Is it best to play left handed or right handed? This will surprise you!
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- čas přidán 2. 01. 2023
- Ever wonder why guitarists don't fret with their dominant hand? For example, a right-handed guitarist, frets with the left-hand. What's up with that?
- Hudba
I'm left handed and tried to learn right handed because that's the advice everyone gave me. Within an hour of getting my first guitar, I realized that was bad advice for me. I had a lot of trouble keeping any kind of rhythm and stopping my right hand from following my dominant hand when picking with my right hand but with my left hand, within a few minutes, I had absolutely no trouble picking and it felt more comfortable. I could already stop focusing on my dominant hand but keep following the beat so I could put all my attention on my fretting hand. After playing guitar for some years, I can play right handed to some degree but it never feels comfortable and just less fun. I'm sure if I tried to struggle to learn right handed, I would have given up years ago. I think what hand people prefer to fret with depends on how ambidextrous they are and lefties tend to be even more ambidextrous since the world is more geared towards right handed people but how ambidextrous they are varies.
All good points and interesting. I still think very many people it makes sense to have the dominant hand fret the guitar because in rock music, there's way more going on with the fretting hand. However, I'm one of those that picks with my dominant hand - like almost everybody else. It is interesting that some really fast players like MAB are left-handed and play right-handed so effectively.
@@DougMarks I have played for about 30 years. I am left handed but learned right handed. I can say once I got to a certain level the struggle became my strumming hand. I can pick fast easily, its the rhythm of strumming and to an extent tremolo picking. I overcome it by anchoring my pinky to the pickguard. I even do this for a very rapid strum. To old to change now. My wrist just wont make those rapid micro-moves that are needed to play good rhythm. I suspect my left hand can though. When you rapid strum for example the song One Tree Hill, has a rapid strum in the intro where he strums and mutes the strings before launching into that melodic riff. Its challenging to do with your non dominant hand. In my opinion what makes a song a song is the strumming hand. That's what gives it its unique sound.
I'm right handed - except for guitar ,shooting rifle and shooting pool - I tried to play right
handed - could not
do it - thankfully left hand guitars are much easier to find now compared to when I started in the mid 80s
@@davidrice3337Holy shit! You're exactly like me, right down to the left handed tasks. I'm right hand dominant, but I shoot rifles, archery bows, and play pool left handed. I shoot a pistols right handed. I baffle firearms instructors because I maintain left eye dominance while shooting right handed. It looks goofy, but I'm good and it feels comfortable.
I can't throw, swing a golf club, bat, or hockey stick left handed, but ever since I first heard rock music as a little kid I would air guitar left handed. I'm thinking about picking up a guitar and learning, but the left handed thing always made me think an instructor would force me to switch, it might be hard to find a guitar, and ultimately I'd never enjoy it. Left handed just seems more comfortable and natural.
I'm very beginner and looking into buying a guitar
I want to pick with my left hand and use my right hand as fretting hand
What direction of guitar would this be
I'm left-handed but my older brother taught me to play right-handed back in the mid 80s. His reasoning was that there were fewer options for left handed guitars to buy. Back then, you were lucky if there were one left handed guitar hanging in a store. Forty years later, I'm glad I was taught to play right handed. I agree with you Doug - your fret hand being your dominate hand is an advantage.
Thanks Pat. I can't believe the number of comments this subject has created. Good to hear your story.
I’m lefty and my dad bought me my first guitar 44 years ago and it was the only lefty in the store and 44 years later I still only see one, maybe two lefty’s hanging on a wall at most guitar stores I go to. As far as the dexterity goes I can only play left handed but then again I do everything left handed . I tried righty and it was just an epic fail and too frustrating to continue. Very good subject matter though
Interesting insights…I’m left handed and have no intention to change anything lol
And play lefty guitars,,forgot to mention 😉
Me too
Hey, I'm the opposite - right-handed and play a right-handed guitar. No complaints here.
I've been looking for a valid excuse why I suck so bad, I may have found it.🤣
Thx, it's worth a try.
