RS Recommends
The Best Folding Stands to Keep Your Guitar or Bass at Arm’s Length
Display your guitar or bass while keeping it off the ground
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If you play your guitar or bass frequently, you’ll understand the annoyance of having to take it out of its case each time you want to play. You could keep it out, but that would leave it vulnerable to scratches, bumps, and other accidental damage.
Folding stands, which can be used with electric, acoustic, and bass guitars are a nice middle ground. They’re pretty small and light, and can be folded up and stored when not in use. Their portability also makes them an excellent choice for musicians who frequently move their instruments from a practice area to a recording space.
When you’re not using your guitar, keep it propped up on the stand so you don’t put your pricey instrument on the ground. Playing a show and need to quickly switch between guitars? Having a good guitar stand nearby makes it easy to grab and go. The best guitar stands also allow you to display everything in front of you, say, when you’re doing an inventory of your gear, or when you want to add a touch of musical decor to your studio or room.
What You Need to Know Before Buying Folding Guitar Stands
There are many factors to think about when choosing the right folding guitar stands for you; below are the most important ones, which we considered while we were researching this list.
Portability: All of the folding guitar stands in our guide are easy to carry with you, but they vary in size and weight. Think about this if you’re planning on moving your instrument around a lot.
Capacity: Some of the stands in our guide are meant to hold one guitar, but we’ve also found an option if you want to keep all of your instruments on a single stand.
If you want to keep your instrument of choice at arm’s length while reducing the chances of it tipping over, check out our favorite folding guitar stand recommendations.
1. AmazonBasics Guitar Folding Stand
AmazonBasics’ foldable guitar stand is an excellent choice if you have a single instrument.
The stand is 14.6 inches tall and 8.12 inches wide when fully extended, which puts it in the middle of the pack portability-wise. You can adjust its arms to three different widths to accommodate different-sized instruments — acoustics guitars are always bigger than electric ones — which is a nice touch.
The stand has an “A” shape, which means its back is tall enough to cradle the bottom of your guitar. Its arms are padded to keep your guitar from getting damaged when you pick it up and place it down, and its feet are rubberized, so it doesn’t move around and scratch your floors. The stand’s arms are curved at the end to prevent your instrument from slipping out. You can fold this stand into itself to become pretty compact, but its square shape is a little awkward to carry.
It may not have a flashy look, but AmazonBasics’ folding guitar stand is a solid choice for most people. It’s pretty small, but has a ton of smart design features that make it our top pick.
Pros: Padded arms, rubberized feet, three width settings.
Cons: Its design is somewhat plain.
2. Hercules EZ Pack Guitar Stand
If you take your instrument around with you a lot, Hercules’ EZ Pack Guitar Stand is the right option for you.
At 10.24 inches tall and 4.33 inches wide, it’s the smallest folding guitar stand in our guide. It has a similar “A” shaped design to AmazonBasics’ stand, but it won’t cradle the entire bottom part of your guitar. Instead, you can use clips on the stand’s feet to adjust it to the appropriate width. The hard rubber contacts at the end of the feet will keep your instrument in place without scratching it.
When it’s not in use, you can fold the front and back of this stand’s feet up toward the center, and then close it to create an incredibly compact package. When closed, the stand measures just 11 inches tall, which Hercules says is small enough to fit into a backpack. At the very least, you could probably fit the compressed stand into the accessories pouch of a soft guitar case.
Beyond that, this stand is extremely basic. It doesn’t have rubberized feet to keep it from scratching your floor, and its hard plastic may not be as durable as of the other stands we recommend. Still, it’s a highly compact option, and the right pick if you’re really space constrained or constantly on the go.
Pros: The stand can fold in onto itself to be incredibly portable and you can adjust its width.
Cons: Its plastic shell may show wear over time.
3. Pyle Foldable Multi Guitar Stand
If you’ve got multiple guitars and basses, and don’t have enough space to keep them in cases at all times, this guitar stand is your best bet.
At 35 inches long and 20.9 inches wide, it’s by far the largest stand we recommend, but it can hold seven instruments. The frame of the stand is metal, which means it should hold up well over time, but its base and arms are padded to prevent damage. This stand supports your instruments from both the bottom and fretboard, and small padded bars keep each one from bumping into the others.
This stand has padded feet to prevent it from scratching your floors, and folds forward to become somewhat more compact. It’ll still take up a fair amount of space — you won’t be taking this stand to your gigs — but you can lean it up against a wall, or in a walk-in closet, when it’s not in use. If you have some additional room, and want to keep every instrument you own as accessible as possible, this stand gets our recommendation.
Pros: Can hold multiple instruments at once, ample padding on the bottom and top bars, can hold several instruments at once.
Cons: Pretty big even when it’s folded.