# Fretting vs Plectrum Hand Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409 "2011-06-05T17:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/21 "2011-06-06T15:15:30Z")
He’d call out the chord he was fixin’ to play and then go to it and it looked weird to me, so that’s why he said that. 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/22 "2011-06-06T16:56:13Z")
I’m a lefty who plays righty, although I can play the other way too. I’m pretty much truly ambidextrous - can write legibly and throw a ball equally well with either hand. I actually attribute my ambidexterity to two things - being forced to play right handed - baseball and guitar - along with years of piano lessons at a young age. I play and teach a bunch of different instruments - some left and some right. The weirdest is accordion, which is easier for me to play backwards for some reason. The rest, I’m stronger at right handed, but my natural instinct for things like pen or fork is still left. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/23 "2011-06-06T19:38:45Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > For lefties, it’s more of a muddle. Some (like Paul McCartney and me) feel compelled to go with the “normal” position for our left-side dominance. Others (like Jimi Hendrix and Elizabeth Cotton) use a righty guitar but play it in a lefty position, upside down – solves the availability problem, but requires unorthodox fretting. As a minor nitpick, Hendrix would restring his guitar for left-handed playing, while Cotton would indeed play the guitar “upside-down”. Please carry on. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/24 "2011-06-06T20:00:10Z")
just to nitpick your nitpick, Hendrix’s guitar was indeed upside down, although you are correct in stating it was restrung opposite. [knobs and pickguard upside down](http://www.flyingeyeball.com/public_html/pages/rock_pho.html) [pickguard upside down](http://www.flyingeyeball.com/public_html/pages/jimimovie.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/25 "2011-06-06T20:49:02Z")
Mark Knopfler is another leftie who plays guitars right-handed. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/26 "2011-06-06T23:13:58Z")
> [@Jaledin](#): > > Can you really follow a guitarist by sight, **Quasimodem**? I can usually see what a bass player’s up to, but I never got good enough at guitar to have the shapes ingrained in my memory. If I might chime in… If someone is playing in standard tuning and the song doesn’t require a ton of fast chord changes, I can usually follow them by sight and provide a decent rhythm accompaniment. After the first verse or so, it gets easier from repetition. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/27 "2011-06-06T23:44:23Z")
yes, this is one of the things that gets significantly easier once you’ve been in a band for a while…you just kind of learn to read what’s happening. Gets a lot harder in jazz, but it’s still possible. Really in all cases it’s more of a case of visual cues + some degree of ear training. I don’t necessarily know that the guitarist just moved from a Bmi7b5 to an E7b9 to Am9 to Bb7sus, but a little theory knowledge and ear training makes it pretty obvious, and certain changes (4\>1, 5\>4, etc) are easy to see… It’s a combination of all the cues,and filling in the gaps. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409/28 "2011-06-07T01:41:27Z")
> [@picker](#): > > I don’t necessarily know that the guitarist just moved from a Bmi7b5 to an E7b9 to Am9 to Bb7sus, but a little theory knowledge and ear training makes it pretty obvious, and certain changes (4\>1, 5\>4, etc) are easy to see… Live and learn. I always take a guitar player with me out on the field trips – seriously, I always like to have a guitar player, even before hiring a drummer or deciding there’s not enough pay for more than a duo – and even though I usually end up zoning out on their fret hand, I never really figured anything out about what they’re doing visually. Ear works, though (I find)! Of course, they can always just look at my LH in a keys/guitar duo and get what I’m doing, and since I usually end up leading or picking tunes, that works fine for me. Make them work for their supper, and then they can go cruise for cougars. Or, more likely, vice versa, ahem. Bastards hogging up all the glory, making me turn up! I kid. I wonder what I’m missing to have not bothered to see what specific chords they’re at. I am pretty nearsighted without glasses, which I don’t usually wear, except for prescript sunglasses outside, so that might be it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fretting-vs-plectrum-hand-question/584409.md?page=1)