Thinking of Taking up Guitar - Any tips ?

[DRM]

I’ve found it easier to fret with the left hand, being left handed it just seems natural that the left hand forms the chord shapes while the right hand picks & strums

 

[ColinJ]

Oh it is. I am left handed and have bought a guitar and tried to teach myself on 3 different occasions in my life. Given up each time as i can’t get my right hand to do what I want it to.
Come to the conclusion that instruments with strings are not for me

A friend who used to be a drummer said that he could never coordinate his fingers to learn to play the guitar. He had no problem with whole limbs though!

 

[Grant Fondo]

Its good fun tinkling along with music on, finding the right key and trying to follow ... it was Neil Young last night
Doesn't always work! Nick Drake had different guitar tunings for each song!
Here's my old Tanglewood ... really comfy to play, narrow body and a round back, with the obligatory lighter strings so very easy to play

 

[EltonFrog]

Lots of left handed players play right handed guitar, but if you pick a lot of notes, it's more beneficial to use your dominant hand for picking.

If you play a lot of legato (non picked notes) using your dominant hand as a fretting hand might prove more useful.

Right handed guitars can be setup to be used upside down, Jimi Hendrix.

View attachment 668443

Never mind Guitars! Look at the lovely 60s Premier Elite drum kit of Mitch’s. 🤤🤤

 

[GuyBoden]

I

I’ve found it easier to fret with the left hand, being left handed it just seems natural that the left hand forms the chord shapes while the right hand picks & strums

If you want to pick fast (shredding), the picking hand slows you down, not the fretting hand. This has been proven by Troy Grady in "Cracking the code" and others.

 

[MontyVeda]

I have never seen the point of left-handed guitars!

...

That's only because you don't have any need for one.

I could say exactly the same about right handed guitars... but that would be silly, wouldn't it?

 

[MontyVeda]

...
Do I need a left handed guitar - as a left hander ?
...

If you play left-hand (with the right hand on neck), and are looking for an acoustic, then yes.

turning a RH guitar upside down and restringing it works to an extent, but the intonation is a bit random due to the saddle sloping the wrong way. If you're just strumming open chords you probably wouldn't notice, but I eventually got my RH acoustic re-routed so it's now a proper LH guitar.

 

[ColinJ]

[I'm not trying to be funny about left-handed people here, or tell them what to do - I just genuinely do not 'get' left-handed guitars!]

That's only because you don't have any need for one.

I am saying that nobody has a 'need' for one!

I could say exactly the same about right handed guitars... but that would be silly, wouldn't it?

I am saying that if all guitars were the other way round ('left-handed') so I had only ever used that type I would not have had a problem.

(I would actually have found a left-handed guitar easier because I find fingerpicking and strumming easier than using the fretboard so my dominant right hand would have been doing what I find harder.)

Added to that is the fact that 99% of books and tuition videos are for right-handed guitars, which would make things easier for left-handed guitarists playing similar guitars to right-handed players. And of course, they could pick up any conventional guitar and just play it. It must be really annoying to visit right-handed guitarists and not be able to play their instruments!

Obviously, I would struggle with a left-handed guitar because I have had 50 years of messing about with right-handed ones.

(Also obviously, a left-handed guitarist who has learned on left-handed guitars would struggle to play right-handed guitars, and shouldn't have to.)

I think the problem is that the guitars are being described as 'right-handed' and 'left-handed'. I am willing to bet that if a standard guitar was what we are now calling 'left-handed' and the other type were what is currently called 'right-handed', left-handed guitarists would be happy to learn on the standard arrangement and would then object to being told to play the other type, currently described as 'left-handed'!

A left-handed friend restrung his first (conventional) guitar to be the other way round. I pointed out that the saddle was now sloping the wrong way, but he ignored that. I asked why he didn't just learn with the guitar strung the conventional way since he didn't have any ingrained habits to break. He simply replied that he was left-handed so obviously the guitar strings needed to be the other way round...

 

[MontyVeda]

...
I am saying that nobody has a 'need' for one!
...

That is where you're wrong.

Initially (aged about 11) i tried the right way, but it just didn't work... a bit like trying to eat with a knife and fork in the hands I don't instinctively use them in. It just does not work. Eventually (aged about 16) I followed my instincts and restrung the sodding thing. It was a lot easier.

 

[ColinJ]

That is where you're wrong.

Initially (aged about 11) i tried the right way, but it just didn't work... a bit like trying to eat with a knife and fork in the hands I don't instinctively use them in. It just does not work. Eventually (aged about 16) I followed my instincts and restrung the sodding thing. It was a lot easier.

That is really odd because there is nothing natural about playing a guitar - both hands have to do strange intricate things, and whichever bits of the brain are involved have to learn them.

I don't understand how one strange intricate action is a right-hand one and the other is a left-hand one.

I'm not saying that you are wrong - I'm saying that it is strange...

 

[ColinJ]

PS I thought I would do a search and just found THIS where the writer is pretty much saying what I did, but there are some interesting discussions about it, including one LH guitarist who tried RH and didn't like it.

 

[ColinJ]

The article linked to in that post had vanished, but I tracked it down HERE.

 

[winjim]

When he was revising his online beginners course Justin Sandercoe tested it out by teaching himself to play left handed so you could watch the videos of him doing that to get an idea.

As a right hander I can't imagine playing left handed, to me it's the right hand that does all the intricate work, it feels natural to have my dominant hand doing the picking. If I was left handed I think I would get a left handed guitar and string it 'properly', ie bass notes on top, treble on bottom. You just need to get used to reading chord boxes the wrong way round. Tab still works I think.

 

[wafter]

The idea appeals and I bought a guitar once - only to over-balance when rocking back on a chair, fall on top of it and write it off before attempting to play anything.

Probably for the best as I have zero musical acumen and tbh don't want to become that self-gratification artist at parties..

I had a go at piano recently when half-cut, although surprisingly couldn't play Moonlight Sonata perfectly on the first attempt, so sacked it off.

I do quite fancy a go on the drums though - so much more ADHD-appropriate IMO!

Sorry I have nothing of value to contribute- good luck

 

[MontyVeda]

That is really odd because there is nothing natural about playing a guitar - both hands have to do strange intricate things, and whichever bits of the brain are involved have to learn them.

I don't understand how one strange intricate action is a right-hand one and the other is a left-hand one.

I'm not saying that you are wrong - I'm saying that it is strange...

replace the guitar with a knife and fork. You either use them one way or the other... unless you're ambidextrous, you'll only be able to do it 'your' way.

I also cannot write with my right hand. Many more people cannot write with their left hand