I Am Left Handed But Do I Need A Left Handed Guitar?
Vložit
- čas přidán 16. 02. 2017
- I have been helping left handed people of all ages ( my specialist site www.rguitars.co.uk ) work out whether they require a left handed guitar for over 2 decades. Its NOT just a case of "left handed = left handed guitar required". My video will show you some basic tips on working out whether you should buy a left or right handed guitar. Hope it helps!
Please join my left handed group on Facebook at / lefthandedguitars for comments from left handed players who have of course bought left handed guitars!
I am available online most hours at www.rguitars.co.uk and you can also join me on Patreon giving you access to one to one advic with a guaranteed same day reply - and all sorts of guitar related benefits at / richardsguitarshop - Hudba
Hello fellow left-handers😋
shane micah Left handed yes, left handed guitar; no! 😂
Patrick Nijkamp
Left handed , no
Left handed Guitar , yes !
Hello there *obi-wan*
Now then!!
😋hi
If you are left handed, and have the option to play left, then play left. Your rhythm and timing is controlled by your dominant side. If you are strumming with that dominant hand your learning progress will be faster and easier. I wasted two years trying to play right-handed before I had someone suggest to me that I should be playing lefty. Without that advice, I'd probably still be struggling to get through Hal Leonard book 1. I made more progress in two months playing lefty than I ever did playing right. If you are worried about the availability of left-handed guitars, just get over it. There are plenty, you just have to look a little harder. It will be worth it, I promise.
Thanks for your feedback. Its important to remember that every person is different and that dominance you mention is not so obvious for everyone, hence needing to think about this thoroughly. Clearly playing left handed was important for you and so you found your personal path through trial and error, which may well have been fast tracked by doing the tests shown in the video. Thanks again for your thoughts.
Thank you very much , I just can’t play with my right hand and I was really sad because I hard play right hand is more advantage
Thanks! I've played for years just picking (no knowledge of chords at all) using right handed guitars upside down. I have a high comfort level with picking with left hand and moving along the neck and doing things like hammering with the right. I"m about to start my first guitar lesson at age 58 and my instructor wants me to play right handed because in his words "you don't know anything" so, in his opinion, it won't matter. I liken it to the fact I throw a baseball left-handed but I don't know how to throw a curve, slider or knuckle ball. If someone said "well, let's try to teach you right-handed to throw those curves and knuckle balls but right-handed because, after all, "you don't know anything" I'd have to say "No way!" Not a perfect analogy but that's how it feels to me when attempting to play right-handed.
@@garycarter961 At this point, you would be better off learning to play left-handed since you've already been picking with the left hand and fretting with the right hand. Plus you're 58 years old, it's not like you're a kid so you have less time to get proficient at it. Do what feels right... er... left? Just do what feels natural for you.
I agree that a good teacher will help the INDIVIDUAL figure out what he/she needs.
The reality is more likely that "dominant preference" plays a large part in "right handed" instruments. It is a matter of statistical probablity.
Every person is different. I have one "right handed son" who does most things of skill, other than writing, with his left. Another, who is ambirdextrous but write right-handed (though he taught himself originally by holing the pen or pencil much like a Chinese Calligrapher with a brush... a different story).
Some studies offer a correlation between hair growth pattern and "side dominance" that contradicts much of what we have been told by some as far as "handedness" as an indicator of brain domiance.
Both my sons' hair growth patterns are counter-clockwise (which according to an Australian study is possible corrrelation with brain side-dominance ), as is mine.
In assimetric musical instruments, the "dominant hand" is the hand that generally plays what ends up being the more difficult part of the mechanical aspects of playing. the domiant hand allows us to concentrate on rote things a little better with the off hand as we can go on "auto-pilot" to some extant with the dominant hand.
How to Finger a fretboard can and has been taught to apes and one of the first automations for machines and computers in musiclal insturments ---aside from someting like vibrato (which most players attempt to execute consistently anyways and so is easily standardized via maths and thereby a machine or computer) deperssing a string at a predetermined place against a board is fairly rote. Bowing, articulation, picking, strumming & etc. are much more complex and require more motor dexterity, and training.
Things like Picking and Bowing are generally more facile for the dominant hand, hence: guitars are built predominantly with the right hand being the "motor" (as around 90% of humans tend to have a right dominance) and leaving the less dominant hand to preform the fingering that can and is learned through rote.
At the outside, lefties only make up about 10% of the human population and never more than that. the number of lefties that play a musical instrument even lower than that. We really have no idea how many "righties" are actually left dominant, but at least one study says less than 5% of righties are.
How an asymetrical musical insturment is mostly produced for the "right hand" ends up being a matter of economies of scale. Left handed scissors have existed since scissors were invented, but go down to your local office shop, and you probably won't find any. We simply have more customers for righties---always have. Always will if we leave genetics to the task (handedness is not genetic, but brain dominance just might be)
I have experience playing both left and right hand string/guitar instruments as well as piano (I have played on one of the very few left handed pianos built as well). I also have and can play guitar upside down and backwards which has helped in my violin fingering work analysis ---getting away from standard position play and simply learning to play all notes on the length of a string, regardless of where it sits reltative to other strings,
(see violin pedagoggue Terje Hansen, who happens to play classical violin left handed and is an interesting story in himself -- head of the violin curricula at the Norwegian Academy of Music and a late blooming prodigy -- he only begain study of violin at age 20 and was performing on stage by 23. before he was 25, he was made head of violin studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music ---something that most violin teachers would say is impossible.
His published work on violin scales is revolutionary (and applicable to guitar or any other western string instrument). In modern string study, most students are never prepared for modern works and much of the repetoire after a-tonal music, micro tonal and eastern music --which does not work well with the old practice of position playing as it is based upon an old western common practice theory of notes, scales & etc. which positions are built upon in learning western string instruments.)
my own preference for solo performance is left hand mirror to a right hand instrument.
but often I am without an instrument when an impromtu ask for me to play comes up. I'll play whatever you put in front of me.
I'll play uprigth base - "backwards" with right hand fingering, left hand plucking or bowing as I don't own one and I've only met right handed versions.
Pagannini was said to have been "left handed" but played a right hand instrument. We have no idea what direction his hair grew in....
Could never ever play right handed, my brain just won't accept it. The first day I picked up a left handed guitar, it was like, "oh, wow, now I get it".
