Left-handed guitar experiences?

My son is turning eight and would like to start guitar lessons. He is pretty coordinated and has a very good ear for music, but he is decidedly sinister. What would be the best way for him to learn? Should he just try to tough it out right handed? Should we find a left-handed teacher? What about the guitar itself? Right now he has just been fiddling around on a guitar he bought at Target for 25 bucks.

I’m a lefty too, but I only took flute and piano lessons and I don’t think there is as much of an issue with those as there is with strings.

I’m left-handed, I just started taking guitar lessons, and I’m learning to play “right-handed.” I almost think that the current method of guitar playing actually favors the lefties, because I think the fretting is harder than the strumming and you do that with your left hand if you are playing “normally.”

I’d say give him a shot at learning to play it the standard method and if he ends up struggling in terms of coordination, then look at switching it.

I’m a righty who has been playing right-handed for over 40 years, so I have no personal experience, just observations. I believe that Dunawake’s advice is good. There are lots of good reasons to play right-handed, and no inherent reason not to, as far as I can tell. If your son learns left-handed, he won’t be able to play most of his friends’ guitars and he’ll have fewer choices in terms of guitars to buy. I have several left-handed friends who play guitar right-handed.

I’m a lefty who’s been playing guitar left-handed for 20 years. I dearly wish I could go back now and learn to play the guitar right-handed. It would have been easy at the time. As a lefty:

  • It’s harder to find guitars. Depending on the manufacturer, it can be slightly harder (Fender, Ibanez) or way harder (Rickenbacker, Gibson), but it’s always harder.
  • The guitars, when I find them, are more expensive, especially new.
  • If I’m playing and I snap a string, I can’t borrow a guitar from someone else in a pinch.

Just another voice in the choir saying “righty”.

Thanks, everyone.

If he’s playing left-handed, he may find a right-handed guitarist easier to model. He’s sitting across from the teacher, and it’s like looking into a mirror.

This is what I’ve read some lefties say.

From a violin teacher’s point of view, I can assure you that the natural tendency is to mirror-image a demonstration. To not do so is partly an acquired skill, partly a mental exercise, and partly dependent on the techniques used by the teacher.

However…do not use this as a deciding factor. I strongly agree with the go-with-righty replies, for all the reasons already given. Beyond the first three or four violin lessons, the cries of “but I’m left-handed” disappear, and I honestly could not tell you the ‘handedness’ of any of my pupils.

I’m left-handed and play a lefty guitar. I strongly disagree with the advice to play guitar right-handed without thoughtful condsideration of the options and the inclination of the individual involved.

The options are play righty guitar right-handed, play righty guitar left-handed, and play lefty guitar left-handed.

There’s a reason righty guitars are made as they are, and it’s not to give right-handers unneeded trouble as they learn to finger the frets. If that were a big deal, (almost) only lefty guitars would be made so that right-handers could have the advantage of using their dominant hand for fretting. While fretting is the first big challenge to a learning guitarist, strumming and picking eventually can require more nuance and sophistication. In classical guitar, picking technique is the thing those aspiring to greatness spend their time on, and this could apply to any genre of music once one gets past simple strumming. In a nutshell, playing “wrong-handed” will prevent most people from getting as good as they could be.

Some people have a very strong sense of handedness. I am one of them. Holding a guitar in the right-handed position felt extremely awkward to me, so much so that as soon as I tried it I rejected the idea. Other people are more naturally ambidextrous (not to be confused with the functional ambidexterity lefties are forced to acquire) and might do just as well either way.

I was probably about eight when I learned to play baseball, and I was taught to do it right-handed. I can catch really well with that glove on my left hand. I can’t throw for crap, and I never learned to throw with my left hand. There’s no doubt in my mind that if I had been taught as a child how to throw left-handed that I would be much better at it than I am. At the time though, I neither fully appreciated the options nor the difference it could make.

Your son may not be old enough yet to sense or express where he fits on the handedness scale, but I advise you to carefully try to assess whether or not he has a strong sense of it. If he does, playing right-handed may significantly limit both his ease of learning and his eventual achievement with the guitar. See how he holds a rifle. See how he holds his hands up for boxing. How does he prefer to hold the guitar (just how it feels, not how he sees others do it)? If he consistently wants his dominant hand close in, it may be a mistake for him to try to play right-handed.

There’s some good discussion of the matter here. Google on “left-handed” “right-handed guitar” (use the quote marks) for more perspectives.

Playing a righty guitar left-handed gets around the availability problem (more on that below), but presents some new ones in terms of fingering. This is what was done by Albert King, Elizabeth Cotton, and Jimi Hendrix. It’s not impossible by any means, but there’s precious little printed guidance on how to do it, and again, there’s a reason guitars are made the way they are. Doing this would be like a right-hander playing a leftie guitar right-handed. None of them choose to do that. 'Nuff said.

Left-handed guitars are harder to find, but in most locales it’s not that hard. In my experience, very few of them cost more than the equivalent rightie guitar, and when they do it’s a nominal difference ($10-20). And there’s always Southpaw Guitars , with a wide variety of insruments and excellent service. Not being able to borrow a guitar is a drawback, but occasionally not being able to lend one is a plus :wink: .

