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Classical Sitting Posture & Holding the Guitar

Classical6 minNylon strings · rest-stroke tone · reading notation · a ladder of famous pieces

Classical guitar has a carefully worked-out sitting posture — the guitar rests on your left thigh, raised by a footstool, so both hands stay relaxed and stable. This is the foundation for every technique that follows.

Video lessons are in production — follow the notes and practice checklist below and you'll learn it just fine.
Stage 13 · Intro to Classical Guitar10 lessons

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  1. How Classical Guitar Differs from Steel-String7 min
  2. Classical Sitting Posture & Holding the Guitar6 min
  3. Classical Right Hand: Rest Stroke & Free Stroke9 min
  4. Classical Left Hand & Touch7 min
  5. Reading Staff Notation: A Beginning (Required for Classical)9 min
  6. Studies, Scales & a Ladder of Famous Pieces9 min
  7. Staff Notation, Further: Note Values & Reading by Position8 min
  8. Classical Scales & Arpeggios: Your Daily Fundamentals8 min
  9. Slurs & Ornaments (ligado / trill / mordent)8 min
  10. “Reading” a Public-Domain Miniature Through9 min

The standard sitting position

Sit on the front half of the chair; rest the guitar's curved waist on your left thigh, with your left foot up on a footstool; the headstock should be about shoulder / eye height, with the face tilted slightly up — that way you don't have to bend your head to look at the fretboard. Stay relaxed, upper body upright.

Four contact points

The guitar is held steady by “pinching / resting” at four places: the left thigh, the inside of the right thigh, the chest, and the right forearm. Once those four points hold it, the left hand carries none of the guitar's weight and is free to fret and shift positions — which is exactly the core benefit of the classical posture.

  • 💡 Get the posture right and the left hand's “holding up the guitar” burden disappears — fretting and shifting positions get a whole lot easier.

What if you don't have a footstool?

A stack of books, or a portable “guitar support” (it sticks to the back of the guitar to raise it), can both stand in for a footstool. The key is to raise the headstock and keep your upper body from leaning or slumping.

Practice checklist

  • Adjust the guitar so the headstock is at shoulder height, and check that the guitar doesn't slide down when your left hand leaves the neck.
  • Check in a mirror: is your upper body upright, and are you slumping or bending your head to see the fretboard?