Comments

• Joonas EstoniaNew Taylor 210

  August 7 Posts: 84

  I occasionally do this when I'm practicing something and I get tired. But I'm also accustomed to use the footstool under my right foot when playing in normal position. I see that most guitarists don't use the footstool and then I sometimes deliberately play without it, by raising my right leg's heel against the chair.
• Russell Letson Prodigy

  August 7 edited August 7 Posts: 430

  The classical posture enables the kind of technique that the classical repertory demands, especially for the left hand. Non-classical players can get away with a less-optimized posture, though it likely helps if you have shoulder or wrist problems. Same goes for the classical left-hand position with the thumb on the middle of the neck.

  These posture issues can make a difference in the long run. After fifty-plus years of playing with my left thumb over the neck (sometimes fretting both the E and A strings with it), I started having left-thumb discomfort. It's possible that my hands were going to have problems anyway once I got past 70, but I'm pretty sure that my long-term bad habits (as seen by a classical teacher) have made them worse. And my right hand does not have any discomfort, so I suspect it's the stresses caused by my left-hand technique.
• pdg ✭✭

  August 7 Posts: 614

  I've been using an Ergoplay "Tappert" model guitar support on my left leg for some years now, with both feet flat on the floor. I switched from regular GJ position when my right shoulder started bothering me. But a lot of what I've found probably applies to using a foot stool under the left foot and placing the guitar on the left leg.

  It's very comfortable, but there are some differences:

  Where I attach the support to the guitar affects the left-right positioning of the guitar. And the neck angle is another variable. 14-fret necks can stick out too far to the left, or too high in the air, for the left hand, if the positioning is not good. You don't want to be leaning to the left to play, or holding your arm up in the air while strumming a G6 chord at the 3rd fret.

  Like with classical guitar, the right arm rests on the guitar possibly higher up on the rim than with the regular position, and it's the forearm just below the elbow that makes contact. Result is that the pick angle and arm weight can feel a bit different.

  GJ guitar bodies are also a bit larger than classical guitars, so the leg positioning -- i.e., the right leg -- can be more problematic.

  Left hand and thumb are more like classical. Arm comes up to the neck, not horizontally. Thumb fretting is more difficult (but my thumb was not made for fretting).
• richter4208 ✭✭✭

  August 7 edited August 7 Posts: 579

  

  

  Paul kind of does this.