You might think that holding a guitar would be second nature to most of use by now since we have been seeing the iconic rock guitar player plastered on everything from television to magazines for the last half century. However it always seems to amaze me that I still find many young players who could benefit from a lesson on holding a guitar.
The most important thing to remember is that it should feel comfortable, but their are some definite things to take into consideration that could help your joints and muscles from becoming over-worked.
First we will discuss the two sitting positions and the pros and cons associated with each.
Sitting Position #1
- The most popular way to hold a guitar while sitting is to place the guitar on your right leg (left if you play left-handed) so that the dip of the guitar's body is resting on your leg. This is true for acoustic and electric guitars. See picture below...
As I said earlier this is the most popular way to hold a guitar while sitting however I prefer...
Sitting Position#2
- In this position we will rest the guitar on our left leg (right if you are left-handed) so that the area where we will be strumming or picking is between our legs and center of our body. See picture below...
Notice that when holding a guitar like this your strumming arm is much more relaxed. This makes it much easier to do a lot of fast strumming or picking without making your shoulder hurt.
Try it both ways and see the difference for yourself.
Another reason to hold your guitar like this is if you own an odd shaped guitar like a flying V. See picture below...
Standing Positions
Their is really only one way to stand while holding your guitar and that is on your feet. :-)Bad joke I know, but I couldn't resist.
Really though their are no definite rules but to make it easier on your wrist and arms you need to find a good spot let the guitar rest.
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Too high...
And your shoulders will cramp up from being raised all the time.
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Too low...
And your wrist won't be able to wrap around the neck and your back will hurt from hunching over in order to play.
The best thing you can do is find a comfortable spot where you can easily reach every part of the fret board and strum the guitar with out over-working your shoulder.
That's Better
Hopefully now you should understand that holding a guitar properly is more important than many people think.
Remember to practice standing and sitting in equal regularity as you will find playing standing up quite different and perhaps a bit more difficult at first.
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Again, I believe you are neglecting a group of people out. Have you ever watched a real chicken picker on one of those beautiful Telecaster's? Almost all of them hold them as in your too high picture. In fact I believe its much easier to have it high to allow easy access to all high notes..... I simply think you should state that for this style you might try this, and for this style you might do this ,etc... You are making finite answers to preference related questions. I'm not trying to bust your chops just simple constructive criticism... By the way am I the only one who leaves comments? Do you even read them? Am I simply typing to myself? Oh well,what else is there to do?????????\
Your friendly neighborhood Fro
"You are making finite answers to preference related questions."
They are merely tips to help a novice player who is completely oblivious that how you hold your guitar can have an affect on how well you perform your particular style. I agree, many other advanced players might have a different preference dependent upon their style and anyone who has played even for a short while will figure out what is most comfortable for them.
Learning guitar and playing it is truly hard and I don't know before that there's a proper way of holding a guitar until I read this. Thanks by the way for sharing this post. I like it very much. Playing it takes time to perfectly play it but with the use of instructional music dvds everything becomes so easy. These is actually what I used during my lesson.