A question for lefties

[jdd707]

My buddy wants to teach his almost 10 year old grandson to play guitar. His grandson is a leftie. So, does he 1) buy a left handed guitar or 2) teach him to play in a conventional manner using a standard right handed guitar? Is number two (his preference) possible? Is that forcing an unnatural thing? What are the issues here? Do we need a scientific study?

 

Any recommendations for a first instrument for a 10 year old? His budget is about $300. Baby Taylor, Baby Martin, others? Go full size, perhaps a 00 or OM, and let him grow to it?

[Buc McMaster]

Ok, so, first things first............your buddy wants to teach his grandson to play guitar......but does the grandson want to learn? The answer to that would be part of the answer to "which one?" How big a 10-year-old is he? Ought to have the largest guitar he can comfortably handle, at least a 24.75 scale with body size determined by the arm length of he who will be reaching around it. $300 will buy a pretty nice first guitar these days........

 

The lefty part is a toss up. Hand him your guitar (if you haven't already) and see which way he turns it........one way will feel "right" early on to most first timers. But the trade off is hunting for hard to find lefthanded guitars. Most lefties can learn to play rightie if taught that way; it's just motor skills in the beginning, and one hand can be taught as well as the other. I've met a few lefty-playing-righty guys and they do just fine. If he has a strong inclination to hold the guitar upside down, it's hard to tell 'im otherwise. Hand him a guitar, hanging by the headstock, and see what happens..............

[JuanCarlosVejar]

Ok, so, first things first............your buddy wants to teach his grandson to play guitar......but does the grandson want to learn? The answer to that would be part of the answer to "which one?" How big a 10-year-old is he? Ought to have the largest guitar he can comfortably handle, at least a 24.75 scale with body size determined by the arm length of he who will be reaching around it. $300 will buy a pretty nice first guitar these days........

 

The lefty part is a toss up. Hand him your guitar (if you haven't already) and see which way he turns it........one way will feel "right" early on to most first timers. But the trade off is hunting for hard to find lefthanded guitars. Most lefties can learn to play rightie if taught that way; it's just motor skills in the beginning, and one hand can be taught as well as the other. I've met a few lefty-playing-righty guys and they do just fine. If he has a strong inclination to hold the guitar upside down, it's hard to tell 'im otherwise. Hand him a guitar, hanging by the headstock, and see what happens..............

 

+1

[rbachman]

jdd707 .....

I am lefty. I sarted righty because I was told it was best. I struggled playing a righty. I put on new strings and converted my classical to be lefty.

 

The lefty vs. righty thing has been done a lot of times before and from "my" experience, I would never have gone as far being a righty player. I "feel" that I need my left hand to be doing pinpoint flatpicking or doing proper rhythm !!!

 

And there are so many sources for lefty guitars now. You can order from Jerry' Lefty Guitars or Musician's Friend and be able to give them a shot!!

[JuanCarlosVejar]

jdd707 .....

I am lefty. I sarted righty because I was told it was best. I struggled playing a righty. I put on new strings and converted my classical to be lefty.

 

The lefty vs. righty thing has been done a lot of times before and from "my" experience, I would never have gone as far being a righty player. I "feel" that I need my left hand to be doing pinpoint flatpicking or doing proper rhythm !!!

 

And there are so many sources for lefty guitars now. You can order from Jerry' Lefty Guitars or Musician's Friend and be able to give them a shot!!

 

exactly , that's why paul mccartney plays left handed too ... he couldn't get strumming right with his right hand.

same goes for me . i tried but I just couldn't

[Buc McMaster]

There are a few of us wrong-handed players around here......

 

And yes, it's true that the pick hand (the left in our case) is the underrated of the two. A competent fretboard hand can make nice stuff happen on a six string, but a well-educated pick hand can make the difference. It is the pick hand that creates the nuances of guitar playing, being it done with a pick or the fingers. The pick hand is really what differentiates one player from another. Most players can make chord shapes on the fretboard and change easily from one to the other, and whether you're right or left handed, the chords are pretty much the same. It's how the pick hand attacks those chords that make the difference, and this too applies to right and left handed players. The attack on the strings is what can make a player unique, imparting flavor and personality to a playing style. Is the left hand better for this job in a lefty player? I dunno....maybe in some cases, maybe not in others.....

