Top 7 Best Guitar Stools (or “Guitar Throne”, if you’re feeling awesome…)

The oft-overlooked, but so-essential guitar gear: the guitar stool.

Or maybe you call it a “guitar throne if” a) you happen to feel awesome today, or b) you’ve been hanging out with drummers lately (they insist on calling their stool a “throne”).

So Why Get a Special Guitar Stool?

Having a well-suited guitar stool helps you as a guitarist in a number of ways:

• It makes it easier to hold the guitar in a playable position.
• It’s more comfortable to play for longer periods.
• You’re able to interact with a recording studio desk or other gear.
• It physically lifts your body, freeing your diaphragm for better singing technique while you play.

Just Two Requirements

The main two things you want to avoid in a guitar stool are:

• Arms. Obviously, chair arms get in the way.
• Too low. Anything that decreases your knee angle below 90deg (your butt is below your knees) is going to make it difficult to play well, especially with an acoustic guitar.

Other than that, it’s really about preference and knowing the environment you’ll be playing in.

So here are the top 7 best guitar stools (or at least stool “types”, since there’s any number of Task Chairs out there like the Amazon selection below).

The Guitar Stools

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List

 

 

 

AmazonBasics Low-Back Task Chair

Product Description:

• Comfortable task chair upholstered in black fabric
• Padded seat and back for all-day comfort and support
• Pneumatic seat-height adjustment; 360-degree swivel; smooth-rolling casters
• 250-pound maximum weight capacity; assembly instructions included
• Measures 25.2 by 18.7 by 34.6 to 37.8 inches (LxWxH); 1-year limited warranty

Conclusion

The basic office chair. Comfortable, inexpensive. Well-suited to situations where you’re recording and switching between playing guitar, the computer, keyboard, etc.

View on Amazon >>

 

Torin TRP6185 Swivel Seat Shop/Bar Stool, Black

Product Description:

The Torin Big Red Swivel Stool features include a padded black vinyl swivel seat, a polished chrome plated heavy duty tubular steel base and a comfortable footrest.

• Black vinyl swivel seat, swivels 360 degrees for easy and efficient movement
• Chrome plated heavy duty steel frame
• Large 14 1/2 inch diameter cushioned seat is made of high density foam padding
• All four legs come with anti-slip protective caps
• Easy to assemble

Conclusion:

The classic bar stool with cushion top. Always in style, always comfortable.

View on Amazon>>

 

Gator Frameworks Combination Guitar Performance Seat and Single Guitar Stand (GFW-GTR-SEAT)

Product Description:

The Gator Frameworks GFW-GTR-SEAT combination guitar seat and single guitar stand provides a place to sit comfortably for you and your guitar. This heavy-duty combination boasts a 300-pound weight capacity and is a perfect height for any musician. The seat furnishes soft support with a durable, thick padded cushion and removable ergonomic backrest. A built-in safety pin ensures stability while the rubber no-slip feet keep you grounded. When actively playing, and using the seat the guitar stand on the bottom front legs neatly folds up and secures out of the way of your toe-tapping feet.

When it’s time to take a break, fold out the guitar stand and slip your guitar on to the finish friendly, rubberized arms and rest the neck against the soft micro-suede patch on the cushion. Removable, red safety rings are provided on the feet to reduce the Risk of tripping in dark venues or on shadowy stages. The collapsible, compact design makes it easy to pack up and store. For tighter storage areas simply remove the backrest to break down the seat even further. When traveling local or abroad consolidating equipment is always a challenge and the Gator Frameworks combination guitar seat and single guitar stand offers a winning combination.

• Guitar performance seat with built-in Guitar stand. Holds Acoustic, Electric and Bass Guitars
• Collapsible design with quick release pin for compact storage
• Durable, padded seat cushion with removable ergonomic backrest
• 300lb weight capacity
• Some assembly required, Hardware included

Conclusion:

Nice combination stand and seat, ideal for farmer’s markets, etc.

View on Amazon>>

 

Taylor 24″ Logo Barstool – Brown

Product Description:

The Taylor Barstool is a 24″ stool sports a padded swivel seat with a Taylor Guitars logo. The foot ring lets you get your leg into the perfect playing position. Spruce up your studio and add some cool and useable furniture with the Taylor Barstool.

