Left-Handed Guitar Mania: Playing It Left Handed

[tserose]

Most individuals (almost 90%) are right-handed, therefore the majority of guitars, guitar accessories, and the diagrams of notes and chords in instruction books are for the right-handed player. Just as with everything else that left-handed people have to do in a primarily right-handed world, the left-handed guitar player-to-be will adjust.

 

In my research for this article, I have discovered a number of well-known left-handed guitarists: Kurt Cobain, Albert King, **** Dale, Jimi Hendrix, Dan Seals and Paul McCartney.

 

These guitarists used re-strung guitars as well as left-handed guitars. As with their right-handed counterparts, each of these guitarists have their own style. If you don't know their stories, all you got to do is Google them.

 

I have also read a few disturbing "facts" about how impossible it is for lefties to do certain things when it comes to playing the guitar. But what I couldn't find out is the handedness of the authors that wrote such things. One thing I do know is that if there is anyone who can do the impossible... it is a left-handed person.

 

With the obvious exceptions, here are a few helpful tips for anyone wanting to learn to play the guitar.They are geared more for the left-handed guitarist, but are just as useful to the right-handed beginner player.

 

1. As logic dictates, you will need a guitar to practice on or no progress will be made. If you are able to borrow an instrument initially, that will do the trick. Borrowing is also wise if you are not 100% sure about the guitar. Left-handed guitarists have what appears to be three options when it comes to obtaining a guitar:

 

First: Use a right-handed guitar and have it re-strung. Music stores will more than likely have someone available to do this for you.

 

Second: Use a right-handed guitar and play it upside down. Sounds crazy, but it can be done. This option calls for a revamping of the fingering of chords and strumming.

 

Third: Invest in a left-handed guitar. They tend to be a little more expensive because of the demand, or better yet, the lack of demand. Half of the people that write/eat with their left hand play the guitar right-handed. That doesn't leave many people beating down doors for left-handed guitars.

 

Note: When it comes to playing the electric guitar, the third option is overall the wisest choice because of the tuning knobs and the amplifier jack. But again, a determined player will do what must be done to reach his/her goal.

 

2. Go for quality guitars that are sold at reasonable prices if money is an issue. In this case, re-stringing a right-handed guitar is the best option for the beginning left-handed player. Then, once you learn to play the guitar well, up-grade to the guitar that originally caught your eye. Remember, as with any purchase, to buy from a reputable store.

 

3. Depending on your attitude and style, you will need to choose the appropriate learning method for you. Keep in mind that you need to memorize all the notes, chords, the various strumming and other guitar playing techniques. The type of music that you want to play will go a long way in choosing which learning method to go with.

 

Most diagrams of notes and chords in instruction books are for the right-handed player. The left-handed player will have to use a mirror image of each diagram -- either in his head or on paper -- to get the right fingering on the left-handed guitar. However, if a right-handed guitar is being used upside down, then the chord fingering has to been reconstructed completely. An experienced player could help here.

 

Strumming has been reported as a problem for some lefties but with practice and patience, if soon becomes a non-issue.

 

4. Let's touch on the reputable store idea. As in any market, there are some unscrupulous retailers. These stores prey on the inexperienced and unprepared. This is where your due diligence comes in. Shop and ask around about left-handed guitars, online and locally. Check with the Better Business Bureau for a retailer's history if it is questionable. Perhaps the best source of information would be a guitarist that you know. What do they recommend.

 

5. Some beginners can be quite easily embarrassed to play in front of other experienced guitar players, their confidence level not being very high. If you think they are going to laugh at your 'goofs', then don't do it. On the other hand, playing amidst other players will reap benefits outweighing any perceived embarrassment. In fact, you could be the one to teach them something that they didn't know or had taken for granted in their 'expertness'. You might even challenge them to switch guitars and try to play a simple nursery rhyme or Taps. Bet they won't!

 

6. What matters most when learning to play guitar is to have fun. Just remember; Who are you playing for? and Why? If you're comfortable with what you are doing and how you are doing it, then there is nothing to fix.

 

These tips and ideas should give the left-handed guitar player-to-be a good head start. As mentioned before, these are general helpful tips to all guitarists. Yes, they may be just good old common sense, but it never hurts to be reminded every now and again.

