problem playing standing

metalbeard · July 9th, 2008, 04:46 AM

So I've been playing guitar sitting down since I started about a month ago.

Now I'm trying to play standing, the problem I have though is that the neck keeps drooping down, so I have to hold it up while playing. This is hard enough while playing riffs, and impossible for me to play any sort of melody. This surely isn't right, is it?

I've seen some videos of youtube of people playing standing and even when they let go of the neck during a pause in the song their guitar stays in a fixed position with the neck pointed slightly upwards how it should be. However, when I let go of the neck it just drops down. I've tried adjusting the strap, it makes no difference, any advice?

tagradh · July 9th, 2008, 05:23 AM

Er. Maybe if you could post a picture/video of you standing with the guitar? All I can really think of at the moment (am a bit drunk and have been awake for nearly 72 hours :P) is maybe tightening the strap more.

metalbeard · July 9th, 2008, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tagradh

Er. Maybe if you could post a picture/video of you standing with the guitar? All I can really think of at the moment (am a bit drunk and have been awake for nearly 72 hours :P) is maybe tightening the strap more.

You're drunk? It's 11:30AM :S

Joe Forth and Die · July 9th, 2008, 06:18 AM

He has been awake nearly 72 hours.

I call 3 day boozing.

genocide roach · July 9th, 2008, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metalbeard

So I've been playing guitar sitting down since I started about a month ago.

Now I'm trying to play standing, the problem I have though is that the neck keeps drooping down, so I have to hold it up while playing. This is hard enough while playing riffs, and impossible for me to play any sort of melody. This surely isn't right, is it?

your guitar is a piece of shit, get a new one.

balance should be considered on an equal level as tone. alot of cheap guitars have a neck dive problem. and as you have discovered, it hinders your playing ability.
~gR~

Eligos · July 9th, 2008, 03:06 PM

Yeah, I was about to say the same. Is it a "metal" looking guitar? They tend to have balance issues. Try trading your guitar in. A lot of people advice against this, but neck diving is a serious issue.

Try the new Laguna super strats.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Laguna-L...16-i1375185.gc

MurderForProfit · July 9th, 2008, 04:38 PM

wow that doesnt look bad... a pickup swap and it could be a good guit. my kelly has a balance issue.

sumairetsu · July 9th, 2008, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by metalbeard

So I've been playing guitar sitting down since I started about a month ago.

Now I'm trying to play standing, the problem I have though is that the neck keeps drooping down, so I have to hold it up while playing. This is hard enough while playing riffs, and impossible for me to play any sort of melody. This surely isn't right, is it?

I've seen some videos of youtube of people playing standing and even when they let go of the neck during a pause in the song their guitar stays in a fixed position with the neck pointed slightly upwards how it should be. However, when I let go of the neck it just drops down. I've tried adjusting the strap, it makes no difference, any advice?

Your guitar is what is commonly referred to as being "neck heavy." Unless you feel like adding weight to the bottom of the guitar to counterbalance it or pinning your strap to your clothes, you're not going to get your guitar to sit in the position you want while standing. This is the reason why I haven't purchased the currently available versions of Ibanez's Iceman - despite that huge body, the neck keeps pulling the guitar down - and is one of the deciding factors on any guitar or bass that I purchase.

metalbeard · July 10th, 2008, 06:48 AM

Cheers for the input guys. I did quite a bit of research before buying my Jackson RX10D (flying v), and I didn't encounter this problem in any of the user reviews I read. I have worked out a fix to this problem by passing the strap through my belt, which prevents the neck from diving down.

Pic of guitar:

cannibal corpse · July 10th, 2008, 08:17 AM

I have the (transparent blue finish) Jackson DK2 Dinky, I bought with it a blue (Polymer?) strap (that has a lightning going through it kinda) at Guitar Center and it's fantastic, the guitar doesn't dive at all, despite it's "heavy" headstock, it kinda just grabs onto my shoulders and sticks, I will try and find what it's called for you if you want to try it out.

Here's the guitar if you want to compare, maybe mine is lighter and doesn't dive, maybe it's a good strap, who knows?:

EDIT: It's a Perri's 2" Polyester Design guitar strap, I found the exact one I have here:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Perri-s-...06-i1130518.gc

I'm pretty sure that's what I got, and it's reasonably cheap too, definitely worth a shot right? Good luck!