But there are incorrect ones 
If you can show us how you hold your guitar - we might be able to spot something
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Hi Gene. Did you watch this?
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I used to ask myself this question: I think the answer is for most people the guitar angles away from the body. In my case, itās probably at least 30 degrees, maybe more.
Check out this previous post: Sitting position, slight difference that makes a difference? - #28 by Tbushell
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Itās funny, earlier today I realized I the wrist pain/carpal tunnel like symptoms I was starting to get was because I was leaning the guitar up so I could so where my fingers were
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Hi Matt @stevesie, welcome to the community! Weād love to know how you came here - if you have a minute, consider dropping an introduction over here. 
Wow, thatās a great discovery for you, especially as you begin a new course of learning. Itāll probably serve you well, in that youāll be very aware should you start experiencing discomfort that itās time to figure out the cause before it becomes a problem (or a bad habit!). Iāve been at this a bit more than two years now, thinking I was doing everything correctly, and recently had to do a review of both how I was holding my guitar (Iād slipped into some bad-for-me habits!) and how I was using my strumming/picking hand.
Hope to see you around the community! Itās a great place to share learnings as you did here, and to ask questions. We have lots of eager helpers!
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Good afternoon. If I put the guitar on my right leg, do I have to use a foot tool to help me put the guitar in the right position? Thanks.
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Hi and welcome to the community!
A lift of some kind can help. It depends on a few things:
- Is your leg supporting the guitar keeping it from sliding down? This is generally knee height compared to seat height.
- are you using a strap even when seated?
- Can you sit comfortably with a leg lifted (back/hip discomfort)?
You need to position your chair to be a comfortable height with your feet on the floor or footrest as you choose. Your knee of the supporting leg will need to be high enough to keep the guitar from sliding unless you have a strap.
Some folks have trouble with their hip being out of symmetry with a single-foot rest and that can cause back or hip trouble, so be aware of that, and correct it if you notice it.
Using a strap is often a reasonable approach to keep the guitar in place. It can be similar to the position youād have if standing, which is useful for familiarity. I find I donāt like a strap as it needs to be a little different for sitting than standing, and I often want to have the guitar in my lap quickly after sitting down without working the strap. I grab and play for many short durations daily and the strap will be a hassle in my case.
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Hi. I think this is my question too - itās about the angle the guitar makes with the vertical plane of your chest i.e WHEN VIEWED FROM ABOVE. I read your reply, but can you give an indication of what range of angles is accepatable / good practice. I find mine is about 45 degrees, which i feel may be too much. Thanks, (another) Richard
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45 degrees does seem a little too far.
Giving an angle isnāt so easy because it may not be static but move a little as you play ā¦ perhaps between 10 - 30 degrees.
Thanks, iāll try to keep that in mind
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Thanks so much! A good reminder to keep my back straight.
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hey yall, i had a question about how you should hold your guitar when doing the Peter Gunn riff.
so Iām playing with an electric guitar and usually i can hold it fine when i got my forearm on the body and the thumb supporting the fingers on the frets. but when im doing this exercise thereās a part where you have no fingers on the fretboard. for me this kind of loosens my grip on the guitar and then it goes to something like a 45 degree angle from my body and gets a pretty hard to play the riff. Iāve found that if i rest my elbow on the body i can play with a better grip on the guitar but im assuming thatās probably a bad habit. idk. is there something im doing wrong here? please let me know. thanks yall :>
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I lock the body in between my forearm, torso, and leg when sitting. You should not need your fretting hand to do any support, as you have found out, because you need it free to move around.
One thing I have not really been diligent with is using a strap even when sitting, It can help hold the neck in place and also get you more comfortable with standing. You can get away with not using one, but I wish I had practiced more with my strap earlier.
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sorry when i said the thumb was supporting the fingers i meant like itās not holding up the neck. itās just pushing back on the fingers from behind the neck, if that makes sense? is that still wrong? should I not be putting any pressure on the thumb round the back of the neck?
and yeah i probably should get a strap soon since iāve been having trouble keeping the guitar in place in general. and thanks for the quick response lol
edit: okay i think i got a comfortable position for playing the riff, the little extra angle isnt too bad actually. just had to mess with how my arm was resting for a bit
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You need something to squeeze against - that is generally thumb for fretting with fingers. What I envisioned with your question was the neck scooting forward when you werenāt fretting anything. If I had that wrong, maybe I need a better description (or photo?).
When I play, my thumb is on the back, but it is only sliding around until I need it to be there to balance the fingers fretting - i.e. squeezing. The support of the guitar as a whole is coming from my picking arm holding it in place against my torso and leg.
The idea of the strap is to allow more freedom for your picking handās arm. You still need some support from your arm, but it is not as much.
Does that make sense?
edit on your edit. 
ok, good. it is important to feel good about experimenting to find a better position. you should do this, when something is not working out like you expect, to see if you can get comfortable. sometimes changes are very subtle.
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You need something to squeeze against - that is generally thumb for fretting with fingers
yeah that was pretty much what i meant, sorry for the misunderstanding
and yeah i get what youāre saying with the thing on experimenting for a position, thatās happened multiple times already. thanks for your help!
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First off - welcome to the community! If youāre feeling extra social, weād love to learn a bit about your guitar journey over here 
.
This happens to me quite a lot, and often after asking about an issue on this forum. There seems to be something about posing the question to others that helps change our own perspective when we revisit the issue. And thatās even without all the great feedback we get here!
Oh, regarding the strap: I resisted getting one for a long time. Now I feel funny without one.
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Hey Justin! Thanks for a great course. I have a little question. I am playing a full size Fender FA-125 Dreadnought and it is really kinda big, and I feel much more comfortable to play it by placing it on my left leg. If I play it by placing on my right leg my shoulder and arm start aching in 15 minutes. So I really try to understand what is better to do, play in comfortable posture or learn the right one?
If you are placing the guitar on the other leg and also raising the neck to be near your shoulder, then this is called the āclassical positionā. You will find it is easier on the fretting wrist and you can reach a bit easier to distant frets. One disadvantage is that you cannot see what your hand is doing so well.
Make sure you avoid poor posture trying to twist or bend oddly to play. This is no matter what position you choose to hold the guitar in. Placing the guitar on the left leg, then keeping the neck out further left will create a bend and twist in your posture that will create trouble over time. Find a neutral position to play in and you will avoid injury.
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@sequences thanks a lot for your answer! I will experiment with positions and posture to find the best one that suits me now