Official Luthiers Forum!

Is there any real advantage to playing left handed or right handed, presuming whichever way you chose you started with that from the beginning?

My brother is left handed. I always made sure that I didn't sit on his left side at the dinner table. Might be the same if you are on stage with a bunch of righties.

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Righty- you can borrow almost every guitar.

Lefty- almost no one can borrow your guitar.

My wife is left handed but plays righty

Yeah, if you play right handed you are right and if you play left handed you are wrong!
But seriously folks, they don't make left handed violins so one would wonder why they make left handed guitars. When you begin playing, you are terrible no matter what hand you start with so you might as well learn right handed to broaden your options of instruments in the future

I must say I REALLY like Meddlingfool's answer to this question! There is a considerable amount of truth in his humorous answer.

Beyond that, I see no reason why a naturally left handed person shouldn't play a left handed guitar. I don't think there's an overwhelmingly, earth-shaking answer to this question. The simple answer would be that it's easier for a left handed person to learn in the natural way on a left handed guitar. The same holds true for a right handed person learning on a right handed guitar. In neither case is it easy for the student to start out on day one.

My dad was an amazingly ambidextrous man. He did most simple tasks with whichever hand was available at the time. This included writing. He played his mandolin, banjo and uke left handed, but he played right-handed instruments without restringing them. He played them more or less upside down. When he wanted to learn guitar, he did that on a left handed instrument. No problem for him. It would have been a WAY BIG problem for me! I'm telling you, you just had to be there and see him ripping off lightning fast jazz riffs upside down on his mandolin to appreciate what a determined player can learn to do.

I've always wondered about that. To me it seems like the fretting hand has the more difficult task, and we righties should be playing left handed guitars so that the coordinated hand would be fretting. Is it just tradition, or (more likely) a serious flaw in my logic?
Mike

But what is it that makes it "natural" to play right handed or left handed?

I once saw a chap who was left handed playing a right handed guitar...............as a left hander would play a left handed guitar. Guitar upside down with bass strings down and treble up. Quite a sight.!!
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I have though about this as well, as both hands have a lot of work to do playing a guitar. I thought maybe the natural hand might have an easier time when first learning the instrument strumming. At that point the left hand might be holding down a g or a c while strumming 4 string chords. From there it probably just get locked in. Maybe if forced early on there would be little difference. I can not imagine left handed pianos and I do not see them regularly played cross handed.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I've been watching my daughter who happens to be left handed. Ever since she was little I'd hand her a uke or some sort of stringed instrument (or even a toy) and watch her strum at it. She always strums with her left hand. She plays guitar hero left handed. I gave her a right handed uke and tried to show her how to play it. It didn't go so well. Had her flip it over and she was interested in learning it. I ended up getting her a left handed guitar as a first.

My thinking is that there is a dominant side at play. Like which eye do you use to shoot with. All things being equal you should be able to use either (of course that is a theory). Which foot do you start tapping with? I'm right handed and most the time my right foot is the one to get going first. The left may join in at some point, but I usually start on the right. Was that learned or is it wired into me? Could I make myself start with the left? Sure.

Now could a new player learn either way? Probably, but will they want to? That is what I keep asking myself.

When I was looking for a guitar for her the guy at the music store basically said I was dumb for starting her out on a lefty when there are so many right handed guitars available. At the end of his long list of reasons I shouldn't start with a right handed guitar I added to his list, that if I got her a right handed one I could play it. The real issue is if I got her a right handed guitar I don't think she would play it. I had already tested this idea with the uke.

Now she is a 10 year old with a lefty strat. She isn't as dedicated as I wish she was, but I still think that that was the right\proper guitar for her.

The plus side of playing right handed is that there are more off the shelf guitars available to you. Instructors are either pro lefty or totally against it.

I am ambidextrous, dominate left eye, according to tests exactly 50/50 right/left brain. Eat left, write left, tennis left, all hand tools left -- played baseball right (switch hitter) golf right and play guitar right. So for me -- it was that every single guitar instruction book is/was for right hander's. Every player I knew was right handed --- to me that was how it was supposed to be done.

As for the importance (or complexity) of one hand or the other in guitar playing, being primarily a solo finger-picker I simply do not agree that the fretting hand is always the most complicated or the major contributor in the performance of every arrangement.

