i just started seriously working on my alternate picking speed, and i noticed i hold the guitar differently than some people. Im working on pavel's ionian scale speedpicking lesson, and in all of his lessons his guitar's curve is on his left leg, more of a classical guitar pose. I however, hold my guitar with the curve on the right leg, like Gabriel, but with the head slightly angled upward. Does holding the guitar like this affect my playing speed?

Very good question!! Im guessing its down to indivdual prefrence and playing style. I know Pavel is influenced by super human shredders such as Rusty Cooley , Michael Angelo Baito, and Michael Romeo to name a few who also opt for the classical position

But then on the flip side of the coin there are awe inspireing shredders such as muris, who hold it on the right leg and definatly have no speed limit !!! Looking at legendary shredders like Paul Gilbert, Yngqie Malmseen, Vai, Buckethead etc they opt for this pose too.

So Im guessing (and it is a guess) what its all down the style and prefence you go after

I got that Rusty Cooley's instructional DVD called BASIC TRAINING 2 days ago and there he explains why holding your guitar on your left leg is better.

That way all you need to do is raise your hands and play - having your guitar on right leg constantly keeps you busy with holding your guitar in the position you want. Stretches and high access also suffer with right leg position as you have to totally deform your body to get up there and hit correct notes - not to talk about some tricky patterns.

Sitting naturally and straight doesn't affect your health (which seriously suffer with lots of hours of sitting) so if you sit like you've been hit by a huge hammer with your back deformed all you're gonna get is a pain in the back.

Preferences is all cool but there is the CORRECT part and INCORRECT part in it no matter how somebody plays.

Holly,has someone just called me a shredder??

I don't like having guitar on the left leg,seems too official.
It's just my personal opinion tho.
But be sure not to hurt your back as well!!
So if you feel pain with guitar on your left leg,go for the right one and see the results.

I have mine rested on my right leg but iam a lefty i find it a lot easier to play that way i have more freedom of movement

IT depends on the constitution of the players body and the shape of the guitar mostly. Players over the years find the way that suits them the best. You must find a way that suits you the best, thats all. I tend to keep my guitar on the right leg, but right leg high up when I practice. It really depends how big the guitar is, and how your own body is constituited in realtionship to the guitar itself.

+ 1 Body constitution.

I felt pain in my back with it on my left leg, also i felt like I had to hunch over. With my right leg I feel upright and my back is straight and rested.

Having the guitar on right leg seems to imitade standing up much more. You have frets closer to your body. Same position as standing up. It felt very weird having to raising your arm/hand to reach more far out (when on left leg). That doesn´t feel very ergonomic.

And also, when on left leg the guitar tends to slip away from leg. So there is this constant strain sort of keeping it in place. But maby that´s just my shape of body, might work better for others.

As for Pavels statement. I tried and I didn´t have to change position at all while shifting from high frets, to low and the other way around. So right leg forever for me