Classical Guitar Posture

Video Transcript

" Hi. Now, I’m generally going to explain the way you hold yourself when you are playing classical guitar. If you’ll note my feet are flat on the floor. I’m using a foot rest or foot stool to prop up the guitar on my leg. That is so I have a nice angle for my hand and I don’t have to be moving around too much or keeping the guitar real low and making an awkward angle for my wrist. You’ll notice that left leg is generally flat; you don’t want a chair that’s too low or too high, that way you’ll end up with back problems. Let’s see, as far as my shoulders are concerned they are nice and relaxed, they are not all tensed up. I’m not slouching too much over the guitar to look at what I’m doing, I’m not leaning back too much. My back is nice and straight. Another good thing to note is the fact that there is some space here between my chest and my elbow. My elbow isn’t going to be sticking up real far like that. It’s not going to be crammed in against my body like that. It’s got nice free range of movement, if we need to move it. Another thing you’ll notice is my right arm is resting on the lower bout of the guitar. You don’t want to end up having to hold the guitar that way generally. Mine slips a little bit because the neck is heavy, but generally you want it to just rest there lightly to keep the guitar in place. And another good pointer to have; a lot of the pros use is when you are playing generally just keep a light smile on your face. It relaxes your whole body, it looks really good for stage presence and you’ll find that it just makes you less tense and less nervous."