Thesis: When it comes to sitting positions, there are no advatages...

Flamencology

Flamencology

You don't deserve koa.
...to placing the guitar on the picking hand knee, though there are definite disadvantages. This is true of all styles.

Discuss.
 
The best playing angle for me when playing sitting down is to have the guitar on my left knee (fretting hand). The way I play requires quick changes from "thumb in the middle of the neck" to "thumb over the top" and my right hand rests on the bridge for muting, with all my picking motion coming from the wrist and thumb/index finger. With the guitar resting on my picking hand knee..it feels a bit awkward.
 
It looks cooler. :cool:



I'll strum my acoustic that way sometimes. Most of the time now, I use a strap and let the guitar hang to a natural position. I have a tall chair that I can lean against but now quite sit in that helps. If I am just sitting in a chair though, it is definitely easier to play with the guitar on my left leg.

It has always been one of those things that I see everyone else do it and wonder why it is just me who things the left knee is easier.
 
Flamencology said:
...to placing the guitar on the picking hand knee, though there are definite disadvantages. This is true of all styles.

Discuss.
Click to expand...


I sit with the guitar on a strap so it doesn't sit on either knee, but it hangs in classical guitar position. That puts the strings at a 45 degree angle to my picking hands natural picking direction and the strings are more comfortably aligned to my fretting hand. placing the instrument on my right leg forces me to change my physical technique from how I play standing up, which is how I normally perform.

Having said that you can see a lot of bluegrass players playing the guitar at a right angle to their body when they stand too. But they have a consistent physical approach when they play. Most rock players will lower their strap and have a completely different address of the instrument when standing. They they wonder why they play worse at rehearsal or on a gig.
 
Mark Wein said:
put the guitar on a strap when you sit down and make sure the strap is supporting the guitar...you'll start finding some things easier to play...
Click to expand...


I always use a strap and have been trying to force myself to let it hang more natural but the urge to look at the fretboard is difficult to defeat. Getting there but very slowly.
 
Johnny N. said:
I always use a strap and have been trying to force myself to let it hang more natural but the urge to look at the fretboard is difficult to defeat. Getting there but very slowly.
Click to expand...


Cool....you really want to "need" to look at the fret board as little as possible.
 
As a sofa noodler for most of my playing life, I put the acoustic guitar on my right knee. Then I bought a metal bodied resonator and that sucker is heavy (9 lbs. 6 oz). I had to put it on my left knee and elevate my leg on a box (eventually bought a foot rest). Now when I sit with any acoustic guitar I play it that way. I still wear a strap if I'm sitting an electric.
 
Mark Wein said:
put the guitar on a strap when you sit down and make sure the strap is supporting the guitar...you'll start finding some things easier to play...
Click to expand...

this is what i do. for me, it's just about having a consistent position to play in. i'm not used to the classical position. but i do see it's benefits.
 
Flamencology said:
So, you have a beginner student who's got the guitar on his right knee... do you 'correct' this habit?
Click to expand...

If the guitar is sized appropriately to the kid absolutely. If the kid is 8 and is playing their dad's huge, roundback Ovation and the parents aren't willing to shell out more cash on "something they might give up" then it's going wherever they can hold it.
 
Flamencology said:
So, you have a beginner student who's got the guitar on his right knee... do you 'correct' this habit?
Click to expand...



When I first started learning, 4 or 5 years ago, my wife bought me a pack of 4 lessons from a local shop. The guitar I had was a LP style guitar and was very uncomfortable to play on my right leg so I played it on the left. At my first lesson, the teacher asked why I was playing it like that. :confused:

I just told him when it was on my back knee, it felt like it was going to fall of the back. He seemed perplexed why anyone would play that way. I didnt go any more after my pack of 4 were done. Not so much because of that but because he would just play a 12 barre blues and tell me to solo over it.
 
Johnny N. said:
When I first started learning, 4 or 5 years ago, my wife bought me a pack of 4 lessons from a local shop. The guitar I had was a LP style guitar and was very uncomfortable to play on my right leg so I played it on the left. At my first lesson, the teacher asked why I was playing it like that. :confused:

I just told him when it was on my back knee, it felt like it was going to fall of the back. He seemed perplexed why anyone would play that way. I didnt go any more after my pack of 4 were done. Not so much because of that but because he would just play a 12 barre blues and tell me to solo over it.
Click to expand...

i hate those guys.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
i hate those guys.
Click to expand...



I am not exaggerating when I tell you that he gave me some scale pattern print outs with the A minor pentatonic scale the first lesson and for the next 3 lessons played that freaking progression while I fumbled through the scale.

Stark contrast to the lessons I've done with Mark.
 
Flamencology said:
So, you have a beginner student who's got the guitar on his right knee... do you 'correct' this habit?
Click to expand...


I explain why I think my suggestion is a better way. If they persist in playing the other way then they get to deal with it. Usually the first time they have to play standing up the dissenters figure out what I'm talking about.
 
I find that when I have it on the picking hand knee I feel a fair amount of tension in the tricep area of my right arm, kinda near the elbow. Even if I'm doing other things, like typing right now, my right arm feels tense, & it starts to affect my neck on that side as well (builds tension).

I find that if I have it on my left leg, the neck can feel like it's too far to the left, so sometimes I tilt the neck upwards, w/the body of the guitar on both legs- wierd, I know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top