Indeed - Its fascinating isn't it how some can and some can't - so important to do your homework at the beginning and see what suits you personally which it seems you worked out in the end!
It was a painful lesson, I struggled so much, my uncle, who was teaching me, told me I never would be able to play guitar. It was only when I was at a friends house and picked up one of his guitars and heldf it left handed he went, "oh, yeah, you're left handed". He restrung it for me, I learned my first song that afternoon. It would of been very easy for me to take my uncles word and think I just didn't "get it" with guitars.
That's interesting. Hendrix's story is very similar. On the other hand, my guitarist in a band I was in years ago was a lefty but he played right handed. He played well too.
Hm. I wonder if lefties are more ambidextrous than righties because I can't play shit with a lefty guitar. You might as well hand me a Russian made space capsule as a lefty guitar. My chances for deciphering it would be the same.
Ditto. There is just no way. Tried it many, many years ago, and it's impossible. A lefty is a lefty.
As a lefty, I learned not to waste your time doing things the wrong way. I played PC videogames with aiming on my right hand and I was never able be good at games. But switching to a left handed mouse, I had to re learn my muscle memory, but in the end it was worth it. Always go for lefty equipment when you can
really dude? im left handed too, but cant seem to get a lefty mouse, i mean, it just doesnt feel netural to me at all and i cant imagine my self playing like that
are u typing with right hand?
I'm right handed but for some reason I feel more comfortable playing a left handed guitar. It just comes naturally to me.
Josue Yanez me too I right handed and play guitar left handed
Me too man, but due to lack of availability I am playing a right handed guitar upside down.
I also know someone like you.. and she's kinda a very talented person at a young age.
Aditya Kaushik see I’m in your situation... I’m brand new to guitar but I’m sure I’m lefty (thank you guitar hero) but I’m forcing myself to learn right because it’s all I have. How does playing a right hand flipped work? 🤔Like do I strum backwards? 🤔🤔 does it even matter??
This is why Kurt Cobain plays left handed. He writes with his right hand, but play left handed
I am so left handed and when I first picked up a guitar it just felt bang on in the left handed position. It helped being a Hendrix fan! I can't do anything right handed so I suppose I am one of the proper 10%. It is annoying though to walk into most guitar shops and not be able to try out any guitar in the shop! Thanks Richard for being the shop owner who actually gives a damn about left handed guitarists even though your right handed. That fact alone helps to explain your philosophy of being in the business to connect people to their guitar ( bit like wands really!).
I've learned how to play upside down and i can play different chord voicings that right handed players would struggle to play. I enjoy the unique sound that being left handed can bring.
@sewerkeezy That's really interesting. I am considering learning the guitar, just some general cords so I can play socially. A childhood accident left me with only my thumb and pinky on my left hand, so I would need to fret on my right and strum with my left. I'm wondering what challenges I might run into by trying to play upside down instead of just getting a lefty? Thanks for the advice!
Being left handed doesn’t help you play better than right handed players. It would be the same thing with right handers if they did the same thing
@@EricThompson1 -- Don't know their "handedness," but you might draw encouragement from Jerry Garcia and Django Reinhardt, both of whose playing exemplified triumph over serious hand injuries.
I know about Jacek Kaczmarski, an old Polish player who learnt the same way.
I am completely left handed and I have only ever played right handed guitars and there is no way I could play a left handed
Same, for some reason left handed guitars never clicked with me
Do you ever feel like you lack speed and dexterity though? I watch people play finger style, and they get that tapping percussion sound, while playing rhythm and melody at the same time. It makes me want to smash my guitar and quit. I’m a leftie and have never played a left handed guitar. I have reached a point of frustration though. I feel my right hand is as fast as it is ever going to get, and it’s at least half the speed of my left. And also, less accurate. I have accepted that I won’t be playing fast leads or finger style guitar. It breaks my heart. Being left handed isn’t fair. I can’t even imagine reading a guitar tab and holding a left handed guitar. It would hurt my eyes. Lol.
I could never play a right handed guitar or a right handed violin. My brain wiring does not allow me the coordination to play those instruments, or any instruments right handed.
@@pre4122 just restring it the other way if you can't play it right handed
I'm a leftie who can play both.. just sharing hehehe
People often think that the most difficult task of playing a guitar is the chord formation. In that context the right-handed guitar does not seem right-handed at all. But I find the most difficult part is keeping rhythm. Drummers are able to keep much faster rhythm with their dominant hand. And for guitarists, the dominant hand keeping rhythm keeps the whole thing together. I am right handed, but had a hand injury to my left hand. As such, I can no longer play right-handed guitar, and am in the process of teaching myself left-handed technique. Interestingly, transposing the chords to my right hand - while difficult - is much less of a cognitive leap than trying to strum or finger-pick with my left hand.
Writing: left handed, cutting with scissors: right hand, soccer: right footed, shooting a gun: left handed, golf: right handed...baseball bat: right handed.
Guitar: right handed...I am totally messed up when I try to play left handed guitar hahahaha.
I'm having the same issue. And also I eat with my right hand.
VERY INTERESTING! For me, it's: Writing LEFT; drawing LEFT; PC mouse action RIGHT; scalpel cutting (for being a surgeon) LEFT; scissor cutting RIGHT; stitching RIGHT; shooting RIGHT; tennis RIGHT; soccer RIGHT and now seriously thinking of getting a guitar, and fancy a particular Washburn model but won't get a left hand. Do you think I can also manage play on a right handed one. Cheers!!!
dude same for me!!
Patrick Nijkamp
Am also left handed and play base ball right handed Am also a shooter left handed and right eye dominant lol it’s Weird
Alex Dejesus I’m right handed and left eyed; my husband is left handed and right eyed; we shoot with our dominant eye. About 30% of population is cross dominant. Our son turned out lefty all the way. :D
I was air guitaring left hand for years
It feels weird to play right handed.
I air guitar lefty and play righty... work that out! 🤙🏻
exactly mate lol
@@joepetch308 That means you probably should of learned guitar left handed
This is my current struggle exactly. Thank you for your input/advice!!
I really appreciate this video, and yes, I'm one of those still figuring out which guitar to buy. Hopefully, this will help. All the best.
me too, what conclusion did you come to?
Thank you so much. You post cleared up a lot of small details for me in making the right decision as to what to buy.