 

When you are equipped with the right knowledge in playing guitars, any and all guitar lessons will be very easy and in no time at all, you will be playing with fellow guitarists. Enjoy!

[KNuw]

Nice motivational post for our left handed players...i'm apart of that 90% of right handed players :). Can only imagine how difficult it would be to play left handed!

[SNick]

"First: Use a right-handed guitar and have it re-strung. Music stores will more than likely have someone available to do this for you."

 

I think you forgot that the NUT has to be changed also. Unless SECOND: applies......

[jfine]

tserose--you left out option 4--learn to play right-handed. Some lefties can do it, some can't--I'm one of those that did! When I showed up for my first lesson, I tried to hold the guitar left-handed, and the teacher refused to teach me that way. So I flipped it over, and it felt just as awkward either way--I was bound and determined to play the thing, so I learned right-handed (and I'm a confirmed left-hander at everything else). She did me a huge favor--apart from the advantages of not having to deal with a left-handed guitar, which my folks would never have been able to afford, or restringing a right-handed one, the fact is that, had I tried to learn left-handed, I never would have been able to play. I had polio at a very early age, and one of the muscles that was affected was my right triceps--I never would have been able to reach the end of the neck with my right hand. Picking with the right hand is no problem--the wrist and fingers work fine, and I have the advantage of having my dominant (left) hand on the neck. Once I got strings that could be bent, I was yanking those suckers right off the neck--having taught guitar for many years now, my right-handed students had way more trouble learning to bend strings than I did (although if I have a student that's already playing left-handed, I won't make them switch). I'm convinced that right-handed guitar is in many ways a left-handed instrument anyway. The downside is that I can't pick quite as fast as a right-handed player, but I do a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs, and it all works out--if I need to tremolo-pick, I have to do it with my right-hand middle finger nail, as I've never been able to get the pick going fast enough. There are more of us lefties-playing-righty than you'd think--Glen Campbell's one, and so is Mark Knopfler.

[Bluesbrekr]

Well, I'm left handed but I do many things right handed. I'm not "ambidextrous", though.

When I was 9, I started hitting practice golf balls with my dad. He was surprised when I picked up his 9 iron and started hitting balls. (he's right handed). I tried swinging left handed and it was very awkward. So I golf and bat right handed, but throw and write left.

 

The great thing is when I tell some females this. I say that the hardest thing is to find left handed tools...hammers, screwdrivers, pliers etc. Many believe that, a few don't. I want to marry one that doesn't. lol

[scv]

tserose--you left out option 4--learn to play right-handed. Some lefties can do it, some can't--I'm one of those that did! When I showed up for my first lesson, I tried to hold the guitar left-handed, and the teacher refused to teach me that way. So I flipped it over, and it felt just as awkward either way--I was bound and determined to play the thing, so I learned right-handed (and I'm a confirmed left-hander at everything else). She did me a huge favor--apart from the advantages of not having to deal with a left-handed guitar, which my folks would never have been able to afford, or restringing a right-handed one, the fact is that, had I tried to learn left-handed, I never would have been able to play. I had polio at a very early age, and one of the muscles that was affected was my right triceps--I never would have been able to reach the end of the neck with my right hand. Picking with the right hand is no problem--the wrist and fingers work fine, and I have the advantage of having my dominant (left) hand on the neck. Once I got strings that could be bent, I was yanking those suckers right off the neck--having taught guitar for many years now, my right-handed students had way more trouble learning to bend strings than I did (although if I have a student that's already playing left-handed, I won't make them switch). I'm convinced that right-handed guitar is in many ways a left-handed instrument anyway. The downside is that I can't pick quite as fast as a right-handed player, but I do a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs, and it all works out--if I need to tremolo-pick, I have to do it with my right-hand middle finger nail, as I've never been able to get the pick going fast enough. There are more of us lefties-playing-righty than you'd think--Glen Campbell's one, and so is Mark Knopfler.

 

 

That's the plan I want to follow. I figure since I'm learning to play, I don't have anything to unlearn and there are so many more choices in right handed guitars plus they just look "right" Also, I couldn't get the model I wanted - a LP Ultra III - in a left handed model. Thanks for the info on Mark Knopfler - one of my 3 guitar hereos along with David Gilmour and Jimmy Page. I mouse right handed but do just about every thing else lefthanded.

