The Fifth Fret

Chairs are a huge pain in the neck for playing guitar. You have normal wooden chairs like you would find in most dining rooms that eventually become uncomfortable, you have office chairs that usually have arms that get in the way, you have couches that you sink too far back into, or sit so far on the edge that it isn’t comfortable that way either, you have the classic stool, and you have the ridiculously expensive chairs that are “made for musicians” and feature music stands that are attached to the seat, cup holders and a hefty price tag.

Overall, sitting down is pain in the butt (pun intended).

I accidentally stumbled upon the solution though. My daughter insisted that I hang out in her bedroom and spend time with her. I’m inclined to oblige most times but I really wanted to get some playing in (this was months ago) so I pulled up her average sized pink beanbag and tried to position myself comfortably on it. Any adult will tell you that the normal sized bean bags aren’t the best for bigger bodies like people over the age of twelve tend to have and I certainly would have appreciated more real estate but once I was situated I realized that this was the answer to long durations of playing. My body was pleasantly supported and I had access to the guitar in all the right ways. The neck wasn’t awkwardly positioned, the body wasn’t jutting out or tucked in at an unreasonable angle. I felt amazingly comfortable and I also felt like I could sit there and play for hours.

Looking around, there are a lot of gamers that talk about bean bags from a company called Sumo and looking at their offerings, you’ll see that “bean bag” is an understatement since they offer full fledged bean COUCHES, but still, it seems to be the best place for adult-sized bean bags.

Obviously bean bags are out in terms of recording, they’re inherently noisy, but they still offer something pretty valuable to those of us that like to noodle at home watching TV with our loved ones only now we’ll be much more comfortable when we do it.

I think it’s an awesome idea, but Sumo’s stuff is a bit pricey. I don’t have one so I can’t comment personally on their quality but if it works for the guys from Sarcastic Gamer and Dueling Analogs say they stand up and vouch for them, I believe it.

There is always the possibility that a bean bag regardless of size would be looked down on as home decor, but speaking as a parent and an owner of razor-equipped cats who LOVE our couches, decor is no longer super important to me and I could probably even justify this as something for the kids to bounce on when I’m not home or using it.

In the end as it was time to move the party outside to the nearest park I looked back to that pink bean bag and thought the answer was so simple it was ridiculous.

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