I can see you posted this some time ago, however, I still want to thank you. I first tried to learn guitar at around age 10 (I am 40 now). I immediately picked up as a left handed and was so difficult to teach that I gave up. The teacher found me frustrating and easily lost patience. Music is and always has been essential to my being. I got the basics of the piano in short order before becoming an opera singer, working in the music industry in my home county as well as abroad. Throughout the years I have tried guitar whenever I have the opportunity. Always right handed and always with no success. No rhythm. I visited an uncle recently who lives far from me. He has a house full of guitars. It is his passion. We were talking and I mentioned that I regret not being able to pick it up. He found an old guitar in his workshop, restrung it for a lefty and made some small alterations for me to make lefty beginner life easier. 20 minutes later I had the basics down and a few weeks on I see real improvement. Unfortunately, I am just one of those very left handed people. It is likely that I will end up teaching myself as there is still this idea out there that being left handed on a guitar is a choice and an inconvenience. It really isn't. I have tried to play right handed for far too long. Hell if I have to I will just have to build a damn guitar myself... if my uncle hasn't already started.
Quarantine has me bored enough to learn right handed.
I'm a lefty, I tried playing right handed guitar SO many times, but it was just so unnatural to me. I couldn't get comfortable around it. My muscles got tensed, I couldn't focus on rhythm. So I've decided to learn it left handed way.
Get a left handed guitar. You wont regret it. I tried for a month right handed and picked up a left handed guitar recently and im able to play as good left handed in 2 days as it took me in 1 month as right handed.
Strumming, using a pick and this is ,keeping the beat and time that is where the music is produced, the hand on the finger board doesn't play music ,it stop notes.
Hey man as a lefty I really appreciate you. It’s awesome to see a you care so much about the people finding what works for them. When I bought mine I asked the guy he gave me dirty look and I felt pressured to just buy one and leave. I tried It right now I’m going to flip the strings around and try it.
Thank you for this video.
I am a southpaw who learned how to play guitar right-handed. The reality is that having one's dominant hand on the fingerboard is a huge advantage when playing lead guitar. I went from nothing to playing electric lead guitar in a year and playing in a gigging band in less than two years back in the seventies with little more than 33rpm vinyl as a teaching guide. Some of the best guitarists in the world are/were left-handed people who learned how to play guitar right-handed. Duane Allman would not have sounded like Duane Allman if he learned to play guitar right-handed. The same thing can be said for Mark Knopfler, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Gary Moore, Steve Morse, Herman Li, and Danny Gatton to name a few southpaws who play/played guitar right-handed. These guitarists are/were exceptional. Contrary to popular belief, Jimi Hendrix was not left-handed. He was a right-handed person who learned to play guitar left-handed. Once again, there is an advantage to having one's dominant hand on the fingerboard. If a person is having a problem with meter, he/she should purchase a metronome and practice. Good meter is an internal quality that one either has naturally or one has to work at achieving. There are no left-handed pianos. Yet, there are left-handed pianist. As a lefty who learned how to play what is considered to be a right-handed guitar, I would never teach a lefty had to play a left-handed guitar. That pretty much limits him/her to a tiny fraction of the instruments available on the market.
Awesome! Thank You. I’m left handed and want to learn the guitar, this is exactly what I was looking for.
You have no idea how this has helped me. My daughter is lefty...she is turning 9 in a few weeks and has expressed interest in playing guitars. My immediate reaction was to shop a left handed guitar and be done with it. But watching how she shifts her body to write and draw, I kept thinking, why not let her try righty first. It seems like her natural direction is to the left anyway. Your advice and insight confirmed what I was thinking. I have a left handed strung acoustic and a right. I am going to do the test you recommend and see what she is comfortable with. Thank you so much for this video!
Ahah! Bless you sir! I am sooooo happy that it helped. Thank you so much
This is really good advice. I am a lefty and I tried to learn how to play left handed guitar in the beginning but I couldn't do it. So since then I've been playing right handed for the past 18 years. But I've noticed that my skill level has plateaued an my playing is limited. I struggle with rhythm in my right hand and can't seem to get the pima method down at all which is very unfortunate because I love classical style guitar. So after 18 years I'm thinking about trying to lean left handed again.
What a nice guy! Thank you for taking notice of the lefty struggle. I've been putting off learning the guitar my whole life because I can't even find a beginner guitar at a reasonable price. I finally just bought one off of Craigslist, and ironically, it is a right-handed guitar that a left-hander was selling. Here's to hoping I can do it!
Thank you for the detailed and honest recommendation... It really really helpful. God bless you.
Great watching this video, and took me way back to when I first started...
I'm left handed for pretty much everything yet when it came to playing guitar - specifically to enhance my future choice spectrum - I made myself learn 'right handed'.
Seriously no big deal (at the time) because when you start learning, it all feels just a little bit alien anyway. In that regard it made perfect sense to me because now I had a genuine choice to make, rather than just going with that self-identification of being 'left handed'.
I guess for some people it just isn't ever going to feel correct, but doing what you've talked about here makes so much sense because if you don't try, you'll never know..
Great video!
What a fantastic informative video, Mark Knopfler is left handed but plays right handed so what you are saying is bang on the money about trying both ways to see what suits you individually. :) Looking forward to more videos. cheers.
If You're An Absolute Beginner It Doesn't Matter, You Have To Train Both Hands Anyway. Don't Get Caught Up On That Mentality Cause Part Of It Is Also Mental.
thanks. I got a right handed and was really spooked by all this.
hey! i just watched your video. Few years ago i bought my first guitar. I´m left handed but i bought a right handed spanish guitar and changed the strings to play it. I´ve spent these couple of years learning and improving myself and a few months ago i decided that it was the right time to buy a better guitar and, as you´ve said in the video, the catalogue for left handed people is really limited, plus most left handed guitars use to be more expensive than right handed guitars. I´ve always thought about the idea of learning how to play with the right hand, and it´s been now while i was watching your video when i´ve taken my guitar and tried to do it. To my surprise, i´ve been capable of doing that without any kind of problem, so thanks to you cause now i feel more confident about taking the decision of start playing the guitar with the right hand. Will take some time but i´m definitely focused of being at least as good as i am playing with the left hand. I´ll buy a right handed guitar this christmas and start playing with it. May seem stupid, but thank you for your words, because it´s been the final boost to take this decision, sooo... yeah, thank you for this video
I feel comfy as a left handed to play right hand guitar, but I see worrying comments about the strumming hand.. oh dear
Well for me if feels awkward,
i am super late but does it feel weird strumming with right hand then after a while becomes second nature?pls share me your experiences thank you!
