Why is Playing Guitar Standing Up Harder? [Learn How]

When you are learning how to play the guitar, you likely learned sitting down. This is how I learned, and this is how most people I know learned as well. The reason we learned this way is because we’d spend hours on end practicing scales, riffs, etc. and standing up doing this would get tiresome. Furthermore, sitting down allows the player to tilt the neck a tad so they are able to see all the strings, making it easier to play. So why is playing guitar standing up harder?

Why is playing guitar standing up harder? Playing guitar standing up is harder because your body is not acclimated to the change in positioning, different body mechanics are used, and less visibility of the strings and frets because of the changed field of view.

Continue reading to learn why it is harder and how to play guitar standing up.


why is playing guitar standing up harder

Why is Playing Guitar Standing up Harder

Playing guitar standing up is harder because your body’s motor functions are not used to the positioning. The majority of guitarists learn sitting down and that’s what the body becomes acclimated to. The guitar positioning changes when you stand up and you need to re-adjust how you play the guitar.

You will notice that the same riffs or songs you mastered will have some faults once you start playing standing up. You will have difficulty reaching that low E string. I know I did. You will have difficulty muting strings while you rake. This is all apart of the learning process. The reason this is exceptionally frustrating from when you first learned these skills is because you know you can do it sitting down, although now all of a sudden you can’t once you stand up.

Another reason why it is harder is because you do not have full view of the strings and fretboard anymore. When you stand up, you field of view changes significantly. While sitting, many players slightly tilt their guitar so they have full visibility of all the strings. This is a habit that needs to be broken. You will not have the option to do this when you are standing up as the fretboard is completely vertical. If you try to tilt the neck, then there is no chance of being able to reach up to the low E string.

Sitting down gives you the luxury of a full view of the fretboard. Standing up does not have that luxury.

Your body mechanics are not used to this change in positioning and it needs time to get acclimated to it. Muscle memory needs to build up for comfortability to take place. Once you fine tune your strap height (see following paragraphs) and find the perfect positioning for your guitar, then practice until you feel comfortable and then practice some more.

Wrist Hurts Playing Guitar Standing Up

When starting to play guitar standing up, your wrist may start to hurt. This is because you are using the same wrist positioning as you did when playing sitting down. The fix for this is to adjust the guitar strap to a comfortable level, high up on the chest when first learning to play standing up. If your guitar is too low, your fretting hand/arm is reaching down for the neck. This causes the wrist to bend in an awkward way in order to reach the low E and A strings. This awkward positioning causes the wrist to hurt.

How to Play Guitar Standing Up

To play guitar standing up, practice and repetition is required. Adjust the guitar strap so that the guitar is the same height for standing and sitting. Going forward, practice your guitar in this position standing up until you feel confident that your standing up playing is as good as your sitting down playing.

It may feel awkward and lame to have your guitar so high on your chest. After all, our favorite guitarists like Hendrix and Jimmy Page would have their guitars hanging low. Although, think of George Harrison during the early days of the Beatles. His guitar was chest high and started to get lower over time. Start with the guitar high up (shortening the strap), same position as when you are sitting down, then as you become more comfortable you can slowly lower the guitar down (loosening the strap). Do not worry about looking cool, just focus on playing comfortably and accurately.

A helpful tip I received when I was figuring out my strap length was this. Use your fretting hand pointer finger to reach the last fret low E string, if you can’t reach, bring the guitar closer(adjusting the strap) until you can reach the string/note comfortably.

Another obstacle to tackle is playing without looking at the strings or frets. Sitting down, we do this constantly so this adds an adjustment period once we start playing standing up. Its not that you can’t look at the frets standing up, you simply will not have full visibility to all the strings. While sitting, practice playing songs you have down without looking at the frets or strings. With practice, you won’t need to look down at the frets anymore. Learn how to feel the strings you are playing while using the dots on the side of the neck for fret reference.

Finally, practice practice practice! The majority of guitarists learn sitting down and progress to standing up through hours of practice.

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