 

Scott

[jfine]

Scott--good luck to you! The key to learning guitar (or anything that demands dexterity, and isn't that ironic; "dexter" means "right" in Latin), is--practice! Every day, as much as you can stand it. It will feel awkward at first, but that's true whether you play right-handed or left-handed. Put the time in, and you'll get better, guaranteed. I'd also recommend that you get a teacher--you'll progress faster if you do. Make sure your teacher knows something about the music you want to play--you'll be working on basics for a while, but it's nice if the teacher can relate what you're trying to learn to something you want to play. My teacher was a folk player, and this was in the early '60's, when folk and rock didn't mix--I wanted to play rock 'n' roll, and my teacher knew nothing about it. So while I was learning to strum "Tom Dooley" and "Puff the Magic Dragon", I was really wanting to play "Johnny B. Goode" and "Pipeline"! I learned basic chords and a little fingerpicking from that teacher--everything else I had to figure out for myself. I remember wasting at least three months trying to play a minor-pentatonic scale (the basic rock and blues lead pattern) up and down the neck all on one string, which is the most inefficient and least comfortable way to play it--and then, one day I saw a guy in a local teenage band playing it across the neck in one position. I went home and found the pattern, and that one thing transformed my lead playing from something resembling a Western cliche'd caricature of Chinese music into something like rock 'n' roll. Took me five years to get to that point, all because I didn't have access to anyone who could show me what I needed to know, and I grew up in San Francisco, undoubtedly surrounded by great guitar players, some of whom made it big a year or so later, and I didn't know any of them! Nowadays, with the internet and YouTube, we have access to amounts of information that my generation could only dream of, so certainly take advantage of that, but a good teacher can help you stay on the right track and keep you from developing bad habits.

[Beatles1909]

Here is my lefty view.

1) play the way is most compfortable, (I couldn't do it right handed) I'm a lefty period.

 

2) If you end up only being able to play lefty, Just buy a lefty guitar/bass, there are a lot more to choose from (Black)then there were in the 60's (None).

 

One day I got fed up with unbalanced body, my arm turning down the vol control, I decided no more upside down guitars ever!

Today I have 4 basses 6 guitars all lefties.

 

I find it funny that we shouldn't discriminate against sex,race or creed etc, but it's ok to discriminate against lefties, (sorry I was told that is not discrimination, That's Business)Yeah right! don.t get me wrong I'm cool with all this (after 62 yrs of life as a lefty it's all I know.

 

On the plus side you don't need to worry about GAS as much as our Rigthy brothern! there ain't much avail to GAS over lOl

[bob_amos]

Another lefty here. Started playing in the 60's when there were not many lefties to choose from. A friend of mine had a father that worked at Fender and cut the bodies for guitars. He told me once that left handed bodies were cut from wood that would not work well as a righty. So, left handed guitars were using reject wood and actually helping the company out.

 

All that aside, I had to learn on a restrung right handed guitar. My Mom had 2 teachers lined up for me and both refused to teach a lefty. I did try it right handed but it just did not work. It felt so clumsy. In the end I taught myself to play. I was determined to learn to play the guitar and this was all I could do. In some cases it took little longer but I also have an understanding of the guitar and music that I do not think I would have if I had been taught. I had to research why things were done as they were and not just do it because some teacher said it should be. Today I am proud that I stuck to it and finally learned the way "I" was meant to learn.

 

I bowl right handed, only because I don't own a bowling ball and have never found a left handed ball at an alley. I throw a baseball right handed because my grandfather made me play that way and it allows me to play more positions. My great grandfather was a pro ball player in the early 1900's and was a left handed second baseman. So, since his Dad taught him right handed he did the same for me. The bonus is, I catch much better with the glove on my left hand. But I throw a football lefty and play basketball left handed too.

 

Us lefties don't really have much choice but to play the way we do. (Some can play righty but many of us cannot.) I just wish that we were not discriminated against like we are. Yes, we are discriminated against in a way. But I also understand that guitar companies sell more right than left. But paint/stain is stain, why do we only get a few colour choices when the colour is available? There is no reason to limit us when the paint/stain is there. Just paint the guitar more colours so we have a fair choice like right handed guitarists do.

