Lead with Heart! Verbal Cues to Improve (Guitar) Posture

Hey everyone! Hope all is well – all the best!

Here’s a few ideas that could help improve your posture and guitar playing, mainly “lead with heart.”

My posture when playing guitar definitely has tons of room for improvement.

I tend to hunch over the guitar. So reminding myself to lead with heart usually helps me to improve my posture in general, and while playing guitar.

“Lead With Heart” – A Great Cue for Improved Posture (& Music)

Disclaimer – I’m not a medical professional. Please consult with a licensed professional about your specific health issues. The ideas contained in this article (and website) are only (to the best of my ability to communicate) what my own experiences have been and/or theories and ideas I have about stuff. In any case, take care and best wishes!

How to Use the Verbal Cue “Lead with Heart“

If you find yourself slumped over when playing the guitar:

1. Visualize leading your body with your heart
2. And then, relax your shoulders
3. Leading with heart looks (on the outside) basically like sticking out your chest, but it’s visualized as “leading with heart“, not “sticking out your chest“
   • Obviously, “leading with heart” needs to be done in moderation. In other words, your chest shouldn’t “absurdly” stick out. Just a slight focus on the heart being more in front so that your body feels more poised and less slouched.
   • In many respects, it’s same thing as “sticking out your chest” or “not slouching“, but on a mindset/musical level, it may help you create a more balanced, creative perspective and improve your posture
4. By “leading with the heart” area more, you’ll simultaneously help to naturally un-slouch your shoulders
5. People who find themselves sticking out their head may be manifesting an “overthinking” of the music.
   • By rebalancing towards the heart, a musician can rebalance their body and as well as their approach to music. In other words, the mind and heart of the musician can be more balanced while playing.

Why I Think “Leading with Heart” Helps

Remembering to lead with heart (aka stick my chest out while bringing my head back in line with the rest of my body) helps me.

It’s a great cue to cascade several physical cues for guitar posture. This applies for either sitting or standing.

Also, when I lead with my heart, I try to then relax my shoulders. And when I remember to relax my shoulders, I try to relax my face. Then forearms and hands.

Again, this might not work for everyone, but for someone like that tends to slump the shoulders, these verbal cues could really help!

Working Out and Stretching Help Posture, Too

Obviously, good posture can be improved in many different ways. Besides consciously using better posture, stretching and working out also generally help most people improve their posture.

Kettlebell Swings Help Posture and Back Strength

And (as a side note) doing kettlebell swings – I’ve started doing kettlebell swings, I really can feel the difference in my posture and back.

My back/posterior chain feels a lot better. My back isn’t sore. I like doing yoga, which helps too. But I think kettlebells may even help more – up to a certain point – to become really flexible yoga does help!

Yoga and/or Stretching Help Posture

I’d like to mention that I’ve also had a lot of good results with doing a little bit of yoga and stretching as well.

Cascading Verbal Cues for Improved Posture

1. Lead with Heart
2. Relax my Shoulders
3. Breathe/Sing Along
4. Relax my Face
5. Relax My Arms and Hands
6. Grip Ground with Feet (if Standing)
7. Tighten Tush (if Sitting)

Lead With Heart!

Whenever I feel my shoulders slumping (forward), I tend to:

• Ignore the back posture and keep on doing what I am doing
• Stretch and reset
• Try to roll my shoulders back so that I am standing/sitting up straight
• Or say to myself – “Lead with Heart“

By leading with heart aka sticking my chest out (so that my posture is more upright, not so that my chest is “absurdly” stuck out like a cartoon), I refocus my energy/mind towards my heart chest and away from my head. It’s almost like “getting out of my head”.

You could look at leading with heart as focusing on the heart chakra. Or as sticking your chest out, etc.

But I like the phrase, lead with heart. It also helps remind me to focus on the feel and intention of what I am doing and maybe not to be so anxious/over-focused on the mental details. Again, this balance between mind and heart is probably different for each person, so this may be something that only some people would want to focus on (leading with heart).

Other people will focus on different chakra/body areas (and/or what they represent on a “practical” basis). And all are good. But sometimes it’s about balance. So for someone that tends to lead (in an unbalanced way – very subjective – though good posture is more objective) with the head (in this case literally leads with the head – aka sticks their head out too much), focusing on leading with the heart may be a great verbal cue to help with better posture and overall balance!

Relax the Shoulders

Even after I am thinking about leading with heart, I tend to notice that my shoulders are scrunched up. So the next thing I try to do (while still leading with heart aka sticking my chest out so my posture improves) is to relax my shoulders.

