Guitar Standing Position

Question

I am facing a problem to have a steady standing position. While playing guitar in standing position I want my guitar to be still: it shouldn't move much.

Currently when I play guitar in standing position, my guitar doesn't hold still, it gradually slides from its position (gradually bends down)

My Standing is similar to this :

My Guitar Strap holder looks like this

Is the problem because of the position of my guitar strap ? If it was on the neck then I can have better grip and have guitar in steady position as describe below

Or is because of the guitar belt ?

Answer 1

If the guitar is neck-heavy it will always slide, unless the inside of the strap is made of some non-sliding material such as suede.

I'd recommend wide, non-leather artificial suede straps, I've been using one such strap for 20 years and it's great for weight distribution as well as being impossible to slip and slide.

What the inside looks like: https://i.sstatic.net/aFDhE.jpg

Search "guitar strap suede" on Google/Amazon/ebay for plenty of products and examples.

Answer 2

The only reliable way I have found to prevent neck dive, as it is called, is to attach the strap at the headstock.

If you don't think it would be sensible to put a strap button there, you can use something like this:

Having the strap here doesn't look as cool, but as your left hand will be free to actually play the guitar and not have to also hold up the instrument, your music might improve.

Answer 3

It would be very easy to attach a piece of cord to your strap, and tie it around the head, past the nut. You could then experiment with positioning.

There's also an option of a strap that goes round your neck, and under the guitar body, attaching to a clip to the bottom of the sound hole.

Or Velcro on the strap where it goes over a shoulder, and other Velcro on your shoulder, maybe on a t-shirt?

Answer 4

What is your definition of "still"?

At rest relative to your body, and hence moving with you, or at rest relative to the earth so you can adjust your body?

This is not trivial. Based on your pics I would guess you are asking about the former. With a strap there is really no way to do this AND have your hands free to move around. Classical guitarists don't stand, for example. And I recall that Alex Lifeson from Rush would have his acoustics mounted to a stand on the stage. Of course this was mainly for the song Broons Bane / Trees where the into was classical and the electric part came with no break, hence the need to move quick and keep his electric on his body.

Personally, I'd sit. Especially is I'm playing something intricate on an acoustic. One option is to hold the body with the forearm of your picking hand (but that then restricts the right hand form some gymnastics). If you're playing folk style music and all you're doing is strumming open position chords you really use the "left" hand to hold the ax in place (NOT recommended for any instrument). Other posts have mentioned trying non-slip material, this will work to an extent but realize that there is no such thing as the "slip" from a physics point of view is a relationship between the two materials in contact. So try wearing different shirts, jackets with your existing strap first to see how that goes. Another answer suggested trying different geometries of strap and this is reasonable. You need to make sure that somehow the center of mass of the guitar is supported not only from falling but from rotating about your neck. I'd try and find the CoM by balancing it (without dropping it) and using that to guide how you rig up the strap. It might not be easy but there has to be a way to do it and you may need to adjust your playing style to accommodate the way the ax is positioned.

Answer 5

Very often the neck of an acoustic guitar is heavier than the body of the guitar and will cause the neck to drop towards the ground. The most common solution to this problem involves attaching the front end of the guitar strap in front of the nut on the neck. I've seen specialized leather straps designed for this purpose but just as often I've seen shoe strings attached to the front end of a guitar strap and tied around the headstock just in front of the nut. There will be no more unwanted shifting if you use this set-up. Solid body electrics often get around this problem because the body of the guitar equals or outweighs the neck thus eliminating the tendency to dive. Using this idea, perhaps adding a weight hanging from the back strap button might help equalize the imbalance.