Posture / Seat position question

Regan Branch · Post by **Regan Branch** » 15 Dec 2019 11:57 am

I feel when I'm sitting directly in front of the instrument, that it really strains my wrists playing above the 12th fret. Is it normal to sit at kind of the bottom right corner of the instrument? That feels more natural to me, but as a beginner I don't want to pick up any bad habits. My body's preservation is important to me. I already have carpel tunnel from being a PC gaming addict for years. Now as a single father I have no time for that. I just play my steel when I get a rare hour or two of free time.

Paul Seager · Post by **Paul Seager** » 18 Dec 2019 8:32 am

Hi. I can remember this problem when I started out. My sitting position now is typically straddling the rear leg of the steel / stand. To put this another way I sit towards the right of the instrument, my legs either side of the stand's right-most leg. I found that this was more comfortable for my hands and indeed posture, when playing above the 12th fret. It also gives my right leg some more freedom when using the volume pedal (which is not fixed to anything).
I set the steel so that it is slightly under a level with my arms bent at 90Â°.

When standing, which I don't particularly enjoy, I again measure the height is set just below arms bent at 90Â° and I tend to stand as I would sit, just to the right of center of the instrument. Standing is annoying if you use the volume pedal a lot.

I have ordered a pedal-steel which for no other reason, I can use as an excuse to play in a sitting position all the time

\paul

Andy Henriksen · Post by **Andy Henriksen** » 18 Dec 2019 8:43 am

I sit with my belly button around the 14th fret, but it varies somewhat with the instrument - how/where the legs are attached, and whether I straddle the right leg or sit fully between the two legs.

Angling the left side of the guitar away from you slightly helps too, because then your forearm will be closer to perpendicular to the strings when playing higher up on the necks. But, only slightly (a few inches off of parallel, maybe), or else playing the lower frets will then become more difficult.

Regan Branch · Post by **Regan Branch** » 18 Dec 2019 9:14 am

Thanks guys that sounds about right