Learning the correct way to hold your guitar can mean the difference between making something easier to play and making something harder to play on guitar. Once you learn how to properly position your guitar, learning to play will feel intuitive and natural.

Step 1: Find a comfortable chair without arms. This will give you more freedom to move around while you're playing the guitar.

Step 2: Place the guitar on the top of your right knee. If you were left handed, you would place the guitar on the top of your left knee.

Step 3: Tilt the guitar back towards you slightly. This limits the amount of stretching your left hand has to do while playing and therefore making the instrument easier to play than if it were tilted away from you.

Step 4: Your strumming hand should rest comfortably on the guitar in such a way that your wrist is poised right above the pickups (or sound hole on acoustics).

Step 5: The neck should be parallel to the floor. You will get the most comfort and playing versatility out of holding the guitar this way.

Step 6: Make sure that the thickest string is the string that's closest to you. This holds true for both right and left handed guitars.

Step 7: With your left hand (or right hand if you're left handed), place your thumb on the back of the guitar neck, right in the middle. This way, your fingers will curl around the neck easily and comfortably to put you in the correct playing position.