Left handed guitar?

[shufflebeat]

Originally Posted by shufflebeat

Just to provide some dialectical tension...

Originally Posted by jswr450

I still agree with my opinion...

Exactly!


Anyway, Paul McCartney reckons the rhythm is in the dominant hand and he agrees with me so I believe that.

Hendrix could play LH, RH and upside down both ways but still chose to string a guitar LH and play that for the important jobs. Legend.

[Misifus]

Years ago, I was asked by the owners of a high end guitar shop to help him out. This was not long after hurricane Rita, and he had a customer driving several hours in from east Texas to order a new guitar through him. The guy wanted a Collings, but he wasn’t sure which model (he ended up ordering a C10). The problem was the needed a left handed guitar, so he’d have to order one from the factory, but again, he wasn’t sure which one would suit his fingerstyle playing. The owner of the shop had me play all of the different Collings models for the guy and help him pick what he wanted.

My point is that this poor guy wanted a new guitar and had the money to pay for it. He’d waited for months to be able to travel to this shop, and then he’d have a many month wait for the instrument, because he played left handed. He simply had no practical way to audition the Collings guitars he was interested in, because there weren’t many available in left-handed models.

Now we all know many left handed people who have dealt with the situation. Obviously, Hendrix handled it one way and others have handled it other ways, but my recommendation for anyone who can is to learn to play right handed.

For someone learning to play from scratch, both the picking hand and the fingering hand have new tasks to learn. I wouldn’t say the the job of either hand is easier than the other. For many people, learning guitar can be mastered either way.

Now, I know that some folks are so strongly left handed that it’s uncomfortable to try to learn the other way. I would say they have to alternative, but for anyone who can, learning to play righty leaves far more options open for you. When my eldest grandson was learning to play I advised him to learn to play right handed and he did.

Just think, when the player is older and more prosperous, and wants a really special guitar for a special occasion, the gorgeous 1938 D-45 isn’t going to be available left handed.

[shufflebeat]

Also, playing LH just looks so much cooler.

[NotveryGood]

I said earlier that left handedness in guitar players is no longer seen as an affliction that needs correcting. It seems I was wrong. These threads always seen to fill up with people saying "I'm left handed and learned right handed, so can you" It doesn't work like that for everyone.
I do agree that playing right handed gives far more choice , (and over the years, I too have gazed wistfully at rows of guitars in stores that I cant play) but the choice of left handed instruments has improved tremendously since the 70s , most of the well known manufacturers offer us a good choice now and surely that is how it should be in these (supposedly) enlightened times? Learning to play is hard enough ,and if playing left handed feels best then that's the way.

[s2y]

I'm yet another lefty that started out on right handed guitars. I started guitar in the 90's and my local shop was happy to order a lefty, BUT no returns or trades. I don't regret my decision as many of the guitars and basses I grew to love were never offered lefty, which is unfortunate, but that's the way it is and probably won't change. A nun tried to switch me to write with the correct hand. To this day, nuns still make me a little nervous.

My left hand is very developed and has great dexterity (knocks on wood because arthritis or injury can happen). After many years, my picking and fingerstyle are also very good. I can't complain. I don't think I had an easier or harder time learning guitar. Of my gradeschool classmates, I'm one of 2 who still play, which makes 50% right handed and 50% left handed.

[NotveryGood]

Originally Posted by s2y

I'm yet another lefty that started out on right handed guitars. I started guitar in the 90's and my local shop was happy to order a lefty, BUT no returns or trades. I don't regret my decision as many of the guitars and basses I grew to love were never offered lefty, which is unfortunate, but that's the way it is and probably won't change.

The guitar stores I frequented here in the UK in the seventies either had just one lefty or none at all. The mantra was always the same. "We don't stock left handed because there is no demand for them ".They offered to get one but only with a non refundable deposit, so I can well understand why those lefties (who were comfortable doing so) learned right handed instead. Luckily in these internet days , there are good lefty options ,though we will never have the full catalogue to choose from. The more lefties who insist on left handed then the more choice of guitars we will surely get.

[Horsehockey]

I am a lefty who is also a complete newbie and I went out and bought an AMI slant sigma slant martin clone left-handed acoustic guitar. Being old and ignorant, I had no clue that both my age and my interest in starting out learning fingerpicking style, that if I had it to do over again I would’ve paid more attention to getting a short scale, wider nut 12 fret guitar. Why, because most of what I’ve read on AGF suggests that this is the better set up for a fingerpicking old person. I’ll stick with the Martin clone 1 11/16 spacing for now but when and if I remain interested and enjoying playing, my next guitar will be short scale, wide nut 12 fret.

