FOUNDATIONS OF GUITAR PLAYING - Sitting and Holding the Guitar
INTRODUCTION
Fellow Guitarists,
Welcome to group guitar instruction! Over the course of this semester I hope to share with you the world of the guitar. We will explore many, many aspects of this world from playing the instrument to the players of the instrument, from the long history of the guitar to the various styles of guitar, from technique to improvisation and musicality. My intention in this class is to challenge and inspire each of you to further explore the guitar and music in general. Sometimes this class will be fun, at other times, frustrating. This is part of our journey while improving on our instrument. I ask of each of you to remain diligent in developing and maintaining strong practice techniques, to ask questions when clarification is needed, to see the larger perspective of your progress and most importantly to have fun and enjoy the rewarding experience of playing our wonderful instrument. Congratulations on taking the first step of many on the path of learning the guitar and best of luck to each of you. I look forward to working with you.
Best,
Travis Silvers
As we progress through this class (and text) you will find that often times HOW we do something on the guitar matters more than WHAT we do. In other words, the PROCESS is more important than the PRODUCT. This is how I approach all of your instruction on the guitar. I want each of you to learn how to most EFFICIENTLY play the guitar. By watching most popular music guitarists, on MTV and so forth, we can see mostly what NOT to do. I am not saying that these guitarists are not proficient and sometimes wonderful instrumentalists and musicians. What I am saying is that approaching the guitar without a strong awareness of technique, efficiency and ergonomics can lead to delayed achievement and a general hindering of potential.
Those of you familiar with other guitar methods will notice one significant difference, and I believe, improvement between other guitar instructional books and this. Most methods merely skim over the most fundamental, and most important, facet of learning the guitar. In this method we will spend a considerable length of time getting comfortable and learning to properly hold the guitar. You will notice this conversation is quite lengthy and involved, but your understanding and practice of this material will greatly improve your experience of learning to play the guitar. That being said, let us begin with the most basics of basics, learning how to sit!
FOUNDATION OF GUITAR PLAYING - HOW TO SIT
LOWER BODY
We all know how to sit, right? Do we even think about it? Is there a better way to sit? When we sit with the guitar we want to create the most stable, advantageous position for the guitar and our bodies. By following these step-by-step instructions we can do just that:
1. Find a chair that allows our thighs to be parallel with the floor while sitting. If the chair is too low our knees will be higher that our pelvis. If the chair is too high than our pelvis will be higher than our knees. We want our knees and pelvis on the same level.
2. Once we have found a chair that is the correct height we need to position ourselves on the edge of the chair so that our hamstrings (the backs of our legs) are completely free and not making contact with the chair seat. Sitting in this position keeps us from slouching, which will cause lower back pain over time, or leaning to far off-center, which creates and unstable, awkward place for the guitar. When we are sitting on the edge of the chair we want to balance our weight on or Sits bones (or in layman terms, the butt bones).
3. Once we are on the edge of a chair with proper height for our individual body we have on criteria we want to keep in mind: PARALLEL OR PERPENDICULAR. We want every parts of our body to be either PARALLEL or PERPENDICUAL to every other part of our body. Let’s start at the ground up to get our bodies in this position.
FEET
We want to place our feet so that they are at a ninety-degree angle to our lower legs. This should also make them parallel to our thighs. We also want to position them so that the fronts of our shoes / toes are even.
KNEES
Our knees should also be in a ninety-degree angle so that the lower leg is perpendicular to both the feet and thighs.
LOWER BODY RECAP
- Sitting on edge of seat with our hamstrings/back of legs free.
- knees aligned with pelvis – thighs parallel to the floor
- Weight balanced on our Sits bones.
- Feet flat on floor perpendicular to lower leg and parallel with thighs
UPPER BODY
1. Keeping our parallel/perpendicular concept in place we want to position our torso so that it is neither too far forward nor too far back. One main idea we ALWAYS want to keep in mind while playing the guitar is to keep our muscles unengaged or “quiet”. We want our energy to be in out fingers only and that works most efficiently if our bodies are not holding too much muscle tension. This is an idea we will work on throughout the course of the semester in many different examples. As for our torsos, a visualization I like to use is to imagine our spines perfectly stacked in a line as to not have to use any strength to keep our bodies upright. Experiment with consciously moving your torso too far off-center and feel how that affects our backs and abdomen.
