Proper Positioning
There are a few different positions that are applicable to overall guitar playing, be it:
1. Standing with a strap
2. Classical style
3. Standard style
Not only is it important in how you position your body in relation to the guitar, with fingerstyle it is even MORE important, because as we move through the program, there will be times that the way you sit or stand affects your overall finger dexterity. For all intensive purposes in this program, we'll assume that we will all be sitting down with the guitar. However, if you feel that you wish to stand, make sure you are using a strap and that the absolute bottom part of the guitar is positioned NO LOWER than your belt.
Here are some of the various positions you can try to find out which one is more comfortable to you.
1)Standing With A Strap
As one of my personal all-time favorite guitarists (Dave Matthews), I've found that this position is by far the most comfortable when standing with a guitar. As you can see, Dave keeps his guitar a little higher than some do, but doing this will most definitely allow you free range of movement.
Even if it is sometimes the popular thing to do, try your absolute best to keep the bottom of the body of the guitar no lower than your belt line or waist line. Trust me on this. It will get VERY difficult to play anything other than open chords or power chords, let alone barre chords. I don't feel that any of us will need to worry about whether our guitars are positioned logically. This isn't a rock guitar website, so I imagine you understand the necessity of proper positioning.
2)Classical Style (Sitting)
Fingerstyle virtuosos such as Christopher Parkening sit in the proper classical formation as seen below:
As you can see, he's positioned his guitar on his left knee, with the actual guitar held at a 45 degree angle. This allows for more comfort on both the fretting and picking hand. It also enables the guitarist to get a little closer to those intricate strings that must be plucked in the many various fashions needed for fingerstyle guitar. It is also very important not to 'slump' when playing fingerstyle guitar, as this will not only cause back issues but it will also hinder your fretting AND picking hand as well. If you aren't comfortable with this style, try it for a few days and if you still just can't handle it, proceed to the more 'standard' style.
3)Standard Style (Sitting)
This image shows the standard style of playing your guitar. This is by far the most common approach, but it tends to get a little difficult at times when playing classical or fingerstyle guitar.