So my newbie advice? Try to get a grip on what style of playing that your sister is interested in and that appeals to her. If she’s strongly interested in fingerpicking over strumming, then I would go with a lefty short scale wide nut 1 7/8, 12 fret.

[JLT]

I'm a lefty who learned right-handed and never regretted it. It means I can play other people's guitars with no problem and they can play mine. And I'm a finger-picker and flat-picker, and I've never had a feeling that my left hand should be doing the picking and strumming. And for me, most of the complex work a guitarist is doing is on the fingerboard, and my left hand likes that just fine. After all, a left finger theoretically has eighty-four places it can go on a fretboard, while a right finger has only six places it can go.

I remember somebody talking about seeing Lennon and McCartney in a songwriting session. Paul would demonstrate a lick to John with his left-handed guitar and John would repeat it with no loss of facility. And John would hand Paul a right-handed guitar and Paul could play it effortlessly. I guess that the point of the story is that if you happen to be a musical genius, it doesn't matter how the guitar is strung.

[parasko]

Where are all the abundance of left handed guitars that everyone is mentioning? There are a few specialist lefty stores but they have limited stock. ThatÂ’s about it!

I walk into a store and I never see a lefty Martin D18 or D28 hanging on the wall waiting to be played or bought. Most of the time us lefties are solely reliant on YouTube videos to determine which guitar we want, without having the luxury of knowing what the neck feels like etc. Then, you have to find a store willing to order it for you, and wait months before it arrives...not to mention those wonderful retailers who still charge a lefty tax and act like itÂ’s a burden for them to order one for you.

However, even before you know how to play, you pick up a guitar and you just know which orientation you are comfortable with. I am ambidextrous in a lot of ways but I knew the first time I held a guitar that it was only comfortable to hold in a left handed position. I donÂ’t think leftys should be trying to play right handed with the thought that there will be more guitars available to them down the track...there might not be a down the track and newbies might not stick at it if it doesnÂ’t feel natural to start with.

[NotveryGood]

Originally Posted by parasko

Where are all the abundance of left handed guitars that everyone is mentioning? There are a few specialist lefty stores but they have limited stock. ThatÂ’s about it!

I walk into a store and I never see a lefty Martin D18 or D28 hanging on the wall waiting to be played or bought. Most of the time us lefties are solely reliant on YouTube videos to determine which guitar we want, without having the luxury of knowing what the neck feels like etc. Then, you have to find a store willing to order it for you, and wait months before it arrives...not to mention those wonderful retailers who still charge a lefty tax and act like itÂ’s a burden for them to order one for you.

However, even before you know how to play, you pick up a guitar and you just know which orientation you are comfortable with. I am ambidextrous in a lot of ways but I knew the first time I held a guitar that it was only comfortable to hold in a left handed position. I donÂ’t think leftys should be trying to play right handed with the thought that there will be more guitars available to them down the track...there might not be a down the track and newbies might not stick at it if it doesnÂ’t feel natural to start with.

I agree with everything you have said. I don't think there is an abundance of left handed available either, but at least as I said before nowadays we can track down at least a couple each from the major players. This is going to sound like bleating (and is!), but in these days where minorities are supported and discrimination is condemned*, lefties get a raw deal. There is still the attitude among some that playing left handed is a defect that needs correcting, the pressure to learn right handed can be perceived a form of bullying, the lack of left handed guitars is an issue, and the aforementioned mark up in price (often 10 per cent) is disgusting. Your last point is very valid. If right handed had been my only option ,it would have made the difficult enough task of learning uncomfortable and unappealing and I would have quit. Surely fellow guitarists would encourage anything that helps others to enjoy it?

*( not to compare the plight of lefties in any way with the awful things that happen in the wider world, just within the context of guitar discussion)

[parasko]

Originally Posted by NotveryGood

....This is going to sound like bleating (and is!), but in these days where minorities are supported and discrimination is condemned*, lefties get a raw deal. There is still the attitude among some that playing left handed is a defect that needs correcting, the pressure to learn right handed can be perceived a form of bullying, the lack of left handed guitars is an issue, and the aforementioned mark up in price (often 10 per cent) is disgusting...

Your comments are spot on!

[s2y]

Originally Posted by NotveryGood

The guitar stores I frequented here in the UK in the seventies either had just one lefty or none at all. The mantra was always the same. "We don't stock left handed because there is no demand for them ".They offered to get one but only with a non refundable deposit, so I can well understand why those lefties (who were comfortable doing so) learned right handed instead. Luckily in these internet days , there are good lefty options ,though we will never have the full catalogue to choose from. The more lefties who insist on left handed then the more choice of guitars we will surely get.

It gets difficult without going custom. Even then, there are limitations with some machined parts.