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Hi All,

A short while ago I was watching a recording of a Cliff concert and noticed that John Clarke, Cliff's guitarist has his guitar quite high, almost it seemd under the armpit.
After a little thought, I tried it at found it a very comfortable position especially as I have an arthritic thumb joint and seemed to help quite a bit.
The other thing I noticed was that I was not looking at the what I was playing so much, it seemed to be so much more natural.
I wonder if others have found this.
David, I would be interested to hear your thoughts as I think you have a similer problem with the thumb joint!

Regards

Ian

How strange you mention this today , this afternoon I was telling someone I have lifted my guitar up by about 2 inches and it has helped me to play better..............And it feels more comfortable ...........

Most of us practice,doodle,rehearse or learn in a sitting position and therefore this is the height we are most comfortable with.
The trick is to adjust your strap to enable the guitar to hang in the same position that it would be if you were seated.
I read this some years ago and have adopted it ever since.
Fred

When you look at a lot of modern players, with their guitars at or below crutch level, it makes you realise why some of their playing is a bit basic..............They can't reach more than a couple of fingers around the neck!........Just wait until they get older.

Jimmy Page admitted in Guitarist, a few months back, that he couldn't play properly at full stretch.

It's all about fashion and image, though, never mind ability!

What goes around, comes around, just look back at the way guitars were worn in the 60s.

Pat.

Yes, it is better for playing when the guitar sits higher- in my case it now rests comfortably on my paunch....

I changed the height I play the guitar quite conciderably a few months back. I had it down in the posing position if you like for most of my life, but it really isn't good for either your playing ability or your health as in having to stretch all the more to reach the notes, especially when doing far stretching runs or bar chords
If you look at players like Larry Carlton or Lee Ritenour for instance, they have their instrument pretty high for ease of playing.
Its ok when you are young but gets pretty harmful over the years. Segovia did'nt develop that classical playing postition for nothing all these years back, it was for ease of playing and more so, to avoid repetitive strain injury(not that that had been invented then)but you know what I mean.
I've been struggling with nerve problems in my neck shoulder and arm for quite a few years now, and sometimes I wonder if this low playing postition has maybe been one of the causes or "the cause" of this injury over a long period of time.
Its my left side that has had the problem. Also, I very rarely played the guitar in a sitting position, I was always standing whilst playing in the band, and with solid guitars mostly, they get pretty heavy after a while.

Ian Miller wrote:Hi All,

A short while ago I was watching a recording of a Cliff concert and noticed that John Clarke, Cliff's guitarist has his guitar quite high, almost it seemd under the armpit.
After a little thought, I tried it at found it a very comfortable position especially as I have an arthritic thumb joint and seemed to help quite a bit.
The other thing I noticed was that I was not looking at the what I was playing so much, it seemed to be so much more natural.
I wonder if others have found this.
David, I would be interested to hear your thoughts as I think you have a similer problem with the thumb joint!

Regards

Ian

I wear my guitar so that the top horn of a Strat is just below the fourth button of my shirt!! I've now found a surgeon who will rebuild my thumb joint - on the NHS - when it finally fails and becomes too painful to play... I can pass on his name if this is useful...

Must admit. I actually prefer to wear my guitars the way Simon Cowell wears his trousers. Like those trousers, though, it looks a bit odd, so I lower it a couple of inches.

noelford wrote:Must admit. I actually prefer to wear my guitars the way Simon Cowell wears his trousers. Like those trousers, though, it looks a bit odd, so I lower it a couple of inches.

Hm. You've got me wondering how Simon Cowel wears his trousers now
Would I have to watch that god awful program to find out?
On second thoughts, I think I can live without ever finding out

Simon Cowell... he's one of the jury members of the countless contentless TV shows, currently being broadcasted, one of which is "Idols", isn't he? He also calls himself a record producer, I think?
But, back on topic, being a bass player I wear my bass guitar at about the same height as all of The Shadows' bass guitarists. I agree with when you wear the guitar at about your crotch, it makes good and accurate playing quite difficult.