Fender Stratocaster!

This is a pretty late update...a month late! My birthday gift from my wife is a Fender Stratocaster!! :) Well it wasn't a surprise on the birthday, coz I knew it a bit ahead. But it surely was a sweet surprise when I first knew that she was planning for it.



Fender Stratocasters are the most popular and the most copied style of electric Guitars. There are lots of versions in the Stratocaster family. The one I got is a Highway One Stratocaster. This is the starting level in the American made strats. This model is priced in between the Made in Mexico and American Standard models. This has 70s style headstock, bigger frets, alnico pickups, nitro cellulose finish, mapel neck...

The best part is the pickups and the tones. Even though I knew and heard lots of times, the feel I got when I played it is amazing! I played around all the 5 switch positions on and on. From the bluesy feel to the typical crunchy strat sound, each switch position offers a lot that you can experiment. Will record some stuff soon and post it.

The Classical Guitar Posture

There are some basic things that can be followed for best results while playing Classical Guitar. And then, it is up to the comfort of the player to try out alterations to find the best playing position.

It is important to note that there is no single fixed way to hold the Guitar. Different players have different styles but most of the basics are followed. These basic things will help in the speed, economy in movement and clear sound.



The Sitting Posture:-

• Sit on a flat chair, back straight, feet flat on ground and arms relaxed.
• Left leg on foot-stool (normally around 7 inches; height can be varied for comfort)
• Guitar supported by upper left thigh, inner right thigh, centre of the chest and inner right arm
• Right hand elbow should not fall on the Guitar and the right hand should be at an angle to the bridge as in the picture so that the right hand knuckles are parallel to strings.

The Right Hand:-

• Right hand positioned over each of the six strings by pivoting the right arm from the elbow
• Fingers are denoted by their Spanish names;

1. Thumb - Pulgar (P)
2. Index - Indice (i)
3. Middle - Medio (m)
4. Ring - Anular (a)

• Thumb (P) to play 6,5 and 4 strings (Bass Strings); i on 3rd, m on 2nd and a on 1st string.
• i, m, a fingers will be curled towards the palm while playing frees-strokes.

The Left Hand:-

• Thumb should be on the back on the neck and should be perpendicular to it. It should not be visible from the front.
• Thumb should not be applying any pressure, should just gently touch the neck and follow the motion of the hand.
• Pivot the fingers at the large knuckle to raise and lower the fingers.
• Sliding the left hand up and down the neck of the guitar using a rotation at the shoulder
• Positioning the left hand fingers over the desired string by moving the left arm at the elbow.
• The point of contact with the strings will be with the finger tips. This makes sure that the fingers do not obstruct the other strings.

I am still adjusting to the basic posture and I'm planning to put up my pictures once I am sure I got the posture right. As my teacher would suggest me changes, I hope I would be in a better position after some more classes.

The following page has a detailed write-up on the basic posture, left and right hand basics.
http://www.classic-guitar.com/lesson3.html