Guitar Illustration Of Classic Stance

At this point you may be saying: "This is all very well, but all the groups I've seen, playing standing up. 'You're quite right. But the reason they do this has more to do with presentation than with music. In the pop world of today a guitarist is expected to perform a dance routine and assorted acrobatics in addition to playing his instrument. Fair enough, but you will find later on that difficult technical passages are much easier to play when you're sitting down than they are in standing position. You'll hardly ever find a jazz guitarist playing standing up, and classical player never. The technique of guitar playing is difficult enough, without making it harder for yourself.

But you still want to play standing up, because that's what the big beat groups do? All right. But let's do it the best way, eh? First you need a sling for your guitar. These range from a simple piece of braided cord up to a magnificent bull choker arrangement or ornately tooled leather. You pays your money you takes your choice, but if you're going to be playing standing up all night, a sling with a decently padded shoulder piece will be the most comfortable. The best way of playing standing up is to adjust the sling so that the guitar is brought into a position as near as possible to that obtained in the sitting position. That is, the instrument should not dangle somewhere around your knees, but be held up on your chest. AND MOST IMPORTANT - the neck should be held well up, so that the head of the guitar is again in line with your shoulder.