I’m left handed and learned to play guitar right handed as it was easier to to find a guitar when I was 12. You taught me guitar and it was easier to follow you than reverse what I was learning. I know no different at this point. By the way, thank you for getting me started and I have my own CZcams channel in my mid 50’s so thanks! 🤘🏽🎸
You're welcome. I appreciate you taking what I taught you and are using to teach others. I don't view other instructors as competition. I view them as making the market bigger for all of us. Every time you teach someone to play guitar you create a larger audience for yourself.
@@DougMarks I’m the guy in the corner giving directions and you are google earth. Big difference my friend 🫡
Do you still play right handed only?
I do.
This actually did me really good! Thankyou! Subscribed!
I've always thought this way. I'm a lefty, but play righty guitar. I was given a chance to try lefty guitars when I was young and playing guitar was still new for me. I definitely preferred the righty guitar. And I'm glad I made that choice 'cos I can arpeggiate til the cows come home. And of course the much wider choice of guitars available to me. I actually don't know why so many guitar players don't *want* their strong hand to be on the fret board.
Very thoughtful insights from a true master of the guitar 🎸🎸🎸🎸 you're the best.
Thanks
I’m left handed but been playing right handed guitars.
Doug, this is interesting information that makes me wonder how it came to be to fret with the non-dominant hand. It makes sense to me that we would do “the hard part,” fretting, with the dominant hand. Much to think about here, and definitely not useless info.
I’m a huge fan. I learned to play via your cassette courses 36 years ago, and you continue to be an inspiration. I used to have a signed Hawk album on cassette but alas I have lost it. The album had a delayed release, so to make it up to fans who had ordered it, you signed all the pre-orders. I think in your newsletter you said you had signed 900 cassettes. A little fun history. 😁
Hey William. Thanks for bringing back that memory. Yeah, in the distant past I would announce something was finished before I even started. It was very motivating and guaranteed that I would finish a project. Great to hear from you.
I write, right handed and I throw left handed. My left is my dominant (stronger) side, but I play guitar right handed. As a result, I have to be hyper focused to play in tune because I tend to fret too hard.
Interesting Doug. Thanks for the comment.
I'm right handed and play left handed and it's exactly the logic I am trying to "explain" to people - if your right hand is more coordinated and fretting is kinda requiers more coordination, well it makes sense to play "left handed". That's at least the case for me;)
I write left handed and do everything else right handed. When I first picked up a guitar as a child my preference was to play it left handed. This was as part of group instruction at primary school, 5 - 11yrs old. The teacher instructed me turn it round and play it right handed as it was strung this way. I followed the teachers instruction to play right handed. It was awkward, but whichever way a person picks up a guitar, it is always awkward to begin with. I didn't stick with it, but I did pick up the guitar right handed as a teenager and have continued to play on and off for the 30yrs or so, daily for the last ten years. Guitar/music has become my main hobby as an adult. Approx two yrs ago my left ulnar was broken in an accident at work my arm/hand now doesn't give me to much trouble day to day, except; unfortunately when I play guitar. When I play guitar after 3 days of 20 mins a day the pain is to such a degree that I don't want to play and it takes about two weeks before I feel like playing again. I can't continue trying to play like that, so a month ago I decided to learn to play left handed. Strumming the guitar with my left hand doesn't produce a significant pain response. So here I go on a new journey. Learning to play left handed after 30yrs playing right handed. Should be an interesting experience...
I've actually been thinking about getting a left-handed guitar to learn lefty. Not because I think I'll be better as a lefty guitarist. Because I want to relive developing the muscle memory.
You guys are talking me into buying a left-handed guitar. Nooooooooooo I just sold my Strat a couple of hours ago. I've got the money. SOMEBODY STOP ME!
I have kind of a mixed bag. I'm left-handed (cross-dominant too) and play right handed but it wasn't until about 10 years in that if I simulated the finger movement without a guitar there was tension in my fretting hand that my right hand didn't have at all and the coordination between each finger was so much better on my right hand. It's getting to the point I think I should just relearn the guitar just to get some extra speed and accuracy
My dominant hand's pinky doesn't move independently and would be awful at stretches. I don't feel people pay enough attention to those kinds of factors compared to "can I get the guitar I want in X color?" or max speed potential.