The comibination of a balanced head and chest with relaxed shoulders really helps me to play in a more relaxed manner. And do a lot of other stuff too, like walking, sitting, typing, etc.

Breathe (and/or Sing)

The third step in the cascade of verbal cues after the chest and shoulders (seems to me) to be breathing fuller and more consistently.

Part of tensing up (for me) usually involves subconsciously holding my breath and/or breathing in a tighter manner.

One verbal cue to breath (if you’re not already singing) is to think of the exhale as breathing out the tension. And the inhale as breathing in vitality and good energy.

Playing music while breathing deeper really helps the music and also helps me to relax.

By focusing on breathing, I can conciously connect the flow of the groove and melody to the breath.

Also, I can just sing along to the notes I am playing, though I guess for this to work well, I would still need to focus on breathing with the phrasing/structure of the music and relaxing.

Relax the Face

After focusing on my breath, I tend to notice the next steps will usually be to realize my face is too tight. Sometimes I’ll focus on my hands and arms first, but I think that I usually tend to like to relax my facial muscles first.

This usually means my jaw, my cheeks and my eye muscles. I’ll generally relax them as I breath out.

Coordinating all relaxation/posture cues while playing music can be challenging. But it’s a great thing to practice a little bit each day! I usually leave this feel better… And you can practice this relaxation/postures without practicing music, too …

Relax the Hands and Arms

Next I’ll try to relax my hands and arms.

Obviously if one’s hands and arms are too relaxed, then the guitar might just slip away.

Finding the balancing point of being the most relaxed while you can still play well is a very important challenge to keep practicing. When I do this, I usually find myself playing more legato and with a more consistent groove.

This can be for any activity, but certainly it does apply to guitar.

If Standing, “Grip the Ground“

If I’m standing, aftering leading with heart and then relaxing my breath and body, I’ll grip the ground with my feet.

If I’m barefoot, and/or wearing good shoes, this usually feels good, like I am more connected to the earth. I’ll feel my arches and legs get into better alignment, and I’ll feel like I am standing with even better posture and stronger.

This is an important cue for musicians and non-musicians alike, IMHO.

“Grip the Ground” activates the arches and creates usually creates a cascading improvement to posture

Unlike some of the other cues, I don’t expect to always focus on gripping the ground, it’s just something to do occasionally to reset my posture and connection to the ground.

If I am standing up and playing music, “gripping the ground” will usually create more powerful posture. It really does seem to help create a more solid base.

If Sitting, “Tighten the Tush” 🙂

Tightening the Tush is sort of like gripping “Gripping the Ground”, but for when I am sitting. It completes to the lower part of improving one’s posture. The shoulder and chest usually improve (most of) the upper posture – “tightening the tush” (is sitting) or “gripping the ground” (if standing) improve the lower part.

Basically, tightening the tush (to me) means, contracting the Kegel muscle(s), plus the lower abs and a little bit of the glutes.

“Tightening the Tush” usually seems to help me sit up straighter, in regards to my lower back.

You don’t have to do it all the time, but it’s good to do sometimes to improve posture.

Work With the Guitar, Not For It (Ergonomically)

As an aside, I think another verbal cue is “work with the guitar, not for it”.

Basically, this means finding the best way for your body to play guitar. In other words, configure and play the guitar so that it best suits your body mechanics.

I think a lot of people (myself included) default to adapting their playing posture to the guitar. Of course, this is practical to an extent, but whenever possible, I think it’s always better to find the better posture where you can still play the guitar. This may mean adjusting while you’re playing to play certain notes, then readjusting when playing others, etc.

Kettlebells Swings (if it’s okay with your doctor)

I am on a kettlebell kick. But assuming you get the medical go ahead, consider doing some regular kettlebell swings with proper form and kettlebell weight.

For me, this kettlebell swings are one of the best practical daily exercises (that I’ve been doing recently) to help my overall ergonomics, posture, strength and flexibility. Of course, only time will tell (I am writing this is in late fall 2020).

Moreover, kettlebell swings take up very little room – so they are doable in a lot of different environments and settings – this could be great for anyone – especially musicians.

Sometimes, I’ll do a set of 10-40 swings as a practice break – it really helps to balance things out for me!

Practice Makes Progress!

In any case, I hope these ideas (that I am still practicing and seeking to improve upon) help you, too!

Of course, like I said before, always do what’s best for you, please consult with a qualified medical professional, and remember that everyone has different ways of doing things.

In any case, best wishes!

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