(This article involves a lot of visual material not easily demonstrated by words; therefore we recommend watching the video below instead).
Traditional Posture / Flamenco Guitar Position
There are many different ways to sit in flamenco and classical guitar. Some ways are better than others at increasing playing comfort and reducing injury. Injury and pain are real things that many performers and those who practice for long periods will begin to encounter over as they age. To avoid unnecessary discomfort and injury, it is worth reviewing your posture.
Traditionally we sit in flamenco with a straight back, and having your feet flat on the ground. This is especially relevant for those working on computers or at an office for most of their day. Make sure your back is as good as possible.
Then place the curve of the guitar into your hip.
Aim for roughly 40 to 45 angle between the guitar and your chest, so the guitar is pointing out.
The good thing about this technique is that you can sit this way for hours on end. Which is good for long periods of practice.
When starting out, if you're practising for an hour a day, you can sit like this for 10/15 minutes and then change to another posture below.
Bored with your guitar playing? Unmotivated? Inject some passionate and emotional flamenco into your guitar life
Modern posture
It is important to try other seated positions to avoid aches in your legs and back.
When Paco du Lucia arrived on the flamenco scene, he used a different 'modern' posture which revolutionised flamenco guitar. It involves placing your right leg over your left leg. As before, you still place your guitar in your hip, with a relaxed left hand and right shoulder.
The problem with this position however is that after a short while you start to get aches.
A middle way: the modern posture with a footstool
Bored with your guitar playing? Unmotivated? Inject some passionate and emotional flamenco into your guitar life
A third way is to use a footstool, instead of crossing your legs. This is Rafael's preferred way of playing over longer durations, allowing for the comfort of the modern position while avoiding pains and aches over. In the image below you can see Rafael's right leg (on the left of the image) is lifted higher thanks to a footstool
Footstalls do not need to be fancy. You can find them on Amazon from $10/ £10 / €10.
Classical guitar posture
In classical guitar musicians tend to place the guitar on the opposite leg – as demonstrated below. There is no right or wrong way in the context of flamenco, but this is a common difference between flamenco and classical guitarists. Arguably the posture for the classical guitarists allows them to focus more on technical work on the fretboard, whereas the flamenco posture allows for more fluid open strumming with certain styles – although in many instances it is not useful to generalise and it comes down to player preference.
How not to sit
But whatever you do during practice, please do not sit as Rafael demonstrates below. It will result in inferior practice and entrench bad habits. Of course it is OK to relax while playing, and a very natural inclination after a long day's work – but please do not make this part of your disciplined practice – for your playing (and body!) will suffer as a result.
Bored with your guitar playing? Unmotivated? Inject some passionate and emotional flamenco into your guitar life