advice already here.
I’ve been looking at these photos and comparing them. My own hand position is very much like @jkahn
When I compare the photos, JK’s hand/arm looks natural, comfortable and relaxed.
In your photos it looks unnatural, uncomfortable and tense.
Your answer maybe to look at your thumb.
I have my thumb on top of the neck. Not hanging over trying to mute or fret notes - just resting on the top. My thumb acts as an anchor/pivot point as I’m changing chords. This position gives a straighter wrist. As I move between the open chords, my thumb stays more or less in the same place but it rolls a bit from side to side as my hand rotates a bit for the different chords.
I would say give it a try.
It would be interesting to see if JK and others use this thumb pivoting action?
I will add, concerning shoulder and arm tension, that I don’t particularly feel tension in the shoulder or forearm, nor am I holding the elbow in, or doing anything else obvious that I think could be contributing. I do my best, being a female, to get the guitar high enough but not too high, though my arms like the guitar higher, but also not too low so as to make the wrist bend. I sit comfortably, though in those pictures I was sitting on the floor versus my chair. But I do let my elbow live where it naturally wants to live as I make my chords. If it needs to, the elbow will come away from the body but will not be tense. My shoulder is always loose, elbow always loose. The only tension I experience is if I try to hold my elbow outward to try to get my forearm perpendicular to the neck (in that case, my upper arm gets tired and I find my arm weight hanging from my thumb, so I don’t do that). Or in the wrist if I try to squeeze ‘some’ chords when my hand is under the neck- it’s like some chords need the fingers to be less curled to be able to get good successful pressure on the strings (like C) , all the while trying to hold a sliver of space under the neck.
I have short arms (negative 2 inch ape index, I know that because I do indoor rock climbing as a hobby) so my elbows just don’t live very far away from my sides, which is why I explain that strats seem a little long for me. It’s not overwhelming, the length, but I am having to compensate for it in the fingers and wrist, I think.
Also, Ive mentioned that it’s an odd feeling of lowered finger control when in the straight wrist position (in the C) and when in the muting position (in the A and D), so I want to make sure I iterate- I am trying to use the straight wrist, as well muting. Is it something where I need to re-learn the chord hand shape and maybe build control in the fingers (for C)? Like maybe I learned the chords wrong and built strength in the wrong hand/wrist configuration? Nothing hurts- I just know the C doesn’t look right at all and can’t be good for the wrist long term. The muting D and A does feel tense in the fingers and they’re a little less responsive.
I like the suggestion that it’s ok if the neck touches (I prob shouldn’t say ‘rests on’ as that’s not entirely accurate) on a fleshy pad as long as strings ring. For a while I didn’t even realize I’d been doing it. Until suddenly I was like oh shit. The C and G feel fine that way. Muting D and A results in fingers not always responding like they do when not muting. Maybe I just need more time to get used to the thumb mute grip?
I have seen some people play C muting with the thumb. I suspect that will be a hard stretch for me. I could work at it and eventually get it to work probably. Thank you for the suggestion! Always good to know different ways to play chords!
Hi Stacy,
In general, I would have commented much like @JKahn did above. Here are a couple things to add.
For sympathetic vibrations, a couple things (numbers are NOT your images):
And… if you ever think your hand is too small, check out the hands on this person. JJ’s One Girl Band (youtube). She has very small hands with short fingers. Doesn’t slow her playing any. Watching her hands is interesting, because she breaks some of the conventions we are told to follow.
Very possible that it’s time to be ok with hitting a fret in the center if needed. I realize it’s good for beginners with little to no finger strength built yet to hit the side. I definitely benefit/benefited from that habit.
Good suggestions, thank you!
Do I have sympathetic vibrations? Prob not right now. The D, prob not as I don’t feel the E vibrating much when I mute it. The A? Yes, prob bec my strum accuracy isn’t the best on that and I’m grabbing the thick E. But I also just want to get the habit in, working good, early, at least trying to get it in early.
Thank you for the YT suggestion! It’s actually extremely hard to find a YTer who actually has small hands to watch. I follow a couple that have shown their hand measurements and they match mine. So I do watch their techniques though I can’t always figure out how they managed to get it looking so good and so right.
ETA: Her number one tip for new beginners is to have a high frustration tolerance 
Which we all know, I just find it funny that she put it as number one whereas a lot of tips videos don’t even include that.
@artax_2 I’ve been practising this song tonight, stealing from the band’s live performance as usual, and the player was playing a c-chord which reminded me of this thread. Here is a screenshot:
Awesome! Thank you for that. I do find it difficult to get anything out of watching televised or recorded performances, usually the editing is done in such a way that you can’t make heads or tails out of what a guitar player is playing.
