[Great Googly Moogly]

I have a 13 year old beginner, female, classical guitar student who seem to find it very natural to cross her right leg and place the guitar on her right, exactly the way Paco de Lucia does. I know all of you flamenco players would approve but what about "proper classical guitar etiquette?" I went ahead and allowed it, myself. Any thoughts?

[strngdrvnthng]

I've seen Anna Vidovich sitting like that on one of her videos. If it works, why fix it? Cheers, John C.

[Derry]

if she ends up playing like Paco who is gonna care,,

I would let her play and see how it turns out,, eventually she may want to go to the standard CG position,,

I was recently at the Romero's concert here in St. Louis MO. and they way Pepe was holding his CG surprised me,, he had the lower bout on top of his left leg and still using the stool in a high position,, he would just lay his chin on the upper bout and close his eyes while playing,, doubt Segovia would ever condone that style of playing but Pepe never missed a note,, the audience raved and I was the first to stand yelling PEPE with a hand in the air,, still gives me chills when I think about it and I am 71 years old,,

Derry

[Great Googly Moogly]

Yeah I've met Pepe, Celine and the two sons, once. Pepe plays a little bit of flamenco, so that right there is probably going to give him a more liberal view on how to hold the guitar, I guess.

[Sharstrom]

This is the way I've sat and held the guitar since I began playing in 1971...my first teacher taught me this way and I never stopped. Even though "everyone" told me it was "wrong" and I'd be very sorry some day.

Nope.

I had students for a few years, and I showed them both ways...meaning including the standard left-foot-raised. I haven't kept up with but one of the former students, so I don't know how they ended up sitting as time went on post-me-teaching-them. But I'd say about half liked one way, half the other.

No big deal.

[Cheech]

I've also seen Ana Vidovic hold her guitar like that once during an encore where she played Cavatina. I personally don't think its a big deal if one produces a good sound and plays well. I play with the raised left leg and do see some obvious advantages i. e. the guitar almost holds itself allowing the hands to have alot of freedom, but we've all heard great flamenco players playing classical music incredibly. I am not a fan of the "classical technique police".

[kskdn]

^I might be a deputee of the technique police, forgive -

The important thing is to prevent the body from being too tense and most importantly for the wrists to be properly aligned. Playing an ovation cross-legged and with bad wrist posture isn't the end of the world, but that's a bad practice habit to get into. I'd be suspicious of a crossed leg purely because that means eventually the foot's going to go numb and the leg will be sore and the lower back will be more tense because the hips are twisted, etc. Technique isn't about making the body look a certain way, it's about getting the body out of the way.