This invention relates to devices to aid a guitar player or other instrumentalist in maintaining a proper and comfortable posture while playing a guitar or similar string instrument. The invention is more particularly concerned with a pad or cushion to assist the player in maintaining the guitar or other instrument in proposer position with the body of the guitar resting on the musician's upper leg when the musician is in a seated position.
The classical acoustic guitar, that is, an instrument based on the traditional Spanish guitar, is typically played while seated and with the instrument placed on the thigh of the player's left leg. The left foot is typically supported on a footstool or block to bring the guitar to a position central to the musician's torso, with the guitar turned slightly to the right and resting against the player's ribs at his or her right side. The seating posture is critical to the playing position, in order to achieve physical stability of the instrument; freedom of both the right and left hands so they can meet the technical demands of playing music, without having to be occupied with supporting the instrument or keeping it properly oriented; and elimination of any undue stress or tension to the musician while in the playing position.
A number of guitar support devices have been proposed to assist the classic guitar player in this regard. Guitar supports have been proposed with straps or cushions to rest on the player's leg and with a frame or other member that rises above the leg strap or cushion to hold the instrument at an elevated position. Typical examples of these are presented in Jiang et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,732,689; Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,150; Olson U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,492; Driggers et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,062; and Proctor U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,933. These devices have been difficult or clumsy to use and have not become popular. An L-shaped cushion or support pad for a guitar or other stringed instrument for relieving pain from contact with the instrument is shown in Gaston U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,167. This device is rather bulky and may need to be adjusted to the player. Also, none of the foregoing approaches have paid any attention to the need to maintain free ventilation of air to the player's leg and to permit perspiration vapor from the player's leg to be vented away freely.