2. Once our torsos are perpendicular to our thighs/laps we want to let our shoulders lie perpendicular to our spine. Make sure they are also straight across our chest as to not have any twisting in out spine. Again, let the shoulder “fall” into place without any excess muscle engagement or energy in them. For now let the arms fall naturally and place the hands lightly on the thighs.
3. Now we let our heads follow the same principle. We want to be able to easily move our head on top of our spine / neck with ease and not have to support the head too much because it is too far forward or backward.
UPPER BODY RECAP
- align spine so that torso is upright and stable with a minimal of muscle engagement.
- make sure shoulders are square horizontally and rotationally.
- let the head rest atop our aligned spin and shoulders.
Finally, once we have reached the end of all these steps we need to feel stable, sturdy and rooted and EFFORTLESS (free of tension and muscle engagement). A way I like to really feel this is by getting in proper sitting position, taking deep breaths into the abdomen and then releasing all of or inhale out of the mouth. If the body stays in the same position once you have exhaled then you are proper alignment. If one part of the body (the lower back, a shoulder, or the head) seems to sag when you exhale then examine how you are holding that body part and try, try again.
REMEMBER – This takes PRACTICE … it is different than how most of us naturally sit … so PRACTICE it!
FOUNDATIONS OF GUITAR PLAYING - INTRODUCING THE GUITAR
Now that we have practiced our sitting position and learned to be effortlessly (or close to!) stable and comfortable, let’s introduce the guitar into our sitting position.
1. First we will need to raise the level of our left-foot and leg (right foot and leg for all you lefties out there) to the point where the knee is raised slightly over the pelvis. We will adjust this height once we actually bring the guitar into position.
This is one of the most important aspects of proper guitar position and one I am requesting you take seriously. The difference between strong and weak technique can often be traced to the angle of the neck and the method in which the player holds the guitar. Situating the guitar properly also makes the task of learning the guitar easier, especially if you are a beginner.
There are numerous ways to elevate your foot and leg into proper position. The most simple and convenient is the use of a footstool. The advantages of the footstool are that they are inexpensive, portable, and adjustable. There are other devices that attach directly to the guitar, such as A-frames and Eiffels, but these tend to cost quite a bit more. One can also use any sort of device or contraption lying around. Multiple books, coffee cans, our guitar cases (if you own a hardshell case), and even backpacks can all substitute in a bind. I do recommend that each student obtain a footstool from your local music store. The most important reason for this is it creates a constant in your practice. While the other devices I’ve just mentioned can work to elevate your foot and leg, they are hardly convenient or portable and each time you move them or use them the guitar will be in a slightly different position. Our goal in sitting and holding the guitar is to create a position that we can return to again and again that is stable, sturdy and comfortable.
2. Once we have our left foot/leg raised we then need to make some slight adjustments to our position. We will need to bring the right leg out to an angle so that the angle between our left leg (which is now raised and approximately perpendicular to our body) and right leg is about 45 degrees. Again we will adjust this once the guitar is actually brought into position. This should happen naturally by allowing our right leg to open outward from the hip joint.
3. Now that our left leg is raised and still pointed straight ahead and our right leg is angled at approximately a forty-five degree angle our lower body is properly aligned. We might want to again take some deep abdominal breaths here and see what happens when we exhale. If our body stays in position and if we are stable and comfortable then we are ready to introduce the guitar into this position.
FOUNDATIONS OF GUITAR PLAYING - HOLDING THE GUITAR
When we bring the guitar into our stable and comfortable position we should try to see it as an extension of our bodies so that it also is stable and comfortable. This takes consistent, diligent practice. Don’t feel silly practicing “only” sitting with the guitar. This can be extremely productive in getting used to how the instrument feels and how to best incorporate it into our sitting position. This “simple” practice can also facilitate greater progress later on our path of learning to play the guitar.
There are multiple concepts we need to keep in mind when learning how to hold the guitar for the first time (or if you have some playing experience – how to more efficiently hold the instrument). Here is a brief list followed by further explanation of each point.
