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Hold the guitar like an expert by Crazy Dave

Short Description: Like all other musical instruments the guitar also needs to be held properly if you want to master it. Learn the details in this article.

The long wait has ended. Now you have a guitar of your own and can’t wait to play on it, can you?

Well, if that be case, let’s go ahead and start at the beginning. Just like any other instrument, a guitar must be held properly for getting the best out of it. Any awkward pose makes it difficult for the player to play even the simplest of melodies on this most effective musical instrument of all times. The whole thing appears so labored that many would be guitarists drop the idea before they even touch the instrument.

The guitar should gently rest on your right thigh with strings and sound hole facing outwards. Its neck should point slightly upwards to your left; say 30 or so. This is the normal position of the guitar but if you are a leftie place it on your left thigh and let the neck point towards your right. Jimi Hendrix used to hold his legendary guitar in this way! In case you’re wondering where and how you’d sit, all that I can say is sit in an upright posture. The front edge of a straight-backed chair would be ideal. You may also use a footstool to place your right foot on.

But these details are merely guidelines. It isn’t necessary to follow them to the last semicolon – slight deviations here and there which make you more comfortable are on and they won’t bring the heavens crashing down.

I have described here the hand positions for a right hander – it’d be just the opposite for a left hander.

Let your right arm lie over the guitar in a gentle way so that your fingers hang loosely over the sound hole. These fingers (rather, the finger tips) would strum the strings, so see to it that you don’t require a lot of wrist movement in order to reach the strings. There are cases where people have ended up with carpal tunnel syndrome by exerting too much effort on their wrists, so, once again, be comfortable while holding the guitar.

Let’s now go over to your left hand – the “fretting” hand, so to say. The back of the neck is curved so you’ll find your palm fitting snugly over it. Keep your fingers curled so that your fingertips can freely press the strings. Now, what to do with the thumb?

But what would the poor thumb do being left alone as it were! Let it arch over the neck while you’re constructing chords. But when you’re playing scales keep it at the back of the neck. These are general guidelines, the watchword as always is comfort and ease while you hold a guitar.

Before you spend a fortune on 1-on-1 guitar lessons, make sure you check out MGL’s review of the top instructional dvd guitar course online – learn and master guitar. Dave site offers 35 free guitar licks!

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