Left handed guitar players.

[henryrobinett]

Just curious to find what the consensus viewpoint is about teaching/learning guitar for a left handed player. I don't have any now but I've taught a dozen or so serious left handed guitar players who all looked to me for some kind of sage advice; should they play right handed or left handed? On the one hand I thought that after struggling with your picking hand you'd be in a better state as your strong hand is your left, traditional, as far as the fretbaord goes. There are a host a of great, technically superior guitarists, like Steve Morse, who are leftys who play right. I used to know a bunch but I can't think of any at the moment. I want to say McLaughlin and Vai, but I don't know any more. Someone who played really well and was left handed further confirmed this viewpoint reminding me that through the centuries great pianists have also been left handed and they didn't demand a left handed piano.

 

On the other hand why fight nature? I can't imagine having to fret with my right hand.

 

BTW I never did have any good sage advice. I had a great, great teacher once, early on, who really helped me mess up my picking technique, so I've always been a bit cautious about not being too dogmatic about things I wasn't clear enough on.

[jaccursi]

there was a post on this subject not too long ago, some interesting information. here it is :

http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=19&t=001558&p=

[goodsgtr]

I know some great leftys that play righthanded. I guess one way to look at it is after playing for years, we can't imagine freting with the right but think of how awkward it was when we were learning, didn't feel natural then. If I were a lefty and had a choice I think I'd learn right handed just because most guitars are right handed. Off the subject, I knew a guy that would flip a right handed guitar over and play with it strung upside down. It would take an hour to teach each other a 3 chord song, not recommended.

[henryrobinett]

Yeah, didn't Hendrix flip his right handed guitar around backwards too? But I think he re-strung it. That's why guys who were serious Hendrixophiles realized how Jimi's pickups lined up after the guitar was flipped and would try to match it to attempt to get his sound. It's in the hands.

 

Oh yeah. Sorry, I didn't see this thread before. And so recent too! Oh well.

[baronedo]

I would recommend that any beginning left handed player learn to play right handed. The reason is that there are infinitely more RH guitars available and at better prices than Leftys. I don't think that it would be much of a learning handicap because the lefty's (playing righty) fretting hand would be their strong hand and developing strength and dexterity in my weaker left hand fretting hand, as a righty, was my biggest challenge when first learning the guitar.

 

A word on Jimi Hendrix - Jimi learned as a kid to play lefty so he was stuck playing lefty. However, he was dirt poor when he first started. Lefty guitars were generally unavailable back or only available as high priced custom options back then. Jimi did the practical thing and converted a right handed guitar to a lefty. However, one of the big handicaps is the lack of fretboard access on the higher frets (i.e. the upper body horn of a righty when flipped over becomes the lower horn, is not cut back and gets in the way for a lefty). This didn't present a major obstacle to Jimi because he had huge hands and fingers but it would be a big problem for most players. By the time Jimi gained fame and some fortune (not much because his Manager Michael Jeffreys took most of the money), his flipped over righty guitar became a novelty trademark and he stuck with it. I believe that the so called advantages to Jimi of playing a reversed right hand guitar, such as flipped over Strat bridge pickup and Trem arm on top, are grossly overstated. Jimi got much of his tone from his fingers, not from his unorthodox setup. One final sad point on Jimi - shortly before Jimi died, Eric Clapton purchased a true custom made lefty Strat as a present for Jimi. Unfortunately Jimi died before Eric could give it to him.

[gtrmac]

I'm left handed and I play guitar righty. I started out on violin as a kid and nobody asked me if I wanted a lefty violin, they just handed me a right handed violin. I seemed natural to me anyway. I think both hands need to work with any instrument and maybe it doesn't matter so much. I used to work on my picking a lot thinking that it needed attention but after playing for a long time I have pretty good chops when I practice. My friend Paul Jackson is another lefty that plays bass righty. Nobody accuses him of being handicapped in any way.

[SF audio]

I have to disagree about a beginner lefty switching over to right handed. If the initial comfort is with playing left handed, then that's the way it should be. And the cost factor really isn't that big of a deal anymore - There are cheap lefty strats to get started, and when you are ready to move up, it's not that much more to spend for a quality left handed guitar. While the selection is not as plentiful, you can find stores that stock a decent selection of lefty's.

 

You have to wonder - would Hendrix have played the same if he was a righty?

[Chip McDonald]

Originally posted by henryrobinett:

On the other hand why fight nature? I can't imagine having to fret with my right hand.

Who is to say which way is "natural"? One could argue that one's dominant hand is the most dextrous, so it should be the fretting hand - but then that would disqualify the legions of righty players....

 

I think that when starting it doesn't matter. People are equally clumsy with something that is new to them, and in the case of the guitar both hands are given clumsy tasks to perform. It's going to be to their advantage to learn righty - to have a wider selection of guitars available to them, and not have to look at things reversed all the time. I have friends who are lefty players who are ALWAYS commiserating the fact that it's difficult to find a nice instrument... if for no other reason than to cull THAT from happening, let's teach the left handers righty....

 

Besides, as it has been shown there are plenty people of the sinistral persuasion that obviously haven't had any problems (Steve Morse - you don't need a finer example...).

[henryrobinett]

Yeah, I tend to agree with the approach of playing traditional for a lefty, if possible. I've had some beginners absolutely refuse though, which never made a lot of sense to me. How would they know the difference? Having a strong left hand seems to be the most important thing, eventually. Although I worked for years on my right; -- still do. Habits die hard.