Maybelle Carter (Freight Train) and Jimmie Hendrix played the guitar upside down.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

There used to be an act called The Time Square Two, and half way through a song, the guitar player flipped the guitar from right to left handed
and kept going without missing a beat. On the Smothers Brothers (?) show. Some of the sixties are still a little foggy.

Brent
Didn't Yogi Berra say he'd give his right arm to be ambidextrous ???

Just to be contrarian, there was an instructor once at the guitar institute in LA that was convinced right handed players should learn to play fretting with the right hand. His reasoning was that fretting took more dexterity and strength than picking and should be done with your dominant hand!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm pretty much ambidextrous, but do everything right handed.
I think a left handed teacher might be a good idea. Back when I gave golf lessons, it was helpful to the student for me to stand facing them and demonstrate left handed.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

The amount of interest and emotion in this subject is amazing to me. Another forum had a heated division over the "correct" answer for this lefty vs righty decision. The left handed people were split on the answer. Most of the right handed people said it did not matter (but how many of them are playing lefty guitars giving themselves some personal experience on the subject?)

There were a couple of accomplished players that had been playing righty for many years and then switched to lefty and started re-learning, and have now been playing lefty for several years. Why would they go to this EXTREME trouble after years of playing? It boiled down to this. At the end of the day, its the rhythm hand that drives music. Timing is EVERYTHING. Its the groove, the catchiness and feel and speed for the beat/rhythm. After years of practice with the right hand it did OK, but yet with no left hand practice the natural un-practiced left hand rhythm was still better than the practiced right hand rhythm. This is a BIG deal when making music. Also, the speed of the left hand used for picking was greater with little practice.

At first when learning, there is great focus on the left fretting hand. I've heard guitar teachers report that leftys playing righty usually jump out to a good start ahead of the right handed players. This could be expected. Then after a time the focus on the fretting hand starts being reduced and the picking hand gets good attention too. That's when the right-handed players were reported to have caught up with the leftys playing righty and often passed them.

I am a lefty playing righty. I made the decision to play righty over 40 years ago using the same logic that many of the writers above used (having more choices in buying guitars and playing other's guitars). Today I think it was a mistake. Because after years of playing my un-practiced left hand still has better rhythm than my practiced right hand. I thought about switching a few years ago, but I do not have enough desire to switch and re-learn at this time.

The amount of hand dominance is not the same for everyone. And I do not believe the answer is the same for everyone. But I believe that the SAFEST answer for playing SKILL in the long run is to use your dominate rhythm hand for picking. The skillful ability to play is where the ultimate enjoyment lies. The lack of plentiful choices for left-handed guitars or lack of lefty sheet music and stuff become small low-priority issues compared to skillful playing enjoyment.

Again, you may be one that can ultimately play righty just as well as lefty. Those people apparently do exist. But unless you are sure, why risk it? Just play rhythm with your dominate rhythm hand and don't look back worrying about the lesser issues. Don't make the mistake I and many leftys now know we made due to those more minor issues, thereby sacrificing our ultimate skill level.

All the people who say it does not matter which way you play since it is a two-handed instrument must also therefore admit that playing lefty will not hurt your ultimate skill level. I wonder why string instruments ALL put the bow or rhythm in the right hand (where most people are rhythm dominate) if it does not matter? I do not believe it was just by chance.

I'm as right-handed as they come. If I had to throw a baseball with my left hand, I'd want steel-toed shoes. When I was learning to play the guitar, I wondered why I had to do "the hard part" with my left hand. At this point, I think the plucking part is harder than the fretting part. I still wish I had two right hands. But I have a naturally left-handed friend who plays right-handed, and he's a much better guitarist than I will ever be.

Maybe there aren't many violins built with the bass bar on the wrong side, but there are a number of violinists and fiddlers who play left-handed.

