practicing sitting down v standing ?

Jimbo55

as a forever beginner I have always fallen in to the trap of slouching back on the sofa and tinkering away with disorganised practice, and then I may even get a bit more focussed and sit up on the front edge of the sofa, and in fact sometimes surprise myself on the odd occasion of fluency of notes/chords and rarely having to look at my fingers ...however, more often in recent times I get together with others in a hall or somewhere and find myself having to play standing up ...and totally muck it by missing strings, bad fretting and missing notes galore. Seems the sitting down muscle memory doesn't easily adapt to standing up, and it is something I need to address ...and I guess by standing up more during practice. Just wondering if others experience the same and any tips to help me sort this problem a bit sooner rather than later !

Tannin

G'day Jimbo. It's not an issue for me as I don't ever need to stand up to play these days. But I remember it being a bit of a factor back in my bass-playing days 30-odd years ago, but easily rectified with a little (and I do mean a little) practice. 

One really good way of playing is to stand with one foot on something around about knee height (a kitchen chair, a coffee table, whatever you have). You don't need a strap, it's much more comfortable than standing for any length of time, almost like sitting (the secret is that the weight of your guitar isn't on your neck or your back, it's just sitting on your knee), you have good posture, and a fair bit of freedom of movement if you want to get energetic. Transition to standing play is easy from there.

Never play in an armchair or on a sofa. You don't concentrate properly, your posture is lousy, and the guitar twists around and faces up towards your head which puts awful stresses on your left arm muscles and tendons. It encourages poor left hand technique and is a recipe for nasty long-term health problems. 

An ordinary straight-backed kitchen chair is ideal for playing, or a stool - not one of those high things, you spend more energy trying not to fall off than you do playing, a footstool is good (and you can also do the one-foot half-standing thing I mentioned above with it for variety).

TheBigDipper

+1 for Tannins advice above.

It's always easier if you can practice with the guitar in the same position relative to your body - sitting or standing. Then your left hand will only have one movement to get to the A on the 10th fret of the B string - or the right hand to find the G, B, E strings for that arpeggiated triad you want to play. 

Once I started playing acoustic open mics, I started practicing with a strap (sitting or standing) and the guitar was only in the one spot all the time. It helps me. 

Cryptid

I like to use a shortened strap with an electric when sitting as it keeps the guitar in a good position with all the fingerboard nicely accessible. Much easier on the old tendons. I prefer a stool as there's no option to slouch. 

When I started performing standing with an acoustic, strumming was no problem but fingerpicking felt clumsy. I practice that standing now. 

Gassage

Re @Tannin 's post above

I have a torn rotator cuff. It is excruciating.

About 6 months ago, I send a vid of something to the great former MVP of TFB, and a MIT grad, @randomhandclaps who observed me in an office chair, resting said elbow on chair arm as playing.

He messaged me back immediately saying 'if you carry on doing that, you're going to bugger your shoulder- stop it immediately'.

He was absolutely right and I now need an op.

fretmeister

99% of the time I play standing up because that is how I would perform.

If you really want to play sitting down, then it can be a good idea to shorten your strap so the guitar is in the same position when you are standing.

It might not look very cool, but you'll be used to the position and won't have to adjust.

UnclePsychosis

fretmeister said:

99% of the time I play standing up because that is how I would perform.

If you really want to play sitting down, then it can be a good idea to shorten your strap so the guitar is in the same position when you are standing.

It might not look very cool, but you'll be used to the position and won't have to adjust.

This. 

Adjust your sitting position (a stool is ideal for this, but it doesn't need to be a stool) and strap so that the guitar doesn't move when you stand up. 

Sitting on the edge of a sofa can work, by the way---you don't need a special seat. Just so long as your body is upright and, if needs be, you can spread your legs slightly (ooh err missus) to accomodate the lower bout of the guitar. The important thing is that the playing position is the same sitting or standing. 

To be honest, though, if you're practicing for gigging or playing with others I think most people should just practice standing up. 

Jimbo55

I really appreciate all the advice given - putting my new plan of action into effect ...as of right now !!!
Have rearranged the music room (oops, I mean lounge !) and have put a box-type stool over on one side which will enable an upright firm sitting position where I will 'wear' the axe using the strap which will just long enough to hold the guitar just above my knees - I can still see the TV (!), have a music stand in front, and have the laptop on a small table alongside. The guitar (in use) will be in a small stand alongside the stool. The sofa will now be a total-no-go area for practice, and no longer the guitar propped against it. From the position of the stool I can easily stand up in front of it to reinforce the performing position - boom boom that should really get my act together - I'm in fact feeling buzzing with the more appropriate new set up.
Tickled by Tannin 's remark about playing with one foot up on a chair - I actually did this recently to help overcome the issue, when we were using a church/kids hall for practice - nearest chair was a small kiddies chair which helped a lot on the day ...but got a 'laughing remark' from the female vocalist as "not being very rock'n'roll".
A big thank you to everyone ...I feel I am going forward again !