Im very beginner and looking to buy a guitar
I want to use my left hand to pick and use my right for fretting hand
Which direction of guitar would this be
Know might be stupid question but with some videos being mirrored online i cant tell which hand theyre using
im not sure if my comment fits here but this is the only video ive seen really talk about this. i play a lot of guitar hero, but as a right handed person i find it really hard to play right handed, however when i play left handed its so much more comfortable and i find myself being able to fret and strum easier.
I have nerve damage now in my left hand, the two smaller fingers are numb. Tried a few surgeries and no luck... so they are dead for the rest of this life's run. I have played right handed since the 80s but am going to switch to left handed as the left hand can certainly hold a pick with the first two fingers and thumb, and my dominant right gets to do the fun parts. 🙂
Guessing 3 years to get back to where I was right handed... ??
Plus, I get to say "Ah, but I know something you do not know... I am not right handed" Kinda like Princess Bride sword fighting right?
As someone who is finally taking learning guitar seriously, this conversation is very important because i am right handed and I was just gifted a left handed guitar (but didn’t know it at the time). I was so confused, because I kept wondering why all of my CZcams instructor’s cord layout positioning looked different from mine 😂😂😂. Now I know.
gift the left handed guitar to me and then we'll find you something suitable 🐎
@@davidrice3337 😂
I play guitar right handed. I'm comfortable with eating left handed (ie using only one utensil in my left hand), and I also would play golf and baseball left handed as well (I think it might have something to do with me playing hocket as a kid, you usually have your dominant hand on top of the stick, so when shooting the rotation would be towards the right for a righty, instead of to the left which would happen in the two other sports I mentioned). I've been toying with the idea of trying to play lefty, if I go through with it, I'd probably pick up a cheap Squier or something like that.
As you probably know. There are so called "lefty" golfers that are actually right-handed. Phil Mickelson comes to mind. Golf has a lot in common with guitar. It's better to pull the club through impact (more stable) instead of push the shaft. And that's what happens when a right-handed player plays right handed clubs. The (dominant) right hand has a tendency to push the club. That's especially bad for putting.
I am a lefty. And i play for 4 years now but struggle with the thoughts. If i maked the right decision. 4 years ago i wanted to buy a guitar and the shop owner said you can better buy a right handed guitar cause its less expensive. So i did. And now i think i struggle with a steady rythm. Cause its my non dominant hand. Luckily i feel a little bit better now. So i realy hope this issue wil get fixed. I play with a metronome but Find it hard to play basket case on a steady rythm
As a kid at my first lesson I naturally held the guitar left handed but the instructor said you're holding it the wrong way. That ended that but to this day it still feels off and I've never tried a left handed guitar but now I'm considering it.
You should give it a try. Buy a used cheapie. If it doesn't work out you can sell it for what you paid for it. Let me know how it works out. I bet with a couple months of practice you'll like it.
Very interesting theory, never though of that, will get it a go. Last week I was listening to the debut Hawk album, it really is an astonishing piece of work. Hope it gets reissued soon!
Thanks for the compliment on my album. It has been unofficially reissued. It's always been available on my website and is on Spotify. Pretty hard to find on Spotify. open.spotify.com/playlist/391X2SkyLj6HKOLwYhON4l?si=77f9341a44ff4edd
I've recently started learning the guitar (I'm a leftie btw) and I find it so much more natural to play left-handed with my strumming hand being the dominant one.
I tried playing right-handed by flipping the guitar for a test, but it felt so unnatural. The picking hand isn't the problem for me as both feel about the same, but it's the strumming hand that feels so janky if it's my right hand doing it.
I'm a bit of an anomaly with regard to using my hands. I write with my left but I throw a ball with my write and also use cutlery like I'm right-handed.
I actually read an article recently that stated that there are a lot of ambidextrous left handed people in the world because most things in every day life are made for right-handed people and that lefties learn to adapt to using their right hands a lot more than a right-handed person would use their left hand.
