How To Hold a Guitar
When you are learning how to hold a guitar, you will find that there are two ways to go about doing it. You can hold a guitar using a strap, or you can hold a guitar resting on your knee. It really is that simple.
To hold a guitar using the straps, there are two knobs that you use to hook your strap onto. One is near the heel of the guitar (close to neck) and the other is at the opposite side of the body, or the bottom of the guitar when holding the neck straight up. Adjust the strap so that it feels comfortable to you. You should be able to easily reach the strings without needing to feel like you are reaching.
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The easiest way to hold a guitar when you are sitting down is to rest the guitar on your knee. Place the curve of your guitar on your knee. Generally, this is the knee that is the furthest away from the headstock. The back of the guitar will rest against your stomach and your strumming arm will rest on the top part of the body of the guitar.
Whether you hold the guitar with the strap or on your knee, the strings will be facing away from you. The control knobs, tremolo, and pick guards, if they are present, would be at the bottom, towards your knee. The largest string should be on top with the smallest string on the bottom.
The hand that will be pressing the strings will loosely wrap around the neck of the guitar. You don’t want to grip the neck, because then you won’t be able to slide up and down as you play the notes. The playing hand supports the neck, but does not hold the weight of the guitar. Another alternative to wrapping your hand around the neck is to press your thumb into the back of the neck with the fingers on the other side. Use whichever feels most comfortable to you.
Classical Exception
If you want to learn how to play guitar using the classical method, there is a slight difference on how to hold the guitar when you are seated. Instead of placing the guitar on the knee furthest from the head, you place the dip of the guitar on the knee closest to the head. The foot of the leg you rest the guitar on should be placed on a footrest. This helps to point the neck up at about a 30 degree angle.
How to Hold a Guitar Pick
Now that you know how to hold the guitar, you may be wondering how to hold the pick. With the hand that you will be strumming with, make a ring with your index finger and your thumb, but put your thumb on top of the tip of your index finger. The pick will go in between the index finger and your thumb, with the narrow end pointing out from your hand and at a right angle from your thumb.
Once you are comfortable with how to hold a guitar, you are ready to learn the strings and how to hold them.
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