1. We create a stable position for the guitar by creating four main points of contact with the guitar. These four points are the elevated left thigh, the grounded right thigh, the left-center breastbone/sternum area and finally (and most importantly!) the right forearm.
2. We attempt to maintain these points of contact with the least amount of the guitar possible.
3. The angle of the guitar neck approaches 45 degrees and the headstock should be slightly pointed behind us.
4. The guitar should be slightly angled so we can see all six strings by dropping our vision downwards.
5. We should never have to feel we need to secure the guitar by “holding” it with our right hand fingers on the soundboard (top of guitar) or even with the left hand. With our right hand hanging freely from the wrist and our left hand straight down at our side, the guitar should feel stable and sturdy.
1. FOUR MAIN POINTS OF CONTACT.
We want to think of a rectangle being created by these four points where our bodies meet the guitar. Looking at the player, the upper right-hand corner would be the upper bout making contact with the sternum area of our torso. We want the edge of the upper bout to be located around our sternum, with the contact being made between the sternum and heart. The lower right-hand corner of the rectangle would be the waist of the guitar being in contact with our elevated left thigh. The lower left-hand corner of this rectangle of contact will be the bottom of the guitar touching the inner right thigh. Finally, and most importantly, the fourth and upper left –hand corner of the rectangle is the forearm of the right arm resting on the lower bout of the guitar. This point of contact is most important because it stabilizes the guitar in this position. We want to let the arm fall naturally, with the force of gravity, but not to press downward or hold any extra tension or energy in the right arm, as this will cause unnecessary strain in our right hand technique.
2. HOLDING THE GUITAR WITH AS LITTLE GUITAR AS POSSIBLE.
One of the main enemies of all acoustic guitarists is the relative lack of projection and volume inherent in the instrument. While we will never fully overcome these limitations, we can lessen their impacts by learning a proper learning position. The most important concept to remember when holding the guitar to maximize volume and project is the less our body comes into contact with the instrument, the more freely the instrument may resonate. We need create a balance between holding the guitar firmly and not coming into too much contact with it. The easiest way to do this is to hold the guitar in a manner where only the binding of the guitar comes contact with our bodies. The bindings of the guitar are easily located on the guitar. It is the strips of wood or plastic, generally a different color than the soundboard or sides of the guitar, that are placed where the seams are between the back and sides and top and sides. If we hold the guitar with the four main points of contact occurring only on the bindings, the guitar will be stable and resonate fully and freely.
3. ANGLE OF THE NECK.
The angle of the neck is another important aspect of proper sitting position. We want the angle to be approaching 45 degrees. This angle might seem large at first but as we become comfortable with this position, and we begin to make progress on the instrument, we will see that this angle allows us to keep a comfortable position with our left arm and hand and not have to expend too much energy holding our left arm upright. It also allows us to easily see the entire fretboard with minimal movement in our heads and necks.
4. OUTWARD ANGLE OF GUITAR.
Once we have our four points of contact on the bindings of the instrument and the neck is approaching a 45-degree angle, we want to angle the body of the guitar outward. The reason for this is twofold: One, to put the body of the guitar, and most importantly the strings, at an angle so we can easily see all six strings individually. The second reason is by angling the lower bout of the guitar slightly outward the soundhole is also placed at a near 45-degree angle. This allows for the greatest projection of sound from the instrument.
5. THE GUITAR IS HELD WITH OUR BODY, NOT OUR HANDS.
We want to always keep our right-hand fingers off of the soundboard (top of the guitar). Remember to keep all weight of the guitar out of either hand. We don’t want to “hold” the guitar with our hands, especially our left hand. The fingers in both hands need to be able to move freely and unobstructed. By holding the guitar with our bodies, and weight of the right arm, in a stable and relaxed position, we put the guitar in the most advantageous position for us to progress towards playing the guitar.
Now that we are comfortable sitting with the guitar let’s begin to look at our left and right hand positions. We will only be taking a brief look at the hands here - just enough to begin properly. We will examine each hand’s position and movements much more thoroughly in future sections.
