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Left handed guitar players?

post #1 of 3
Thread Starter 

I've never considered picking up the guitar but the wife is asking for suggestions as a gift. She thought a guitar and lessons would be a good gift so here I am, asking you lefties how this is done. Do you have a left-handed guitar or did you learn to play the standard guitar backwards? As a followup question, how hard was it getting lessons from a righty?

post #2 of 3

While I am not currently left-handed, I spent a significant portion of my younger years using my left as my dominant hand (due to an injured right thumb).  I began learning to play the guitar during that time.  My recommendation--buy a right-handed guitar!  Guitar playing is usually a two-handed activity, so it doesn't matter which is dominant.

 1) For every L guitar, there are 100X R guitars, so R guitars tend to be cheaper and easier to sell/trade;

 2) When learning to play, for most people, it is easier to learn from the teacher if you can sit next to them and mimic as they play...chances are a teacher will play a R guitar;

 3) Part of the fun with the guitar is being able to try new sounds and swap instruments with friends while jamming (or learning...ie, "here, try it like this...").  Most people play R-handed guitar, so your ability to swap instruments or playing tricks on the fly is much better if you play R, too

 

And finally, if a person is learning from scratch, it is completely arbitrary if one learns to play like a righty or lefty.  My personal take is that the strumming hand is easy (R hand on an R-guitar) in terms of complex dexterity...for most people, it will be the fretting hand (L hand on an R-guitar) that has the big learning/training curve.  So being a lefty playing a R-handed guitar may be easier, if anything.  Buy a right-handed guitar!

post #3 of 3

I am left handed,but play the guitar the regular way.I think left handed players are just people who picked up the guitar the wrong way round the first time they tried,and just kept on going.  Fair play to them!!

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