Lefty question though I am not a lefty...

[Steel and wood]

Originally Posted by LSemmens

One thing that I have noticed about ALL left handed players is that, having had to adapt to a world that favours the right hand, they tend to be more adept at being ambidextrous than ANY righty. An instrument like the piano may be easier for a lefty to learn than a righty, ONLY because their dexterity in BOTH hands is far superior to those of us who have favoured our right hands in all of our lives.

You are right, but this really only applies to the 9 out of 10 lefties. (However it's the 1 in 10 extreme lefties who find it difficult to impossible doing virtually anything right handed unless they are forced to).

[yukonkornelius]

Originally Posted by scriv58

as i've posted before, the only difference i can discern between righties and lefties on this forum, is that lefties do not get their panties in a bunch that righties play righty.
The fretting hand is what you know, the picking hand is who you are, i've been told.

Amen

#leftylivesmatter

[EllaMom]

Lefty player here. I am always amused by these "should lefties play righty" threads. ;D

to the OP, I have a lefty Taylor Baby I am looking to sell. Also a lefty dread or two. Message me if you want to know more, and assuming you are in the U.S. Not worth shipping across borders.

[jimmy bookout]

Originally Posted by Picker2

Well, I think the OP has enough input from all of us to make a well-considered decision now. So this will be my last contribution to this thread:

In my opinion, the argument "it feels more natural" for someone who has not even set the first step on the long, steep and narrow road of becoming a great player, is not a good one. When my daughter lies down on the couch in the rear of my car she is much more comfortable than when she takes place in the drivers seat. But I am not going to adapt my car with the steering wheel and the pedals etc. in the rear for her driving lessons.

I seriously believe that in the end it does not matter. Anyone can learn to play right handed or left handed guitar, and to all the lefties telling me that they could not have reached their current level on a right handed guitar I will say this: I am 100% convinced that if I had started on a left handed guitar I would have played equally well as I do today - on a left handed guitar.

I also refute the argument about 'forcing' kids to make it harder than it is. The intuitive feeling that playing guitar is easier one way or the other, by someone who has zero experience, is useless. It's like asking me which of two tools that I have never seen in my life would be better to perform brain surgery. I can take them each in my hand and tell which one 'feels' better, but using that tool for the rest of my life will not make me a better brain surgeon.

The only thing that is sure is that I really enjoy being able to grab almost any guitar that I find anywhere and play it. As a lefty, I would have missed that. So I am very happy to be a right handed player!

And all of this is just great....
Let's do this: The "lefty" contingent is NEVER going to convince you that you're wrong. And YOU are never going to convince the lefty contingent that you're right. Fair enough?

[jimmy bookout]

Originally Posted by scriv58

as i've posted before, the only difference i can discern between righties and lefties on this forum, is that lefties do not get their panties in a bunch that righties play righty.
The fretting hand is what you know, the picking hand is who you are, i've been told.

TESTIFY, MY BROTHER!!!!
It's the ONLY thing I never understand....why do righties give a continental dam how ANYONE else plays?

[TBman]

Originally Posted by jimmy bookout

....why do righties give a continental dam how ANYONE else plays?

Probably cause the OP asked a group who is 90% righty.

If the OP's child picked up a guitar and held it in the left hand position, upside down, he should get the child a lefty guitar. If the child picked up a guitar and started tinkering with it right handed, let the child play right handed.

That first instinctive moment would tell all.

[mot]

A lot of kerfuffle over the wrong question in my opinion. I only wanted to know the best options for helping a kid along who is a lefty in a right handed world.

Typical righty answer is - We are the only true way. You are only 7 and don't really know left from right. You shall be assimilated if you know what's good for you.

That answer is not very helpful IMO as it pushes the idea that the child is wrong for being different and the best course of action is for him to pretend or work at being something he's not.

I really really don't want to get a good lefty guitar just to watch it gather dust, but at the same time everyone deserves a decent instrument to learn music on. So the question that I am trying to figure out is...

What's the best way to introduce him to playing where I meet him on his terms, but yet don't overwhelm him nor turn him off from music?

I think a low key approach is best as I did with my right handed now 10 year old who begged for a decent electric for years before those supplications were answered. I am pretty sure punishing the kid for being a lefty is off the table for the moment, but I am not sure how to proceed otherwise.

[Jambi]

Originally Posted by mot

A lot of kerfuffle over the wrong question in my opinion. I only wanted to know the best options for helping a kid along who is a lefty in a right handed world.

Typical righty answer is - We are the only true way. You are only 7 and don't really know left from right. You shall be assimilated if you know what's good for you.

That answer is not very helpful IMO as it pushes the idea that the child is wrong for being different and the best course of action is for him to pretend or work at being something he's not.

I really really don't want to get a good lefty guitar just to watch it gather dust, but at the same time everyone deserves a decent instrument to learn music on. So the question that I am trying to figure out is...

What's the best way to introduce him to playing where I meet him on his terms, but yet don't overwhelm him nor turn him off from music?

I think a low key approach is best as I did with my right handed now 10 year old who begged for a decent electric for years before those supplications were answered. I am pretty sure punishing the kid for being a lefty is off the table for the moment, but I am not sure how to proceed otherwise.

At this point I would say just pull the trigger on something like a Yamaha fg820l, I have one and I personally found it equal to a lefty Taylor I tried in GC. It was pretty cheap too.

If nothing else you could tinker around with it if your kid doesn't take to it. I wrote some weird riffs on right handed guitars I never would have thought of on a left handed string guitar.

[angel13]

These lefty/righty threads ALWAYS descend into anarchy! I'm a lefty who plays righty and after a couple of years I wondered if this was the best approach as I'm one of those people who has rhythm issues strumming with my right hand. It just takes a lot more practice to get it right with complicated rhythms or fingerpicking. Flat picking is difficult. But I have always picked up a guitar righty, so I guess that's just how it is for me.

I read up on the whole lefty/righty thing and it turns out our brains are wired differently and there is a spectrum of how left handed you are. So some lefties will feel comfortable playing righty, some can but might have a few issues and some really, really, really cannot play righty. They really, really MUST play left. The whole orchestra piano thing is just bunkum imo.

You have to allow him to do whatever feels right. Sure you can see if can take a righty, but ultimately left him also experience lefty and let him decide. If he naturally picked up a guitar lefty, then go with that. If a little time later he seems really awkward, try righty. Sorry, in this case there's not a definitive answer.

[mot]

Thank you. I might try the Yamaha fg820L. I am apparently either handedness, so I would probably be just as comfortable on left as on right. I imagine I could find some interesting sounds with a bit of practice if I had something decent like this Yamaha lying about. The only worry is that this particular guitar might be a little too big for the 7 year old though, but it looks ideal otherwise.

I haven't done anything yet, nor do I expect to jump on anything too quickly though I am very pleased to find that it looks like there are a lot of options out there for lefties. Lately he's been having me play (on guitar) while he plays his "left-handed" piano. No need to rush him, but at the same time I want to give him a chance to explore what may be of interest.