How to hold the guitar

deefstes

Looking for some opinions. How do you guys hold your guitars when you play? What pros and cons can you list of the different positions?

My first guitar teacher taught me to hold the guitar in a classical position, i.e. resting on the left knee and the neck angled upwards. I still seem to be stuck in that rut and when I sit down with a guitar, any guitar, I immediately default to that position. I am starting to think that it's less than ideal. For classical guitar and for acoustic fingerstyle it works great but for electric guitar it doesn't.

It forces my hand into a position which I don't think is ideal for playing electric guitar and the thing that bothers me most is that when I play standing up, the guitar is in a very different position to what I'm used to, making playing standing up much harder. I get the impression that, if you're used to playing with the guitar on your right leg when you're sitting down, the change to standing up isn't all that big.

So, I'm curious to know.
1. Do any of you have strong opinions on which is a better way to hold the guitar when you're sitting?
2. Have any of you made a deliberate effort to change the position in which you hold the guitar? What disadvantages have you found the new position to bring which the old position didn't have?

Gearhead

The 'classical' position is not meant for comfortable playing. It is meant for hearing yourself somewhat when playing with others. In my opinion, electrics are meant to be played standing, so when sitting down get close to the position it is when standing. Beware of angling you wrist too much, this will give you CTS.
Alternatively, put the thing on your lap and you could sound like Jeff Healey?

Stubbs

I know a few Les Paul players cross their right leg over their left (or vice versa if you're a lefty) - I've never found that comfortable so I just play 'normally' with neither leg crossed over.

Standing, I play lead bits with the guitar at medium, waist height, but rhythm bits I play with the guitar lower, a bit like James Hetfield.

vic

I prefer my guitar...electric or acoustic.... resting on my left thigh. Feels more comfortable to me than the other way around. However I've checked some pics of seated jazz electric players and most of them have the guitar on the right thigh...I don't think there is any hard and fast rule ? When standing I tend to shift the guitar slightly to my left as well.

Bob-Dubery

The good thing about the classical posture that I've seen you using is that it prevents the left arm cramping up against the body. Sitting the way I do, guitar on right knee, fairly horizontal neck, has the exact opposite disadvantage - especially if you're using capos. Keeping the left arm and hand unimpeded is good.

ZarK

I prefer playing while standing or on the left leg... (Also classically trained, so left leg is better for me...) I usually feel uncomfortable resting the guitar on the right leg, although I do it once in a while... I'd say do what feels more comfortable to you and keeps your left wrist in the most comfortable position...

MikeM

I've actually been noticing what a difference this makes lately..

I think standing up while playing is good practice, but tweaking the height and angle that the guitar sits is vital. For me it was between getting my left hand/wrist into a good playing position and my right hand into a slightly lower spot because I have less movement available after breaking it.

ZarK

A tip for keeping your guitar in a certain position while standing: Use a cotton strap... The Dimarzio cotton straps 'stick' in position very well...

(If you prefer to be able to swing the guitar around your body like some guitar hero, safety belt material will serve you better... ? )

Riaan-Combrink

I'll have to touch on the one vital point no-one has yet: what LOOKS good??!! ?

On a more serious note, I used to play with my guitar slung fairly (OK, very) high. Gave me good control, vision of the fretboard and felt comfortable. Until I saw some photos from gigs! My wife (who is also the singer in our duo) finally settled it and said "look, that's plain embarrassing - drop the guitar". That got me, for the first time, to look at how other guitarists hold their guitars whilst gigging live. Generally it does look better if its a bit lower down.

So the point in relation to the OP? I held my guitar this way because I always played sitting down. It was just a natural progression, as I sub-consciously tried to get the guitar into the same relative position (whilst standing) as it was when perched on my leg whilst sitting down. So I think its a valid question you raise, and one to think about. So maybe try to practice standing up from time to time. If you ever intend gigging, it will stand you in good stead. Really is quite a different experience if you're used to sitting. I always played on my right thigh whilst sitting, and found that there's very little adjustment to do when you stand. I think it may be more difficult if you're used to having it on your left leg. So my view is try to find a sitting position that replicates your natural standing position as far as possible.

PS: Gearhead made the point about bending the wrist. The lower you sling the guitar whilst standing, the more you'll bend your wrist. So best to find the middle ground.

kayDUB

I've never really worried about this, just picked it up and played ?
Maybe I should have... or maybe I'm just not at a level where something like this would make a difference...

