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→Left-Hand Grip
As for left hand position or how you "hold" the neck, there are basically two different extremes. Neither is "correct" - you will vary this depending on what you are trying to play.
The "propertechnique" technique I was taught when I first started and lots of instruction books use is to place your thumb in the middle of the back of the neck, then angle your hand so your fingers are parallel with the frets when laid on top all the strings. Then curl your fingers so that the very tips of your fingers are used to fret the strings. As you play more, the tips of your fingers will callous and become firmer, making them ideal for making contact with the strings. This technique is great for classical guitar or acoustic, where there's less need for muting, lead playing, and vibrato. You can finger complex chords and reach notes on the thicker strings higher on the fretboard. However, if you observe most modern rock guitar players, even the well-learned virtuoso ones, most deviate heavily from this technique.
The "moderntechnique" technique involves places placing your thumb closer to (or even in some cases wrapped around) the top of the fretboard. Your fingers will naturally be more flat than curled when fretting, and it will be difficult to impossible to turn your wrist to make your fingers parallel to the frets. There are a couple advantages to this. First, you can sometimes use your thumb to fret a note on the 6th string, which allows for some more interesting chords. Second, flatter fingers are more useful to mute neighboring strings while fretting. Third, this technique allow you to use rotation of your left wrist to perform bends and vibrato, which naturally has more control than trying to use your finger muscles or bending your left wrist. As I said neither technique is correct, and you will likely always be somewhere between both extremes. I would suggest attempting to use more "proper technique" when starting, as it is more difficult to develop. As we move more into lead playing and bends you will want to gravitate more towards "modern technique".
== Homework ==
Practice plucking open strings. Make sure you are not using your thumb joints to pluck but your wrist or elbow (or combination of both). Make sure you are not "pecking" but are "pushing through" each string. Try downpicking an open string 8 times in a row - be sure not to hit the string with an accidental upstroke but also make sure you aren't making large movements in your hand to do so. Try downpicking and uppicking an open string 16 times. Practice fretting each string at the 5th fret. Hold the string against the fret while downpicking. Try pushing harder/looser with the fretting hand and observe the impact on the quality of tone. Also, try moving the position of your finger where you fret the note - try fretting in the middle of the fret, on top of it, slightly in front of it, and right behind it. Practice the --1--2--3--4--3--2--1-- excercise above on each string. Go slow at first. Try only using one finger to fret at a time, then try it again while holding the frets below the one being played. Repeat the exercise while focusing on "proper" left hand grip, then repeat again using "modern" grip.