[scv]

Here is my lefty view.

1) play the way is most compfortable, (I couldn't do it right handed) I'm a lefty period.

 

2) If you end up only being able to play lefty, Just buy a lefty guitar/bass, there are a lot more to choose from (Black)then there were in the 60's (None).

 

One day I got fed up with unbalanced body, my arm turning down the vol control, I decided no more upside down guitars ever!

Today I have 4 basses 6 guitars all lefties.

 

I find it funny that we shouldn't discriminate against sex,race or creed etc, but it's ok to discriminate against lefties, (sorry I was told that is not discrimination, That's Business)Yeah right! don.t get me wrong I'm cool with all this (after 62 yrs of life as a lefty it's all I know.

 

On the plus side you don't need to worry about GAS as much as our Rigthy brothern! there ain't much avail to GAS over lOl

 

I'm 52 so I'm starting a little late but it's one of those things i always wanted to do and now i can afford to get decent equipment. As for discrimination I guess we are lucky, I remember my mother telling me she used to get cracked over the hands with a ruler every time she used her left hand to write - this wasn't Catholic School either -

one room schoolhouse in PA dutch country.

 

Scott

[Beatles1909]

I'm 52 so I'm starting a little late but it's one of those things i always wanted to do and now i can afford to get decent equipment. As for discrimination I guess we are lucky, I remember my mother telling me she used to get cracked over the hands with a ruler every time she used her left hand to write - this wasn't Catholic School either -

one room schoolhouse in PA dutch country.

 

Scott

 

Scott, My mom also got the ruler over the knuckles when she was young, She was from the old country (Wales) I guess we are pretty lucky at that.

[Beatles1909]

I also have to add (very strongly) a lefties biggest problem in musical stringed inst are the retailers themselves, they just don't want to carry lefty inst. therefore they say they don't sell, (well of course they don't sell, lefties know they have nothing in stock so why go into thier store?? (It's a visious circle)

 

I just bought a lefty 2011 Gibson Les Paul standard, nobody had one around here (north of Toronto) drove to Buffalo NY (luckily)Got what I wanted. Couple days later I went to the same local store where I live & in conversation I respectfully mentioned they missed out on a $2500.00 sale. All they said was I wouldn't be covered under warrenty(that's the least of my problems!)it's only one year in Canada anyway!

[bonzoboy]

I play a lefty Strat strung right-handed for doing Hendrix songs aand find that it works much better that way.

 

Now for a bit of trivia regarding D. Dale,Albert King and Dan Seals.Although all 3 of these guys were lefties,they all played lefty guitars strung for right handed playing-that is with the bass E or E 6th on bottom.

[Jayyj]

Another lefty here that plays right handed. I'm a bit torn as to how to guide people on this one - I don't feel I've suffered in any way learning right handed, or that it's ever held me back - in fact I'd been playing for a good couple of years before I even registered there was such a thing as a left handed guitar. I also work in the violin trade and in ten years and thousands of players I've only come across two who played left handed. If you work on the one in ten statistic that means there's a hell of a lot of lefty violinists in professional orchestras who are doing just fine on a right handed instrument. To me, on either instrument, I feel like I'm making equal demands on both hands, both requiring dexterity and rhythmic control: it's hard to see how swapping over would particularly help me. I can see in the early stages that a dominant hand might show a slight propensity towards strumming over fretting, but as extra hurdles go I can't believe it would be much of a problem to overcome and I suspect those of us who are lefties playing right handed have done this without realising.

 

Having said that, it's the individual's choice which way they want to go with this, and I've no patience for teachers who don't accept lefty students. The reasons not to learn left handed are purely logistical ones - you'll always need to carry your own guitar, and when it comes to buying a new instrument you won't get the range of choice that right handed players do. Having a taste for vintage guitars I'm certainly glad not to be limited to the tiny number of lefties that show up on the vintage market. Beyond that, there's really no difference from a learning point of view and any competant teacher shouldn't have any difficulty teaching either way.

 

If I had to advise anyone, all I'd say is weigh up the options before you make a decision, if you're open to the idea maybe give right handed a couple of months to see if you can get to grips with it (it's hard to pick up the first few chords whichever way round you are!) but, if playing left handed still seems the best way forward, go for it.