I'm left-handed and when I got my first guitar my father strung it up left-handed but I never liked the way it looked so I strung it up right-handed and when I got older it occurred to me that I would want to have my dominant hand on the neck.
I think it makes sense unless you want to use your right hand for complicated finger-picking or something like that.
Exactly. It does depend on the genre of music. Difficult finger picking may change the balance to the picking hand.
I'm a solid lefty ,. with everyrthing!,....everything,.... and i just bought 2 leftie guitars as to learn,... and you just made it even more complicated, luckily, I have a couple righties i've picked up over time//thanks
Two guys that play also guitar right handed but are southpaws are, Gary Moore and Rik Emmett. I’ve always thought it was an advantage to have your dominant hand on the fretboard, (think about doing legato, hammer, pulls, bending , and vibrato, all with your “strong” hand). That’s why Gary’s hammer and pulls sound so fast, wicked, and, clean, all with authority. Would love to try and learn to switch but I think it’s too late for that now😀🎸👍
Thanks Louie. Didn't know that about Gary and Rik. Love Gary's playing.
I do play with my "weaker" hand, I plan to play both ways soon, I wonder what it's like when the guitar is layed flat, I might have to post a video of that, already posted one of me playing with the guitar flat on the floor left handed
Stay in touch Craig. Looking forward to what happens when you make the change.
I write with my left and play guitar right handed. I’ve always struggled with faster notes and strumming. I think I may try a left handed guitar. When I was young i didn’t know any better and just bought a right handed guitar because the salesperson never bothered to ask my dominant hand. The other day I flipped my guitar over and could tremolo pick an open string better than my right hand.
I would not say this is useless even though I admire your honesty. I have entertained the idea of playing left handed even though technically I am not but when I ran hurdles in high school I knew how to alter my legs. Could I apply the same technique to my hands and be virtually ambidextrous?
One way to find out.
@@DougMarks true! thanks!
Shawn Lane was a lefty and played righty
Hahaha! « Useless guitar shredding information »! I never realized that I’m playing the harder fret work with my weaker left hand! And it seems impossible for me to switch! Like throwing a baseball with my left hand (it would go everywhere except the target)
Yes, it would be ridiculous for most people to switch. After this conversation I have thought about stringing one of my guitars upside down just to play around with it. Couldn't ever imagine playing primarily left-handed. I would guess it's far too late for that.
😂 that funny, because I’m right handed and I can throw a ball way better with my left hand vs my right. I’m new to guitar so this conversation is perfect for me.
Im left handed and I play a right handed guitar. If youd like to deaign an experiment. Let me know! Im thinking about switching. After this might not! But it would be interesting.
I'm right handed but forced to play lefty due to an articulation problem that doesn't allow me to rotate my left hand properly to reach the frets, so I can just pick with my left hand
I'm left handed but learned to play right handed because I learned on my sister's guitar. As for picking, I've never been quick, and now pretty much only use fingers to pluck the strings.
I have actually thought about getting a left handed guitar and learning to play left handed thinking that it would improve my normal right handed playing.
Let me know if you give it a shot. I like the logic. I believe since I started playing drums a year ago and worked to coordinate my left hand that my coordination has improved playing guitar.
I’m left handed mostly, but I play right handed. Interesting that I have a picture of my as a toddler holding a play guitar in a lefty position. So, maybe it was handed to me like that,or it was just more comfortable. I have another picture of me at about 15, playing my first real guitar, a right hand bass. Since then I play right handed.
Totally interesting. Thanks.
recently I was thinking the same thing...
I'm left-handed. When I got my first guitar at 18. My mom had bought me a right-handed guitar. I tried playing right-handed, but it didn't feel comfortable. So, I played it upside down. Did that for few years until I saved up money to buy a lefty.
I am left handed in writing and eating but use right hand for throwing, baseball, golf and play guitar left handed . But from a strength perspective the right hand was stronger.
Interesting.
Guthrie told Dave Kilminster is also left handed and plays right handed guitar.
