So, I’m a drummer, but recently bought an acoustic guitar in the hopes of learning just enough to bang out some basic chords to be able to write songs without having to hum the melodies to my guitar-playing friend. Anyway, I’m left-handed, but the music store didn’t have any left-handed guitars (the clerk said he could order one, but it would run about twice the price of a right-handed guitar) so I ended up buying a right-handed guitar. The thing is, even though I don’t play, strumming with my right hand just feels wrong, and is much more difficult, so I’m essentially trying to teach myself left-handed on r-h guitar. I accomplish this by holding the guitar upside down, looking at the finger positions for the chords, and then doing that upside-down. This obviously isn’t the optimal way to go about it, but is it even possible to learn to play this way? Or do I just need to suck it up and spring for a l-h guitar? I was told it wouldn’t really work to re-string the guitar because the grooves on the bridge (please forgive my ignorance of the proper terminology) wouldn’t be the right sizes. Suggestions?
String it upside down. The only difference is for a LH guitar is the location of the pick guard (the plastic under the sound hole).
You can have new pieces made—the nut and bridge, I think are the correct terms—if they’re sized according to string gauge.
ETA: the pieces I mentioned are those between which the string spans. They’re often altered per a musician’s desired specs. I like my strings low to the fret board, which makes them rattle when I play hard, but some like them set higher. They’re generic pieces, not something that you have to pay a zillion dollars because only this nut fits this guitar, and your local shop can do it for you.
FWIW my best fiend is left-handed. He’s always played a right-handed guitar.
Missed the edit window:
I suppose there are a few other things that are different. Like the cutouts for playing on the higher frets, or if you have volume controls on top of an acoustic-electric. But assuming you’re playing a standard issue dreadnought that’s straight acoustic, it’s the pick guard that’s the only real difference.
Every left hander I know plays right handed.
You should play the way you want. I agree that you can restring it upside down. Take it to a luthier and have them do it. They’ll give you a left handed bridge thingy. And nut.
I’d be willing to bed they could remove the pick guard and reapply it on the bottom, but don’t quote me on that.
I wonder why they couldn’t just get a replacement pick guard for a LH guitar and apply it, leave the original on, and have “double.”
That Wikipedia article says: On almost all acoustic guitars the bracing is non-symmetrical, which leads me to think the different stresses are accounted for in the engineering. Maybe that reduces the life of the guitar, but I’ve seen lots of lefties with guitars strung upside down. Kurt Cobain, for instance:
http://www.starstore.com/acatalog/Kurt_Cobain-Poster_lyric-01.jpg
Excellent! Sounds like restringing it is the way to go - looking at chords and then turning them upside-down in my mind is a little too confusing for me as a novice.
Just an observation from another drummer who’s been where you are. Take it for what it’s worth (whatever the hell that means).
Learning music theory (what it seems you are trying to do, really) was a lot easier for me to grasp from a keyboard than a fretboard. The patterns (of tones and half-tones) that make up scales and chords are all right there in black and white.
I figured out those patterns* (scales) on the piano and then translated them to the fretboard, which I still kinda see as six tiny keyboards side by side but staggered so they begin at different notes.
And they don’t really make a lot of left-handed or right-handed keyboards.
AFAIK
*from a few simple rules I remembered from a music class twenty years before. Thanks, Mr. Schilling, wherever you are.
Luthier observations:
The nut ( neck end of strings) can likely be flipped to no detriment. Glues are used to retain on some makes, but should release easily. If the peghead is spliced Gibson style and breakover starts in the nut you’d need a new blank.
If the bridge has a separate saddle (common to acoustics) the least sophisticated compensation might be flippable, but would require reshaping. Altering other types to L.H. isn’t a major job but would pretty much permanently alter the axe.
There could be some neck relief issues, minor in scope.
On the matter of bracing I wouldn’t concern myself. Structurally, acoustic guitars are self destructive in any event, and the proposal here will not greatly hasten that. Tonally, there will be compromise but for your stated aims likely of no concern.
Consulting a local luthier is good advice.