Ricardo Fam yes it feels weird. I got a left handed guitar a year ago and the strumming feels so much better and natural. I’ve been playing guitar for 13 years and I can honestly say it is better to have a left handed guitar if you are left handed... with that being said I hope you are able to make the switch
I feel the same way. When I was first learning guitar all I had was a hand me down classical which kinda sucked because I quickly found out I like bands like, nirvana, soundgarden, foo fighters etc. anyways I’ve been a lefty in everything my whole life but that was all I had so I had to learn to be a right handed guitar player
Thanks Richard great advice. Be struggling for yrs
Gave up waisted money on a guitar no advice from the store just got my money and thankyou goodbye. No help or advice at all. You have now given me a breath of fresh air to pick up a guitar again and learn
Wonderful example stories great information thank you so much sir i think i fall exactly into the same boat that the guy from your first story did. My picking and strumming has been seriously clumbsy and uncooperative all these years but now i think know what i finally have to try. I just hope i find a nice one for a decent price and i finally start to step over the larger obstacle that is picking and strumming xD fingers crossed aswell bro on the subject
us lefties are 1 in 10, we are unique,don't listen to the right handed nerds, lol
Is that a joke?
Ok kid its all about luck you know that right?
jeff shephard lol. I realized we are discriminated against with electric guitars. I looked at some left handed guitars that were the same type as the right handed, and with the latter were like $230, and the left handed ones were about $700 😬😂
@@logantriplettfilms102 This is mostly due to the fact that it costs more to modify and create guitars opposite of how the majority of guitars are normally manufactured, unfortunately.
@@RichardsGuitarshop you wouldnt get the joke , its left handed. (Another joke)
Great to hear your support for left handers , back in the days before youtube , I’m 62 i learnt to play by sitting next to right handers because it was easier to copy / follow them, what people ( myself included) fail to realise is it is our dominant hand ( masculine) that drives our ( feminine ) hand , the rhythm the attack and emotion comes from our dominant side , the dexterity of picking and creativity like slapping , etc are very dominant gestures,….when trying to strum with my right hand ( or wrong hand ) i would find it so frustrating , my fingers would bleed the strings would snap and picking was another level , my left hand would be gripping the beck so tight in a vain effort to encourage my right hand to succeed , i felt in have this music in my bones but , the results where always very painful….
Needless to say ( o i should have mentioned i was crazy enough to keep trying for over 7years, which included trying to learn the Keyboard too) i eventually gave up , and swore to never play a right-handed guitar ever again….
years have gone by now and in some kind of midlife crisis nostalgia , I’m thinking of getting a left handed guitar ….but as mentioned in your video the choices are limited on a budget especially , I’m looking on ebay some around £100 others more like £3,000 but a lot more choice then back in my younger days , why has nobody ever created a left handed piano Keyboard yet is beyond me in this day and age of Technology ?! ?
I've tried both but always feel comfortable playing a lefty guitar. It doesn't feel "right" (no pun intended) when I'm playing opposite hand. You're right, it's all about personal feel and it all depends how left dominant you are. I'm used to limited choice in a right handed world, so I appreciate you making an effort to make available left guitars.
I am 40 years old and will be starting my journey learning to play guitar soon. My father knows how to play, and when I was a kid when I would pick up his bass I always held it left-handed, even though I'm right handed. It just felt extremely natural to me. I found a great deal on a Yamaha FG820L guitar and bought it. I may regret my decision later but I just went with what I felt was most comfortable and natural.
Wait a minute 💀 I've been playing right handed for 3 years now... you are telling me there are left handed guitars
haha you're joking right?
@@Enwickote I am unfortunately not 😕
jimmi hendrix, paul McCartney, kurt cobain( not exclusively left, but dominant with both)
those are the 3 most famous i know of.
@@otakuka3077 Tony Iommi(Black SAbbath)
@@otakuka3077 but elizabeth cotten is the best left handed guitar she never strung the guitar she fingerpicking it
I’m 65 now and have picked up the guitar off and on. Off because I have had very little trouble forming chords with my left hand, but I’ve had lots of problems striking the correct strings with my right hand. I swing a tennis racket, throw a baseball, swing a golf club, and everything else left handed. I’m currently shopping for a left handed guitar. I should have tried that years ago.
Very interesting insights. I write left-handed, throw left-handed, etc., but some fifty-plus years ago I learned to play the guitar right-handed, since the guitar around our home was right-handed, family members played right-handed, etc. I have learned many techniques on guitar playing right-handed, have taught classes and one-on-one for many years, played professionally, and competed and won awards in some guitar competitions. That said, as a dominant lefty with much ambidexterity, I have nevertheless noticed some limitations/variations in playing right- v. left-handed: e.g., when I use a straight pick, although I can get great accuracy, I am more conscious of the right hand motion and it may not be quite as powerful or quite as precise as it might were I to have started with the dominant, or "stronger" left hand. I also find that when beginning a rhythmic strum, I tend to prefer to start on the "up-pick" or the "and" of the preceding beat in order to get the rhythmic flow. To some extent, that has helped me in playing driving accents off the beat. But the "up" does feel more certain to my right hand, stronger than my starting with the strum on a "down-pick." The same holds true in finger pick style. I find a natural inclination to start on an "up" with the right hand fingers, e.g., the fingers starting on the "and" of the fourth beat, to achieve a good rhythmic roll. Too, in recent times, I have also begun to use a thumb pick as a straight pick rather than use the straight pick itself to get more strength and more precision out of single "down-up" or "up-down" lines. As for the fretting hand, as a lefty playing right-handed, the left hand has always felt natural and reasonably deft fretting the strings, and it's hard to know whether I would have achieved that deftness or greater had I reversed the guitar. Finally, as so many have discussed, guitarists as diverse as Mark Knopfler, Glen Campbell, Paul Simon, Ted Greene, and, I've heard, Joe Pass, were left-handers who played right-handed guitars with extraordinary skill and success. So I suspect that in the end the whole subject is so nuanced and depends so much on the individuality of one's wiring, that it may be impossible to find any bottom-line conclusions.