I am a lefty who plays a righty and I always thought I was playing guitar wrong. It turns out I still need to practice more 😅
Yeh, there's always that. lol
The guitar player known as "Unknown Hinson" is a left handed person playing a right handed guitar. I met him many years ago and noticed he was signing autographs with his left hand. I noted it and he said "My dad was a guitar teacher. He told me to use my dominant hand on the frets because that is the precision work. So I took to a so called right handed guitar."
I write left handed and left eye dominant so shooting guns and playing pool I'm a lefty but throwing sports (baseball) it's all right handed. When I play guitar I'm right handed because my fingers on my left hand feels like I have more dexterity and feels natural. Oh I still suck at guitar after years of playing off and on. I quit then pick it back up. Quit then pick it back up. Just weird. 48 BTW.
I fret left handed. I write left handed. I hold my phone left handed. I even eat left handed. But...I throw a ball and a punch right handed and swing a bat and or a golf club right handed. I think I might be majorly confused.
Sounds like you're in a good spot actually. Equally coordinated with both hands wouldn't be a bad place.
I'm the same way as those guys. I'm cross dominate and I always picked up the guitar as a lefty. I write, eat, mouse left handed. Play all sports right handed. Dominate left eye as well. I've learned to play right handed but still "air guitar" left handed.
Interesting.
Michael Angelo is a fast guitar player he's just sick.
I'm right handed I couldn't imagine picking with my left hand, which none guitar players they think picking is easier than fretting so therefore wouldn't it make more sense to pick with your none dominant hand which answer to that is hell No I've been asked that a couple of times by none guitar players.
Well, the point I made in the video is, it does make sense. It seems to work for Batio.
Hey..! I am not Wrong handed..! I am Left handed...I play right handed and that gives me all the power and control I need on the fretboard to play with greater ease and much more control...I have been telling all the beginner guitarist that are right handed to go and tryout a Left handed guitar...it makes learning the instrument so much easier and does away with lots of frustration...
Very interesting Henry. You're definitely not wrong handed. The comments on this have been great.
Left handed, learned right handed but couldn’t play well. Relearning as a leftie and mirror the instructor on the DVD. Easier for me.
Okay, so you've found it easier to fret with your non dominant hand. Good to know.
So, here's a bit of my story with guitar, left handedness and all that jazz.
I'm 37 and while I've been trying to actually learn guitar for years (bought my first guitar in 2009), I've only started to really take it seriously about 2 years ago. Being naturally left handed for most of everything, I naturally bought a left handed guitar and when finally taking it seriously, I started with that left handed guitar.
Fastforward a couple months and I find, on a website, that you can buy signature guitars from famous guitarists. Now, I don't have the money yet to buy them, but outside of a few exceptions, all of them are strictly for right handed people. And if I was to buy one of these, I wouldn't want to play them in reverse nor upside down. So, against my better judgement, I bought a cheap right handed guitar to actually train right handed.
And, well, I discovered some interesting things. So yeah first of all, the picking is harder. Like, I'm not necessarily very good at it even with my dominant hand when playing left handed. Fretting, on the other hand, is waaay easier. My left hand is naturally more flexible so even doing things like a C chord, which I can somewhat do with my right hand but not perfectly, is way easier with my left hand on the fretboard. Even better, I seem to register riffs and melodies faster than when I play right handed.
But that's not the biggest surprise I had. So, to fully understand my next point, I should stress the fact that I still feel that I'm playing in reverse, and I tend to naturally feel that having the fretboard going from left to right is the "right way" for me. I'm not saying that I suddenly discovered I was actually right handed when it comes to guitar. As I also said, picking is harder, and it's specifically THAT point that's important, because since I have to put more focus on my technique when picking with my right hand, I actually have more discipline and my technique is better. In other words: because I had never really learned how to properly pick with my left hand, I developped a lot of bad habits and bad techniques, simply because I did what was natural for me - which doesn't necessarily equate to good - but since I didn't have the luxury of doing that with my non-dominant hand, I had to learn from the beginning how to properly hold the pick, how to properly use it, etc...
