Playing standing up

hi mooseh....i've just started to do the same and it does feel very alien to me...but i've tried standing in front of a mirror...for some reason it helps....and i actually do look like a guitarist :roll:

give it a go :lol:

My wrist just aches after about 5 mins and I find it difficult to get chords right.

That's usually a good indication that you're holding the guitar too low on your body. It may look cool in videos, but the reality is that lower positioning can not only cause what you're experiencing, but also lead to problems such as carpal tunnel and tendonitis.

Ideally, you want your fretting hand to be about chest high. Adjust your guitar accordingly and you should see your aches disappear.

Hope this helps.

Peace

standing while playing IS different. and it is best that everyone get off the bed in your room and try it.
I can never figure how those low slung to the knee players handle it. the wrist angle on the fret board is too much. you have little control.
I like to have the headstock pointing upwards. that way my face and eyes are nearer the fret board.
the wrist angle feels good and I can play for hours w/o discomfort or fatigue.
the next thing is to watch how you move and stand. I caught myself in a reflection swaying the guitar back and forth in front of me. I was lost in the beat, but boy, did I look dorky. like the damned 'Archies' or something.
now I tend to rock forwards and backwards when I go into that 'zone'.

great topic. :D

Well I guess now the next question should be.... whats more important looking good or damaging your wrist :D

Hi,

It does seem to make a good deal of difference how you adjust the strap so that you get the right height and angle.

After fiddling around with guitar for close to a couple of years now I only recently tried fitting a strap and playing standing up. I'd never bothered with a strap before, but now I wish I'd started earlier as it does a great job of holding the guitar in place.

As the others have said, having the neck fairly high seems to work well. I must have found the right angles fairly quickly as I was surprised how easy it was to play like that. I thought it would be extremely hard and I'd have to pretty much start from scratch learning how to 'feel' and land the chords. Not so though.

Holding the guitar at about 45 degrees and quite high on the chest seemed especially easy at the start. It did look a little dorky though (with my acoustic you could almost see the big Mexican hat and the flashing smile....). But I'm planning on working on the playing comfort first and then slowly adjusting the posture for maximum coolness later.... :wink:

I've now got the guitar just about parallel with the ground, but still high on the chest. I'm sure it would do wonders for my rock cred if I could lower it a bit more (not that I've actually got any rock cred yet..) but I'm taking it in slow steps. :)

Good luck.

Cheers,

Chris

Since I started I played better standing up. Maybe because my heros are jazz, not roick guys I never tried the long sling down to my knees.

It is those hours after a hard day working, walking up and down hills while I'm sitting that my bad habits emerge. I tend to lose posture and start to angle the guitar so I can see the fretboard easier. Standing I trust myself and ear more.

I adjust the strap so the guitar is in the same place sitting or standing.

I keep my strap pretty high - I had some tendonitis problems early on and I'm always pretty conscious of it. I've been playing for 2 years, 3 months now and in the last 3 months I've taken to standing when I play. Not really a decision, just something that I started doing. For the first couple years I really couldn't do it, then I reached a point where I didn't need to look at my fingers so much and it felt good to get up off of my stool. Seems like playing while standing is something that comes with time and familiarity.

Played mostly sitting since i started, now i try standing and like it better, feels like my whole body is less restricted and my beer belly tilts the guitar just right :wink: The mirror idea is also what i do, and i play better but i fear getting to use to that, since a mirror isn't always around

Well I've never used a mirror when I played, never could figure that one out but I only played sitting for a maybe the first couple years and when i finally tried playing standing up it was like..I forgot how to play.

It was a very strange uncomfortable feeling but I kind of forced myself to do it and it didn't take to long for it to feel comfortable.

I don't play in a band so I don't know how it would feel after a few hours but I do jam once a week and I normally stand for that amount of time and it hasn't bothered me much.

I don't like the guitar sitting way up high (for some reason it feels abit geeky) but unfortunately I can't keep it real low either because I just can't reach the fretboard properly so I have it somewhere about waist high.

Just have to start playing alittle everyday while standing and it will feel comfortable in no time.

cnev, for some reason the mirror helps when i can see what my hands are doing. Also while strumming i can view the motion and style. It hard to put it in exact words seeing yourself seems to help

The sitting down/ standing up issue has been quite a big one for me as I happen to have fairly poor eyesight, Now that may not seem like much of an issue to you young 'uns', but to unfortunates like me who also happen to have shall we say a rather large gut then standing up seems to throw the guitar out at the most amazing angles that unless I am cautious mean I can't see the neck. It's not quite as bad as playing a dulcimer upsidedown on a ladder but not far short!!!

Given all these issues I have learned 2 simple things - first to hell with looking good cos if you can't see what you are playing then you probably are getting it wrong; that lads to frustration and before long you are reluctant to bring it out of it's case. Second, if you aren't comfortable then you won't practice so again go for comfort. I also play mandolin and with that instrument I like to have it at about the same height as some would play a ukelele - I may not look as good as Chris Thile but I can practice without developing a rather nasty case of RSI, The same with the guitar so don't be afraid to experiment until it all feels right for you

D

Some people can look cool and play well with a guitar hanging WAY down low.....I'm not one of them. Given my height and build, I'm not going to look cool if I'm wearing a 3-piece suit sculpted by Michaelangelo from icecubes, whilst standing outside in a snowstorm......

Having said that, it's not ALL about looking good - Clapton has his guitar about a foot-and-a-half higher than Page ever wore his, but there's not much to choose between them musically - depending on your taste of course.....

Art&Lutherie said,

"I adjust the strap so the guitar is in the same place sitting or standing."

very obvious, but good advice nonetheless......no adjustments necessary there....

and there's a difference between holding a guitar and a Bass standing up - with a bass, I want it low, so my right hand is comfortable plucking the strings, but the headstock has to be fairly high so's I can keep my thumb behind the neck......

:D :D :D

Vic

vic,

right you are kind sir, clapton isn't worthy of picking the gum off the bottom of page's boot 8)

mooseh,

once you start playing standing up, you will like it better than sitting, you won't have to worry about the guitar sliding off your
leg in the middle of a solo, and having to slide with it just to finish the solo 8)