Approach angle and strap length

Playing Technique
#1

For fretting hand reasons, I’ve mostly worn the guitar pretty high in recent years. My main picking technique tends to be forearm-wrist blend USX, though I’ve been dabbling with wrist-based DSX.

With the guitar high, most of my experiments have involved resting the heel of my hand on or near the bridge in an Andy Wood type of setup.

But I decided to experiment with a setup where the heel of my hand rests more on the body of the guitar, and dabbled with picking further from the bridge. I’ve found that to get a setup I like with that, I needed to hang the guitar lower, to give myself a “steeper” approach angle (picking arm pointed more toward the floor, i.e. less parallel to the strings).

One thing I’m finding with this is that a meaty contact between the heel of the hand and the guitar body makes elbow DSX feel a lot more comfortable than I’ve found it with other setups.

It’s not a huge deal, but it’s a variable I hadn’t thought about a lot in terms of the picking hand previously, and maybe others have neglected it as well. I suppose in particular if there are any folks with a solid USX who want to add a DSX motion to their toolbox and haven’t found a setup they like, this is certainly something worth experimenting with. I haven’t noticed any negative effect on my USX with the “lower guitar” setup (and some elite USXers like Nuno Bettencourt hang the guitar very low). Main acclimation issue for me is the fretting hand.

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#2

I find my fretting hand would like the guitar basically at chin height and my picking hand likes it pretty low, especially for all downstroke rhythm stuff/gallopy chugging stuff.

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#3

Oddly, I’ve been doing this too lately.

It takes some acclimation, for sure, but one thing that I think was pointed out to me in conversation here a while back is that with a lower-slung guitar, you can still get a pretty natural wrist angle if the guitar itself is angled a bit more, rather than somewhat closer to parallel with the ground like you would with a higher strap position.

Ready, exaggerated example - virtually every time Slash takes a solo, he looks like this:

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whereas this is more typical for Slash riffing away:
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Or, more my speed (and probably closer to where my strap height is settling), Satriani seems to always come out at about a 45-degree angle:

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…wehreas myself, with a higher strap height, the neck was at a much shallower angle to the ground, maybe 20 degrees or so.

I’ve found steepening the neck angle a little bit gives an easier wrist angle while fretting and soloing. This all may be pretty obvious stuff for you, but if I’ve learned anything here it’s to never assume something is obvious. :rofl:

#4

I call it the ‘groin lean’ :grin:

#5

And oddly enough, after flirting with it briefly, I have the guitar higher again. But I’m still glad I played around with it lower, because it did help me dial in my elbow DSX in a way that felt more comfortable to me than previous attempts, and I’ve been able to preserve that as I’ve shortened the strap again inch by inch.

My benchmark for the fretting hand is the big stretch descending lick in Van Halen’s “Ice Cream Man”. Even in an ideal position, it can be a struggle for me, so I evaluate a setup from a fretting hand perspective in terms of “how hard does it make that descending lick from Ice Cream Man?”

#6

I have also been experimenting with strap length lately. I have always worn my guitar high ala Petrucci. But I find my picking hand feels drastically better in a lower slung position like Satch or Nuno or Slash. I’m a wrist/elbow USX and DSX player ala Martin Miller or Gamabale. So having the guitar up higher suits me for that style. I’m also very comfy chugging with USX forearm rotation, but it is awkward as hell for me to play lead like that. When I sling it down low, my hand posture changes to supinated USX more like Nuno’s and it feels GREAT for rhythm and lead. But, bar chords and $200 Eric Johnson chords just don’t work. Especially for my really short pinky. And for some reason - maybe it’s the strap - I can’t really maintain that high tilted neck angle like Slash without feeling like I’m holding the neck up with my left hand.

Oddly enough, one of the highest compliments I’ve gotten from my playing came at a show where I was experimenting with that lower slung position. I do feel like my tone and feel improves with that supinated USX posture. I end up playing more nasty and simple bluesiser stuff. But idk how the hell Nuno plays those virtuosic lines with the left hand down that low!

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#7

Nothing at all odd about that - I think I’m psychologically incapable of picking up the same guitar more than three days in a row without adjusting the strap length, and I’ve definitely continued to tweak mine. :rofl: I’m still playing quite a bit LOWER than I used to, though, and while it’s taking some getting used to for my fretting hand (i think the muscles work sightly differently, it seems), it hasn’t caused me any wrist pain, which is my standard.

