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RE: proper way to hold you guitar - live video



 I really dug the Talking Heads, particularly during this period and
collaborations with Eno. I love Adrian Belew's playing and I would have to
agree with whoever suggested that Adrian's guitar position has drifted 
north
over the years. Hold a Parker Fly too low and that top horn is liable to
gouge your groin...ouch! but I digress. On closer look you will notice that
he has long arms and his guitar neck is not horizontal, but tilted up at
perhaps a 45 degree angle. You will also notice that his roll in that band
was soloist and color commentary with some minimal rhythm playing, mostly
involving upper four string voicing's and single note fills. He also does
the thumb over thing perhaps inspired by Hendrix, as his whammy bar
technique suggests. Not to take anything away from his unique and 
singularly
creative approach, but there are plenty scales and chord voicings that 
would
be a determent physically, to him or any player to try and play with the
guitar slung that low. The proper way to hold the guitar varies with the
individuals body type I believe, and the right way to hold a guitar should
be about having it in the optimal position as to not cause any part of your
body involved in that process undue stress. Sure Jimmy Page and Adrian 
Belew
look cool with their guitars slung low, but I doubt either of those guys
play that way in the studio, and I would imagine they both have suffered
some wrist related injuries as a result of hyper extending their fretting
hand wrists playing that way. At some point style should give way to common
sense, but Rock and Roll has always been about rebellion, so for God's 
sake,
sling your guitar low like Sid Vicious if that's what floats your boat. Me,
I'll sling my guitar higher and play better and longer with less pain.  
Bill

PS, check out Adrian's waistband up past his navel, geek city!! and perhaps
creating more of an illusion that his guitar is slung lower than it is. And
I disagree with whomever inferred Tina Weymouth wasn't funky, She and the
other bass player are totally locked in playing the same parts, and she
wrote them! the bassist seems to be adding the occasional slap bass accent,
but Tina's Hofner short scale bass doesn't do that sound very well, but
suits her small hands, speaking of great guitar playing David Byrne is the
funky engine that drove that band, a highly underrated rhythm guitarist 
IMHO

-----Original Message-----
From: Rainer Straschill [mailto:moinsound@googlemail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:49 AM
To: loopers-delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: OT: proper way to hold you guitar - live video

So I noticed there's this general conflict how to hold your electric
guitar, more specifically how long the shoulder strap should be.
Generally it's accepted that while having a long strap looks cooler
(and is thus indispensable for rock music), only with a short strap
good command of the instrument is possible - that's why all the jazz
cats etc. accept that they look stupid and have the guitar hanging at
chest level.

Well, here's to prove different - a virtuoso guitarist with his
instrument at knee level:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8lFmsCXhg

             Rainer

ps: yes, there is some looping relation...