Why is playing standing up so tricky?

[re17]

I'm a little surprised I haven't seen any posts about this so far, but am I the only person who finds playing standing up really awkward? Most of the time I practise with the guitar in my lap, but once in a while I will put a guitar strap on and have a go at playing while standing up - and I find I just can't play as accurately or comfortably as I can seated:

* I keep adjusting the steepness of the neck; can't seem to decide what is the optimal angle. I use a capo as well and it seems like the further the capo is from the nut, the closer to horizontal I can allow the guitar to get, but I'm not sure if this is the right approach.
* Barre chords are tricky as I think I've become accustomed to having the guitar stabilized by my chest while seated. If I'm standing up, I can't always get enough pressure on the barre to produce clean chords.
* Talking of keeping the guitar stabilized, I find that when I'm standing up the guitar has a small amount of freedom to rotate about the neck axis, and this itself makes playing tricky. Part of me thinks the top of the guitar should be pretty much vertical but at times it feels like it's more comfortable if the low-pitched strings are leaning back a little so that you have an easy view of the strings. Whichever position I want to adopt, I don't seem to be able to hold the guitar in that orientation.

About the only thing I think I have got right is the height of the guitar - it's not ridiculously low-slung but not so high that I can't breathe. However I have chosen a high-ish position as this seems to resemble the attitude of the guitar if I'm playing seated.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to improve things? Cheers.

Richard

[Brackett Instruments]

It just takes time to get used to. Try using a strap while sitting too and let the guitar hang on the strap instead of sitting in your lap. I do my solo and duo gigs sitting on a tall stool but most of the time when I'm just picking around the house I walk from room to room. It seemed awkward to me years ago but now it feels right. I keep my guitar fairly high but that's probably just a preference thing.

[Bob Womack]

I wear my acoustic pretty much just like a small-bodied electric: the neck is at an angle and high enough that, when playing at the fifth fret, my left forearm is bent just about exactly horizontal so it is easy to play with my thumb at the mid-point of the back of the neck. With an acoustic, that give you a three-point anchor: it places the upper bout on the sternum and the right arm and left hand balance each other out in force.

Bob

[astrummer]

I have wondered if the whole practice of playing standing is more a result of showmanship than musicianship. I practice much more seated than standing and perhaps that's why my skills standing seem to be so much less, however.......

Don't classical guitarists almost exclusively play seated? Perhaps what they ( I don't do nylon, at least yet) do requires the greater stability of playing seated?

If the seated position is somehow inherently more stable for the player/instrument wouldn't all styles of guitar "playing" benefit from that? However it's difficult to do much of what is expected for some types of "performance" from a sitting position.

[sully]

If you play standing up for hundreds of hours like the pros do, it's probably easier than sitting down cranking on their strat.
Plus, I can't imagine Angus Young relaxing on a stool cranking a tune. Once I saw Stevie ray vaughn sit on the edge of the stage and play a song. It was much more entertaining when he was playing leads with his teeth and whipping the guitar 360 degrees around his body, and not miss a beat.

[re17]

Originally Posted by astrummer

If the seated position is somehow inherently more stable for the player/instrument wouldn't all styles of guitar "playing" benefit from that? However it's difficult to do much of what is expected for some types of "performance" from a sitting position.

Well, I'm the sort of person that enjoys singing and playing my acoustic at the same time and I personally find it much easier to sing standing up; it helps my breathing and projection somehow not to be sitting down. Ultimately I'd like to be comfortable singing and strumming whether sitting down or standing up. I reckon it's not going to be too hard to tackle the problem of singing sitting down - it'll just require more practice. As for playing the guitar standing however, I'll still trying to figure out the basic mechanics...

Richard

[mjz]

When I first started playing standing up it was more difficult because it was harder to look at the neck. Meaning the difficulty had less to do with the playing position and more to do with my infamiliarity with the neck. I couldn't just feel my way around. I still needed to confirm where I was going visually and that was more awkward standing. The better I became playing sitting down, the better I became standing up.

Tha same thing held true for singing. I became a better singer (although still not great) when I didn't have to think about the guitar.

All good things in time

[Bob Womack]

While sitting down allows greater technical proficiency, I find that standing up allows me to move a little. For some reason, when I move I tend to better lock into the rhythm groove than when I hold still.

Bob

[Tony Capri]

I'm not sure why playing standing up is awkward, but I think playing sitting down is awkward for me because I'm so fat.

[Cisco]

Originally Posted by Tony Capri

I'm not sure why playing standing up is awkward, but I think playing sitting down is awkward for me because I'm so fat.

My cousin Jim, who plays great sitting, standing, running, sleeping, always told me to use part of my practice time standing up. And also to practice how you're going to perform. Standing and plugged in. Playing standing and plugged in is a whole lot different than sitting on a couch or chair playing unplugged. I guess that's why they call it practice. Well back to the Soundseat to play unplugged !!! hehe

[rsimper]

For the record, I actually seem to play better and more accurately standing up...dont know why - am I weird? seems like I might be...

[Ian]

standing up and playing rawks!

jumping up and down and playing rawks even more!

lying in bed in the still of the night playing rawks most!

[Fngrstyl]

I've tried to play standing up, and can't do it very well. I think it is more difficult playing Fingerstyle standing up. I've seen a lot of great Fingerstyle players do it though..

[Chicago Sandy]

I prefer to stand, simply because I sing better that way. I find if I put my right leg forward and bend my knee slightly, that helps stabilize the guitar almost as much as if I were sitting. When I play in-the-round, we all sit--and I've learned to give myself better breath support sitting down than I used to. I also have to sit to play dulcimer (I actually bought a special stand for my dulcimer, so I could play that standing up, but it's huge and takes up too much room on stage). That being said, I prefer to record guitar sitting down and vocals standing up.

[JoelP2600]

Really good post.. I learned to play guitar sitting down, it wasn't until I joined the Church worship team that I had to start playing standing up..
It was amazingly difficult at first, I wasn't sure it would ever work out.
But lots of practice made it possible.
Like someone else mentioned, I do almost all my practicing standing up, walking around and such. It does give me a much better rithim because I can move do the beat. I do however at times get my guitar shifted a bit (neck to low, or something) and end up having to kind of grab the guitar mid song and prepare for a large barre chord jump or something.. Rarely does standing up inhibit me in any way now days.

Just takes practice.