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#8

I don’t adjust frequently, but one thing I’ve done is try to set parameters for myself so at least things are simple to replicate. In particular, in recent months I’ve been using a “ladder adjustment” style strap so I’m adjusting the length in discreet steps that I can rate for comfort and effectiveness. Other styles of strap still allow small adjustments, but realistically, I used other types of straps for years and never bothered to measure what length I liked. The ladder style has helped me be systematic in dialing in an easily replicable “goldilocks” strap adjustment.

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#9

That’s an ingenious solution, and one that on paper SHOULD appeal to me (best analogy I can think of is the fact that I have zero interest in recording DIs while tracking guitars for something I plan to release, because I don’t want to have the temptation of constantly being able to go back and totally reshape my guitar tone by reamping a DI track).

And yet… :lol: I use Levy’s leather straps, but with the same sort of slider adjustment mechanism you see in your typical nylon or cotton strap, precisely because it bugs me I can’t fine tune the ladder style.

I guess I just have to accept a little bit of insanity here. :slight_smile:

#10

Yeah, I get that. I like the ladder style precisely because it forces me to choose the best out of a smaller number of options. It’s the same reason I’ve stopped myself from ordering custom neck contours from Warmoth. I’ve over-romanticized this, but I want to “get used to” a really low common denominator of guitar gear.

I want to be able to walk into any guitar store in the world and in 5 minutes pick out a rig I can quickly dial in to feel like “home” on the ultra cheap. The tricky part is that while there are good cheap options for Strat, Tele, and Les Paul, there is very little standardization at the cheap end of double-locking superstrats.

I see the “workhorse” superstrat standards as Ibanez RG style, and Charvel San Dimas and So-Cal, but you end up paying around USD$900 for those new. You can often find cheap double-locking guitars, but there don’t seem to be any cheap stalwarts, only cheap models that pop in and out of production from time to time, and can change from year to year (Squier, Schecter). Maybe the Ibanez Jem Jr. will stay in production for a long time due to the strength of the brand. I haven’t tried one hands-on, but it gets pretty good reviews.

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#11

The Harley Benton Fusion models are great, cheap superstrats. But you can’t buy them in stores. I just got a Fusion II with a roasted neck and stainless steel frets for $400 plus $80 shipping. Shipped from Germany, delivered in 3 days. Mine has locking tuners and a Wilkinson bridge, but I know they also have models with Floyds (FR-1000, which I understand are high quality).

I’m not affiliated with HB in any way.

Sorry for the digression.

#12

Yeah, I’ve heard good things. Are you in Canada? I looked into HB a while back and it sounded like I’d get murdered on shipping and customs importing to Canada.

#13

I’m in the US. No customs charges for purchases under $1600. Shipping was steep when viewed in isolation, but the combined price + shipping was a steal IMO.

#14

I just looked again and shipping to me is also about $80. Thanks for reminding me of that option. Rant warning below.

I think the main thing that scared me off Thomann before is the only shipping option offered to me by Thomann is UPS Express. UPS is infamous in Canada for attempting to impose extortionate “brokerage fees” above and beyond any actual customs/duty due on imported items. There are also stories of UPS jerking around customers who insist on self-clearing items with our federal border services agency.

Edit: While it may disappear from catalogs within a year or two, there’s a “value” Squier superstrat coming out this year (higher street price than comparable Harley Benton, but not by a ton):
https://shop.fender.com/en/intl/squier-electric-guitars/stratocaster/contemporary-stratocaster-hh-fr/0370240568.html

#15

Yeah, this used to be the RG550, hands down. Workhorse, reliable, sounds pretty good with stock pickups and great after a swap, holds tune like a champ, and could keep up with anything you could throw at it, for like $500. Twenty years later that’s ore like a $1200 guitar (we’re getting old, lol, and inflation DOES become pretty significant over long periods of time). I’ve really liked the Charvel San Dimas and So Cal models I’ve played, and at around a grand that’s probably where the market is these days - really, anything coming out of FMIC these days has been awfully consistent - but somehow suggesting a starter “staple” double locking guitar that will set you back a grand before even talking amps seems a tall order.

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