Playing standing up

The guitar needs to be where you can play it. Most people will tell you to try and keep it in the same relation to your body as when you are sitting. Muscle memory and all. But of course it is a matter of preference. You can turn on MTV (do they even still play music video's?) and see some guys with the guitar so low it looks like their strumming their shoe laces. Then you can see some guys have it tucked way up under their arm. BB King wears his guitar (sitting) like a lobster bib. Body shape has something to do with it. Whatever feels good and is playable. If your wrists or elbows start to hurt it is because the guitar is not in a good place and you are risking tendonitis or carple tunnel syndrome.

Mike

When i play standing up it really streches my wrist alot. I dont know, maybe i let the guitar float too low and maybe its tilted too far up.

when i play standing up, i like my lp a crotch level.

deano, it should be floating against your stomach.

Try getting comfortable sitting and get into the position with the guitar that feels best and you play best without pain, fatigue, etc.. Then put a strap on and adjust it so you're guitar stays in the same position when you stand up and see how that works for you. You will probably end up with the bottom of the guitar just below the top of the hip bone.

I can't play standing up

Actually I can't play sitting down either

But I feel more comfortable sitting down

When I stand I can't see the strings

Does playing while standing come with more experience ?

Hilch,
Yes it does. Don't worry about it. When you feel really comfortable playing and changing chords, you'll find it pretty easy to make the transition to standing. There's no need to rush it. I didn't really start to play standing until I was playing with other people. Then I discovered that I preferred standing to sitting and rarely play sitting now. But I played sitting exclusively for a very long time.

Infact i play the guitar sitting on my bed most of the time with dhodge or other lessons or maybe tabs lying all around me and the headphones in my ears.:wink:

Deano,

Try lying down on a bed with your guitar ontop of you, find a position that feels natural that you can still play comfortably. Stand up and adjust your strap to the same spot. I play allot of guitar while lying in my bed with the lights off. Gives good practice on getting ready to play standing as well as playing without looking at the frets.

Deano,

Try lying down on a bed with your guitar ontop of you, find a position that feels natural that you can still play comfortably. Stand up and adjust your strap to the same spot. I play allot of guitar while lying in my bed with the lights off. Gives good practice on getting ready to play standing as well as playing without looking at the frets.

Great idea!

i prefer playing my acoustic sitting, because it's kind of bulky to play standing, and i have a tendency to rest my chest against the top. with my electric, i prefer playing standing, because you can be more aggressive without it sliding around on you. the only problem is that it's an lp studio, so it weighs about a hundred pounds.

Wherever it feels comfortable, it will probably depend on your style of playing. I'd try each position for about 10 minutes and see which one suits you best.

I have mine so that when my pick is just past the lowest string my arm is almost, but not quite, straight - that way I can play it as hard as I like to without having to hold back (if it was higher, my picking hand would go too far past the strings and slow me down trying to get it back for the next stroke, or I'd have to play more gently to stop it). The 'not quite straight' bit means I don't jar my elbow with each stroke, which can really hurt after 10 minutes or so :) Like I said though, that's just me, because I play heavy, overdriven stuff and like to play it hard.

*ooops, double-post*

I have a suggestion that worked for me as far as transitioning from sitting to standing.

When I started playing in my church choir about a year ago, I had never previously played standing. At the time, I had only been playing about six months, and I always practiced sitting down. Yet, everyone in the choir sings and plays standing, so it really wouldn't have worked for me to sit and everyone else stand. Still, I did not feel like I'd be able to play that way, since I had learned all the songs sitting at home.

So, what I wound up doing was starting out by standing and propping up my right leg (I play right handed) on a chair. Then I could rest the body of the guitar on my thigh; that supported the guitar like when sitting, and it worked fine. Then, over time, as I felt more comfortable with a given song, I'd play that one without the chair. Now, after about a year (although it shouldn't really take that long: I didn't push it), I play most songs fully standing. There are still a few tunes with some challenging parts that I use the chair trick.

I admit the chair trick might not work as well on a stage, but maybe in practice it can be used as a transition tool if you really don't at all feel confortable playing stanfing up.