I have been using my couch or sofa for practicing and it is not comfortable at all. I would like to know if I should get a proper Guitar chair or just use one of the office chairs that I have and just remove the hand rests. What do you people use?
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I use whatever is available, usually an office chair. But often a couch, deck, retaining wall, floor… Anything on the low side is fine, things that are too tall make guitar playing a bit trickier.
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I think an office chair without arm rests is likely to be fine. I just use a very basic wooden dining table chair (no arm rests) and that’s comfortable.
A lot of us start out playing on the sofa and quickly find out that the image we have in our minds of sitting on the sofa at the end of the day and playing some tunes on our guitar to relax doesn’t work so well in reality! Some people may get away with it but generally it’s not great for posture
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There have been quite a few discussions about chairs over the years and some of the topic show a range of what folk are using and advice. I use a office chair with arms that can be raised when playing and also a adjustable stool.
Search “chairs” in the top right corner (on browser anyway) and you’ll see these,
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I mostly use an office chair with the arm rests removed also. It’s height adjustable and good for posture.
I also sometimes use a step stool (2 step) like this
It’s a good height and also has the step to raise one knee if you want.
But I do also sometimes sit on the floor 
which does get uncomfortable after a while too
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ah ah
I sometime use my Ikea step stool too as a guitar chair 
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I just use a plain kitchen chair.
Some have mentioned using office chairs and somebody mentioned it helping with good posture. Do people lean back against the back rest of a chair while playing guitar? I never do and I can’t really imagine playing that way, but am curious if others do.
For me, any flat, firm surface at the right height (thighs parallel to the ground) works fine.
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I use an office chair with the arms up and lowered so that I don’t have to elevate my right foot. Jen currently has a wooden chair without arms and a wooden foot rest I built to elevate her feet.
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Afaik, there is no “guitar chair”. The chair i have now is a standard ikea chair with padding. Which is very usefull, since i spend quite some time on it.
Whatever’s comfortable and doesnt’t get in the way of your guitar/arms, will do. This is mine. Very comfortable and very usefull for longer practice sessions.
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Yeah i tend to spend a lot of time in my chair lost count of how many cushions I have gone through cheers Hec
Having old bones and lower back issues, a comfortable chair is a must. I use the back rest on my basic typist chair indoors, and outdoors a simple patio chair with some plush cushions my girlfriend calls my “old man chair.” Guilty as charged.
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I spent too much time researching and too much money on a chair. It works well for me, but I could have been fine with something like an office chair I already have.
I sit classical style and the only really important chair feature for me proved to be seat height.
I need feet flat on the floor and thighs parallel to the floor so the guitar is stable and doesn’t slide. I have pretty short legs so the seat height that accomplishes this is low, 14-15”. Harder to find than you would think.
I also like a chair that has a good cushion, my butt is sensitive, it seems. A spinning chair is nice, but not required. Arms get in the way, of course and I try to sit with good posture so no back necessary.
I tried a chair with a back, but it actually encouraged poor posture leaning into it. Best to sit up straight. Much of the time I hunch forward too much, of course.
If you have a suitable office chair, use it and save money. At this point, I have become less particular anyway and can sit at the front edge of many chairs or a firm couch without trouble.
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depending on what I want to look at while playing (computer screen/online lessons or sheet music), I will go between a dining chair that I use as my office chair or a padded high-back chair with low arms that don’t stick very far forward. I can also set up a laptop on a stand so I can use the padded chair for online lessons, but the smaller screen of the laptop gets annoying.
I also tend to use the classical style posture when sitting.
Most of the music retailers sell “guitar chairs” for probably more money than home players need to spend. some of them are essentially drum thrones. others look like taller bar chairs and are the sorts of things you might see on stage.
The padded chairs I bought were purchased primarily for decorative purposes, but I had an eye towards things that would be comfortable for playing music (seat height, arms that didn’t get in the way or no arms at all, a little padding but still supportive). I think I bought them from Wayfair.
I find that the best playing position is sitting on a wooden kitchen stool I have. It’s about 30 inches high and I put a cushioned top on it. it’s high enough to let me sit up straight, while putting a foot on my foot rest. So it’s the next best position to standing. i find a regular chair (computer, kitchen,etc) is to low and I tend to slump over since that position is too comfy.
Regular chairs are too high for me to have my leg bent enough to be comfortable for guitar. I bought one of these cheap step stools to use for my practice space. All of Ikea’s actual for-sitting stools were also too high for me - this one is nice and low and has a built-in footrest.
I bought an office chair that had arms that folded up or down. It is nice being able to just sit at the desk and play my guitar in my office chair.
There weren’t a lot of chairs out there that had arms that fold up and down but there are a few
I just use an inexpensive padded metal folding chair. I store in the closet with my guitar. It is a low height and has no arms.
