By Mike Roberts
Last time we took a peek at the instruments, the players, and the wide array of musical styles that find voice through fingerstyle and classical guitar. Suffice it to say, we guitarists are living in a golden age of our instrument. I’m continually awestruck at the sheer volume, diversity, and beauty of guitar music in the 21st century, and I hope this last column inspired you to discover some of its treasures for yourself.
And now I hope your guitar is ready to roll, because it’s time to shut the door, take the phone off the hook, and do what we came hear to do: play, baby, play!
Well, maybe not play, exactly. Not quite yet. So why the heck not? The reason can be summed up in that old joke (and I use that term loosely): Q: What’s the first thing you do in the morning? (At this point you think, “Eat breakfast, read the paper, etc.”) A: Put your feet on the floor.
That’s right. Translated into guitar terms, we can’t play a note until we know how to sit and hold the guitar. In a word: posture. To distill the message of this week’s column: Good guitar technique starts with the body. What do you do with your legs, arms, shoulders, and head while your hands are working their magic? It’s tempting to ignore this question, and many players do—and often end up with sore backs, tense shoulders, neck cricks, and inflamed joints. Being mindful of your body from day one will make you a healthier, more agile player down the road. Believe it or not, this is something you can practice, and we’ll discuss how after we examine different styles of posture.
There are two basic types of seated posture for guitar playing. We’ll call them Classical Posture and Folk Posture. Both, by the way, will work best when seated toward the front of an armless chair. Keep your back straight and your shoulders level at all times.
Classical Posture
In traditional classical posture, you rest your left foot on a footstool to raise your left leg. There are adjustable footstools made specifically for guitarists, and can be purchased at most music stores. Trust me, they are far superior to a guitar case, a cardboard box, a stack of phonebooks, or any other alternatives you may be tempted to use. Experiment with the height of the stool; 6” or a bit more is the norm.
The guitar rests against your body at three main points:
1) The lower curve of the guitar rests on the left leg.
2) The bottom of the guitar rests against the inside of the right leg.
3) The upper bout of the guitar rests against your chest, forming a cavity of air between the instrument and your body that allows the guitar to resonate.
Resting your right arm on the top edge of the guitar while you play creates a fourth point of contact. I find that resting on a spot just below the elbow (toward the wrist) puts the hand in an optimal position over the strings.
Classical posture is used by an overwhelming majority of classical guitarists, and by many steel-string fingerstylists as well. And with good reason: it puts the guitar at an ideal angle for both hands to reach the strings without having to twist or bend uncomfortably, and tilts the soundhole slightly up for good sound projection.
The downside to classical posture is that it can produce strain in your back, due mainly to the uneven position of your legs. To address this problem, you can invest in a device such as the Ergoplay, a small stand which attaches to your guitar with suction cups and rests on your left leg, raising the guitar and allowing you to keep your left foot at ground level. They cost about $35, and are worth every penny if, like me, you like classical posture but suffer from back soreness after extended playing sessions.
Folk Posture
In folk posture—used by most non-classical players, pickstyle and fingerstyle alike—the guitar rests in two places:
1) The lower curve rests against the right leg.
2) The upper bout of the guitar rests against your chest.
Because there are only two resting point of contact in this posture, the contact of your right arm resting on the top edge of the guitar takes on additional importance, as the weight helps secure the instrument. Without it, the guitar—whose center of gravity leans toward the headstock—will tend to wobble, especially once your left hand joins the fray. As in classical posture, I find that resting the arm just below the elbow works well, although with a larger instrument, you might find yourself resting in the crook of the elbow itself. The important thing is to allow your hand a comfortable position over the strings without having to bend your wrist too much.
Footstools are not just for classical posture: I highly recommend using them with folk posture as well. Resting your right foot on the stool gives you a whole bevy of advantages:
° You can hold the guitar more securely against your chest;
• The face of the guitar will tilt up, giving you a better view of your left hand (no more craning your neck to watch your fingers), and also producing a better projection angle for the soundhole;
• You have more freedom to tilt the neck up slightly, putting your hands at that good angle to the strings we saw in classical posture;
• You take stress off of your right leg. Without a footstool, almost everyone lifts their right heel in a subconscious attempt to achieve the same end. It’s a breeding ground for charley horses, and entirely avoidable.
Which brings us to our most important point, the element of all this posture business that you can—and should—practice diligently:
RELAXATION.
It’s not just for spas and yoga studios. It’s a crucial skill to acquire as a guitar player. That’s right: a skill. You need to practice it, and work it into your muscle memory just a surely as any scale, chord, or piece of music. Playing the guitar is hard, and when we do something hard—especially something physically demanding—we tense. A certain amount of tension is inevitable. Our goal is to minimize it, and to train the body to return to a state of relaxation after tension occurs.
Relaxation begins with good posture. Your first assignment is to sit in your new posture (whether you choose to play classical- or folk-style—it’s up to you) and make sure it feels comfortable. Sit for a few minutes, and don’t play a note (put on some of your new music while you’re waiting). Pay close attention to your entire body. Does your back feel sore? Is your wrist a little strained? Is your foot falling asleep? Make adjustments accordingly, until your resting posture is something you can comfortably inhabit for a good, long while. Play special attention to your right shoulder, which is particularly tension-prone. Keep it relaxed and level with your left shoulder.
Now it’s time to play some air guitar . Put on guitar music you like and know well. As it’s playing, do your very best air guitar, but sitting in a chair with your instrument in your hands. Don’t worry if you don’t actually know how to play yet—that’s never stopped a rock star. The important thing is, as you “play,” really pay attention to your body, and consciously keep it relaxed. Relax your shoulders—especially the right one. Relax your wrists. Let your arms hang. Relax your face. Keep that good posture intact. Nice, straight back, feet firmly on the ground and/or on the footstool. Let gravity do its job. Every time you feel tension creeping in, send it right back out.
Repeat the process in front of a mirror, if you have one suitable to the task. You can learn a lot from watching yourself. Any awkwardness in your posture that may not be apparent from the lofty perch of your eye sockets will likely reveal itself in the mirror, and you can adjust accordingly.
If you already play guitar, apply this process to an actual piece of music, preferably something you know well, so that you can divert some of your focus from the music to your body. However, I highly recommend that you do the air guitar first, even if you feel like a dork. I can’t emphasize this enough: you have to practice relaxation. It’s a technique. And like any other technique, it’s best to practice it in isolation first, then gradually work it into your regular playing.
What we’re doing here—all this air guitar and yoga in a chair—is building solid technique and healthy habits from the ground up. As I alluded to at the end of my last column, good technique will set you free. It will allow you to play a wider range of music, and play it better. It’s important not to let the pursuit of technique overwhelm your enjoyment of music, but it’s also important to form good habits from the start, and to make their cultivation a continuous element of your practice. Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn’t have to be drudgery. Done the right way, it can really be fun! (In the case of this particular column, it all depends which music you choose for your air guitar session.) That’s what we’re here for, after all, and it’s my highest goal with this column to help you learn and have fun at the same time. To that end, I also invite your suggestions for creative and interesting ways to practice and apply the techniques we discuss.
In summary, here’s What to Practice:
1) Choose a posture and make it comfortable.
2) Practice full-body relaxation in that posture—while playing wicked air guitar solos, and actual music if you know it already.
Have fun!
Next Time: Right Hand Placement and Posture
See you then,
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