Were Right Handed Guitars Originally For Lefties?

[jwellsy]

I suspect that the standard right handed guitar was originally designed by and for lefties.

Left handed people are creative right brain dominate. Creative right brain people are more likely to have created the whole music scene and instruments to begin with.

It seems to me that your dominate hand should be your fretting hand. Fretting takes a lot more precision than strumming.

Somewhere along the way, right handers appropriated the format. It was probably a marketing ploy that caused & influenced the split.

[davidbeinct]

The left brain right brain paradigm is understood to be overly simplistic by current understanding in neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Since stringed instruments predate the guitar by a good bit and seem to all involve fretting with the left hand, I think it’s likely that the design evolved that way naturally among the far more prevalent right handed musicians. Also other than strumming there’s a lot of intricacy to picking, both fingerstyle and with a plectrum.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by jwellsy

It seems to me that your dominate hand should be your fretting hand. Fretting takes a lot more precision than strumming..

Hi jw
It's an interesting speculation…though I approach guitar playing quite differently. Of course there is no firm answer…

You are assuming that people primarily strum. And like piano, guitars are a two handed instrument (as are woodwinds, orchestral instruments, and even penny whistles).

Most scored medieval lute and oud music was solo line driven, with chords interspersed using plectrum or fingers (as in fingerstyle). Most classical guitar is similar.

You also seem to imply that strumming require less skill than fretting chords. While many of us started with only simple strumming, once the skills begin to grow, both hands become more intricate (and coordinated).

I think a fingerstyle player and/or jazz player (or a skilled rock, metal, or bluegrass lead player) might argue that both hands work equally intricately.

[cliff_the_stiff]

Originally Posted by davidbeinct

The left brain right brain paradigm is understood to be overly simplistic by current understanding in neuroscience and cognitive psychology. Since stringed instruments predate the guitar by a good bit and seem to all involve fretting with the left hand, I think it’s likely that the design evolved that way naturally among the far more prevalent right handed musicians. Also other than strumming there’s a lot of intricacy to picking, both fingerstyle and with a plectrum.

I have heard that the guitars design was by a lefty.
But it stands to reason that it is designed after other stringed instruments...
I am right handed- My right hand picks and strums almost automatically as second nature. I have to think about the left fretting hand.

[ljguitar]

Hi folks

Artwork from the 1200s on picture Ouds and Lutes (and subsequently guitars) fretted with the left hand, and plucked/strummed with the right.

So I'm thinking the tales of 'invention by left-handed person' are either wive's tales, or guitar-shop-conjecture by a guitarist who is learning barre chords.