The TuneUp Program

This video is part of the postural strategies for the spine in module one. It discusses different ways to sit.

The extra weight of the guitar pushes the centre of gravity forward which takes me with it, loading my calves, hammies and lower back muscles. It also produces the same upper thoracic curve that is a problem when you sit and lean over your guitar.

Sitting is obviously a more common position for practicing, it’s just easier. Sitting and playing a guitar though is not something we’ve evolved to do so well and it does present us with a few problems.

The natural position for most modern electric guitars is hanging from a strap. It allows you to avoid the big problem with the guitarists posture - sitting. Classical guitar players long ago developed a way to sit and play that works well for the classical guitar but is simply too cumbersome for larger steel string and electric guitars. That's OK we'll take advantage of the strap and learn to stand properly and then we can start to look at the problems we encounter when we sit down.

In this section we are less concerned with technique than we are in building a relaxed, efficient approach to your instrument. You'll need to use the skills developed from relaxation exercises to adjust the way your body wraps itself around your guitar. You need to be conscious of both your own body and its physical relationship with a static object. The interaction between the two of you is more important than where you put your hand or whether you sit or stand.

We already know that the most efficient position for the wrist is a neutral one. Variations from this neutral position will depend on the angle that you attack the string, whether or not you anchor your wrist, and the size and position of the guitar.

The analysis on the biomechanics pages will help you determine how much you're prepared to vary from this neutral position. The following strategies will be helpful in any case.

Fingerpickers, as opposed to classical players, have evolved a myriad of different styles and techniques based, usually, on what is most comfortable for the individual player.

If you're hand is relaxed and you can play with a relatively neutral wrist (some ulnar deviation is inevitable for most of us) and a strong neutral thumb then your wrist position is OK. Most of us will play with some flexion of the wrist which is not generally a problem.

By the time we get to analysing the position of the hands all of the hard work has been done. The shoulder and arm has to position the hands in space and where they sit is in turn determined by the spine so if we've got all that right we're left with little more than some fine tuning.

The primary problem, and one that is, to varying degrees, unavoidable is the displacement of the right scapula as the arm reaches forward over your guitar. The classical position is undoubtedly the best way of avoiding this scapula displacement, unfortunately as the guitar has evolved it’s become less practical to always play it this way and we’ve been forced to adopt a less ergonomic position. The photo gallery shows some of the problems that we now face in positioning our right shoulder.