Friday, September 14, 2012

Classical Guitar Seating Position

Classical guitar technique all starts with the seating position. In any aspect of instrumental technique, you want to receive the maximum result for the least amount of effort. More for less! If you aren't mindful and attentive in obtaining an effective seating position, many other elements of your technique will never be as effective, effortless, and simple as they could otherwise be. These elements of technique inhibited by a faulty seating position include barring, finger pressure, shifting, general visibility of the neck and right hand as well as other issues particular to an individual player's body composition and traits. Much like a math equation, if one aspect of your technique is incorrect or ineffective other aspects are sure to follow. You should keep in mind this simple and obvious rule, "the guitar should accommodate your body, your body should not accommodate the guitar". The following step by step instructions explain one way to obtain an effective seating position (I wrote these for my students years ago).
1.     Sit on the edge of your chair, balanced on your sitting bones, back straight with good posture.
2.     Place the footstool in front of you on the floor in the center of the chair, pointing straight forward.
3.     Place your left foot on the footstool, adjusting the footstool in order to create a line perpendicular to the floor from your knee to heel. This will position your body slightly to the right.
4.     Allow your left arm to hang by your side, palm up. Raise your arm upward and slightly forward to around shoulder height (or just below eye level), bending mainly at the elbow and slightly at the shoulder (To check step 4- When you relax the arm, it will fall back and down). This is very important to get exactly right if you wish to utilize “weight” or “gravity” in order to make your left hand technique more effortless.
5.     Place the guitar on your left thigh and slot the neck in the left hand with the position established in Step 4.
6.     Place your right hand in front of the strings allowing the right forearm (between the wrist and the elbow) to rest on the right-front edge of the guitar.
7.     Position the inside of the right thigh to contact and support the lower flat side of the guitar while the right foot rests on its ball, back and in towards the body.
8.     DON’T TWIST YOUR TORSO!

In the following video, I discuss some of my thoughts and demostrate how to develop a proper seating position.

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