Sitting and placing the guitar, the beginning of ither a joyous path or a long nightmare?
This post with a 20 minutes video is a response to David who told us in the last TWI about his doubts on the subject of guitar positioning, foot stools or guitar supports and positioning in general.
My approach to this subject has always been that there MUST be a better way to sit and place the guitar, as there is a better way to lift a heavy plant, kick a football or plant crops. And even if we are all different, physics and body anatomy are the same so the same principles must apply to everybody, even if they work slightly different on each of us because of our differences.
Of course, we must do the math with the fact that we all look for different things and so, we may end up with very different postures and ways of playing, but as a starting point some hints may work for everybody.
Hope you'll be interested! Share your comments and ideas!!
12 replies
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Ariel Elijovich
Thanks a lot for this extensive explanation on how to approach guitar position. I have been struggling a lot over the last couple of years trying to find a natural and comfortable position to play my classical guitar and your video has been very helpful today and improve my position.
Thanks again
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Thanks Ariel Elijovich for this excellent explanation. I was not entirely comfortable with my position and was looking for something to help me and your tonebase mail popped up - talk about predesitnation :-). Thank you, keep such tips coming...
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@ARIEL ELIJOVICH , thank you for your insights on position. Very helpful for me since I'm relatively new to classical guitar.
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Thanks man, everything you said makes perfect sense, the problem is the tension that comes when playing intricate passages once one is in the “comfortable position”
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As always, your words are gold ... but I am not sure how much they apply to me. Unfortunately, I have developed a habit of playing guitar while sitting on the sofa and tilting the guitar so that it is almost in "violin position". I feel the most comfortable playing that way, and since I do not play in public (except for my guitar orchestra), I have found little reason to change. There have been all sorts of instrumentalists who do things in unorthodox ways. I remember the puzzlement when the great marimba player, Pious Chang, showed how he plays marimba while sitting in a high chair. Being trained in piano, he was just used to playing while sitting.
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Ariel thanks for taking the time to post this video and the one on vibrato - both very useful!