How to Hold Your Guitar
There is a guitar stand out there that holds your guitar in the playing position so you can just walk right up to it and play without having to strap your guitar on. I’m guessing though that if you play guitar, you hold it yourself and play either standing up or sitting down! How you hold and play your guitar can affect your playing (and your body) over the longevity of your playing life.
There is a trend of some guitarists and bassists who slinging their instruments as low as they can to look cool. Or I assume it is to look cool because from an ergonomics perspective, this technique can rob from your skeletal/muscular system stamina when you try to keep this up over a period of hours (and years!). If you pay attention, it appears that as the average player ages, they choose to wear their instruments farther up towards their shoulders.
The angle of your wrist and your ability to move your fingers freely without pain becomes a consideration as a player ages. We all have moments where we lax into bad posture. Good posture takes constant reminders to yourself until it becomes a habit.
Here is a website with pictures and explanations about different types of playing positions.
Take a moment to play in each of the pictured positions and feel what the differences are. Pick out a playing exercise or riff that requires endurance or stamina. Play the same riff in different positions – your playing can feel a whole lot easier when you play it in the right position! I played with the same guitar and strap for years and one day I forgot my guitar (I know…. how embarrassing is that?!). Well, the other guitar player let me use his spare for the night and his strap was slung higher up. What a difference! Just 2 inches up and it changed my playing forever.
Taking the time to practice good playing posture can pay big dividends in the long term. It is important because we need the youth to step up and replace all of us aging rockers, pickers & strummers!
Happy playing & thank you for supporting your local music store!
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