PROBLEM

[Dejan Sajinovic]

I always sit while practice and rehersal with my band and I just seems impossible to pull off all those stuff standing. I have been told my self a while ago, man I gotta start practicing on playn´ in stand position but haven´t started it yet.

How long time do you think it takes to get comfortable while standin´. That´s the thing I´m worst at when it comes to guitar and still that´s one of the most important things ´cause when you play live, you don´t want to sit, I want to rock, jump, run, pose and than pf course stand still and play.

Any advice?

[noticingthemistake]

Dejan, from my experience of having the same problem. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. Your case may or may not be different. Just start playing the songs you know standing up, you may even wanna start by adjusting your strap so your guitar sits right where it would if you were sitting down. Right about the middle of the chest like tom Morello. As you get more comfortable standing and playing you may want to lower the strap down to where you like it. But by just playing more and more standing, you will find its very easy and make the transition very quickly.

[Edited by noticingthemistake on 12-28-2002 at 02:41 PM]

[Josh Redstone]

I alway stand when I rehearse, and I used to wear my guitar quite low, but I found it real hard to play lead, and I couldn't play barre chordes very well. Now I wear it up around my stomach. Its become a whole lot easyer. What I do is pick a peice of really fast music, and if I can play it without straining my wrist while standing, I know my strap is where I want it.

[noticingthemistake]

Yeah I think the only time I actually sit and play is when I'm on the couch just fiddling around or during a recording session.

[Josh Redstone]

I'll sit when I practise, but I almost always stand when I rehearse with a band. Besides, when I do rehearse there isn't anywhere to sit!

[noticingthemistake]

Dewd, I rarely sit and play when just practicing. I think I get too hyper when I play. I love playing guitar and jumping around, doing the Angus Young/Pete Townsend, and stuff like that. If I sit down to practice, it's usually either because I'm try to learn something hard and I need to concentrate or I'm too lazy to stand. :D

[Josh Redstone]

Cool. My mouth moves like Angus Young, thats about it.

[N4Player]

...bottom line...you gotta play standing up. Sitting down is for acoustic folks. If you get used to sitting, you're in very big trouble.
-Bob

[Josh Redstone]

I wouldn't say that. Sitting is less work and therefore affords more thought to developing good technique.

[SLY]

I usualy sit down while practicing or rehearsing , and only stand up if I feel like headbanging.
And of course I always stand up when I play a live gig or something, and I never get problems from standing.

One thing you're probably missing, as other folks said is the strap adjustment..

I used to play the guitar real low (like james hetfield) although I always played lead... but I usualy got problems with tapping and very wide finger streches (used to get over that by hanging my guitar like Slash during solos)... on the other hand , playing the guitar that low made me more comfortable with my picking hand !

Now I wear my guitar like Steve Vai or a little lower and I feel very comfortable playing any technique (tapping/streches/sweeping/fast picking/etc.)... but if I wear it as high as John Petrucci or Jason Becker I feel more strain in my picking hand (not very hard, but it's a little less comfortable)...

You should take care what makes you less comfortable while standing , is it the picking hand or the fretting hand ...
And you should always keep in mind that strap adjustment for being comfortable and playing good is much more important than just lookin cool.

[canuck7]

i suggest positioning your strap so that the end pin of your guitar is within 5 inches of the top of your hip bone. this is how high or low it is, not the actual proximity to your hip bone.

i angle my guitar so that it's angled up. this makes it easier on my picking hand because it's lower and then the fretboard is angled up so it's easier fretting. it works pretty good for me, and it works in a live setting and not just standing still. i highly recommend it, i've been using it a lot and it's highly effective.

[Lordathestrings]

Start out with the guitar slung in the same position its in when you're sitting. You can ease it lower a bit at a time as you get comfortable with it. A big change in position at first, risks upsetting your technique. And the muscle groups in your arms will need time to adjust to being used slightly differently. Cramping up in mid-set can cause you all kinds of grief.

[Psycho Amram]

when i got my guitar i got so exited that i couldn't sit...
i sit when i'm practicing
on rehearsals i jump all around my guitar somewhere around my knees and if i had more difficult lead i push it to a pose where i can play from the side :D
it looks cool and it's quite comfortable for me

[aiwass]

Dejan, remember what I told you about your picking technique? You know, picking from the elbow? This is one of the really big problems with it. It becomes really, really, really hard to play standing up. When you pick from the wrist or the fingers, you can rest your hand compeletely on the bridge.

I'm not saying you gotta change, cuz a lot of guys pull it off, but I notice in my band that the other guitarist (who picks your way) has more trouble playing standing up than I do.