[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by hesson11

My hands are old. My hands and wrists have multiple injuries (nerve entrapment, etc.). So I've tried to get comfortable playing electrics. While they are much easier to fret, I can't seem to get the overall ergonomics right. Maybe it's because I've long played in the classical position, and I can't make that work with the electrics I've tried so far. Whether holding it in my lap or standing with a strap, I just can't relax, which adds tension especially to my left hand, which is where most of my issues are. But I keep trying!

Has anyone experienced this kind of thing? And have you found a way to overcome it? (My Epi Casino is fairly comfortable, but when I sit with it on my right thigh, the thing keeps falling off my leg. And when I stand with it, the tension and pain in my left shoulder is just too much.) And don't get me started on the narrow string spacings!

I started playing my acoustics is a sorta-classical position. I often sit to play my electrics and will rest them on my left thigh more than my right. The thinner bodies don't seem to bother me, as part of the sorta-classical position thing with acoustics was to keep the bodies away from torso. Something really narrow like an SG can be an issue, but Teles/Les Pauls/etc less so.

You know what weirdly works well with left thigh classical position? A Flying V. It is a long reach to the 1st postion by the nut, but the rest of the guitar really "sits" well when held in that way.

Right thigh sitting players sometimes prefer the "Offset" electrics like the Fender Jaguar and Jazzmaster which don't have the lower thigh cutout in the symetical middle of the guitar body.