Basic guitar position

[jumpinjeff]

@Scott_NB : Great question regarding position. I have given this about 11 years of thought. The answer is both. Yes push through and adjust the guitar as needed. The perfect way to hold if I am going for both comfort and sound is a 2or3 inches from my hip resting on my leg with the guitar leaning forward 12 degrees or so making the guitar point slight toward the floor as oppossed to the way most new players play tilting the guitar toward the ceiling. The reason most new players use this uncomfortable position is because they want to see the strings and the fingers. Tilting the guitar down gives your fingers relief from the acute angles opening them up for an obtuse angle interaction. 25 degrees may not seem like much, try it out, pay attention to that high E string, see if that corrects it….the down side?….cant see what your fingers are doing. Eventually this will not matter but I relied heavily on what I could see early on in my journey so I understand its importance for learning. My son had a teacher who told him to play looking in a mirror in order to see what his fingers were doing while correcting posture. I never did it but it made sense. The next part is the tough part to say only because when I was early in the process I hated hearing it….focused time in the saddle is the only way to make it happen. Getting myself into shape for playing the guitar was like doing the Splits. Too fast or too much and get hurt. It does not happen in one day and it is more of a change in practice on a daily basis that allowed the gain in flexibility so I could make the sound I want to make. Stretching properly is as important now to me as learning theory or a new skill! This is where understanding pain vs discomfort comes into play. My tips hurt like heck when they were soft….”discomfort” (no lasting effects beyond the experience and likely necessary to advance). My shoulder, elbow, wrists, neck, back, aches past when I stop playing…Pain (leading to tendonitis). Remedy: stretching. Slow stretching where you barely feel it. This is unlike athletic stretching for sore muscles. Think silly putty…slow stretch you can barely feel and it stretches forever….too fast and it snaps. This is how I learned how to turn my arm seemingly inside out in order to play the guitar. Tension is the enemy. Playing the guitar is the practice of reducing tension while under load. As my accuracy and precsion improved my effort necessary to make the desired sound was also reduced. All effort becomes directed to sound production and there is no wasted tension. Magic! not a trick but a practice.

[Scott_NB]

Thank you for the considered reply!

It’s not so much that I can’t see the fretboard, it’s just wrist strain. Tilting the guitar down even a bit makes it quite a lot worse, so I may be doing something wrong. The further down it goes, the more I need to push my wrist forward and arch my hand away from the neck so a) I can play with my fingertips and b) I’m not muting the other strings with my palm.

Getting used to the position and stretching certainly make sense to me, but I can’t see my wrist ever wanting to bend that much…it just doesn’t feel possible for me to play in that position.

[jumpinjeff]

I think we are tilting on two different axis. The only way I can see more strain on the wrist if you tilted the headstock lower to the floor. I can see that would be problematic. I am talking about the flat plain of the guitar. Keep the head stock elevated to a comfortable position then tilt the guitar so that the sound hole is no longer pointing out perpendicularly but so that it is actually pointing down a little. The top of the guitar body tilts away from your body while the bottom remains in place. You will feel contact with the front edge of the guitar corner resting on you leg, the trailing edge (the one closest to the body does not touch your leg.) The extreme 90 degree shift would put the guitar face down with the strings in you lap and you woud be looking at the flat back. In this position you need zero wrist flexion! You would not hear anything obviously due to the muted strings. Some where in between the two you might find the place that you feel good about how the wrist is flexing.

[Skyman911]

One of my teachers was all about comfort, and wanted me to play in a comfortable way for me. Everyone has a different shape, different arm lengths, fingers, etc.. He was a classical guy, so he really wanted me to hold the classical way with the guitar on my left knee, and the guitar pointing almost straight up, legs spread. That wasn’t working for me, and that was just fine with him. My only suggestion is not to fall into the mindset that there is one way to hold a guitar. Try some different positions. It certainly won’t hurt. For me personally, I use a strap almost exclusively, mostly to stop bending forward and hunching while playing. Keeping the strap close to tight keeps me in a good posture. I also like to stand and play sometimes, and I’m surprised how much more difficult it is.

[Scott_NB]

Thanks to both of you for the help! I think stretching first and playing where my body tells me is probably my best way to go. I’ve had problems in the past with muscle fatigue and pain in my fretting arm especially, so I think I will be nice to my body and play in a more comfortable position.