Now that you have mastered the basic positions, you'll have to choose the one that you feel most comfortable with. To avoid injury, remember to stick to proper positioning and not let your body get lazy and start to slump. Here are a few pointers on what not to do when positioning yourself for guitar play:

• When sitting, do not lean forward. This posture will only cause muscle pains after continuous playing.

• When standing, don't hold the guitar so low that you have to stoop low to play it. Keep it up near your chest between your neck and waist.

• Remember not to press harder on the neck than you need to produce a clear note.

• Don't hold the guitar behind your head. It looked cool on Jimi Hendrix, but it's not very practical in the end.

• Don't try to hold the guitar between your legs or on top of your head. Once again, it looks cool, but it's not very practical.

Guitar tricks and strange guitar contortions may be intriguing in music videos, but they are not practical for good guitar playing and can actually cause injury to the inexperienced player. To get the most out of your guitar and optimize its sound quality, you'll need to respect the instrument (and your body) and hold it correctly.