• Barstool 24 inch
• The Taylor Barstool fully supports you and your music
• The classic design features a comfy, padded swivel seat in a black matte, vinyl finish with a gray Taylor logo
• A foot ring adds to your playing comfort
• 24 inch

Conclusion:

When you want your acoustic guitar man cave to FEEL like an acoustic guitar man cave, this is the one.

View on Amazon>>

 

Kitchen Counter Stool, 25″ counter stool, kitchen island stool, tiger maple, garny:

Product Description:

This is a 25″ high stool, designed for kitchen counters, kitchen island, playing an instrument or use it on stage. Hand carved from solid tiger maple wood following the anatomical curves of the human body. No pressure points, the whole surface of the stool will support the upper body.

• Legs are supported with traditional mortis and tenon joints with walnut wedge.
• The seat is a solid tiger maple 2″ thick and dyed with vintage orange.
• Legs and stretchers are ash, painted with black milk paint. Footrest is also tiger maple.
• Finished, first with multiple coats of tung oil and then carnauba – bees wax blend, so surface scratches can be buffed off.
• Height: 25″
• Sitting surface: width 17″, front to back: 15″

Conclusion:

A really beautiful, wooden, hand-made stool for those with money to burn.

View on Etsy>>

 

 

Guitar Stool/ Guitar Stand by Todd Fillingham

Product Description:

A stool that holds your guitar when you are not playing it. Your guitar is always ready even if you only have a few minutes to sit, relax and play a few chords before getting on with your day. Hardwood surfaces (walnut and ash) are finished with a custom, hand rubbed finish that improves with age and use. The pads are natural felt and cork and will not damage your guitar’s finish. Stability is enhanced with a counter weight under the front of the seat. Works best as a stand for hollow body guitars.

• Handmade item
• Materials: wood, walnut, ash, felt, cork, yacht braid

Conclusion:

A TRULY beautiful, wooden, hand-made stool and stand combination. For those with even more money to burn.

View on Etsy>>

 

Curvy & Swervy in Cherry-n-Walnut Bar Stools:

Product Description:

These handsome and sturdy stools can be customized for you in any height, wood(s), or stain color. The curvy seats are comfortable and composed of walnut and the base is solid cherry. The standard height, ready-to-ship immediately is 31″ from floor to base of the seat but we can size them for you quickly! The stools include no-scuff feet for hard floors and they include heavy duty swivels for years and years of smooth operation. These stools include heavy duty swivels for years and years of twirling in your seat! The seats are a VERY comfortable 18″ wide.

• Handmade item
• Materials: Wood, Walnut, Cherry, Maple

Conclusion:

A curvey chair for those who want that. Decent cost, decent quality.

View on Etsy>>

 

Interested in more acoustic gear recommendations? Check out the Gear page or look at my own simple rig for acoustic guitar.

Do you have another guitar stool you love?  Let us know in the comments below!

The post Top 7 Best Guitar Stools (or “Guitar Throne”, if you’re feeling awesome…) appeared first on The Guitar Journal.

How To Use A Guitar Capo…In 97 Seconds

A guitar capo is essentially a clamp for the guitar neck, which depresses all (or some) of the strings at a given fret. The guitar capo is usually just called a “capo”, short for capo d’astro (Italian) – “the head of the fretboard”.

The main advantage of a capo is that it shortens the playable length of the guitar string, raising the “open” tuning of the guitar. The result is that the player can now use normal “open” chord shapes in a new key, yielding the big, beautiful, resonant sounding chords that we’re used to in standard open position.

Why Use a Capo?

Basically…because they make chords sound better. And they make life easier. Especially on acoustic guitars. And, truly, capos are used mostly on acoustic guitars. That’s for two reasons:

1. Capos allow you to play open chords in different keys on the neck then normal. The sonic benefit of this – bigger sounding chords, ringing pedal tones, creative voicings, the overtones and resonance – is most beneficial on acoustic guitar.
2. The ability to finger big open chord positions is more difficult on an acoustic than an electric due to the higher action and thicker strings (usually). So the physical benefit to the guitar player is greatest on an acoustic guitar.
   
