Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

leevc5

leevc5

New member
Sprained my ankle playing softball yesterday. Doc said keep off it for a few days. Great! I can lounge around and play my guitar without the wife asking me do some nonsense around the house.
It didn't work out like that. I most always play standing. Sitting or stretched out on the couch are ergonomically improper positions it turns out for me. I can't play all that well to begin with but it turns into an absolute disaster if I'm not standing or jumping for that matter.
(Once again the painful prologue before getting to the point) So, does anyone else find sitting, standing, running or jumping has a detrimental or beneficial impact on playing the guitar?

(Now back to running through some Fourier transforms to keep occupied)
[video]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fourier_series_square_wave_circles_animation. gif[/video]

Fourier_series_square_wave_circles_animation.gif
 
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Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

Sitting makes it easier to do solos, but takes the fun out of playing altogether.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

unless you play a V sitting down, it's fun only for the sake of being able to do what most people stupidly deem impossible and uncomfortable

How-to-hold-the-guitar-flying-V-body-1024x1016.jpg
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

I played almost exclusively sitting down for the first 2-3 years I was learning, and I'm just now getting to the point in which I can play 99% as good standing as I can sitting.
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

I've alway's played at home/practiced standing, obviously the same goes for gigging lol...so that's what I'm more comfortable with..but sitting is'nt a huge problem either.
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

Proper posture for guitar is seated

a3Q85.png



Proper posture for rock and roll is also seated

f7e0b0a65324544a5cf3d1cf6228569d.jpg



The need for ankles in any guitar playing is vastly overrated.

wear-rock-stars-used-guitar-strings-keith-richards-752542.jpg
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

Barely changes my posture at all, provided there's a strap so it can hang normal when seated.
I sit on the very edge of a tall/solid armless kitchen-style chair and spread those knees like a hooker in heat.

Can't do the guitar on my right leg thing, like country box-guitar style.
 
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Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

beaubrummels said:
Proper posture for guitar is seated

a3Q85.png



Proper posture for rock and roll is also seated

f7e0b0a65324544a5cf3d1cf6228569d.jpg



The need for ankles in any guitar playing is vastly overrated.

wear-rock-stars-used-guitar-strings-keith-richards-752542.jpg
Click to expand...


i learnt to play standing, and i did like that for a lot time, it was just the past year that i started to play sitting down, and my standing playing posture is like the classical playing position, only with the guitar hanging at the height of my balls, since playing with the guitar strapped high is uncomfortable for me (weird thing considering how ergonomically it's supposed to be, guess my anatomy aligns better with low slinging)
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

Playing seated, it is much more difficult to attain proper posture... It's much easier to not get sloppy, if you use a strap while seated. Also, depends on the guitar body shape... While not always at a Flying V level of un-ergonomic, some guitars do not like being sat down with.
 
Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

I play both sitting and standing, but find that when I'm working on something that's a little more difficult I like to stand.

I started out playing almost exclusively acoustic and usually sitting. My first acoustic was an Applause (Ovation lower brand) with the full-depth bowl and found it to be quite comfortable. Between my shallow-bowl Ovation and the fact that I play a more electric now, I find that if I play that old Applause it's no longer comfortable unless I'm standing! :dunno:

One thing I'm quite sure of, though, is that the reason it's not as comfortable anymore has NOTHING to do with the fact that my gut sticks out slightly more than it did 30 years ago! [emoji12]


[emoji450] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk [emoji441]
 
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Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

Silence Kid said:
Playing seated, it is much more difficult to attain proper posture... It's much easier to not get sloppy, if you use a strap while seated. Also, depends on the guitar body shape... While not always at a Flying V level of un-ergonomic, some guitars do not like being sat down with.
Click to expand...


wait? didn't you saw the image, flying v un-ergonomic? the damn thing forces you to play in classical position sitting
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

EDX said:
wait? didn't you saw the image, flying v un-ergonomic? the damn thing forces you to play in classical position sitting
Click to expand...

I don't really buy that, whenever I've tried to prop V guitars between my legs that way makes it feel like I'm picking too close to my leg, or that the guitar is too low; then again maybe I play with the guitar a bit higher than most.
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

it has to do with how much you close your legs and the angle of your right leg, if you right leg isn't straight and you rest it angled then the guitar will be very low, also if you close your legs over the V wing it will push the guitar up on the correct angle
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

It's weird, I started playing sitting down and kept it like that for the first 7 or 8 years, every time I stood up I found it very uncomfortable and kept the strap REALLY high in an attempt to compensate.
After that I started alternating between the two and gradually in the next two years or so I started lowering the strap when standing up.
Now, 15 or so years in I play standing up almost exclusively and whenever I sit down or lie on the bed it takes me a good few minutes to readjust.

I guess it's a matter of habit?
 
Re: Boredom drove me to it - sitting or standing, does it make a difference?

I play standing when plugged in at home, and sitting when not (always with a strap). If you play sitting all the time at home, it can be awkward to make the transition to play standing on stage.
 
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