Richard, as a life long left hander (tennis, table tennis, football) I came to guitar quite late and went through pretty much what you described. That test told me I was definitely a lefty. The only guitar I have ever tried before buying was my Faith from you. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness for those who are confirmed left handers and for the undecided it really is that big decision you describe.
Thank you so much. Really appreciate your comments.
Just found this. I am on the horns of the left/right dilemma (as I have a crack at taking up guitar in middle age). Your "test" seems eminently sensible & I intend to use it when I go to the guitar shops. Cheers.
THANK YOU SM FOR THIS VIDEO!! as a beginner i didn’t know that there was right handed or left handed guitars. i personally am left handed but i believe i have a right handed guitar and it’s how i learned it. it also just feels natural? like if i picked up a left handed guitar i would feel very awkward lmao but maybe i should learn it just for fun !
Thank you from a lefty! I have been researching this issue for awhile now. I'm a retired female who has never played the guitar but always wanted to. lol
I have gone to guitar shops to be told they don't have much to choose from, pick any right handed one up to see what's comfortable and then order it left handed... No one has bothered to suggest I try a right handed guitar the way you described to see if my comfort level is about the same either way. I was actually told to take a lesson with a right handed guitar to see if it would work (the music school I contacted doesn't have a left handed guitar). After watching your video, I can now go to any guitar shop and figure it out myself without paying for a lesson that may be a waste of time and money. Great video. I'll let you know what I discover. Thanks again.
I know you're trying to help, and thanks for taking the time to do it, but the video is coming across to me as another item added to the list of, 'ok, so you're left handed, but just go ahead and do it our way.'
It took my guitar tutor about 30 seconds to work out I was left handed (my navy shooting instructor could have told him that after one volley with an SA80).
I think the word you were looking for is ambidexterous and there is something you can do about the lack of choice. You tell your suppliers that a customer really liked the colour and feel of their guitar but bought another brand as it was available left handed.
thanks for making this video, I am left-handed and I see so many videos of right-handers saying "just get a right-handed guitar", and it gets annoying really quick. they all have the same reasoning "it is always uncomfortable at first", "not much selection for left-handers" and more, which is true. On the other hand, you did mention that stuff, but you also mentioned to go with what's more comfortable. play left-handed and right-handed and feel which one is better for you. you're the only person I have come across so far that mentions both sides, and to go with what's more comfortable for you, and not just say "get a right-handed one", so I really appreciate this video. thanks! (I am interested in getting a bass guitar, still in the process of looking around and seeing if it is something I want to do)
You should tell the manufacturers to make all the guitars left handed - tell them that the right handed players will soon get used to it! lol.... When people say that it makes me so angry - if it were that easy for everyone all guitars COULD be made LEFT handed!
@@RichardsGuitarshop exactly. And if it were they easy, why do the right handers not try to play left handed? I understand they're trying to help us, but they're not going about it the right way. On the other hand, you did, so thanks so much for that. When I do decide on a bass, I'll try them irl if possible and mess around with both right handed and left handed, and see what feels more comfortable. I know I played an acoustic in like 7th/8th grade and it was left handed, but that was ages ago and I barely played it
I'm a 70 year old lefty, I just play a right handed guitar upside down, quite a unique sound because I'm attacking the strings from top down.. the trouble is with electric guitars because the nobs are in the wrong place and get brushed (adjusted) by my upper arm which is a pain whilst gigging so I tape the volume open.For me strumming with my left hand just feels correct and I never have a problem borrowing a guitar..
Hi Rich...tough to explain..lol.I am righthand dominant, I play righthand guitars with what some might call playing upsidedown and backwards!(strings)lol. Just the way I learned how to play! Best part is I can walk into most shops, and pickup most guitar's and play! It does throw off other guitar players if they watch my righthand on the fingerboard! It can frustrate many, not sure why! Lol. You show tremendous patience here in this video. Thx. Cheers!
Great video, at first I thought, I wish I had seen it many years ago, but actually maybe not, although I find being left handed makes buying a decent guitar that suits you just about impossible. When I first started playing the guitar I had no issues I just had to play left-handed. One point I would take issue with is the idea that your fretboard fingering hand does all the intricate stuff. This may seem the case when you first start playing and indeed it probably is the case at first however as you improve, the fingering quickly becomes automatic whereas the other hand, the strumming hand if you like, is the hand that imparts most of the artistry and individuality which never becomes automatic, so I totally disagree that playing right handed when you are left-handed is a viable option unless you are very ambidextrous.
Two years behind the curve. Nevermind.
I'm left handed and since I was in my late teens I've tried to learn to play both left and right handed (actions using a single hand I tend to do left handed but can use either to varying degrees of success while actions using both hands I tend to do right handed).
Now in my 50s I've finally decided on and happy with playing left handed. I got there using a very similar - but far more basic - method to the one you're promoting here. I made a concious note to monitor which way - left or right handed - I Air-Guitared. Simply put I just started playing Air Guitar to some of my favourite songs and made a mentle note of which way I unconciously held said guitar. Sometimes I deliberately tried to hold the Air Guitar right or left handed.
Everytime I just let it happen I naturally played left handed. Everytime I deliberately tried to play right handed it felt very uncomfortable and un-natural.
I don't think you need to actually hold or play a guitar to work out if you should be using a right or left handed guitar/bass. Just see which way you Air Guitar to your favourite songs then go with that way round.
I'm totally lefthanded, and I play guitar lefthanded. when I started, it was always so much more natural for me to play with my right hand on the neck so I went with it, it just felt totally right to me (or rather "left" lol) . I didn't know there were lefties who learned to play righthanded. I sometimes wonder if I did then would I have tried it and would I have been successful? I actually doubt it.
And while I understand about lefty guitars and basses being rarer, but actually there are some righthanded guitars I actually enjoyed playing "converted", I had a converted strat that I liked, the controls didn't bother me.
I never thought about how my right hand is doing the complex, intricate work until you mentioned how your right hand was for you.
Hi Richard, I found the video about left handedness very interesting. I started out as a left hander at school converted to being right handed so that I would be allowed to write with a fountain pen!. when I started to play a guitar a decided that the hard work was being done with the left hand so I never considered trying a right handed guitar.
I have also discovered that I am definitely left handed when comes to playing golf!
