After the 25th June Musical Nite, a student told me that he screwed up his songs because he was performing standing on stage, so unfamiliar with that position since he always sits in his room to practise.

Why is it harder for me to play guitar / keyboard standing or sitting?

Answer

Sitting and standing put your hands and arms in 2 different positions. If you do most of your practice sessions in the siting position, then when you try and stand up you will find it awkward. Try practicing in the standing position half the time. This will let your hands and arms become more familiar with playing in this position. Or another way of doing it is to wear your guitar strap over your shouder no matter when you are sitting or standing palying it, making sure the position of the guitar is similar. The strap is used to ensure the guitar position is hung exactly the same when you are standing. One very important thing is when you practise, do not sit in a low position, the height of the place you are sitting should be higher than the ground at least at the length from your knee to your foot. For exmaple, you should not sit on a mattress on the floor to practise, as it is too close to the ground, by doing this, your guitar will be very near to your upper chest (chin) and it will bring calamitous effect in your positioning..

For keyboard, to practise your songs in your own confinement of your room standing for one hour is ridiculous, on the other hand, performing on stage sitting for 3 songs also does not look really cool. So try to pratise both sitting and standing. And there is no strap for large scale keyboard :-)

Also make sure that you don't have your guitar hung way down low (like Jimmy Page or Slash). It may look cool but it puts your hands in a very bad position. (Even though Jimmy Page pulled it off quite nicely). or, unless you have long arms and strong fingers.