I’m writing this article – How to hold a guitar, based on my personal experience and believe me every guitarist will have his or her own style of holding and playing the guitar and the comfort zone comes after several years of practice that shows the amount of control you have on the instrument, basically its like driving a car or bike, At first when you’re learning as a beginner, you become conscious this is natural instinct and there is no eyebrow raising situation here. For driving a car or bike you always make sure that you are sitting in better and comfortable position so that the steering(car) or handle(bike) is at correct distance from your hands and is reachable making it a comfortable zone for you.
HOW TO HOLD A GUITAR | THE FOUR THINGS
Similarly while learning guitar, there are four things that you must take into account –
- Sitting Position
- Resting Position of Guitar Body
- Left Hand Position
- Right Hand Position
Let us discuss all the above points and see what importance they carry in our learning process.
1. SITTING POSITION
This is the most important step, one has to ensure he or she is sitting in a comfortable position before even holding a guitar.Why I’m emphasizing on this statement is because the sitting position will determine the overall ability to play guitar. Also wrong posture can result into back pain and other health issues related to spine hence ensure you are in comfortable posture while sitting, ensure you feet are not in air, it should comfortably touching the floor or if you feel its on air then keep something below like a mini stool so that your feet can rest over them. Now I assume you have figured out the comfortable position but still i will share a picture below where the lady is holding the guitar in a comfortable position that will give a basic idea.
2. Resting Position of Guitar Body
You must place the lower curved part of guitar body over your right leg, i.e. lap, some people place it over their left leg or lap, it all depends on the comfort level of place this guitar. But the right posture is placing it over the right leg to avoid the stress over the spinal cord of your body. You must feel comfortable holding the guitar, if you feel stress over the back of body then try to change the position and see what works better for you. The back should be straight and the fret-board of the guitar should be visible to play the desired notes. The back of the guitar must touch your belly and chest region of your body, in general you must feel the body of the guitar close to you as shown in below picture.
3. Left Hand Position
The left hand must hold the neck of guitar, the neck of guitar should be placed between the thumb and index finger of your left hand as should in below picture.
4. Right Hand Position
The right hand should be placed over center hole, you can use your fingers to feel the strings. You can also use guitar pick but being a beginner you must always play guitar strings with fingers that will ensure that you understand how much amount of pressure you have to execute on strings to produce the desired sound of string or note. Use index finger for strumming or picking the strings. You can also use thumb for strumming but most of players use index finger for strumming. You finger nails also play a significant role while playing the guitar, If you’re a rand handed player then your left finger nails should be short that will ensure you can hold the notes or chords comfortably, if you are a left handed players then your right hand nails must be clipped for better guitar playing.
I have created some YouTube lesson, you can refer the same for learning guitar. Also there is a separate section to download free guitar patch which can be accessed through this LINK.
