I sort of wish there was some way to have a toggle shield mode instead of having to hold down the L1 button(xbox 360) all of the time.

I suppose one could buy a rapid fire xbox 360 controller but I am not sure there is any wireless controller out there with the ability to toggle a button down or not.

There is always tape.

Seems way too risky.
Because you regen stamina much more slowly with a shield up and some of the toughter enemies and/or bosses will drain your stamina in 1-3 hits if blocking, leaving you open and staggering for a followup attack.
Plus your own attacks will leave you drained with the shield always up too.

You should learn not to have your shield up all the time. It really only needs to be up when running into a new area and before an enemy is going to attack you.

I played through Demon's Souls with a permanent death grip on L1 and it wasn't until my NG+ that I realized this isn't the best way to do things.  I still keep my shield up a lot, I mean when exploring a new area it can be a lifesaver if an enemy catches you off guard, but when actually fighting you need to be able to put your shield down otherwise your stamina will be drained in no time leaving wipe open to take massive damage.
 
Plus it is often a much more efficient use of stamina to roll away from an attack rather than take the hit to your shield.

Should learn to put you shield down between their attacks, allows you to last them a lot longer. Keeping your shield up all the time is going to get you knocked around a lot more.

Very good point about the Stamina bit.

I am like pjaco above with the death grip on the L1 button, afraid of something popping out and insta-killing me. Maybe I am being overly paranoid.

You really only need to hold your shield up when you're walking forward into unknown territory, or when an enemy is about to attack and you don't want to roll. Other than that let your finger take a vacation in the time between. It's not much but it'll help.

@pjacobson21 said:

I played through Demon's Souls with a permanent death grip on L1 and it wasn't until my NG+ that I realized this isn't the best way to do things. I still keep my shield up a lot, I mean when exploring a new area it can be a lifesaver if an enemy catches you off guard, but when actually fighting you need to be able to put your shield down otherwise your stamina will be drained in no time leaving wipe open to take massive damage. Plus it is often a much more efficient use of stamina to roll away from an attack rather than take the hit to your shield.

While I agree that putting down the shield to regenerate stamina quickly is key, I don't 100% agree about the efficiency of blocking vs. rolling.

A good shield with a good amount of stability rating will not use much stamina to absorb a strike. Not only that, but inducing a block stun is a safe and effective way to pick your strikes safely to maximize your survival and safety. While yes, rolling and going for a backstab (which not every enemy can have done to them) can net a higher damage output, it's also much more risky, and of course you're going to need the world geography to be open enough to allow the roll. There's numerous points in the game where I know rolling is definitely not going to be viable (narrow corridors, narrow bridges, tightrope situations). But to be fair, there's just as many points where I wish I had the quickness to roll and evade from attacks as well, so it comes down to situation and play-style.

I'm a firm believer in clicking the right joystick over holding the shield down forever. If I can lock onto an enemy that's somewhat hidden I can generally roll out of the way from them.