Over the past few weeks i have been changing up my position when playing solo guitar. Usually i play in the more common position, guitar on the right knee, pretty parallel to the ground.
With this position my picking hand seems to fall naturally to that space between the soundhole and the bridge. Not overly bad, and to me my hand feels more “secure” there, perhaps due to the higher string tension. But i think this makes my tone a bit more bright and crisp than i would like.
So i have switched up to the classical position. That is when one uses a footstool, or in this case, my guitar case, to prop up the left leg, putting the guitar at more of an angle. It feels more natural for me to position my hand directly over the sound hole this way, getting more of that “sweet spot” where the guitar sounds big and warm. It also seems to put my hand at ore of a 90 degree angle to the strings, which seems to improve the tone a bit. I also dont tend to slouch over the guitar as much this way, is better for me and probably lets it resonate more.
Some folks have reported problems using a foot stool, apparently having their foot elevated like that is bad for the hip and spine. I never had that problem when i studied classical guitar in high school and college, but i dont want to have to cart a footstool around with me everywhere. I am looking into getting something like the Ergoplay sometime. I have tried similar products, and they were quite comfortable.
regular position
Classical position