Wizard

My physio says I've been doing it wrong - that's why my right arm doesn't work so well anymore.
Apparently sitting with your strat on your right leg, your right hand near the bridge and your right shoulder scrunched up ... isn't right.

Psean

Wizard wrote: your right shoulder scrunched up ...

This is the way I used to sit. I removed the arms from the chair I sit in when I'm practicing (although I try to stand most of the time) and it's allowed my shoulder to sit in a much more comfortable, relaxed position.

flatfourfan

I've just gotten used to playing the guitar while having the neck higher than the rest of the body.

Having my fret hand in that position just feels more comfy.........I've tried, but I can't play the guitar horizontal..........lol.

George-Engelbrecht

deefstes wrote: Looking for some opinions. How do you guys hold your guitars when you play? What pros and cons can you list of the different positions?

My first guitar teacher taught me to hold the guitar in a classical position, i.e. resting on the left knee and the neck angled upwards. I still seem to be stuck in that rut and when I sit down with a guitar, any guitar, I immediately default to that position. I am starting to think that it's less than ideal. For classical guitar and for acoustic fingerstyle it works great but for electric guitar it doesn't.

It forces my hand into a position which I don't think is ideal for playing electric guitar and the thing that bothers me most is that when I play standing up, the guitar is in a very different position to what I'm used to, making playing standing up much harder. I get the impression that, if you're used to playing with the guitar on your right leg when you're sitting down, the change to standing up isn't all that big.

So, I'm curious to know.
1. Do any of you have strong opinions on which is a better way to hold the guitar when you're sitting?
2. Have any of you made a deliberate effort to change the position in which you hold the guitar? What disadvantages have you found the new position to bring which the old position didn't have?

I have also adopted the classical position as it is known and to this day I am glad I stuck through it all. It the beginning (first 2 years) it wasn't all that comfortable and I went back and forth the whole time. My teacher always said that the classical position was superior in most respects and said I should always stick with this.

I had lessons with Virtuoso Guitarist and Musician, George Bellas and he also said this was the better option.

That being said, my favorite Guitar player of all time has his on his leg, hehe. Yngwie Malmsteen.

I would say go for the classical position. But don't lose focus on what is important. What you should be worrying about is effective practice sessions and enjoyable Guitar time. Try your best to forget about this particular issue for 30 days and see if that changes your perspective ?

V8

Heish, I struggle to find a comfortable posture on either classical guitar (nylon), bass or electric guitar.

I also default to classical position (seated w/guitar on left leg with left foot raised on stool, neck angled upwards), my left arm is quite comfy here, left thumb solid behind the fretboard & parallel to the frets - but find that the angle of the right hand doesn't get the same tone if I sit with guitar on right leg, neck parallel to ground (or just pointing slightly upwards - I call it cowboy style :?) - this was pointed out by the flamenco teacher, but after some trial and error, I found my left arm (shoulder) takes strain and the left thumb tends away from parallel when playing 'cowboy style'.

We've debated it - he has also had one or two issues with neck/shoulders - the sum total of our debates has been : For flamenco - The typical spainish body type is a shorter human with short arms - making a 'cowboy' style position easier for that body type on a typical classical guitar, with the right hand (and wrist) working well between bridge and soundhole. I'm also shorter (5ft6in) but have orangutan arms (long ?) so I find that my right hand is between the soundhole and the neck - so I lose out on some flamenco tone. When I compensate to get the right hand striking the strings below the soundhole then the guitar neck tends to get pushed away and the left hand has to reach for the neck - less than ideal.

I typically play electric guitar/bass cowboy style (seated), it's easier because I find I don't have to reach around an acoustic body - standing I play the guitar/bass quite high up on a strap, neck angled upwards - looks a bit uncool, feels okay... ???

The healthy guitarist (google books preview)

http://books.google.co.za/books?id=hWcAAuOUlUgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

I've been meaning to give this a read sometime, but not quite got around to it yet, perhaps too technical for me... - similar to a quesiton Alex was asking a few weeks ago - regarding posture while playing.

Keira-WitherKay

playing almost exclusively jazz these days , i sit and play however i find in my experience of different jazz guitars the guitar design make s a huge difference , when i was playing exclusively world music and using nylon strings they would all sit in a similar fashion no prob everything from a top end boutique guitar to a cheap yamaha pawn shop find....always the same for comfort and sitting position .............