Hey Eric! I don't think I ever knew that - well at least I have forgotten if you told me!! (which wouldnt be a first would it!). That is fascinating and a perfect example of what I am talking about. Thanks so much for sharing this and so please you enjoyed my video. Hopefully one of the first of many more to come!
Left Handed, can't play left handed guitars at all. Been playing right handed just by instinct.
Really? By instinct you should play left handed :S
Hi Richard, interesting video! I'm left handed, and when I got my first (3/4 size, Russian made, plywood acoustic) guitar for Christmas, it was right handed. I didn't know any better (other than seeing Hendrix at the Isle of Wight, earlier in the year, and he was using a right handed guitar!). So I spent a month or so in the bedroom trying to play a right handed guitar right handed. It just wasn't working, and one afternoon i thought I'd "do a Hendrix" as I thought, and just turn it round and play upside down. The difference for me was in the strumming - I had so much better rhythm strumming with my left hand than with my right, the veil slipped from my eyes and my albeit rudimentary Happy Traum studies swiftly moved from Streets of Laredo to arpeggio'd House of the Rising Sun.
Thanks for even bothering to post a video about the subject, I for one appreciate your effort.
Great video. I'm right handed but I play guitar and shoot a bow left handed. It has to do with eye dominance and how you are wired. If it feels right, go with it.
What a great video. Put my mind at ease about forcing myself to learn right handed first for convenience sake.
I'm left-handed but I use a right-handed guitar the other way around..I admit it's really hard to get the right fingerstyle of many songs but I just choose my own style of fingerpicking.. I still enjoy playing the guitar though 😁
I started learning to play guitar right handed. I spent hours and hours trying to figure out the guitar. I finally got to the point where I was getting to the cords, but for some reason my left hand couldn't do what I wanted it to do. It was frustrating and I almost gave up guitar.
A neighbor noticed the frustration and asked why I was trying to play a right handed guitar when I was left handed. My answer was the standard reasoning of the time, "because this is how you're suppose to play guitar." My first questioning of the why of things, but I didn't know it at the time.
So after thinking about it, and asking around to more "knowledgeable" people, I flipped the guitar over. What a difference, it felt good. I took me a year to get through Mel Bay's 1st method book, and still not being proficient. It took 3 months to get through the rest of the books, and I was really enjoying playing the guitar. It no longer felt like a chore.
However, I also knew that I had cut myself off from all my friends guitars. As a teenager who wanted to fit in with everyone else, this was devastating. So I learned how to play left-handed with the strings strung left and right handed. It took a bit of the isolation away.
My friends who saw the change never questioned it. They knew I had found my place, but when I'm in a Guitar Center or other guitar store, I always get that question, "how can you play like that?"
Simple question everything, adapt, and practice.
Great video.
When I was young the nearest guitar store did not have left hand guitars so I learned right handed. In my teens, we moved to a larger city and purchased a left handed guitar as I can now play both ways. BTW, when playing high school baseball I bat both left and right handed.
I received similar advice as a 9 year old left handed would be guitarist 43 years ago. Glad I went for the right-handed Vittoro.
I am a left handed and since I was learning playing guitar around me was only right handed guitars..And I didn't have one what I did was playing right handed guitar upside down and that was too (borrowing) quite a long time back ..... and I am proud of it that where ever I go I find right handed guitar now a days too and that won't trouble me for playing at all...they just wonder!!!!
I really enjoyed your video. I'm a lefty and am interested in learning guitar. My natural instinct is to play left handed. My left hand is the power hand and the right is the fiddly bits hand. I wonder if this was reinforced by learning piano as a child. In piano the left hand usually plays chords and the right hand does chords and also the melody. Just a thought I had.
When I first started to learn to write, the teachers found it strange that I was mirroring a lot of letters and just couldn’t get it. One suggested that I tried my left hand and there it was, problem solved.
I really wish that playing right handed could work for me. I’m really jealous of the choice for the right handed amongst us.
The same thing applies to skateboarding for example, whether you’re goofy or regular, you’ll just know what feels natural.
interesting video & you make some good points , I am left handed & play right , the only problem I have is that my right hand gets more tired / cramped sometimes but it's not that big of a deal in the long run
I'm left handed but I play right handed, always have. When I was a kid playing air guitar before I could play I did that left handed. My first guitar was right handed so i learned right. Now it is just natural to me.
All along my left-handed life, I have done amazing work figuring out how to use right-handed things. I'm hoping this holds true on my new journey of learning to play the guitar.
Hey man I’m left handed and want to get into guitar playing, let me know how your journey goes, good luck!
I want to play a guitar, I have oen at home, but its right handed and I cant even imagine playing for a long time with that. Its just natural to me that I have to play with my left hand.
Hello, I find this very interesting as i am predominantly a lefty, I shoot left handed, play guitar left hand, play pool left handed, but play golf and cricket right handed, and football left footed thats one hell of a mix... my wife is predominantly right handed so is her sister but they both shoot and play pool left handed so my point is I think we are all a mix of both so we need to find what is most confortable for each induvidual, so I would just hand them a guitar and see which hand they play...
Great info. I'm am left handed, but play right handed. Started playing at a very young age, so teacher told me the problems of finding a lefty guitar and cost. Never even thought about being a lefty playing right handed. The bonus point is being a lefty playing right handed is I have my strong hand on the fret board. Again great info.
The argument about having your strong hand on the fretboard would mean righties should all learn on a left handed guitar. The picking / strumming hand requires great dexterity to be a good guitar player. No-one should be forced to play right-handed if they naturally hold a guitar left handed.
Hi Richard,
Interesting video.
I am naturally right-handed but can do some things left-handed.
20 years ago (I am 37 now) I started to play acoustic guitar (I still have and play my very first guitar) and found that although I am a 'righty', I feel comfortable playing a guitar left-handed allowing my right hand to do the fretting and my left hand doing the strumming/finger-picking/using a pick.
I first realised this ever since I was a child (I used to get plastic toy guitars and played left-handed) and again as a teen when 'playing' air guitar did it left-handed and still do.
I visited a musical instrument store in Lincoln (as that is the only place I can go since my local musical instrument shop in Spalding closed down earlier this year) to see if they had a left-handed Squier Classic Vibe 60 (CV 60) Stratocaster guitar in stock (after looking at Stratocaster type guitars as this is the kind of guitar I want to go for) as I want to go from playing an acoustic guitar to playing electric guitar.