In other words, while it still feels kinda alien to me to play right handed, and I often have to catch myself when I go the wrong way (like trying to do a 5 7 going from right to left on the fretboard for example), because I don't have the same level of natural comfort playing right handed, I have to be more disciplined with my picking, which in turn, makes it so I'm actually better at it with my right hand. While STILL feeling a bit unnatural and still having to pick up my left handed guitar after a while :D
Also, I should mention that playing right handed actually helped my left handed playing as well, such as forcing me to train my picking technique. I think that, in the end, even if you don't plan to change from a right or left handed guitar to the opposite, having a guitar from the opposing handedness that you normally use is actually beneficial, if only for coordination purposes. Or, it might be the martial artist in me thinking that training your weak side is just as important, if not more haha
Herman Li from DragonForce is left handed but plays a right handed guitar. A lot of their songs are 200+ bpm (I believe their fastest song is The Game at 240 bpm).
Good to know. Add another to the list.
I'm going to get a left handed guitar and see what happens, I grew up playing a 6-string right handed guitar, and switched to a 7-string multi-scale, which felt way more natural than a 6-string straight fret, and it changed the way I play, so I'm going to try the left handed guitar to see if it opens up new doors like the 7-string multi-scale did.
Richard you're a brave man. Don't blame me for it! lol
@@DougMarks 😂
Good thing Sawtooth has that 50% off sale so buying a left handed guitar isnt out of the question... 😂 🎸
I took a tour of their warehouses a few weeks ago. Amazing. I had no idea they were that big.
Left handed playing right handed bass. I concur with your comments.
I'm a lefty that plays right handed.
I knew when I bought my first guitar that common logic dictated I get a left handed one. But that seemed wrong as fretting appeared to require more dexterity. I figured my dumb right hand would pick up "picking" quicker than the more complex fretting (and it ain't so dumb these days).
But the biggest reason of all,,, the choices in left handed guitars just plain "SUCKS".
Very interesting. Michael Angelo Batio said the same thing, he learned right-handed because a left-handed guitar wasn't available. Seems to have worked out pretty good for him.
generaly if your left handed you play left handed and right handed you play right handed iam left handed and i play both way s but i rule lefthanded because iam a left handed person..
Isn't Rick Emmett (Triumph fame) another left handed player that plays guitar right handed ?
Apparently. Someone else pointed that out.
@davemartone is another example of a brilliant player that plays right handed, but it left handed.
Another good one Dan.
Kiko Loureiro is also naturally left handed. Hard to find left handed guitars at the time maybe. Legato with your dominant hand must be faster. MAB said his tapping wasn't as good as it could be because he is playing wrong handed.
MAB also told me he plays right-handed because it was difficult to find a left-handed guitar when he started playing. Seemed to work out okay for him.
I'm a lefty and would have been better off learning to play righty.
Fortunately for me ( but not my bank account) Southpaw Guitars is only about an hour away....
So it's not too late! You could be the next MAB.
Yes I’m left handed also and play “right handed” guitar
Did you find learning to play guitar to be easy or difficult?
@@DougMarks I think at the time I realized that the advantage was my left hand being the fretting hand. I submitted to a “right hand” guitar and the rest is history 🤘. Funny thing is that I also play piano - so my right hand is fast with the scale runs and my left hand is the slow (chords/arpeggio hand). But for guitar it works for me - left hand, right hand guitar. Sorry I’m rambling 😅
I play guitar left handed, but write with my right hand. Everything athletic is done with my left hand, like throwing things etc etc. Guitar companies are mostly lefty unfriendly. BC Rich is VERY lefty friendly and it's awesome. I like to pretend that EVH was secretly a lefty.
EVH lefty... I had to Google that one because it wouldn't surprise me. There were mentions that he might have been but nothing coming from an authority on the subject that I could find.
@@DougMarks It just seems to fit. Iommi, Hendrix, Cobain, McCartney, etc. All lefties. EVH was a righty. I'm skeptical!
