Guitar Lessons: Posture and Holding Your Guitar

One of the first things you should be aware of when learning guitar, is the effect posture has on the result of your efforts. Incorrect posture can result in difficulty playing, and even injury! To help you avoid this and assume the correct posture, here are my top tips for holding your guitar.

Sit Comfortably

Most important thing here, when reading through the rest of this article, remember that if you’re not comfortable, you’re not sitting correctly, you’re doing it wrong!

Back Straight

Sit up straight, don’t slouch! Sometimes this is at odds with sitting comfortably, but the idea is that you sit up (as if to pay attention) so that you can hold the guitar in front of you for long periods without getting cramp. Standing is also good (but remember: when standing your back is already straight).

Rest Your Guitar on Your Thigh

Either thigh will do, and there are advantages and disadvantages to each. The posture I recommend is to have the guitar resting on the left thigh (for right-handed guitars) and your foot slightly raised (if you’re sitting down). The left thigh, I feel, makes the guitar easier to reach (as it’s directly infront of you), whereas with the right thigh (preferred by some guitarists) puts the guitar at the side of your body (and so makes your body want to twist awkwardly).

Back Straight

Again? We’ve done this one! No, I mean, keep the back of the guitar straight- not tilted so that you can see the frets easier. You should be looking down mostly onto the side of the neck (that’s why they sometimes put fret-markers there).

Hands

Now this one we have done. The idea with your hands is that the dominant hand (right if you’re right handed) sounds the notes, this leaves the other (left for right handed, by elimination) to stop the strings at the frets. Yes, this probably is the other way around to what you thought was going on, and this is why using your left hand to fret but being right handed makes perfect sense! There are guitars for you lefties, and if you’re using one just reverse the lefts and rights above.

Place your fretting hand fingers parallel to the frets, not too curved and with your thumb behind the neck. Your thumb shouldn’t be applying too much pressure and is only there to support the neck against the small pressure your fingers cause when stopping the strings.

You should now be sitting in a good position, ready to play.

November 23, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Featured, Guitar Technique and Exercises, How to | 3 comments

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