Spine

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.

The back and neck can become strained from either sitting or standing for long periods. The main problem with the back is that it's not strong enough to hold us up. Small muscles close to the vertebrae become loaded as the spine loses it's natural curves and both large sections of the spine and individual segments lose their mobility. Eventually muscles hypertrophy and become ischaemic, spinal nerves can be impinged as spinal segments lock or when intervertabral discs move and compress them against bony structures.

Kinematics

The spine has 3 degrees of movement, it can rotate around its own axis, it can bend laterally and it can bend forward and back. This movement occurs across a range of smaller functional units under the influence of the muscles described in the previous page.

Movement of the spine is controlled by muscles that span individual vertebrae and those that control larger sections of the spine. The smaller muscles that cross from one vertebrae to another immediately adjacent, while being active during movement, cannot compete with the larger back muscles and functionally there main role is to stabilise individual vertebral units, in a similar way to the spinal ligaments. The larger muscles will be discussed here.

The muscles of the back

The shape of your spine has important consequences for the position of your shoulder and therefore your hands. The natural spinal curve allows the scapula to float around the posterior rib cage, contributing to the arm's significant range of movement. As soon as the upper body bends forward however the scapula can no longer float as freely and the shoulder needs to compensate.