"Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart."
- Andrés Segovia
That's how I've always played, although I've since learned that if you want volume, you've got to hold your guitar away from your chest otherwise you'll dampen the vibrations of the body of the guitar. I've really noticed that now that I have a true hand-carved archtop. That baby really vibrates!
Still, Segovia was a master and had excellent technique. Here's an old film of him playing Bach. Notice that there is no microphone set in front of his guitar (and there were no piezo pickups in that day). It does look like his chest is against the back of the guitar, but maybe not flat against it.
Recorded in 1956: Back's Suite Nš VI violoncello solo BWV 1012 Gavotas I & II
Here are some more of my favourite Segovia quotes:
"The guitar is small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice."
- Andrés Segovia
"When I began, the guitar was enclosed in a vicious circle. There were no composers writing for the guitar, because there were no virtuoso guitarists."
- Andrés Segovia
And the best quote from Segovia ever:
"I've had three wives and three guitars. I still play the guitars."
- Andrés Segovia
More information about Andrés Segovia can be found on Allmusic.com:
"Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart."
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