how to hold a guitar standing up

Seems pretty easy doesn’t it?

Holding a guitar standing up…

Many new guitar players struggle with is, however with some proper instruction you can master it fairly quickly.

Here I’m going to give you some useful tips so you can stop feeling uncomfortable in this position, and not only hold it properly while standing, but also play it!

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Why Learning How To Hold a Guitar Standing Up Matters

So you’ve started playing guitar for maybe a couple of months.

You got your basics down, you’ve developed a chord bank that is limited but there nonetheless, and power chords have completely changed your life.

You meet some like minded people and they invite you for a practice session.

The time comes, you show up, sit down and plug in the guitar.

Up next comes that question:

Why are you sitting down?

This is where you learn a hard lesson.

You stand up, strap up and try to play a chord only to find out it is suddenly 5 times harder.

Let’s see how to solve this issue in the fastest way possible.

The Gear: Don’t Cheap Out

Perris leather guitar strapUnless you are going for a very old style of playing acoustic guitar, chances are you will need to get a strap.

Just a quick side note before we move on: buying a quality strap matters.

A lot of people cheap out on this essential piece of gear, which is definitely the wrong way to go.

Anyways, get a strap that will hold your instrument securely and offer a decent amount of comfort. You can find some top straps here.

Adjusting The Strap

Slash
Image from SlashOnline.com

If you are by chance a fan of metal music, you might have seen a certain guitar or bass player wielding their instrument super low.

Slash is pretty well known for this.

It sure looks cool, but the real question is, how practical is it?

Here’s the short answer: it is not very practical at all.

Here’s a little test:

Sit down and hold your guitar just like you normally would.

Now take note of where the guitar sits in relation to your body.

How are your hands resting on the guitar?

How much range of motion do you have?

In general, a good starting point is to sling the guitar about as high as it sits when you’re sitting down.

If that is too uncomfortable, drop an inch or so and give it another shot.

The issue with dropping the guitar really low is in your left hand. 

The lower you go, less range you’ll get in both the hand and the fingers.

While you are adjusting the straps, it is extremely important that you pay attention to your left hand.

Place the tip of your thumb directly in the middle of the neck’s back side.

If your fingers are not perpendicular to the strings, you need to re-adjust until you achieve that 90 degrees angle.

Get This Down to Become a Really Good Player

Learning how to play guitar standing up is crucial.

As a matter of fact, the sooner you start practicing and playing while standing, better you will do later on.

Just make sure that your form doesn’t suffer on account of looking cool and you’ll be alright.


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Tyler S
Tyler S

I'm Tyler, the webmaster here at VoicesInc.org. My passion is music, and my job is to supply reviews and articles about all the different ways you can learn and produce music online. I hope you find this website helpful.