# Playing Stringed Instruments Lefty **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 3, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578 "2007-01-03T19:05:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578/21 "2007-01-06T00:32:34Z")
I feel that I have a strong sense of my left-handedness (but I don’t crook my hand over when writing). I agree that there are degrees of this. I also have a good, almost intuitive, sense of mirror-image. There are probably degrees of this too, but I believe lefties are forced to deal with it more than righties and at least benefit from the practice. Unlike **OneCentStamp** , I don’t regret playing lefty guitars. Yes, they are harder to find. Some stores don’t have any. Most good-sized stores have a few, and some have a rather nice selection of price/quality ranges. And there’s always Southpaw Guitars. Not all makers charge a premium for lefty guitars, and generally if they do it’s nominal. I do miss swapping with other players, though - if I recall correctly, I’ve been able to do that twice in 25+ years. I’m self-taught, so I never had to deal with right-handed teachers. It doesn’t seem to me that it would be a problem (for me), as I expect I would automatically mirror-image everything the way I do with pictures and diagrams in books. It may be more of a challenge for others, but as I mentioned above I would expect that a lefty would be used to dealing with it. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578/22 "2007-01-08T17:14:04Z")
[QUOTE=Gary T] And I’m dying to know what the decision was. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure how much you want to know. The boy seemed comfortable playing right handed on several tries and one experiment-- involving hand clapping\*. I also talked with a luthier who claimed that restringing a right-handed guitar to be played left-handed with the low strings at the top would cost around $100, assuming an average instrument. Then I found a classical/ nylon stringed guitar that the boy liked and that the same luthier said would be very easy (read _cheap_) to restring if playing right-handed didn’t go well and we decided to switch. So, righty it is! \*in case you’re interested, the experiment went like this. Get the subject to clap their hands for fifteen to twenty seconds. Righties tend to hold their left hand still (TEND I say, TEND!) and slap it with the right. (SLAP IT, I say, SLAP IT!) Lefties do the opposite and some people will clap their hands togather. The recommendation was that if a lefty claps their hands togather or uses the right to slap the left then they _should_ be able to play right-handed. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578/23 "2007-01-08T17:45:55Z")
[QUOTE=SiXSwordS] I’m not sure how much you want to know. [/quote] Well, mainly just curious. If he’s comfortable playing right-handed and the potential negative isn’t a serious concern, no reason not to go that way. > [@](#): > > I also talked with a luthier who claimed that restringing a right-handed guitar to be played left-handed with the low strings at the top would cost around $100, assuming an average instrument. Then I found a classical/ nylon stringed guitar that the boy liked and that the same luthier said would be very easy (read _cheap_) to restring if playing right-handed didn’t go well and we decided to switch. Be aware that many guitars have assymetrical internal bracing, giving a “bass side” and a “treble side” as in violins. They can be converted externally (bridge, saddle, nut, strings, pickguard) but not internally, and often will have lousy bass if converted. I don’t believe this applies to classical guitars, and as you mention the external conversion is less involved (saddle, nut, strings), so I’d say that was a good choice to start with. If he decides to play a left-handed steel-string in the future, I’d strongly recommend a factory lefty guitar over a conversion unless you’re CERTAIN the internal bracing is symmetrical. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578/24 "2007-01-08T23:09:53Z")
[QUOTE=Gary T] Then the choice is to play a lefty guitar, or play a righty guitar upside down (holding it in the left-handed position). [/QUOTE] I’ve heard it said that Jimi Hendrix learned this way, because he couldn’t find a lefty guitar when he was starting out. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578/25 "2007-01-08T23:16:20Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] I’ve heard it said that Jimi Hendrix learned this way, because he couldn’t find a lefty guitar when he was starting out. [/QUOTE] He’s not the only one. Some people did what Jimi did and restrung the guitar, so he was still playing “right side up.” Others, like Albert King, didn’t bother and just played upside-down. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2007, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578/26 "2007-01-08T23:55:42Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] He’s not the only one. Some people did what Jimi did and restrung the guitar, so he was still playing “right side up.” Others, like Albert King, didn’t bother and just played upside-down. [/QUOTE] I did the Albert King thing for the first year I played, a period so self-taught that I literally did not know there was anything wrong with the way I was playing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578/27 "2007-01-09T03:27:14Z")
I checked with my son, who’s left-handed. He said he plays guitar right-handed for three reasons: 1. The guitar is made that way. 2. Most of the music he plays features fingering over picking, so it feels more natural to use his dominant hand for the more precise work. 3. While he was learning, he got tired of trying to imagine every diagram he saw into a mirror image. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/playing-stringed-instruments-lefty/386578.md?page=1)