BTW I also know a lefty that just plays upside down R.H. with facility. The chord forms are a view to an alien world.
+1 - and in terms of which way to play, left-handed vs. right-handed - use whatever approach keeps you motivated to play. That’s all that matters.
My best fiend has four hands, but he likes to strum with his tail.
Quick questions - on the drums, do you have your high hat on the left or the right? And with which hand do you play the fastest notes? Eighths on the ride cymbal in the left, 2 and 4 on the snare in the right? Bass pedal with which foot?
Ultimately, both hands are working on the guitar, but your good hand is going to want to do the picking and the strumming. Why? Your good hand is the drummer to which your weaker hand dances.
If you drum left handed, you’re going to want to play guitar left-handed, and it’s going to be a challenge to learn one instrument right-handed while you play another one left.
An experiment for a week or so, if you’re interested - don’t change the strings; use your left hand only. Form chord shapes, finger notes, mess around but don’t strum. Once your left hand has learned that it’s working at a task that is tricky, it may settle into its role. Then bring in the right to strum really basic patterns, like whole note downstrokes. If it’s still driving you nuts after a week, restring or trade that guitar. (Are you seriously telling me that there’s no inexpensive left handed guitar to be found in Oakland, California? I can’t find the smiley for ‘raises one eyebrow above his eyeglasses’…)
And you’re in interesting company - the two drummers turned guitarist songwriters that come to mind are Gordon Lightfoot, who used to be the drummer for John Long’s band (John Long is now only known as the Long of Long & McQuade, the Canadian music shops), and Dave Grohl, formerly of Nirvana. Cool precedents…
Guitar Teacher and left handed right player here. Learn to play right handed. No question about it.
To learn chords and such, just look in a mirror. There your fingers will look just like the book or whatever you’re learning from.
My suggestion is learn a few of the most basic chords - G, C, D, A, E, and start with basic strums: downstrokes on the beat, and progress to adding various accents (upstrokes) on the &'s.
start with (in 4/4) d d d d
and later work to stuff like (d du d du) etc.
It helps to think of your right hand as the high hat.
Hope this helps.
On the drums, the high hat’s on the right, which I play with my left hand (as I do for all cymbals), so my left hand definitely plays the faster notes. Bass pedal with left foot.
I may try the chording with the left hand for a bit to see if I can get it up to speed, but when I tried playing right-handed it just felt about a thousand times more awkward and difficult than playing left.
Are you saying learn to play right-handed, or learn to play left-handed on a right-handed guitar? Sorry, your mirror example made it unclear to me what you were suggesting.
Heh. Yeah, when I showed my guitar-playing friend how I fingered the chords, he told me “That’s insane”.
I’m surprised; I would think later on, if the OP wants to move past banging chords, the plucking would be a lot harder.
If you don’t play guitar, you aren’t right OR left handed. Just learn the guitar right handed. It will make life easier. Plus, as a lefty, your dexterity is in your left hand where it’s needed.
Flander - a lefty playing right-handed.
Sorry - I posted that without any morning coffee.
Let me try to be clearer
If you want to learn left-handed, use the mirror.
If you want to make life easier in the long run, learn right handed. (cheaper, more available instruments)
As as which hand is more beneficial, I believe complex fretting and chording motions require a finer degree of motor coordination in the hand than any picking or strumming action - the right hand uses a number of helper muscles in the forearm to stabilize and create even motion, whereas the left hand only has the thumb for bracing/pivoting.
As for relative dexterity between the two hands: at this point you’re a blank slate as far as the fine motor skills required. Later on, it will be much more difficult to switch.
As I mentioned, I play right handed as a rule (although I can play lefty also, just not as quick or precisely - it’s more of a parlor trick) and I believe that of all the major acoustic stringed instruments that I play (mandolin, guitar, bass, banjo) the dominant hand is better suited on the neck)
Hope that’s a little clearer.
I agree as another lefty who plays righty. Although deep down inside I always wondered if I would be way better than I am if I’d had the extra cash to get a lefty back when I started. Anyway, it feels super weird at first, but I’d say that you’ll be fine within a month or two if you stick to it.