FOUNDATIONS OF GUITAR PLAYING - THE RIGHT HAND
The right hand falls fairly naturally into place when we practice the sitting position above and pay careful attention to the Four Points of Contact concept. If we remember from our discussion the most important point of these four is the one created by our forearm resting on the lower bout of the guitar. As was mentioned earlier, this “natural weight” of the forearm stabilizes the guitar in our sitting position. It also places our right hand in the most natural position for us to articulate the strings. We want the right hand and forearm to be hanging freely, free of tension over the soundboard of the guitar. The wrist should be about 3 inches above the top of the guitar. We also want to make sure we have a straight line running from our elbow to the middle knuckle of our right hand. The back of the hand should be mostly parallel with the top of the guitar.
We should place the thumb onto the 6th string (the one closest to us) and put our index finger on the 3rd string, the middle finger on the 2nd string and the ring finger on the 1st string. We shall think of this as our “home position” for the right hand. The fingers should fall on the bridge side of the sound hole, above the rosette (or circle of decoration around the sound hole). Make sure the thumb is slightly extended so that it is on the “outside” of the index finger. REMEMBER – the hand should be relaxed and hanging freely from the wrist and the fingers should be also relaxed and curved slightly.
RIGHT HAND RECAP
- The right hand hangs freely above soundboard.
- The right wrist is about 3 inches over the top of the guitar.
- A straight line can be drawn from our middle knuckle to our elbow.
- The back of the hand is flat and roughly parallel to the top of the guitar
- Our right-hand fingers are slightly curved, relaxed and fall naturally into home position.
FOUNDATIONS OF GUITAR PLAYING - THE LEFT HAND
The left hand position is incredibly important to the development of strong technique on the guitar. I would go as far to say that positioning the left hand correctly is the most important aspect of gaining speed, dexterity and accuracy in our playing. From the very beginning of our learning the guitar, we want to be extremely aware of how we are positioning and using the left hand.
The place that we begin from is to make absolutely certain that the left hand is not holding the guitar in position. If we practice our sitting position we should feel as secure and stable with the guitar whether the left hand is on the neck or not. These are the concepts we want to keep in mind when developing our left hand position:
1. The left hand thumb is straight, parallel with the frets and remains near the center of the neck. The thumb does not “climb” onto the side of the fretboard or hang over the neck in any way. Someone standing directly in front of you should rarely, if ever, see your left hand thumb. The thumb stabilizes the left hand in position but should not have too much energy in it. Your left hand should not feel as if it is a clamp between the fingers and the thumb. We want to balance the left hand fingers with the thumb by positioning it approximately in the middle of our left hand.
2. The left wrist should stay as straight as possible. This can sometimes feel difficult in the lower positions (the area between the first and fourth fret). Just remember to keep the wrist as straight as possible wherever you happen to be playing on the guitar.
3. The palm of the left hand should remain near and parallel to the edge of the fretboard. Our tendency is usually to keep the index finger part of the palm cemented to the side of the neck and the pinky finger portion of the palm far away from the fretboard. This puts our hand at a large disadvantage. It places our strongest finger (the index) in the strongest position (nearest the fretboard) and our weakest finger (the pinky) in the weakest position (furthest from the fretboard). We will always have a disparity in the strength between our fingers. How many actions do we do with only our ring and pinky fingers? Part of our development in our left hand will be to strengthen those fingers that are weaker so that all our left hand fingers may be as equal as possible.
4. The actual position for our fingers should be one that is strong and relaxed. The position we strive for is to keep the fingers always on their tips and the entire finger curved. The last knuckle of the left hand fingers should remain mostly perpendicular to the fretboard and the string. Another key idea is to keep the left hand fingers spread in such a way as to allow the “outside” fingers (the index and the pinky) to be contacting the string on the outside tip of those fingers. The middle and ring fingers make contact with the string mostly on the center of their tips. When we properly position our left hand we can see each of the left hand fingertips “pointing” towards the thumb of the left hand. We should also be looking directly at the fingernails of the left fingers.
We really need to practice this position to develop it. Often times when we are beginning to play we may be very aware of out sitting, right hand or left hand position until the moment we actually begin to play chords or notes on the guitar. We want ALL of the above information to be automatic and habitual. If we take the time to be precise in our sitting and hand positions, the learning curve of the guitar becomes more shallow and much shorter.