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Guitar supports and back problems
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mark indigo
Posts: 3625
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
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RE: Guitar supports and back problems (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)
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quote:
Oscar Herrero mentions back problems being a common issue for flamenco players. most people, when they cross one leg over the other, like PDL, Vicente, et al/y todos, rotate their pelvis backwards, so that the lumbar curve is completely inverted and they are effectively sitting on their sacrum/lower spine, and this puts enormous pressure on on the discs in the lower spine and not surprising really that this happens; quote:
I read recently that Vicente Amigo had to undergo a disc hernia operation this year. it's not inevitable that crossing on leg over the other will cause the pelvis to rotate back, it's just that most teens and adults do not have the flexibility in their hip joints that they were born with, and so they end up bending at the waist instead of the hips. Part of the reason for this is the conception that the legs go up to and hinge from the waist, ie above the pelvis, when actually the legs hinge at the bottom of the pelvis....
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 26 2009 3:44:18
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mark indigo
Posts: 3625
Joined: Dec. 5 2007
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RE: Guitar supports and back problems (in reply to Pgh_flamenco)
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quote:
An important issue... Have you considered a thinner guitar like Cordoba's 55 FCWE? I've never had back problems due to electric guitar and am not aware of it being an issue for other electric guitar players. Oscar Herrero mentions back problems being a common issue for flamenco players. The deeper body causes poor posture by forcing the player to reach over the instrument. IMO if your upper arm is longer than the depth of the body you won't have a problem! The deep body does not "force" the player to reach over it, as reaching over it is not necessary, all you have to do is to place your arm over it. One thing i think is a problem is that players start at a young age and are used to their chins being just over the guitar, and as they grow they stick with this idea, and crouch over the guitar, generating all kinds of back problems.... but it's not necessary to crouch over the guitar like this, and it's not the guitars fault! Even people who learn guitar at a later age get the same problem, because they watch people who sit/play like this and think that's the way to hold the guitar/play. quote:
how about the traditional position? While looking for something else in Paco Sevilla's book on Paco De Lucia i found this passage about holding the guitar the traditional way; "the position had been devised by very small people, and a modern six-footer had to dangerously contort his right hand in order to get it anywhere near the strings (with frequent tendon damage as a result).... keeping the guitar upright required considerable muscular effort, necessitating the squeezing of the instrument between the thigh and arm, and sometimes the support of the guitar neck with the left hand, which, ideally should be completely free to move around the fingerboard." IMO the ideal would be a much bigger instrument, the size of a bass spanish guitar or a martin jumbo, so guitar body depth would ideally be greater, as well as other proportions.... but i know the sound would suffer as a result, so it's a case of working out how to sit and play with minimal bodily distortion, and minimal unnecessary tension
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date May 29 2009 12:52:07
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