(upbeat guitar music)
- Hey this is John Dryer.
In this video we're gonna look at connecting
and adjusting your guitar or bass strap.
Let me preface this by saying that these are suggestions.
These are tips on adjusting your strap
so you can play standing up as comfortably as sitting down.
Now there are a lot of options for straps.
Fender alone offers some really cool designs
using materials like leather, nylon,
and suede just to name a few.
The guitar strap is sometimes just as important
as the guitar.
You can match the color of the guitar.
You can add your name or just go for the craziest design
to stand out or make a statement.
The strap I have here is the Fender Houndstooth Jacquard.
It's available in a few different colors
and it's pretty cool.
So a lot of us,
including myself, do their practicing sitting down.
And with that we get really used to having the guitar
in this position.
So it makes a lot of sense to adjust the strap
so that when you're standing the guitar is roughly
in that same spot.
That'll give you the most comfortable playing stance.
All right so as an example I'm gonna hold the guitar
in place against my body here and then when I stand up
and I'll let it go and you can see it's roughly
in that same spot.
It moves a little bit but that's okay.
Then when I play
you can see the position that my arms are in.
So when I sit back down they're roughly again
in that same position.
So comfortable sitting and comfortable standing.
As far as adjusting the strap
with the model that I have here
if I need to extend it out I can just grab the buckle
and pull it this way.
Then I can make sure the end goes to the end there.
So I have a longer strap.
Now if I need to shorten it,
I can grab the strap this way and go opposite.
I can go back and pick up all that slack there.
And then extend the end out.
And then I have a shorter strap.
Now with the leather or the suede straps
it's a little bit different how you adjust them.
They actually have this little loop on here.
So to back off and move it down,
just gonna pull this back out.
Thread it through, take it completely outta the strap.
All right then I can move it down a few notches,
it's kind of a trial and error.
You'll have to
adjust it and then maybe readjust once you get
the guitar back on.
So I'm gonna thread it through both parts.
Comes through.
I'm just gonna pull that tight.
And then through one more time on the other side so
complete that loop.
And there you go.
Let's quickly review how the guitar strap
attaches to the guitar onto the end pins.
Now if the guitar strap has a logo end like this one does,
I like that to face out.
So pull that over my shoulder
and then we're gonna open that up and attach it
to the pin and then pull up to make sure its secure.
There we go, now the other end
we'll take that over to the other end pin.
And in the same fashion
attach that and then pull up to make sure it's secure.
There we go.
All right so if your guitar does not come with strap pins
like some of the older acoustics or even classical acoustics
don't have strap pins so you can actually tie the strap on.
So most straps come with a string.
So that what we'd wanna do is put the string
behind the nut.
Now it's important that you go under the strings.
So then go up.
All right connect these two.
You're gonna tie it in a simple knot,
like so.
And then you are good to go.
(strong guitar music)
Some players prefer to wear a strap
when they're sitting down as I am right now.
As a way to have it feel a little bit more secure.
And that's totally cool.
So for me at home the strap is always attached
to my favorite Telle.
I use it while sitting down
and if I'm gonna go jam with some friends
the guitar is ready to go already with the strap attached.
Even if you're used to playing while sitting on the floor
where the guitar sits a little higher on you
if that's what works for you
you should adjust your guitar strap
to hang around that same height when standing.
If you're going for comfort and ease of playing
that's probably your best bet.
All right thanks for watching.
Go check out some of the cool strap options
on Fender.com and stay tuned here for more videos.
We'll see you soon.