Now that we know how to sit and hold the instrument, we’re ready to start talking about using our hands. We’re going to start talking about the right hand, and specifically the right arm, and how to place it on the guitar. I’ve got my Guitar here on my right leg, and what I am going to do, is to take this crease in my elbow [Points to the elbow crease], and place it on the edge of the instrument [Points to the edge of the guitar’s body]. Just like so. I might move up a little bit, might move it down, just a hair. You don’t want to go too far down, because then it will be awkward to get your hand back in the position. If you go too far up, you won’t be able to get to the strings. So, this is the right placement. What you should be able to do is swing your forearm, and your hand together, from the elbow. And your motion should not be impeded by anything. You’ll notice my shoulders are pretty level, I am nice and relaxed, no excess tension. If I take my right arm of the instrument, it should fall forward. You can actually control the instrument , you can wiggle it around, just with your right arm. Your right arm is what keeps the guitar secured. Your left hand will move freely, we will go over that in a minute. The basic idea here, is that, if I start strumming the strings, my right hand is going to pass over this area by my Neck Pickup, and my middle pickup. If you are passing over this Bridge pickup, look how far away my elbow is [Points to the elbow]. That is a little bit too far. If I use an Acoustic Guitar, all the same principles apply, but we just have to make some adjustments. When I put my right arm on the instrument, notice that my shoulder on my right arm is going to be a little bit higher, because of the size of the Body on this guitar. That’s ok. You just want to make sure that you are not tensing up. I can still control, I can wiggle the guitar like this, and if I take this arm off, the guitar is going to fall forward. Just like with the Electric Guitar,my right arm can move freely, my wrist can swivel, and I can move at the elbow. When I strum, if I use my thumb , for example [Strums few times], it should pass over the area close to the Sound Hole. A little exercise that you can do just to get used to this motion, is to drag your thumb over the strings in a slow strumming manner. [Strums slowly]. Might be slow like that. [Strums fast]. Might be fast like that. The basic idea is, you want to work on swinging your arm across the strings. That is how you’re going to place your right arm on the instrument.

What should I to to stop from feeling like it’s going to slip off my leg and fall toward the floor.  If you feel like your guitar is slipping off of your leg, put a phone book, guitar case, or something under the right foot. By raising the leg that the guitar sits on, it’s easier to ‘trap’ the guitar against your body. Then you can play with the angles of the instrument more easily. If you don't feel comfortable playing with your leg propped up, than you can always use a strap to hold the guitar against your body.   I’m left handed. What do I need to be aware of? If you are left handed, you’ll want to be sure to buy and play a left handed guitar. There have been left handed players who took a right handed guitar and learned to play it that way. For example, Jimi Hendrix played a right handed guitar, but only after he had his guitar tech modify it so that it worked like left handed guitar. Other than that, you'll need to learn to reverse the terms we use when referring to the right and left hand. If you swap right for left and vice-versa, than everything is the same.