I am right handed and play left handed guitar. I also played hockey and shot left handed. So guitar is like hockey. If you shoot left handed in hockey. Play guitar Left handed.😎
i notice how left handed people playing right handed guitars a OFTEN suffer with rhythm intricacies...not understanding them but executing them. like the bluegrass strum style for example... to me seems super easy always has once i had a few years of playing down... but have seen left handed players playing right handed guitar never get it right for YEARS even though they have played guitar for over a decade..yet they can play Bach note for note and their solos are usually in good timing. The picking hand is WAY more important than people realize i think. everyone focuses on speed and shredding on the left hand and the right hand just goes along like its secondary.
I agree, the picking hand is the heart and soul of a song. The rhythm is what makes the difference. I am in that situation playing right handed when I am actually left handed and the rhythm suffers. The necessary micromovements in the wrist just are not there. There is a disconnect from the brain to the hand to execute. I anchor my pinky to stabilize and it helps but I will never be really good at it. With lead its not really an issue.
i got fucked by this. its critical to play what feels NATURAL. Regardless whether u r a righty or lefty in other things. If u spent anytime getting proficient "wrong-handed" it is critical to switch immediately. You will initially feel clumsy, that's the normal muscle memory/coordination learning curve, just like when u started guitar before. Keep at it, i am firmly convinced that nearly all guitar players that feel frustrated and don't possess that internal validation when playing, regardless of level, are probably playing wrong handed.
Wow drtone. I was thinking something similar about beginners that are extremely frustrated, this could be a reason.
I know exactly what you mean I play right handed but am starting to flip my guitar and play lefty, I can do scale-like runs with my right hand fretting the board way easier than using my left. My left is so slow on the fretboard and I’ve been playing since 2021. I know it takes time but there’s people that shred way fast in 2 years so it truly is discouraging
Let’s face it, Lefty’s are good for two things, boxing and pitching, kidding.., sort of.
Lots of Lefties do play right handed because of the options for left handed guitars are nil basically, also though lefties live in a right handed handed world except for toilets, the handle is typically on the left, which is odd, but they learn to use their right hands far more than us righties learn to use our lefts. Most right handed people are really right hand dominant and wonder sometimes if we even need our left hand.
michael angelo batio..he plays both..😂
The video needs serious examples of what you're talking about. I'm ambidextrous, so I should know. First I want to just say that the late Bill Staines was my idea of the best example of a left handed guitarist who played a right handed guitar left handed. In particular, he knew how to play all the chords, which I don't believe Hendrix ever could. Also, I want people to check out Simon Phillips video(s) on open handed drumming, that is both handed drumming.
I can't remember what examples I used in this video but I'll share some that I'm aware of. Michael Angelo Batio is left-handed and plays right, Gary Moore was left-handed, Jimi Hendrix was ambidextrous but wrote with his right-hand. According to AI here are a few other wrong-handed players: Robert Fripp, Duane Allman, Elvis Costello, Joe Perry, Johnny Winter, Mark Knopfler and Billy Corgan. How's that for serious examples @goffredo29
Kurt Cobain was right handed and played left handed guitars.
And he was a sloppy as hell player, so not a great example.
Gary Moore
P r o m o s m 😚
Played drums growing up, Right Handed. Left was "weak hand." Did more work with left hand. Also, used matched grip, not traditional grip. W/drums you look for balance between hands, and independence between hands, don't forget about feet. Ringo was left handed, played right handed. Lead with left in fills. Dominant hand (and foot) is more powerful.
I guess you look at PPS, left and right. Seems to me my Dominant Hand is fastest. But the "balance" between hands on guitar is quite different. Like a wind instrument, coordinating two completely different motions mouth and hands. I think somehow each hand has to feel the other through the strings to get the most speed...but what do I know???
David, sounds like you know quite a bit. Thanks for the comment.
How about a video on guitarists who wear glasses when playing live? I had to give up and get basic readers this year. Guitar fretboard was fuzzy, lyric sheets unreadable, and pedal labels indistinguishable. It means when performing I'll have to choose between seeing the guitar, or seeing the stage/audience, etc. Among guitarists I only remember Susan Tedeshi wearing glasses while performing.
Noodles, the guitar player for The Offspring wears glasses while playing.
I have one eye corrected for a distance, the other for near. I wear computer classes to handle the mid distance. I don't really need glasses to play.