How you hold the guitar.....

[onewilyfool]

I was at Eric Schoenberg's guitar store, and he was showing me that to get the best sound out of the guitar, you don't rest the back of the guitar against your chest, but leave a space???!!! Now I've always liked the feel of a guitar against my chest, especially an older lighter guitar where you can really feel the vibrations, but you know, he's right. It does sound better when the guitar is away from the chest. Another thing I tried was putting my head behind the back of the guitar, making a G chord, and strumming it with my ears behind the soundhole on the back of the guitar. Very interesting voice for your guitar. All this being said, I will probably keep the guitar against my chest, especially with the Jumbos, cause it is just more comfy, and it may be too late to teach an old dog new tricks....

[jedzep]

That's the beauty of playing with a strap in the sitting position. It can be stabilized at an angle to your gut and thigh that leaves most of the back untouched. Watching classical players, like the amazing Ana Vidovic, you can see they cradle it in such a way as to free the back up at a near perpendicular orientation to floor. When I play standing however, there's no geometry that'll keep my old beer belly out of the way.

[MissouriPicker]

That's a good point about not having your guitar against you stomach/chest, and it can easily be done when you're sitting-down and also wearing the aforementioned guitar strap. Most people likely don't even think about it. However, I find it more difficult to do when I'm standing. The guitar just hangs there against me.