[dhanners623]

I'm of two minds on this. Actually three. I'm a lefty who plays "upside down and backwards," i.e., I hold the guitar in a way that a righty would consider upside down. My treble strings are closest to the ceiling, bass strings closest to the floor.

 

I taught myself to play and when I first picked up the guitar, it's just the way that felt natural. Plus, the guitar I taught myself to play on was an old Stella that didn't have a pickguard, so I didn't know I had it upside down. A few observations I can make after all these years is that, by and large, there's really no huge difference in the way I play and the way a righty plays. There are no chords that are particularly difficult. Travis picking can be a challenge and you're never going to get very good with a thumbpick. But -- and this is a big consideration -- you can walk into any guitar store and pick up a guitar and play it. As acoustics go, the only big issues are cutaways (which I hate on acoustics anyway) and pickguards. I've learned how to remove pickguards and make lefty ones, though. Electrics are a different matter. When I've owned electrics, I've always bought lefties and had the strings changed around to righty.

 

I get a sound that I think is perfectly "normal" (you can check out my YouTube channel and judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/user/dhanners23?feature=mhee) and I can do finger-style stuff, too. I've known a couple of upside-down lefties who I think were taught by righty teachers and they do everything with upstrokes, trying to get that right-handed sound. In the opinion of this gentle herald, I never thought those players sounded good.

 

He could learn to play purely left-handed, on a guitar with the strings reversed. It may be easier to take lessons this way since a righty can teach you since you're just doing a mirror version of what a righty is doing. You can use a thumbpick. One of the drawbacks, though, is that the guitars you can choose from is fairly limited. I've walked into well-stocked guitar stores that didn't carry a single lefty instrument.

 

The third route is to just learn right-handed. There is something to this, I believe, and a couple of the best guitarists I know are left-handed but play right-handed. When you're learning the guitar -- especially if you're very young -- both sides of your brain are learning new things, so starting out, there may not really be that big of a difference between learning right-handed and learning left-handed. Given that, you might as well learn right-handed since it will cause you fewer headaches down the road. And it actually might be good for your brain.

[Southpaw29]

If his natural instinct is to play lefty, I would let him. Though it is a big disadvantage when it comes to availability of guitars (though it can be fun to search), if it's too frustrating, he may give it up. My 10 year old daughter has been playing for almost 3 years and I still have to push her. I'm waiting for that day when it really takes hold of her. Wouldn't want to have to teach her with her opposite hand.

[music4love]

My husband is a lefty. He doesn't play guitar but I've noticed that he eats and writes lefty. When it comes to racquetball, tennis, football, and basketball he is a lefty. But oddly when it comes to baseball and golf he is a righty.

So I think it hard to guess how these things will turn out.

I would suggest ordering a left and right hand version of the same inexpensive model from GC. They have a very generous 30 day return policy. Let him try them both for a while. It should become obviously clear which is best. Return the other for a full refund. No harm, no foul. Question answered.

[dhanners623]

My husband is a lefty. He doesn't play guitar but I've noticed that he eats and writes lefty. When it comes to racquetball, tennis, football, and basketball he is a lefty. But oddly when it comes to baseball and golf he is a righty.

So I think it hard to guess how these things will turn out.

I would suggest ordering a left and right hand version of the same inexpensive model from GC. They have a very generous 30 day return policy. Let him try them both for a while. It should become obviously clear which is best. Return the other for a full refund. No harm, no foul. Question answered.

 

I'm curious about the baseball and golf thing. Does he through a baseball right-handed, or just bad right-handed? Batting is more an issue of eye dominance than handedness. I throw left-handed but bat right-handed. It should be noted that George Brett, Rod Carew and Ted Williams were cross-dominant, although I never came close to hitting like any of them....

