I posted here like last week on general tips, and practice I should be doing while I wait for my guitar lessons to start. (I'm a complete noob). I've working on blind scales, and the 'gutaircade' games in Rocksmith every day for about 2hrs, and then I follow that up with about 30m-1hr of playing practice where I just try to learn songs. So far it's been going well, and something I initially thought was impossible (bending) I'm now getting the hang of. Partially because of practice, and partially because of the rock-hard callouses on my fingertips which now render me invulnerable to the pain of sharp guitar strings. So anyways, I can technically bend the string all the way to a full step, being able to tell the full step by ear, AND the mechnical ability to actually bend it hard and with a decent amount of finger strength. The problem I'm running into now is that when I pull the string back down to it's initial position, I end up touching some of the other strings, and although it's not as loud as picking them, it's still audible. I really love the blues, and whenever I hear guys like SRV bend, not only is the duration/tone/sound perfect, but no other strings are ever disturbed. Obviously I'm not as good as him, nor will I ever be, but now I'm curious as to how one would theoretically not hit any other strings, while bending properly and quickly? As of now whenever I bend big, the strings either make a noise when I withdraw, or the other strings (which im not bending) go under between my nail/skin which is pretty darn painful. (my nails are cut really short by the way)

Thanks! (Sry about the long winded post, but I like to give context before asking for advice!)

Also really off topic, but my frethand thumb is starting to feel really shitty. Like it cracks alot (like cracking your knuckles) and sometimes I feel like I need to crack it even though it won't crack. Is that really bad?

I hold the guitar neck like this, in regards to my thumb, http://www.fretjam.com/image-files/1.jpg

But instead of having my thumb laying against the neck, it's pressing against it like this: https://t1.ftcdn.net/jpg/00/14/89/92/400_F_14899285_uCMS9zb4roZ158uZoomDHfc3d8nj7pWs.jpg

It's not to that extent, it's moreso a combination of those two pictures.

It feels REALLY uncomfortable to have my thumb like the first picture, or to even have it hanging over top of the neck.