guitarrista wrote: ↑Sat Feb 17, 2018 6:20 pmThe traditional flamenco position is with the lower bout of the guitar on top of the right thigh and both feet on the floor (or the right leg on a small stool if the chair is too high). Here is a sketch of that:
According to Juan Serrano, this position has the advantags of being able to follow dancers with your upper body as they move around, without losing the hand to guitar orientation:
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How so?bellemeade wrote: ↑Sun Jan 20, 2019 10:19 amOne of the reasons for the flamenco sitting position is that it offers much better control over the rasgueo.
I don't think folk players use the position that Paco Pena is using. He is crossing his legs but he also seems to be using the method of holding the guitar up that is shown in the Montoya sketch - the traditional method of holding the flamenco guitar. It relies on a balancing act in which the right forearm counteracts the tendency of the neck to do what gravity wants i.e. drop to the floor. It's not at all an easy thing to become accustomed to, the left hand seems to want to help keep the guitar neck up, in playing position. The other danger is bearing down with too much pressure with the right forearm.Julian Ward wrote: ↑Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:54 pmI don't think Paco came up with this sitting position as pretty much anybody playing folk guitar or even acoustic guitar sat down with their right leg over their left. The shape of the guitar kind of suggests that...
If you sit like that and play classical it can hinder some of those stretches and cause wrist bending problems. I know when I sit cross legged I can play most things apart from anything difficult and hairy. For easy stuff and working through learning new things I often sit 'Al Paco' just because it is comfortable on the arms and back.
Three things:guitarrista wrote: ↑Sun Jan 20, 2019 6:56 pmHow so?bellemeade wrote: ↑Sun Jan 20, 2019 10:19 amOne of the reasons for the flamenco sitting position is that it offers much better control over the rasgueo.