Lefty learning on a Right Handed Guitar

[broy]

Hi All,

My son (16 yrs old) just started picking up some of my guitars to see if he can learn to play. He's a lefty - all my guitars are righty.

I asked if he wanted me to get a Lefty Guitar and he said since he's never tried at all - mine as well start w/ the righty and see what happens.

Does anyone have thoughts if he's setting himself up for a harder time of things trying to play a righty guitar?

Worse case, maybe I can string one backwards and have him give it a go before we go buy anything?

Any input is appreciated.

Rgds - Bill

[brad4d8]

Playing a guitar involves both hands. When I taught, I always advised new lefty students to play righty, if only because their choice for instruments would be greater. Also, for good or bad, we live in a RH world, and most lefties have to use their RH more than righties need to use the left. Just my 2 cents.

[RJVB]

I think the crucial point is his age. With classical instruments the expectaction is usually that you start well before 10yo in order to become "really good"; neuro-muscular flexibility is greatest at that age and those instruments are almost never "lefties".

I'd say stimulate him, if your son wants to try playing a "normal" guitar! It'll only increase his options in terms of guitars if he manages to get control over his playing hand.

[Silly Moustache]

I'm a lefty, and I play righty, like Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, and, I'm told, Earache Claptout

When we first started there was no such thing as a left handed guitar (AFAIK).
Personally, I think it is beneficial to have my dominant hand on the fretboard.

We righties have to adapt to a wrongly designed world from year dot, so we are more adaptable than "ordinaries". I'd seriously suggest to the OP that he encourages his son to do what he intended - play righty.

[Mandobart]

This is a fairly frequently (and sometimes militantly) debated topic.

I'm left-handed, but have always played musical instruments right-handed (violin, viola, all mandolin-family instruments, guitar, double bass). I've never sought out lefty instruments but I almost never see them in music stores. IME it is better to learn righty if one can.

But like all things in nature, dominant handedness is an analog spectrum, not a digital left-right divide. There are folks who are left hand dominant to the point they can't use their right hand for anything. Some people are truly ambidextrous. Others find their left arm and hand essentially useless. Most of us fall in the middle.

My advice is if your son wants to try guitar as a righty he should do so and see how it goes. You're going to get lots of different advice, but you know your son better than any of us do.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by broy

Hi All,

My son (16 yrs old) just started picking up some of my guitars to see if he can learn to play. He's a lefty - all my guitars are righty.

I asked if he wanted me to get a Lefty Guitar and he said since he's never tried at all - mine as well start w/ the righty and see what happens.

Does anyone have thoughts if he's setting himself up for a harder time of things trying to play a righty guitar?

Worse case, maybe I can string one backwards and have him give it a go before we go buy anything?

Any input is appreciated.

Rgds - Bill

Hi broy…
First a question…if he wants to learn piano, is this question even going to be asked?

I'm a lefty playing conventional guitars (and other instruments). Been playing for over 60 years and taught guitar for 40 years (for $$). Out of hundreds of students, I had two people who played reverse setup instruments (and both were indeed left handed).

That said - I had dozens of left handed students who learned and played conventionally setup guitars. Never became an issue for any of them, and several turned out to be some of my best learners.

My thought as a lefty musician is I play piano conventionally, I played trumpet and other brass for 20 years and all my instruments were conventional (except French Horn where the valves are operated with the left hand). I played accordion, organs, bass guitar etc…all conventionally.

I drive conventional cars…both automatic transmission and stick shift, I operate my mowers, snow blowers, table saw (and other power tools) conventionally too. I type on a conventional keyboard…but on my phone I text using swiping with my left hand.

Yet I operate my cooking utensils (knives, spatulas, whisks, cheese graters etc) with my left hand. I don't think most 'lefties' are totally left oriented.

I use drills with my right hand, and hammer with my left. I employ wrenches with either.

Interestingly my wife (also left handed) is totally left oriented, except she operates a mouse on the computer with her right hand. That's what they taught her at age 40 when they got computers in her offices. She also plays musical instruments conventionally but holds her mic in her left hand. If singing with handheld I hold mine in the right.

All this to say…if he's adapting to the world around him, he'll be fine with a conventional instrument. I recommend learning conventionally because of the variety of higher quality instruments in stock and readily available.

[thefsb]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

[size=2]All this to say…if he's adapting to the world around him, he'll be fine with a conventional instrument.

Very interesting post, ljguitar. It makes me start to wonder what exactly being left handed means.

[fazool]

Rik Emmett is a virtuoso guitarist. He is lefty and plays righty. He said it actually made him a better player to fret with his dominant hand which makes sense

[broy]

Thank you all, appreciate the input. The key is to keep him stimulated - wont worry about the guitar being lefty or righty...

Some thought provoking input in this thread - thank you all.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by broy

Hi All,

My son (16 yrs old) just started picking up some of my guitars to see if he can learn to play. He's a lefty - all my guitars are righty.

I asked if he wanted me to get a Lefty Guitar and he said since he's never tried at all - mine as well start w/ the righty and see what happens.