BUT for the jazz box's each is cut slightly different and then the thickness of body varies from solid to thin line to 3" archtop thickness, and then weight issues is one i battled with recently ..........

by weight issues i don't mean the actual weight of the guitar but the balance of the weight

at moment my main 2 jazz guitars are my Epi emperor regent which is Huge size wize but is perfectly balanced when sitting and playing (a lot is thanks to the huge headstock ...so big i'm still waiting for the custom case for it as it's too big and long to fit even into a jumbo case)) but i can place it on my leg sitting take off both right ad left hand and it stays in one place.......... whereas my other jazz guitar is the Tokai Es155 which is prob as close as i can get to a Gibson Es335 in cut and design ect ect is body heavy and i need to sit with a strap to prevent it falling off my leg backwards thats to the body side ....... but the strap sorts it out .....

yet standing is just the opposite the ES155 hangs in perfect playing position and the epi emperor regent is neck heavy with a strap but i always without exception sit and play so the above applies to my style

also the ES175 i had again seemed to not be perfectly balanced , and the hofner jazz box i sold because it was too uncomfotable to sit and play with , it sounded great and was a genuine vintage instrument but i spent the whole gig fighting it to sit in right position i wanted............nothing helped

so yes if you sit or stand it makes a difference and i think each individual instrument also makes a difference when you use it in your style

so yes i forgot to mention i raise my right leg about 20cm on a footstool or my raised hi hat pedal or i cross my legs to get the right thigh raised up

and lastly only last week i was discussing with a luthier what my requirements would be for a custom build .....and it came out that a guitar that was ergonomically designed that i could sit with it comfortably balance on my thigh with the neck at the right angle for my playing style was top of the list ............

so great question as i have found i will go as far as to sell off a great sounding guitar if it proves uncomfortable to play .....as i buy guitars to play them , and usually play them a lot , so comfort is for me a prime factor

V8

Keira WitherKay wrote: ...by weight issues i don't mean the actual weight of the guitar but the balance of the weight

so yes i forgot to mention i raise my right leg about 20cm on a footstool or my raised hi hat pedal or i cross my legs to get the right thigh raised up

Ahhh, thanks Kiera - thought I was going a bit bonkers recently, because I was using a foot stool to raise my right leg (when playing with guitar on right leg) but didn't really see anyone else reccomending it - I would cross my legs, but find that I get a dead leg within 30mins =(. I'm trying to get the acoustic to sit on my right leg naturally balanced so that I'm not using my arms/hands to keep it in place.

Keira WitherKay wrote: and lastly only last week i was discussing with a luthier what my requirements would be for a custom build .....and it came out that a guitar that was ergonomically designed that i could sit with it comfortably balance on my thigh with the neck at the right angle for my playing style was top of the list ............

Please keep us posted Kiera - I'm super curious to see what you spec for your custom guitar! I've been keeping a list of what I prefer about the various guitars that pass through my hands hoping one day to be able to spec a design for a guitar that suits my body type & playing style.

Have you ever seen one of these? http://www.evolutiomusic.com/index.php?lang=en&page=catalogue&rubrique=1&onglet=1 - It's an 'ergonomic' guitar I happened across in december on gumtree. Honestly, it sounds like a wooden box unplugged, an ovation plugged in (cheap piezo pickup + preamp) but the 'cutaway' on the the top edge is (imho) genius - I can get my right arm to sit nicely on the guitar without the edge cutting off blood supply. Because I play mainly with guitar on right leg the cutaway on the bottom edge isn't any use - but switch it over to the left leg and it makes sense.

Alas, the sound is so poor in comparison to the other acoustics =(

Keira-WitherKay

Please keep us posted Kiera - I'm super curious to see what you spec for your custom guitar! I've been keeping a list of what I prefer about the various guitars that pass through my hands hoping one day to be able to spec a design for a guitar that suits my body type & playing style.

the spec is for a modern solid(but chambered) jazz guitar similar to what Jim Soloway makes ,but with a carbon graphite neck bolt on neck , vintage gibson style 3 a side tuners , highly chambered slightly arched wooden body NO "f holes " single Gibson 57 classic pup in neck position , just volume and tone controls and jack socket on the top , trapeze tailpiece and wooden bridge , very light weight, and body ergonomically designed that i can sit and play with balance and comfort with neck at correct playing height/angle ......

so a modern jazz guitar but with perfect balance and as light weight as possible ...a carbon graphite neck so no neck issues and travel issues .......and toss in a a dark jazz tone .it's sure not gonna be very versatile but long as it can do jazz well i'll consider it a success

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