To sum up, I find the prospect of some difficulty acquiring an instrument much less saddening that the prospect of being unable to reach full potential in using and enjoying said instrument.

As a violinist, and violin teacher, I’ve got to say that this is preposterous. Wrong-handed playing of the violin does not exist, save for a few isolated cases in folk music. Both hands have very particular demands placed on them, with dexterity not required in other situations, and beyond the first couple of lessons, it should be impossible to identify which pupils are left-handed.

Forgot to add (as if I’m not being outspoken enough already :slight_smile: )…

(Almost) all string instruments held in the same orientation* have the same handedness. From China to India to Europe, they’re all the same. (The ‘almost’ is just a qualifier because there’s bound to be an exception!*) It’s some accident of history, and exists despite there being some instruments which require a great deal of the right hand, and others of the left.

*I’m not sure if there is a specific term for the ‘orientation’ of an instrument, but I’m talking about all those held with the strings horizontally across the body. Those with the strings vertically as with a cello, and those in a violin position, also count. Harps, however, are a different matter entirely.

Perhaps my invented term was not clear. I wasn’t referring to the instrument (i.e., playing a right-handed violin in a left-handed position) but to the person. “Wrong-handed” playing of the violin exists in every left-handed violinist who doesn’t play left-handed. In other words, every lefty playing in an orchestra is playing wrong-handed, using their non-dominant hand for the bowing.

Agreed that both hands have specialized work to do, and of course they work together in doing it. But if it comes down to it, is not the bowing considered the more challenging, artistic, “sign of a true master” physical component, compared to the fingering?

I will stand by my assertion that most people won’t get as good as they could be if they play wrong-handed. That doesn’t mean they can’t get good. That doesn’t mean they might not be quite gifted and be better than any number of other players. But they can’t reach their full potential if not allowed to use their personal resources to best advantage.

This probably cannot be proven (nor disproven) in a cinical sense as it’s rather impossible to compare the possible results in any given individual. But as a lefty I have been forced to sometimes adapt to right-handed devices and procedures, an experience shared by very few right-handed people. And as someone with a strong sense of handedness, I feel I have a sharp insight into the effects of that experience. I would submit that a righty who has not fully learned (not just tried) to do something left-handed lacks that insight.

And since I’m not outspoken enough either… :smiley:

I’d be willing to bet that the orientation of instruments you mentioned has to do with natural arm position (dominant arm in and/or low, non-dominant out and/or high). Which hand has more/tougher work to do may not figure in.

I chose ‘wrong-handed’ to refer to the instrument, not the person.

Not at all. Both hands are equally important, and both aspects of the technique are as difficult to master, at any level. Significantly, each hand requires unique skills - I struggle to form any semblence of bow-hold with the left hand (I’ve tried before for the purposes of such discussions), and I cannot move the fingers of my right hand with anything like the accuracy, power or speed I take for granted in my left (I just tried!).

I suspect you’re right, that we may need to agree to disagree. However, one particular thought, which is probably more about the necessary approach by a teacher, is whether guitar right-hand techniques make a more significant use of finger motions which are not unique to that one activity - i.e. those for whom this is the dominant hand will have a certainly degree of familiarity above lefties. (As opposed to the violin, where the bow hold is just a bit weird for everyone!)

That’s an very interesting idea. But I wonder why this positioning would be preferable?

I think it’s instinct (or whatever the proper term is for humans), much as handedness is innate. Perhaps it originated in sticking one’s more expendable arm out back in the days when it might actually get bitten off by a dinosaur. :wink:

So theoretically, a lefty might be expected to have better mastery of fingering, and poorer mastery of bowing, compared to an “equivalent” righty (same inherent talent, same training, etc.).

Are any of the top level violinists left-handed?

I don’t think so. Once you look towards higher standards, the issues surrounding technique become dependent on all the physical characteristics, abilities and limitations of a person’s hands and arms, among which ‘handedness’ is one very small factor.

No idea. But as you might guess from my previous posts, I’d be surprise if it was less than the 10% or so of the general population.

Is a guitar really “right” or “left” handed?

I use all ten fingers and both arms. Both hands have some really complicated things to learn. And even though I’m right handed, nothing I did with the right hand was easy. Guitar is difficult.

I teach guitar and I’ve only had one student who was left handed. I taught him the “right” handed method. It didn’t make any difference…he didn’t learn any faster or slower (and eventually became quite good).

There are so many variances in being a “lefty” or “righty.” And anything can be learned with either hand/leg. And some people write left and throw right and vice versa. Dominance can cross over in eyes, ears, arms, hands, legs…

Because so many people play guitar “right handed,” to me it makes sense for him to learn that way. He’ll want to play others’ guitars. He’ll want to be in jams where people switch guitars. He’ll be somewhere without a guitar, but if he learns “right handed” he will always be able to play someone else’s. I don’t know what cost or availability concerns there are with “left handed” guitars, so I guess that’s worth checking out.

I think I’m right in saying that it’s more than a matter of restringing, and that there are some internal differences. (Whereas with a decent violin, string it in reverse and you’re going to gradually cause irreperable damage, because the internal structure is very different from one side to the other.)