I always play with a strap seated, both acoustic (and electrics, many years ago.). Always hated the way the guitars didn’t feel properly supported, the neck moves around, and feels like it wants to slide off my lap.
That said, I very recently discovered I can “pin” my acoustic to my right leg with the weight of my right arm, if lower the headstock enough.
Picture and explanation here:
I still play with a strap…for me, having the headstock so low disrupts my fretting hand, and I have to slouch to securely pin the guitar. But it might be something to experiment with if you don’t like a tighter strap.
Hello All, I am in the middle of Beginner Grade 1. The more I practice the more I seem to be struggling to find a comfortable way to hold my guitar, a Yamaha FG 800. I’ve tried both the right and left thigh. No matter how or on what I sit, the guitar feels too big. The neck is constantly wobbling. I am thinking of trying a smaller guitar, but I’ve read that can be a problem too.
I am about 6 feet, or 182cm tall, with a beer belly. I’ve never been called ‘big’ but some have described my body as ‘thick.’ Not to be confused with ‘think in the head.’ although that frequently applies too.
Just curious if anyone else has struggled with this and had a breakthrough, or perhaps some insight?
I’m not comfortable with my acoustic being positioned with the waist on either thigh. I use a strap, even sitting, and position the lower bought on my right thigh.
I struggled for a while finding a comfortable way to sit with a guitar.
I now use strap while sitting and the position I aim for is roughly the same while standing. It feels a little awkward at first as you are probably used to turning the neck towards yourself a bit to see it… but this position is very consistent and makes playing while standing very easy.
Hi Skip, I think a lot of us need some time to find a comfortable position for the guitar in the beginning. Everybody’s body is different. I also had some issues with a “moving” headstock at the beginning, especially while switching chords. I play a dreadnought too and what helped me enormously was a slight change of the position of my right (strumming hand) elbow. I saw a video here of someone who had her elbow on the outermost right “edge” on top of the guitar. At that point, my elbow wasn’t that far outside, more on the highest point of the guitar body. With the elbow more to the edge, I received a more stable position, as the weight of my elbow in this angle is enough to fix the guitar. I don’t need my fretting hand at all to hold it. Try out different approaches, I’m sure something will work for you!
@newstrings, your topic has been merged with this one…lots of good advice in this thread…hope you read it…
Also, this one…with more advice, and lots of pictures.
Some anecdotal evidence that might apply to you. My girlfriend is also tall - 5’10’ - and has a belly. She has found that classical position with strap is currently the best sitting position for her.
Struggling with the pressure of the right arm making the neck fly up or away from me when i pull my fretting left hand off the guitar. If i counter to reduce the pressure on the guitar by holding my right arm up a bit, it causes pressure on the right shoulder which Justin says to avoid. Please note i am unable to play in the position Justin shows that most players use which is the guitar waist on the right leg. I can only play with a strap holding the guitar in my upper mid section. I try to anchor the bottom bout on my right leg but the neck still flies up and away from the right arm pressure. Help! Got to solve this or i wont get anywhere.
@TGFNM14
Kurt - wearing a strap is no problem at all. Go for it. Quite hte opposite, it is a good thing to adopt.
I’m struggling to get a mental picture of why your neck flies up. Are you able to take a photo or a short video to share?
I think I know what you describe and its something that I have encountered in the past.
Like many other older guys, the front of my abdomen can look like a small beach ball has been inserted (too much beer in my youth I guess) and balancing the guitar on top of the ball just doesn’t work, too much pressure with either the left or right arm will cause the guitar to “rock” back and forth (and not in a “rocking it out” way ). This might be what is happening to you.
What I do to solve this is to move the guitar to the right so that back of the guitar sits more against my side than my front. That may not be exactly “according to Hoyle” but it works for me.
Glen, you nailed it, that’s exactly the problem! Half beach ball. I’ve tried moving the guitar to the right and back as you described but then I can’t rest my hand on the bridge for picking as taught by my teacher as the bridge is too far back and to the right, also the neck moves too far forward, too. My belly prevents placing the guitar waist on my right leg (I can hear the young guys talking trash about fat old men; young guys: give it 20-30 years and you’ll be facing the same problem ). The best I can do is use the strap to place the guitar high up to my chest. For a visual, I’ve found that I position the guitar pretty much same as JP Cormier sitting down. So my guitar is probably more to the left than you’re describing, Glen, but I’ll mess with it more to see if it helps doing as you are doing. Thanks!!!
Glad to hear that you are giving it a try. Like a lot of techniques, sometimes only a subtle adjustment is enough. When I said “more against my side” I only have it where the neck of the guitar is at a 20-25 degree angle relative to my shoulders. This keeps me from pushing the neck too far out and the bridge from going too far back. As you say, mess with it a bit to see if there’s a sweet spot.
@TGFNM14
I tried some guitar holds that essentially pinch the lower bout between the right thigh and upper right arm to hold it and doing that resulted in the flying neck syndrome you describe, in spite of my lack of a half beach ball.
My guess is that you aren’t adjusting the strap to hold it well enough, but I dislike straps.
What worked for me was to get a lift like for a classical guitar and play in the classical position with the guitar supported on the left leg by the lift. I did this before I started classical guitar and even bought a lift for my electric guitar. It is much more secure that way and the neck stays put.
Try rolling a towel up into a 4-5” wrap, secured with several rubber bands (to hold it and to keep the guitar from sliding. Put it between the waist of the guitar and your left leg and adjust it around. If that seems to be a good position for you, look into more secure lifts.
Sorry @Jozsef but the pic you used to demonstrate good position is, imho, a terrible position. There is no freedom of movement of strumminng arm or wrist whatever, both will be cramped up with any sort of strumming motion. Palm muting will be impossible too.
Cheers - my gripe with it is that the elbow can’t rotate because it is behind the point of contact and behind the guitar. If the forearm is in contact the elbow needs to also be in the same plane as it and any rotation from the elbow is across the strings, not away from them.
That forearm can only move up or down not in a curved arc.
Hi Richard, I’m learning to play both acoustic and electric but the problem I’m describing is mostly with acoustic. The problem is the worst with dreads so I sold the dread and am now learning on a 000 acoustic, still having the problem but its less pronounced with the 000 as compared to the dread due to the shallower depth of the 000. For a visual, think of a straight line (guitar) tangent to a semi-circle.
). This might be what is happening to you.
I’ve tried moving the guitar to the right and back as you described but then I can’t rest my hand on the bridge for picking as taught by my teacher as the bridge is too far back and to the right, also the neck moves too far forward, too. My belly prevents placing the guitar waist on my right leg (I can hear the young guys talking trash about fat old men; young guys: give it 20-30 years and you’ll be facing the same problem