Classical position?

[kris]

[Christian Miller]

Guitar support a more ergonomic option than a footstool.

I play mostly folk position but I have a long torso and it saves my back. Recommended.


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[James W]

... yeah a guitar support was a bit of a life-saver for me. I can't use a footstool for more than about 20 minutes before my left foot goes numb and I get pins and needles.

Classical guitarists can be pedantic about position. I spent most of an hour with Gohar Vardanyan with her trying to explain the correct position... it is important and there are wrong things you can do, but on the other hand variation is possible and the outcome can still work.

[RJVB]

Guitar support a more ergonomic option than a footstool.

Definitely.

Repost:

FWIW, the flamenco position is also often seen used by baroque guitar (and similar/earlier instruments) players.
I always wonder how they manage to support lengthy sessions without cutting off blood flow in the right leg and it can't be healthy for the lower back either...

[pamosmusic]

Yeah most guys who use footstools professionally must have them custom made.

I think those ones you get from sweetwater or music and arts or whatever fit one dude named Tom and literally no one else.

[pamosmusic]

Classical guitarists can be pedantic about position. I spent most of an hour with Gohar Vardanyan with her trying to explain the correct position... it is important and there are wrong things you can do, but on the other hand variation is possible and the outcome can still work.

My old guitar teacher would say …

Guitar waist on the left leg
Upper Bout leans back against the chest
Inside of the elbow against the Lower bout

You should be able to do jazz hands without the guitar slipping.

I always liked that

[RJVB]

Yeah most guys who use footstools professionally must have them custom made.

Oh? I must not have been looking at the right guys then, because most of what I've been seeing is the ubiquitous foldable contraption (hint: try putting the high side under your heel if you can't find the right height in the more obvious orientation).

That said, I did make my own custom stool - from a log of sumac wood that had the right shape and height, found in the previous owner's firewood stash Rarely use it though.

[pamosmusic]

I was joking

Though I haven’t met a person who likes that thing.

[kris]

[frabarmus]

Ben Monder seams to prefer the classical position (including foot support under his left foot)... I don't know if that has changed...

I've gone through different phases with regards to position... but in the end I've gone back to the basic (I think that's what Christian refers to as "folk" position) guitar resting on my right lap with the neck more or less parallel to the floor and instinctively using my left foot as a support for the right foot or, preferably, a foot support under my right foot, to keep my right leg in a position that has my right upper leg (on which the guitar rests) running parallel to the floor. In this way my left lower and upper arm is, most of the time, at a 90° angle, with my lower arm (by lower arm I mean the part that has a hand attached to it) running roughly parallel to the floor. Unlike in the classical guitar posture, which has the left arm forming a 90° angle with the lower arm perpendicular to the floor.

I suppose the best position is the one that makes you play more effortlessly... "different things for different people"...