Place your fingers on the fretboard like so:

       

 

          ========

          1 | | | | |

          | | | | | |

          | | | | | |

          | | | | | 4

 

Let your thumb go where it has to in order to do this.   This is the best location for the thumb on the back of the neck for playing difficult fingerings such as bar chords, the open F chord or stretch leeds.   This is the HOME POSITION for the thumb.   Otherwise, you can put your thumb where it is most comfortable for you in your playing.   Hanging your hand by the thumb from the neck is OK.

 

 

The finger tips will get tougher the more you play.   The skin will thicken into callouses and it will be easier to play notes clearly and there will be no more pain.   Sometimes, new students will feel the strings bite into their soft fingertips.  This will go away and you have to just tough it out until it happens.  Don't give up to quickly!

 

Fingers also should come on to the frets perpendicular to the fretboard (straight in like a nail into wood).   Doing this will help your notes to be clearer on the chords with less muting of the neighboring strings.   Push hard to get a clean sound.

 

 

 

When playing a tune or series of notes, try to pick in down and up strokes, from note to note.  This is ultimately faster than just picking down all the time.

 

 

There is a notation for the fingers used:

 

Right Hand         Standard          Tablature

Finger                Notation           Notation

 

Thumb                 p                     +

 

Index                   i                      .

 

Middle                 m                     ..

 

Ring                    a                     ...

 

These symbols are found nexted to the note (sheet music) or fret number (tablature) and let you know what finger is best to use when playing that particular note.