hollywoodrox

I tend to learn it sitting down  ,once I can play it It will go in the practice list for practicing standing up .  Sometimes you will find you end up even learning it all from standing up if it’s similar type of music . I actually find some things easier to play standing up as you can slightly alter your stance and way you hold the guitar to get extra reach etc .

it’s well worth a go .after a few days it’s quite liberating My Epi Les Paul 50s standard is flipping heavy too . You can always sit down to get really tricky stuff under your fingers or when trying to do stuff like transcribe or come up with riffs ,solos etc 

pintspiller

I always used to practise standing as that's how I gig. In recent years I seem to prefer to sit, which is strange as (pre-pandemic) I've played more gigs in the last five years as I had in the twenty previously!

Jimbo55

I must admit, slouching back in the sofa has given me many inspired learning 'moments', particularly picking up riffs by ear ! I often watch live performances on youtube to hep figure some things out, watching where the axe-man may be playing on the neck, and also looping sections. Less formal and relaxed indeed on the sofa !!

hollywoodrox

Jimbo55 said:

I must admit, slouching back in the sofa has given me many inspired learning 'moments', particularly picking up riffs by ear ! I often watch live performances on youtube to hep figure some things out, watching where the axe-man may be playing on the neck, and also looping sections. Less formal and relaxed indeed on the sofa !!

It actually works good for sussing things out like that in a relaxed manner ,working out lines ,melodies etc plus you can take notes etc .  For practicing with a view to performance though I think standing is the way 

CaseOfAce

This is how Mick does it..!

Blueingreen

My approach is a bit like hollywoodrox.  I mainly learn things sitting down but do some extra practice standing up to prepare for a gig.  I suppose it's less efficient than always practising standing up, but I'd practice less if I thought I always had to do it standing up.

Jimbo55

Good points ! I'll go with a bit of slouched creativity, but will get on my feet (or a tall stool) more and more !!!!  Indeed, good pic of Mick doing his stuff, think I'd seen that, wonder if that is at his house in Richmond, or on the road ? I am always very impressed by these top guys and musicians that we see either just singing or playing one instrument - most of them in fact seem able to play any instrument when you see some documentaries on them....vocals/guitar/bass/keys/drums !

Dominic

I've done a lot of sedantry playing and I'm extremely awkward and inaccurate now when standing.
I'm also going to stop this.

CaseOfAce

Jimbo55 said:

Good points ! I'll go with a bit of slouched creativity, but will get on my feet (or a tall stool) more and more !!!!  Indeed, good pic of Mick doing his stuff, think I'd seen that, wonder if that is at his house in Richmond, or on the road ? I am always very impressed by these top guys and musicians that we see either just singing or playing one instrument - most of them in fact seem able to play any instrument when you see some documentaries on them....vocals/guitar/bass/keys/drums !

that pic was from Mick Jagger's twitter feed.
It's whilst he was in lockdown at his French Chateau (mais oui!).
You'd think he'd have vintage gear but..nope.. it's almost like his personal assistant contact a Parisian music store and said we need a Mesa Express 5:25 ? and Marshall acoustic amp sent down here.
No idea of the black Fender strat other than it looks modern, new.?
The rug on the floor is worn, so is the chair... it's all fairly basic, rustic.
The  guy must be worth a few hundred million ?!?!

AsterixTG

Sometimes work stuff out sitting down - everything else standing up.

Only caveat to that, If I'm recording, I might shorted the strap a bit just for a bit more comfort and helps a bit with access if there's a bit of a reach/stretch or something - otherwise I do everything else as if I'm on stage.


Why do I not keep the strap shorter? I can't do the Morello thing and I simply don't like how it looks if the guitar sits on my belly.

axisus

I sit down as I’m a lazy old bugger. Also I play at different guitar heights standing and sitting. Looks to nerdy at the same height standing

diap

I remember reading a long time ago that John Frusciante was such a Jimi Hendrix fan, and he had heard that Jimi did nearly everything with a guitar round his neck, so he did the same. Hardly ever took his guitar off and noodling all the time. I don't know how true this story is, but in terms of the guitar becoming a natural extension of yourself, this would definitely help. But you really need to do some practice in the same situation as you are practising for. Even down to the outfit if you have a Kiss or Slipknot style costume!
If you want to be a rally driver you need to practice the forest stages. You will no doubt pick up some skills on the race track, but if you only ever practice at the track you'd get a shock the first time you rallied for real!

guitarjack66

I read a tip,maybe even on here? That you should make your guitar strap the same height while sitting down as it when standing up. Just set it so it stays the same relative to your body in both positions. I think that might be why lots of sixties guitarists had their guitars sitting 'high' on their bodies in old videos. It's the way I like mine even though I sit mostly anyway.