   For example, playing a full B Major barre chord at the 7th position is fine on an electric, but can be tiring on an acoustic. Much better just to put the capo at the 5th fret and play the shape of a regular “E Major” chord, right?

How Do Capos Work?

As stated, a guitar capo is a clamp that is place on the neck of the guitar. Almost all capos cover all strings at a given fret when they’re applied. And they can be moved to any fret desired (until you run into the body of the guitar up past the 12th fret).

When you apply the capo and strum the open strings, you’re no longer strumming E – A – D – G – B – E as in normal standard tuning. You’re strumming the note values at the new fret where you place the capo.

For example, if you place it at the 5th fret, the open strings are now A – D – G – C – E – A.

This is the reason for the name: capo d’astro. You’ve artificially moved the “head of the fretboard” up to a new position.

What Chords Do I Play?

The trick to using a guitar capo is picturing your open chords (G, C, E, D, A) as shapes instead of unique chords with a set value. You’ve probably done this already – you keep your fingers in the open “G” chord shape, but move it up the neck to, say…the 7th fret. What does it sound like? Probably not that good. The notes that you’re fretting sound fine, but the open strings in the middle are now the wrong open strings (unless you’re messing with alternate tunings, but nevermind that for now).

This is where the capo comes in. If you move that “G” chord shape up to the 7th fret, and apply the capo where the nut of the guitar WOULD have been in your original position, voila! You’ve reproduced the entire “G” shape at the 7th fret. Its sounds amazing.

But what is that chords name, now? It looks like a G, but it sounds like a concert pitch B. That is to say, it would be the same as a B chord on a piano.

How Do You Figure Out What The New Chord Actually Is?

You need to know a tiny bit of theory, and a bit about the fretboard.

1. The Theory: The building blocks Western music are semi-tones. A semi-tone is essentially one key on the piano. If you move to the right or left on the piano, to the closest white or black key, you’ve moved one semi-tone. And the next key is one more. Chords and scales are created by choosing to play certain semi-tones at specific intervals, and skipping the ones in between.
2. The Fretboard: Each fret on your guitar equals one semi-tone. Going up one fret on a string is like moving to the next key on the piano.

What does this mean? It means that in order to get the new value of your capo-ed chord you have to count how many semi-tones you’ve moved the capo up the neck.

Example:
If you put the capo at the 5th fret, you can still play an “E” shape there. But since you’ve moved the capo up 5 frets (semi-tones) from normal open position, the value of the “E” shape has moved up 5 semi-tones as well. You can do this in your head, or you can sit at a piano for a second and just plunk it out. E… F….F#….G…G#….A! The E shape at the 5th fret is 5 semi-tones up from E, it’s an A chord.

Once you’ve worked out this logic for a given key, it becomes intuitive to transpose entire songs. If you’re going to start with one key, I would work on moving the chords shapes in the key of “G” around (G, C, D, Em). There’s a ton of folk and country tunes that use these chord shapes to create a cool sound.
.

Note: Capos Are Not Cheating

There’s a school of thought, particularly from a jazz backbround, that capos are cheating. This line of thinking says, You should be able to play in any key, anywhere on the neck, at any time.

But this isn’t true. Well, at least it isn’t true outside of jazz.

Sure, in jazz a single song may go through a half dozen keys (I’m looking at you, Giant Steps), so capos don’t make sense. But in many other styles, capos are simply another tool of the trade to make excellent sounding music. And in certain styles, especially folk and country, capos are neccessary to capturing the unique “sound” of the genre.

 

Recommended Capo:

 

The Shubb Deluxe Series GC-30 is your best bet. It’s only a few dollars (approx. $15) more than the spring-loaded competition, but it gives you better intonation by evenly applying pressure to all the strings.

View on Amazon >>

Watch Video Lessons:

Let Trace Bundy help you have fun with capos. Her video lesson series will help you see and hear how it all works.

View Lessons >>

A Nice Song Example:

Check out If I Had A Boat by Lyle Lovett. He puts the capo up at the 9th fret, and uses “G” shape chords to play this pretty song in the key of E.

Link to Tab >>

…Why 97 seconds?

Because it was how long it took me to read through this article when publishing it : )

 

Thoughts? Questions? Let us know in the comments below!

The post How To Use A Guitar Capo…In 97 Seconds appeared first on The Guitar Journal.