How To Hold the Guitar

How to hold the guitar in the seated position:

When you are holding the guitar while in a seated position, place the waist or the body of the guitar on your right leg. The waist is the area where there is a curve on the guitar body where it can comfortably sit on your right leg.

Then you should place your feet apart ever so slightly. This can vary depending on the size of the chair you are sitting in. Just make sure that you are comfortable and balanced.

While you are sitting and holding the guitar, rest your right arm over the top right of the guitar body. Ideally you should not be using the left arm to support the neck of the guitar.

The left arm should not be supporting the weight of the fret board as this will hinder the capability of your left hand. Just make sure the guitar does not tilt towards the ground when you take your left hand away.

When playing the guitar using the classical guitar technique, this means that the guitar goes on top of the left leg. Sometimes people use a guitar foot stool under their left leg or a support arm on their left thigh to raise the guitar up.

The guitar foot stool is known as the traditional way to play in the classical position whereas the support arm is know as the modern way to play the classical guitar style.

How to hold the guitar in the standing position:

To begin with, if you intend on playing the guitar while standing, you will need to use a strap. Then adjust the strap to whatever feels comfortable to you. Many people find that the higher or closer the guitar is to them, the easier it is to use their left hand for navigating on the fret board.

You may see some performers with the guitar lower down. This is mainly done to give a more dramatic effect. However, this requires more skill to be able to pull this off.

Make sure that you use a strong and sturdy strap that is not worn. Sometimes people may get a strap that has big holes that do not fit properly or securely enough into the pins of the guitar. This is a little detail but one that can be overlooked when learning how to hold the guitar.

Remember to stay relaxed and comfortable. Maintain a comfortable balance where there is not much readjusting or compensation having to take place while you are playing the guitar.

Now that you have learned how to hold the guitar, it’s now time to learn how to play some music.