Unfortunately, they only had a right-handed version of this guitar, but as I wanted to see the guitar in the flesh to see how it looked (absolutely beautiful and well built) and how it felt, I had a go at playing it (right-handed) luckily for me not through an amp as the only amp in the store was in use at the time lol : ).
Although it felt a bit unusual (not really awkward), I could only just play it.
So, I now have a dilemma... I want the Squier CV 60 Stratocaster so badly and now call upon your friendly advice and wish to ask you a question if I may please.
Should I go ahead and buy the right-handed Squier CV 60 Stratocaster and 'retrain' my brain and my hands to playing a right-handed guitar and then getting accustomed to playing chords and other 'tricks' (pull-offs, hammer-ons etc.) and using the tremolo arm/whammy bar (whatever you want to call it) right-handed or just stick to playing left-handed and get a left-handed Squier CV 60 Stratocaster.
I have heard that the Squier CV 60 Stratocaster is well worth the hype and praise that it has been given upon reading online reviews and watching loads of CZcams videos about it and even one of the guys in the musical instrument shop in Lincoln has said that it is a brilliant guitar.
I sadly can't afford a Fender but as Squier is owned by Fender anyways, I am aiming for Squier as the cheaper alternative.
Any help and advice given will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
I am really struggling to decide what hand to play with, I am a lefty but I'm ambidextrous in some areas like most of us have to be. I played right handed for a year or so in my teens and have just bought my first lefty almost 10 years later. I can still play a few songs and chords on my old guitar but i'm hopeless with my new lefty. should I keep going with the lefty or go back to the righty that I started with?
I'm left handed, I've been playing right handed guitar for years ever since I've started learning guitar. The only real issue I've got is strumming / picking speed. I noticed I can pick wayy faster with my left than my right even though I've never played lefty. And it bothers me a lot cause I don't know if I should start over and learn left handed or find a way to be able to pick faster with my right hand?
I'm facing the same problem as well. I feel like my right hand is rather weak and i cant really control my pick movement(?). The thing is i just bought my first electric guitar and it seems like a bad idea to immediately splurge my money on a new guitar now.
That means you probably should have learned left handed. It's as easy as this? Which hand do you touch your jimmy with?
i just bought a lefthanded guitar myself. This is how i came to my conclusion to get a lefty guitar. I am also a PC gamer. I played Shooters with the mouse in my right hand for years and years. I always felt i was a better player then what my results were. I would get frustrated to no end. So last year, i decided to say f it and buy a left handed mouse. I got better with the mouse in my left hand than i was with my right hand and it wasnt even close. It took me 3-4 weeks to accomplish this. Im also no spring chicken im in my mid 40's. I should have done this from the get go. So, moral of the story, if your instincts tell you to play lefty, just do it, you will save yourself months or even years of frustration.
Guys i have the same problem at the moment
I am thinking of switching
Thanks for this video Richard. I'm left handed but learned to play bass and guitar Right handed as it never occurred to me to play left when I started. I agree that there are different degrees of left handedness . I've not had to many difficulties ,but one that I have is holding a pick . I can hold one in the common way between the side of my first finger and thumb ,but only for single string playing and scales . But as soon as I try to strum with this pick style ,I can't hold it anymore and have to switch the pick position to holding it between my thumb and first and second fingers, otherwise it slips and feels uncomfortable. I've tried the first way for a long time with much deliberation and tried tilting the pick and tried every way of rectifying this ,but the pick just won't stay there in that position. It would be nice to hold the pick in the common way for everything ,but not sure whether the two fingers and thumb method creates a limitation as I was told by someone that it does. Thanks again .
Thank you for the stories and the great intro video.
I don't think it matters what hand you play since both hands are working. I agree that it sucks for lack of availability for the lesser brand guitars. Martin guitars offer left handed versions. I wish Yamaha offered something other than just the LL16 left handed in their custom guitar line. So your right, if you have the money you can get whatever you want. Unless your really into it you'll probably get one guitar and stick with it maybe upgrade to a nice one when you learn how to play. Your comment about sticking with it and 'trying not to get better' was awesome. It's so true, your learning even though you don't realize it but you won't gain anything without picking it up. Good stuff. subbed.
im missing my left pinky so is a left handed guitar the best for me or is the pinky not needed to play guitar
You are so RIGHT, I recently visited 3 guitar store ask about a left handed guitar. All three found a reason to walk away , even after telling them I'm here to BUY a guitar, not look!! They all walked away and left me just standing there.... it sucked
I am right handed, but I play both left and right handed. I start with a right, but I want my dominant hand on the fretboard, so I picked up a left and I now play both. Fretting with both hands helps with the piano.
My 6 year old is left handed and he’s playing his right handed guitar on the opposite side. Do you think switching the strings with help him?
I’m a lefty purposely playing right handed. I did it so my options wouldn’t be limited and I’m a very duel handed man. I use my phone right handed, brush my teeth, play racket sports, bowl, and other things too. So I was confident of playing right handed even tho it felt more natural to play a left handed one. I struggle with strumming and I can’t use a pic now. It’s a bit like using a pen with my wrong hand which I definitely can’t do. But I’m still glad I did it for the challenge but I’m curious of how much better I’d be with a lefty guitar. It’s been 15 years now, maybe one day I’ll try it!
Question for you- I am considering learning the guitar (at the age of 30), just some general cords so I can play socially. A childhood accident left me with only my thumb and pinky on my left hand, so I would need to fret on my right and strum with my left. I'm wondering what challenges I might run into by trying to play upside down instead of just getting a lefty? Thanks for the advice!
Im left handed, hold guitar so it faces my right and i strum with left hsnd. Do i get right handed guitar an play that way? Will i strum upwards or downwards?
im a lefty And always felt more comfortable playing right handed guitar I learned how to fret the notes easy but picking took me a while.
I'm left handed but i'm playing a right handed guitar. It's fine with me but i have struggles for the plucking and doing some fingerstyles and for other chords. I hope i'll get more advices from u ppl. thankie ♥️
++ i also tried to use my right hand for playing it but i just can't 😅
I am left handed, but reasonably ambidextrous. I played right handed off and on for 10 years and hit a serious plateau.
