Around The Neck

Footstool First Fret Checking Procedure

Footstool 19th Fret Checking Procedure

The above pictures display the use of the checking procedure (Classic Guitar Seating Position and Checking Procedure) while seated with the classic guitar and a footstool. The following will describe moving the guitar’s position to acquire an optimal maneuverability for each hand while seated with a footstool.

1. Moving the head of the guitar closer or farther away from your body.
This is a simple process by which you can move the head of the guitar by using your left leg as a fulcrum and adjusting the guitar body forward or back on the right leg. This moves the instrument head forward or back away from your head. The importance here is for right hand comfort. As the head is closer to the body, the more uncomfortable the right hand becomes in a playing motion. Therefore, the head needs to be relatively farther away from the body. Be careful not to go too far because the left hand will suffer as you execute the checking procedure mentioned earlier. You will always need to find a compromise.

2.Raising or lowering the head of the guitar (i.e. increasing the angle of the fretboard without adjusting the height of the entire guitar).
This movement which is obtained by changing the position of the guitar on your right leg. Moving the guitar bottom, where the sides seam at the base, up or down on the leg will change the fretboard angle. This angle will not affect your right hand as much as your left. However, it will help to prevent string slicing, the scratching sound on wound strings, with your right hand with the head at a higher angle. The left hand will be the most affected and the head will seem rather high at first. Too low and the left hand will have to contort to reach the nineteenth fret while using the left hand checking.

3.Tilting the bottom of the guitar on your left thigh to increase or decrease the visibility of the fretboard.
Moving the guitar body in or out on your left leg will increase the tilt of the guitar allowing you to see the fretboard and strings easier. Moving the guitar too far out, closer to your knee, will cause problems for both the right and left hands. Your motion will suffer on the right and the wrist of the left will not be able to reach across the six strings without contorting itself.

4.Raising or lowering the body of the guitar in relation to your torso.
Moving the guitar in this manner, by raising or lowering the footstool, will affect the left hand more than the right. Accessing the higher frets becomes a problem when the guitar is too low and you must dip your left shoulder to reach the nineteenth fret.

5.Moving the guitar from left to right in relation to your torso.
This is the most difficult way to move a guitar with all of the following methods, including the footstool, with the strap being the exception. The guitar in each position usually falls towards the center of the body. Adjustments can be made by moving your footstool closer to the center of your body. The ability to move the guitar to the right greatly improves the ease of movement of the left hand and the right hand will have to adjust minimally.

This entry discussed the use of the five adjustments to the guitar in a seated position with the footstool. Following entries will not discuss specifics as mentioned here, however, they will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using other devices as well as the footstool. All of the above adjustments can and should be implemented with any and all devices you choose to use to acquire the optimal seating position for playing the classic guitar.

Now that we have the checking procedure for each hand (Classic Guitar Seating Position and Checking Procedure), we can move on to the adjustments that can be made in any seating position to acquire the most advantageous position. To my knowlege these are the five movements:

1. Moving the head of the guitar closer or farther away from your body.
2. Raising or lowering the head of the guitar (i.e. increasing the angle of the fretboard without adjusting the height of the entire guitar)
3. Tilting the bottom of the guitar on your left thigh to increase or decrease the visability of the fretboard.
4. Raising or lowering the body of the guitar in relation to your torso.
5. Moving the guitar from left to right in relation to your torso.

Of all of these movements, the fifth is the hardest to accomplish with most devices used for a good seating position. All will be discussed in relation to using a footstool, an A-frame, crossed legs, an Ergoplay, and a strap in following posts. Remember that everyone’s physique is different and only through experimentation can you discover most comfortable and advantageous position for your hands.

In beginning any study of the classic guitar, one must first understand how to judge proper positioning of the instrument. Before we begin to look at the different possibilities of holding the instrument, we must first look at the parameters that define why we hold the guitar in a certain way. Our first task in doing so is in the compromise of the right and left hand.

To effectively play the guitar each hand must have equal access to the strings given each hand’s movements. Obviously, the left hand has to effectively move up, down, and across the fretboard. The right hand must move similarly up, down, and across but in relation to the strings not the frets.

To check the right hand:

1. Place the guitar in a playing position.
2. Move the forearm from the elbow swinging it like a pendulum from string six to string one.
3. Check to make sure that your guitar is not impeding any movement by the rim.

To check the left hand:

1. Keep the guitar in the same playing position.
2. Place your first finger across all six strings on fret one.
3. Move your left hand up the fretboard placing your pinky on fret nineteen.
4. Check to make sure that left hand has ease of movement from the first point (fret one) to the last (fret nineteen).

These checks must be used as you begin to adjust the guitar with any of the following possibilities (in upcoming posts) for positioning the instrument. Remember that everyone has different physique and everyone’s position will vary. However, the procedure for checking to see if you have met a good compromise between the hands will not change. As a side note, when performing at different locations chairs will not always be of the same height. This will further encourage you to use these checks as you adjust for each type of chair you will be sitting on when you play.

We are all clambering to be the best at the guitar, to master it. However, I have mentioned before the time it takes to do so (10,000 hours). I have heard that even Segovia once said that you should not perform the Chaconne before you turn 50! With that in mind here is how the 10,000 hours it takes to master a skill breaks down. Also this is with good teaching and practice habits. It could work out longer if you have poor teachers and poor practice.

Therefore, slow and steady wins the race!

We get caught up in making a piece sound perfect. In getting our sound just so. What if the world of music and the fundamentals of why we create music are not as we see them? Watch this from TED and listen to the music made by the man at the end of the talk.

About a year ago, I decided to take a hard look at my classical guitar playing. You see I have been teaching full-time for six years now. As a result, my playing and practising has suffered. Therefore, I decided to take two or three or ten steps back and work from the beginning (sort of). I decided to use two method book/series in the process: Guitar Repertoire and Studies from the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Guitar Lesson Books by Julio S. Sagreras.

I decided on both due to their obvious graded material. The Sagreras, which to many has fallen out of favor, has a strong emphasis on the rest stroke throughout. I find that this is an area that I was never taught. There are many who argue about whether or not to use rest strokes, but I am on a journey to become the very best at the guitar and the pieces I play. I figure I need to study all the tools necessary to get the interpretation I want. It was also an area that was de-emphasized by those with whom I studied.

It has been about a year since I began my journey. Many times it is difficult to stay the course. I mean this in terms of music and the rest of my life. I work six days a week and have a family to tend. I decided a long time ago that my mission is to teach, but I surely do miss performing. Musically it can be difficult knowing that I can play more difficult pieces than those I am presented at times in the series I am working through. This brings me to the point of this short message: the journey is the most important part. As I play these “supposedly” easier pieces, I many times find challenges that I did not expect. A piece may be easy to finger but difficult to execute musically. Or, it may be difficult to finger but seem easy in its interpretation. I have been amazed at the “jewels” of compositions that I have stumbled upon in this journey. Though seemingly difficult, I am reminded at the beauty of a simple melody or chord progression as Aaron Shearer told us.

Though my competitive side wants to work on the standards of concert repertoire, I am sticking to my plan and focusing on this journey. In doing so, I have fixed many problems in my playing that will finally be resolved for good. I am also learning to appreciate every aspect of music from its simple melodies to its extreme harmonies. I urge anyone who is a classical guitarist to take time to learn some simple pieces again. In them, you may find the answer to the problems that have been plaguing you in even the most complicated masterpiece. Then again, you might find a masterpiece hidden in the simple. Above all, it’s not where you are going, but what you learn on the way there.

It’s about time to get this thing up to date. It has taken a while and is never done. But, I hope you enjoy all the added features and can find something of interest to you.