[stanner]

Originally posted by Lancer:

I

A word on Jimi Hendrix - Jimi learned as a kid to play lefty so he was stuck playing lefty. However, he was dirt poor when he first started. Lefty guitars were generally unavailable back or only available as high priced custom options back then. Jimi did the practical thing and converted a right handed guitar to a lefty. However, one of the big handicaps is the lack of fretboard access on the higher frets (i.e. the upper body horn of a righty when flipped over becomes the lower horn, is not cut back and gets in the way for a lefty). This didn't present a major obstacle to Jimi because he had huge hands and fingers but it would be a big problem for most players. By the time Jimi gained fame and some fortune (not much because his Manager Michael Jeffreys took most of the money), his flipped over righty guitar became a novelty trademark and he stuck with it. I believe that the so called advantages to Jimi of playing a reversed right hand guitar, such as flipped over Strat bridge pickup and Trem arm on top, are grossly overstated. Jimi got much of his tone from his fingers, not from his unorthodox setup. One final sad point on Jimi - shortly before Jimi died, Eric Clapton purchased a true custom made lefty Strat as a present for Jimi. Unfortunately Jimi died before Eric could give it to him.

"grossly overstated"? where did you get your info from?

in all of the research,books,video,conversation w/ knowledgeable people who were there everything that used was for optimum tone. novelty was left to his live shows only! the turned over strat has a true difference in tone.per his request all the guitars jimi bought or were given to him were righty strats because(like some of us) he heard a difference.there were lefty strats available all the time-he heard a difference. his use of coiled cable(when high-end cable was available) and a myriad of things he did were only for that dedication to a sound that was beautiful to hear and presumably to play.

s

[trick fall]

If all these lefties played lefty it probably wouldn't be so hard to find good left handed guitars. Anyway I say whatever works for the individual. Every time I ever picked up a guitar I picked it up left handed. It's just the way that felt right to me. It's also a lot easier to find good lefty guitars these days.

[Lee Flier]

Originally posted by trickfall@yahoo.com:

If all these lefties played lefty it probably wouldn't be so hard to find good left handed guitars.

Heh... well you may have a point but I don't think so, because we lefties are still vastly in the minority. The world simply does not cater to us. I have never really found this to be a big deal, being another of those traitorous lefties who plays righty. Being the vintage guitar freak that I am too, I'd hate to have to look for lefty guitars, and I'd hate to have to modify them to make them work for me either.

 

I agree with you though that it's up to the individual, and whatever works best for each person - what I wonder is whether there are any righties who would play better lefty! I'll bet there are.

 

--Lee

[Eric Worthington]

My name is Eric, and I am a lefty-who-plays-righty. (Whew, what a catharsis....)

 

Seriously though, I would go ahead and encourage a lefty to play righty. The issue isn't how cheap it is to buy your own left-handed guitar, but the ability to pick up someone else's guitar and play it. This can become a real practical advantage. I've been in several bands where the bass player and guitar player can trade instruments for a song or two. Or someone breaks a string, and finishes the set by playing the other guy's acoustic. Etc.

 

There are times in the life of the lefty where handedness matters more than at other times. When playing guitar, both hands are working together, and it's really an ambidexterous undertaking (like with piano--ever see a left-handed keyboard?) It's not like throwing or writing, where one hand does all the work while the other one watches. Or wankers.

 

The bottom line is, you probably have a nice guitar than me, and I want to be able to play it.

[lefty1951]

Hi.I am a lefty player,have been for over 30 years.I started out on a righty Sears Silvertone,and restrung it.It just came natural to play with the same hand I wrote with.I eventually bought Gibson and Fender lefties.One thing over the years that has bothered me is ,if there are so few of us lefty players,why are vintage lefty guitars so darn expensive.I mean,if righty guitar players won't buy them,how about dropping the price so lefty players can afford and enjoy them.Also,playing in bands over these years,it is easier for me to teach new material to righthanded players who watch me make the cords,and just mirror what I do.

[Sylver]

You could always do what Albert King did and play lefty and upside down. That's almost mind boggling!

[Bob Keelan]

Originally posted by Sylver:

You could always do what Albert King did and play lefty and upside down. That's almost mind boggling!

Yeah, there's been a few a 'those' guys throughout history. After SRV died, Double Trouble were in another band with a lefty that I'm pretty sure played that way. Anybody know anyone else?

 

bob

[Dogfur]

I just picked my older brother's Fender Mustang ('63)up and played it upside down when I was a kid - never really thought about it, it came natural. Over the years there have been a few problems, but I think if you've got a natural tendency you should just go with it. Drawbacks over the years - Fingerstyle ala Chet Atkins and flamenco tremelo are really hard upside -down. Classical stuff with moving bass lines is also a challenge, but I'm pretty sure I'd suck either way!

[DSD]

I have been playing guitar lefty for 30 years. About 15 years ago I got this bright idea to try and learn righty. That lasted about one day, it was weird I knew the fingerboard but it was like starting over and I had no ambition to go through that again.

 

I wonder sometimes if it would have made a difference if I learned righty but my teacher at the time led me in the natural direction. I, like a lot of leftys am ambidextrious (sp?)I don't know if that comes from living in a right hand world or what.

 

The most frustrating thing for me is the limited number of guitars available for leftys. I can walk into a store with 300 guitars and they'll have 5 electric leftys and rarley a lefty acoustic. I've tried using righty electrics and flipping them around but I always had a problem with my forearm rubbing on the knobs and the cutaway being backwards totaly sucks on some guitars. I know if I played righty I would have a lot more guitars in my collection. I've ran across many deals through the years but had to pass them up. Shit I come from a time when all these high priced vintage guitars were not that expensive. I wish I could step back 30 years with a pocket full of cash and go gear shopping. The "one that got away' in my life was a left handed 335 mint condition for $450. At the time I just didn't have the money. This I will carry to my grave.