How To Hold Your Guitar And Your Pick – For Beginners

Everyone started off like this. Whether we’re talking about Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen, at one point every great guitar player started off with guitar lessons on how to hold the guitar and hold the pick.

Hold Your Guitar – Sitting down

Most people rest the guitar on the leg on the same side as their dominant hand, in other words, if you’re right handed, you rest the guitar on your right leg.

The is called the casual method. Your non-dominant hand (left hand for a righty) should be placed under the neck to lightly hold it up. Don’t grab the neck like it’s a shovel; most of the weight of the guitar should rest on your right leg.

Hold the body of the guitar flush with your stomach and chest. When starting out, you might need to hold the guitar at an angle in order to get a better view of the strings, but eventually you want it pulled into your body, so it rests straight up and down on your dominant leg.

Sit up straight and put your dominant arm around the top of the guitar.

Standing up – Using a Guitar Strap

Adjust the strap until the guitar hangs a little bit above your waist. The guitar should be on a slight angle, with the neck a bit higher than the guitar body. Remember to practice standing up; the higher you have the guitar on the strap, the more like sitting down it will feel (but not the coolest look).

Hold Your Pick

This is a personal preference; everyone will hold it slightly differently. But here are some guidelines on how to get you going.

The pick should be between the first finger and thumb of your dominant hand.
Pretend you are holding a remote control. Then rest the pick on the side of your index finger, with the point of the pick and and your finger pointing in the same direction.

Then put your thumb over the pick, the pick should look like its coming out of the side of your thumb.

Give it a relaxed grip, DO NOT squeeze it hard, just tight enough to hold it while you play. Don’t be alarmed if it moves around a bit and slips; this happens, and you can readjust it.

Picks come in a variety of sizes. The thinner a pick is, the more flexible it will be. Choose a pick you feel comfortable with, though most people, including me, use a fender medium or a nylon guitar pick with a gauge of .73 or .88.

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