Now playing a right-hand strung guitar upside down and backwards? Playing a steady alternating bass line with the index finger, and the melody with your thumb? I'd be better off throwing the baseball with my left hand. That wasn't Maybelle Carter, though. She was right-handed, and played guitar that way. Elizabeth Cotten wrote "Freight Train". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgQEOkuCRZ0

Jimi Hendrix played left-handed on a right hand guitar, but the strings were reversed. It was a right hand guitar strung left-handed. Otis Rush played left-handed on a right hand strung guitar. Here he is performing a song he wrote, accompanied by some guy from England: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN71NPAXCkc

The wikipedia article on left handed musicians is a good overview: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musicians_who_play_left-handed

I'm a lefty who plays right handed. I honestly can't remember why I started out that way, but a safe bet is that the equipment (particularly at the beginner level) is all right handed. Like all lefties, I do a number of things right handed; I bat right handed, but I throw and catch left handed. I golf right handed. I swing a tennis racket left handed as I smack its head against the ground in anger. Same with golf clubs, now that I think of it.

I can't speak for the general population of lefties, but I feel I must humbly admit to being capable of decent rhythm with my right hand. In fact, I feel that my ability to keep a decent rhythm is my strength as an acoustic guitarist (it certainly is not picking prowess). I think percussive work is one of those things that either hand should be able to do. There are left handed drummers and pianists, and both of those skills require decent rhythm from both hands. Maybe the guitar is not very different. While I keep a decent rhythm with my right (strumming) hand, my left hand has to keep up.

Mentioning drummers: I have seen the very, very rare lefty violinist (super rare), but I have never, ever seen a drum set arranged with the hi-hat on the drummer's right, so she/he can work the bass pedal with the dominant foot. Has anyone? That seems weird to me, because a drum set would be quite easy to move around. Go figure.

I don't drum, so it's not something I notice, but the wiki article I referenced has a long list of drummers who play left-handed (to various degrees). I can't say I'm a fan, but here's a prominent example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGv0AdtkxG0

Duh! of course Elizabeth Cotten wrote Freight Train and was the artist that played guitar upside down. But Jimi Hendrix not only played a RH guitar that was strung LH --- he too played treble "E" up:

"Jimi Hendrix was naturally left-handed but his father, Al, initially tried to force the young James to play right-handed. Al Hendrix reportedly believed playing left-handed was a sign of the devil. Why so? It has its roots in language. “Sinister”, in ancient Latin, means “left” and also “unlucky” – in modern times someone “sinister” is un-trusted or even evil. These linguistic oddities persist. “Right” means “correct” in English, obviously. In French, “gauche” means both “left” and “awkward.” So, even in language, left-handers get a bum deal.

Jimi Hendrix tended to write right-handed – there are photos of Jimi signing autographs and writing lyrics right-handed. And Jimi did learn to play guitar right-handed, as demanded by his father Al. Jimi modified his first (right-handed) guitars for his natural leftism – restringing and changing the nut. But when Al was around, he felt he had to play a right-handed guitar simply flipped over (treble E at the top). So Jimi taught himself to be “both-handed.”

Free’s Paul Kossoff, when he was a young guitar salesman in London, once recalled Jimi circa 1967 trying a guitar in the shop where Koss worked, and simply flipping it over so the treble E was closest to his face. And Hendrix still played brilliantly. Maybe all this explains why Jimi could play just about anything on the guitar?"

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Yes they do. But I don't need a language lesson. I'm well aware of the origins and implications of "derecho", and "izquierdo"

And Duh!, no, Hendrix wasn't a master of everything. He was a master of Hendrix. More power to him. Guys like Tommy Tedesco, and Harold Bradley did "everything".

My natural inclination to the guitar was and always has been left handed but as a kid I was given a right handed guitar and didn't know that things could be flipped around. I learned to play the righty. My left hand fretting technique is excellent, I have power and dexterity. On the other hand (har!) my right hand strumming has terrible rhythm and has always been a bit robotic. I have to involve my whole body, sort of leading with my left hand to sound musical.

Despite 27 years of playing a real right handed guitar I still play air guitar left handed.

-jj

Eric --- the is on me for saying Maybelle Carter was linked to "Frieght Train". Notice the (") around the Jimi Hendrix bio info it came off the Internet, actually the Gibson web site if you take exception you could confront them directly. The info you posted off the Internet is interesting too.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

My apologies, Ken. I took your post the wrong way, and made things worse with my response. Thanks for your calm reply. I'm a big Hendrix fan by the way, but I think there are a lot of great guitarists who get over-looked when we deify any single musician.

Eric -- All good, no problem, no need to apologize (but certainly accepted) I realize at times forum posts can be a bit fuzzy.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/