Does anyone have thoughts if he's setting himself up for a harder time of things trying to play a righty guitar?

Worse case, maybe I can string one backwards and have him give it a go before we go buy anything?

Any input is appreciated.

Rgds - Bill

Bill,
I write with my left hand. I play right handed because that’s the way I pictured myself doing it.

Have you ever seen your son play “air guitar”? If he did that left handed, you might have some reason for a little concern, but if not then don’t give it a second thought.

Regards,
Howard Emerson

[Silly Moustache]

LJ wrote : I operate my cooking utensils (knives, spatulas, whisks, cheese graters etc) with my left hand. I don't think most 'lefties' are totally left oriented.

I use drills with my right hand, and hammer with my left. I employ wrenches with either.

Interestingly my wife (also left handed) is totally left oriented, except she operates a mouse on the computer with her right hand. That's what they taught her at age 40 when they got computers in her offices.

That describes my wife and I as well!

And our last cat was left pawed (more common in cats I'm told).

Plus, come March, I'll be digging over my allotments for planting in April and when I get tired digging left handed, I just change over.

[Robin, Wales]

My left handed son picked up his brother's right handed guitar when he was 12 (now in his 30s). It didn't seem to be an issue.

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'm a lefty who plays righty. There are good reasons for doing it that way, but there's at least one good reason for getting him a lefty guitar.

I was at a guitar training session a few years ago run by guitarists' guitarist Bennett Hammond. At the time, I'd been playing guitar for about fifty years.

There was a simple Travis-picking phrase he tried to show me. I was embarrassed because I couldn't get the hang of it. I said, "Sorry, I have a stupid right hand."

He said, "Wait. You're a lefty?"

I came clean, and he went into a full-blown rant about teachers who make their lefty students play righty. Sure, we're good at left-hand noodling and fast chord changes, but anything like Travis picking or Delta blues is virtually unmasterable.

Did you ever see the movie The King's Speech? British King George VI had a debilitating stutter because he'd been forced into right-handeness as a child. Basically, my right hand has a debilitating stutter.

Thanks to Hammond's rant, I spent the entire pandemic years just working on my right-hand technique. It's credible now. But it'll never be incredible.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein

I'm a lefty who plays righty. There are good reasons for doing it that way, but there's at least one good reason for getting him a lefty guitar.

I was at a guitar training session a few years ago run by guitarists' guitarist Bennett Hammond. At the time, I'd been playing guitar for about fifty years.

There was a simple Travis-picking phrase he tried to show me. I was embarrassed because I couldn't get the hang of it. I said, "Sorry, I have a stupid right hand."

He said, "Wait. You're a lefty?"

I came clean, and he went into a full-blown rant about teachers who make their lefty students play righty. Sure, we're good at left-hand noodling and fast chord changes, but anything like Travis picking or Delta blues is virtually unmasterable.

Did you ever see the movie The King's Speech? British King George VI had a debilitating stutter because he'd been forced into right-handeness as a child. Basically, my right hand has a debilitating stutter.

Thanks to Hammond's rant, I spent the entire pandemic years just working on my right-hand technique. It's credible now. But it'll never be incredible.

Hi Charlie,
I loved 'The King's Speech'. Seen it at least 3-4 times.

I've written with my left hand since first picking up a pencil, so in that regard I'm a lefty, but I play guitar right handed from the first time I picked up a friend's guitar.

Nobody said anything about what hand I wrote with.

I also taught myself how to fingerpick while cutting class at Berklee School of Music in the fall of 1969. Soon after that I started teaching fingerpicking, open tuning and bottleneck styles, and I've done that ever since.

My right hand is very, very coordinated. The left one does pretty well, too.

I've taught several left hand students, and even taught a righty; a guy who had blown off the fingertips of his left hand, and he wanted to learn how to play lefty. I fashioned a set of fingerpicks for his stumps, and we proceeded slowly, but we made progress.

I've also taught students who I recognized to be dyslexic, so we'd sit side by side in front of a mirror.

Whatever it takes.

So you were not forced into playing right handed, correct?

It's not like nuns smashed your hands with a ruler for writing lefty, correct?

My wife went to Catholic school in Colombia, so I've heard the stories, but I digress.....

A good teacher can teach anybody if they're willing to take the situation for what it is: A student who has a particular concept of things that might be getting their way.

If a kid plays air guitar left handed, that there is THE strongest indicator of how they see themselves playing, and it should be acknowledged, right off the bat, but if they play air guitar right handed, their writing skills have no bearing on the issue.

Best of luck in your fingerpicking progression!

Howard Emerson

[Mr.Thumbpick]

I don't think I agree with people that think it matters which way you hold a guitar. When I learnt to pay piano as a kid we would play scales with both hands and both hands had to play similar things when it came to classical music. It doesn't make a difference what hand is picking your guitar and which hand is fretting they are both capable of it. Especially when Travis picking - that really is a lot like playing the piano - as someone who plays both instruments.