 

The Wikipedia entry from cross-dominance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-dominance#Sports

[music4love]

I'm curious about the baseball and golf thing. Does he through a baseball right-handed, or just bad right-handed? Batting is more an issue of eye dominance than handedness. I throw left-handed but bat right-handed. It should be noted that George Brett, Rod Carew and Ted Williams were cross-dominant, although I never came close to hitting like any of them....

 

The Wikipedia entry from cross-dominance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-dominance#Sports

Yes its really odd. He throws a football left handed. But he bats and swings golf clubs like a righty. And yes, he even throws a baseball right handed. He says he is more comfortable catching and wearing his glove on the left hand.

[BewilderedPunkRabbit]

My husband is a lefty. He doesn't play guitar but I've noticed that he eats and writes lefty. When it comes to racquetball, tennis, football, and basketball he is a lefty. But oddly when it comes to baseball and golf he is a righty.

So I think it hard to guess how these things will turn out.

I would suggest ordering a left and right hand version of the same inexpensive model from GC. They have a very generous 30 day return policy. Let him try them both for a while. It should become obviously clear which is best. Return the other for a full refund. No harm, no foul. Question answered.

 

 

Actually that's a very clever idea!

 

This is a very interesting view on the subject:

http://michaelmurrayguitar.com/LeftHanded.htm

 

I'm a left-handed who actually plays right-handed mainly due to the fact that I was shown and taught to play that way by a friend (he just showed me some chord shapes and I guess it never crossed his mind that I was left-handed)

When I first wanted to play guitar in my early teens. A guitar player whom I used to admire (and who shall remain nameless) had told me years before: 'So you're left-handed? Don't even bother learning then' That idiotic remark made me forget about learning the guitar for years!

 

Usually left-handed players who also play left-handed can also play a bit right-handed. They're more versatile out of necessity - like when they go somewhere without their guitar and there are only right-handed instruments to be played.

So theres an advantage for lefties who learn to play on right-handed guitars: You can pick any guitar that's lying around and play.

 

I personally believe that the left-hand work is much more complicated, specially in the beginning - you have to build muscle memory for all those chord shapes. On the other hand (pun intended) you can get by just strumming up and down with your weaker and less coordinated hand. So it made sense for me to have my most capable mitt handle the fretting work. Also, bends and vibratos came much easier because they're executed with my stronger hand.

 

There are lot of famous left-handed guitar players who play right-handed such as: B.B.Hing, Mark Knopfler, Duane Allman, Paul Simon, Joe Perry, Ritchie Balckmore, Mike Bloomfield, Gary Moore, Danny Gatton... and supposedly Bob Dylan and Sting as well.

 

But that's just rambling of my part. Let the kid decide what comes naturally to him I'd say.

[jdd707]

Thanks guys and gals .... I knew I'd get some good input here. I've passed along to my friend and I'm sure he'll use it to make a good decision. If the kid learns to enjoy the art and practice of guitarin' ,as much as we do, due to his grandfather's influence ... well that's a real good thing.

 

Thanks Buc for your wisdom about being sure the grandson wants to even learn to play. As Casey Stengel said "The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. The main thing here is a desire to make music, not if he does it with is left hand or right hand.

[TommyK]

Buy him a 'righty' guitar.

 

Because the guitar requires manual dexterity with both hands, I would try to start him out with a conventional guitar. That way, if it works out, his son won't be 'handicapped' in the future when he grows up to buy his own guitar in an industry that is almost ignoring the so-called left hand guitar.

 

I've heard lefties doing everything from playing a conventional guitar in the conventional manner, to flipping the guitar over, playing opposite the conventional manner without modification, to modifying the guitar to be the mirror image of a so-called right handed guitar, the last of which can get expensive.

 

That is why I suggest starting him out with an unmodified, easily findable guitar.

 

If the left handed person finds that playing guitar in the conventional manner doesn't suit him, have the guitar modified in the most cost effective manner.

 

After all, who has ever heard of a left handed saxophone? piano? drum? violin?