Then I got arthritis In my left first finger and just couldn’t fret with the left hand.
Got a cheap left handed acoustic and it feels so much more natural and I am progressing much faster.
Now I am switching over to lefty for good.
I have left arm only, (motorbike crash) and I was right handed, I have been trying to play ukulele and that's been cool, I got a rh stratocaster and have enjoyed but have now got a Lefty , I will spend all my time learning and am determined to win, could you please show me any tips for one handed playing, I would like to have lessons !!
Subscribed 🎸
Finding a LH guitar in stores can be tricky, particularly one that suits you, but I’ve found that trying out a RH guitar you like and ordering it’s LH version (if they make one) is one option, and worked just fine for me. And of course this is easier when searching for a bass because playing chords isn't as much of a thing on a bass.
I'm a Southpaw.
I've been a guitarist since 1993.
I play right-handed guitars.
In those days, left-handed guitars were 3 times the price, yet were
1/3 of the quality of right-handed guitars. Also, left-handed guitars weren't easy to find at that time, so I adapted and adjusted to using a right-handed guitar.
It was trial and error, touch and go for many years of learning to play opposite to my natural inclinations. I've figured out ways to make it work for me.
I learned to play sports both right and left-handed.
My dad made sure to force me to learn righty so that it would be easier for me to adapt in life to the usual difficulties that we lefties face daily.
So I took that and applied it to many aspects of life, and it's helped me be more versatile and adaptable in most things.
Playing guitar is just one aspect.
My son is left handed. when he was very young, about 3 ish, he had a toy guitar, a little one where you pressed on a pick up or on one of the top three frets, it emitted a rock guitar lick. The funny thing was, although he was left handed, he strapped on the guitar as a righty. As all my guitars are right handed, I was always hoping to pass my stuff on to him , so when he wanted to learn properly at about 12, I made him start with right handed guitars, believing it's a new skill, so how he starts learning it, will be the way he grows into playing it comfortably. it all worked out great in the end, he's 14 and a pretty awesome player. I'm sure this video will be a huge help to new players confounded by their particular hand dominance.
I used to hold the guitar like a lefty normally woul but I was forced to learn right handed. I am very used to it now but I have a problem with my picking. Should I start all over again learning to play like a lefty?
I play on a right handed guitar but left handed, is that a problem ? Im kind of afraid to relearn everything I've learned so far but at the same time I feel like it could be a problem at some point in my progression. Should I pick a left handed guitar ? Because there is no way I could play right handed
wish someone could answer my question: being both left and right handed, tried to learn right handed but failed miserable, that was years ago, now being 71 and wanting to try again, now being a ham operator using my left hand for Morse code, having very much more dexterity in my left hand, my right hand is much more powerful and slower than my left. Question, is it better to try and play left handed, will be buying a guitar in June, nylon string acoustical electric, having started trying to play right handed my have been the worst thing to do but am willing to give the left a try, having more dexterity in my left for strumming and finger work and strength in my right to hold cords, some advice would be really appreciated, thanks.
I have nerve damage in my left arm ( erb's palsy(fixed now)) and I can't turn my left hand palm side up. I think it would feel more natural strumming with my left hand rather than right. I might be getting a bass soon and I just want to make sure that a right handed one would work. Any advice?
Well friend! I'm here watching your video, only because I'm interested in learning bass guitar obviously.
I think one thing that needs to be considered is "how left handed you are". I for example, am so left handed and I admit that it could just be psychological, but I think I can hear better with my left ear, I can see better with my left eye, I can only chew with my left side teeth and etc., in other words, I could live without my right side (lol) not true, in fact I love and could never live without it (lol).
Helping you understand how they come up with the right handed guitar, it was simply because of the way it felt comfortable and natural like in many things. To me it feels so awkward grabbing a right handed guitar. I do not think these theories work for me. I've just decided that, if I'm going to pursue it, it will have to be a left handed one and the availability, prices accesses and etc., I will just have to deal with it.
I both love and hate being a lefty guitarist. When I started a guitar just felt natural left handed but now I wonder if maybe I could’ve wired myself to be comfortable with a right handed guitar. I love being different and not having people be able to meddle with my guitars haha but I also absolutely hate the restrictions and such. It’s abysmal like you said. I’ve been playing for over 10 years and while it’s been a battle, I absolutely love playing guitar and getting guitars and having a blast.
I never thought about it in this way, I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar, but I am left-handed. This all makes sense to me because I can do almost everything better with my right hand than my left. However, I guess now I am forced to learn left-handed way because a few years back I had an accident in my left hand that damaged my index finger enough that although it was put back in my hand it does hardly bend, but i can use a pick with it if I have to. Thanks for the video.
Good video! I stumble on these kind of lefty videos from time to time and they usually end with me getting annoyed but i agree with you here.
I started learning about 25 years ago as a kid. There where right handed guitars in the house and I spent hours (years) trying to play them. I really struggled to play and I really wanted to! I could fret but the picking felt really awkward and never got easier for me. Picking felt like I was eternally writing with my less dominant hand. I begged for a lefty got one and it all fell into place.
I agree that there is a spectrum of left handedness. Ignore left or right handed stereotypes with guitar altogether. If your unsure play both for a little while and a preferred option will leap out at you.
But for God's sake don't just learn right handed because there is more choice! Yes it's annoying but there are thousands of top notch lefty guitars out there and a nice bit of kit is useless if you can't play it!
2 Questions: If the 4th finger on my left hand is complete crap (I can barely move it on its own) and I just feel more natural holding the fret with my right, then I should play left-handed, yes:
2nd question: Since I'm obviously a beginner, would it make much of a difference to string a right-handed guitar backwards and play it left-handed, or would that create some really bad habits?
I've had a love for music all my life but not able to play any musical instrument - not even the guitar. This mother's day, my son gave me a guitar but never considered buying a left handed one. I am definitely more comfortable holding the guitar the opposite way to how a right handed person holds it. My question is, can I go to any guitar store and find a left handed guitar and can the strings on the right handed guitar be rearranged to accommodate a left handed player? I don't want to apply to a guitar lesson center before knowing if I will be able to use what I have.
I am semi ambidextrous, right dominant. I cut the tip of my left index finger off 25 years ago, and I am wondering if I restring the guitar my wife just got me would be better off. I have limited feeling in that finger and can't tell where its positioned.