Squier Jazzmaster

[jcyphe]

Let's just say that I don't believe that learning to play righty is anything like telling someone to write with their non-dominant hand. Musicians for hundreds of years have played all kinds of instruments with one orientation only. I don't know why guitar ever started being played lefty but I don't think it's insulting or discriminating to think that someone can learn to play the way that most other people are expected to. It's at least worth trying and it does save a lot of headache later in life. The fretting hand needs plenty of agility, too. There's righty guitarists who play lefty for this reason.

Good for you, you honestly sound very close minded. Not everybody is the same. There are many examples of people who consider themselves lefty who play right handed like Mark Knopfler. There are also those that originally flipped over right handed guitars like Albert King. Then those who flipped over right-handed guitars and re-strung them to lefty like Jmi Hendrix. This clearly illustrates my point that people are different and to simply state that they should try to do something the "normal" way is insensitive and discriminatory.

In the case of Jimi Hendrix it is known that his father did try to force him to use his right hand in many aspects of his life. In schools Jimi Hendrix was forced to write with his right hand. So these type of forced conversions to societal norms are related. Hendrix's brother Leon states that when his dad was not around he would play how it felt natural for him and as soon as his dad got home, he'd flip the guitar around for fear of being scolded.

It's also a bit pompous to make the statements you made when you are enjoying the advantages and choices of having every single guitar style available to you.

[death2yun]

Throw in my two cents;
So I'm a pure left-hander but was persuaded to learn to play guitar righty by my dad and uncles.
I've been playing for ten years now, but lately i've been trying to play Albert King style. And I've developed a habit of picking up a lefty strat when I go to Guitar Center.
I have to say it feels more natural to me as far as holding it and picking goes.
Also, my right hand, compared to my left handed when I first started playing, is picking it up pretty decently.
I've asked a lot of guitarist, and my former teacher, if there could be any disadvantage to learning right-handed when you are lefty and everyone gives me a resounding no.
They say it's a waste of time because I've already invested so much into playing the "right way".
But my question to them is, if as a righty when you first learned to play guitar it was strung upside down, don't you think your picking would be at a disadvantage in the long run?
"No no it's all technique"
It's kind of a nature vs nurture debate.
Anybody got some more cents to throw in?

[gaybear]

It's kind of a nature vs nurture debate.

It's totally nature/nurture, and like any other nature/nurture think, there's a whole continuum. Pens is sorta ambidextrous, a very small percentage of people are completely ambidextrous, and most people aren't ambidextrous. Some people can train themselves to play in a way that doesn't feel natural for them. some can't.
Not to harp again on honey, but well, i guess i am, but what he's saying is similar to saying "I don't understand why gay dudes don't just marry women when all the normal "straight" dudes are expected to marry women". Or, to Pens (if he were gay), "I think it's interesting that you've mentally convinced yourself to play gay."

[death2yun]

I write, throw, catch, air-pick, play tennis,everything lefty.
The only thing I do right handed is play guitar but it was just sheer will.
And i've always had to work on picking waaay more than fretting.
I've been contemplating the switch but idk..

[jcyphe]

Some scientist believe that doing any behavior with the opposite hand actually improves your coordination for both hands but that's a working theory.

Still the idea that left handed people should be switched to right handed for their own sake is dumb. After the outright bias that was based in religion and superstition subsided people also tried to make logistical arguments to why kids should be taught to write with their right hand, such as most school desks or work equipment being made for right handed folks. These arguments are still dumb IMO.

Interestingly enough most of world's armies have long switched to make their weapons ambidextrous, or easily modified for lefty use. If a military service whose whole goal is to train and mold a soldier thinks it's more effective to just give a left handed person a weapon they feel comfortable with, maybe that says something.

[gaybear]

I write, throw, catch, air-pick, play tennis,everything lefty.
The only thing I do right handed is play guitar but it was just sheer will.
And i've always had to work on picking waaay more than fretting.
I've been contemplating the switch but idk..

the picking/strumming takes more coordination, which is why it usually makes sense to play it with dominant hand.

if you have the time or dough, i'd say give it a go. maybe you'll have Pen's experience.
Though you're playing doesn't sound bad on your recording.

[death2yun]

Still the idea that left handed people should be switched to right handed for their own sake is dumb. .

Totally.
Shit if I had started out lefty i'd probably be shredding like a mothafuckah.
Question for me is,is it too late?
I've been thinking of switching my Ibanez around.
I've got an Eastwood Map now too, so it's not my only axe.
Idk though.
I'm fucking stuck and can't decide.

And I mean it's not like I can't play for shit or hold rhythm, but when it comes to playing lead...
Idk maybe i just need to practice more.

[cur]

My son is left handed. Well, he writes left handed. He throws right handed. He bats either way at baseball or with a hockey stick. He was both footed at soccer, but is becoming more of a right dominant when taking power shots. When he picks up one of my guitars to strum, he always does so lefty.

[honeyiscool]

Not to harp again on honey, but well, i guess i am, but what he's saying is similar to saying "I don't understand why gay dudes don't just marry women when all the normal "straight" dudes are expected to marry women". Or, to Pens (if he were gay), "I think it's interesting that you've mentally convinced yourself to play gay."

Come on, was that necessary?

I think we can, without a shadow of a doubt, say that in our society today, left handers are not going to be beat to death or have their legal rights taken away for being left handed, so please, don't try to go that route with this.

I'm clearly touching a nerve here, but what I'm saying is that there are advantages to playing right handed and there are left handers who have been able to play right handed, so my thought that at least trying to play right handed, even if you're left handed, is worthwhile. It would save you grief at the music store, at least. I'm not forcing anyone to play left handed.

[honeyiscool]

Totally.
Shit if I had started out lefty i'd probably be shredding like a mothafuckah.
Question for me is,is it too late?
I've been thinking of switching my Ibanez around.
I've got an Eastwood Map now too, so it's not my only axe.
Idk though.
I'm fucking stuck and can't decide.

And I mean it's not like I can't play for shit or hold rhythm, but when it comes to playing lead...
Idk maybe i just need to practice more.

OK, this annoys me. Unless you can, without a shadow of a doubt, say that you've done what it takes to be a shredder, which is to say you've played scales and licks and arpeggios up and down for hours and hours and you did this every day for several years, how can you say that it's your handedness that keeps you from being able to play lead? Most people who play fast leads make liberal use of hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends, etc., much more so than fast picking. You're using your dominant hand for fretting, which means you could be doing Iron Maiden style leads all day, even if your picking hand ultimately was that crippling.

That said, if switching the guitar around is the thing you need to convince yourself that you need to start practicing for speed, so that you have no doubts anymore, then that's the step you should take. You can't be practicing hours a day if you have lingering doubts about whether what you're doing is worth it.

[gaybear]

It just reads like you don't believe handedness exists. it's weird. and i'll maintain that it takes more coordination to shred pick evenly than it does to do a hammer on. hell, half the reason i use hammer ons or pull offs is outta efficiency/laziness.

[robroe]

i can play power chords on left handed guitars when i play them upside down


so like still strumming with right hand, but strung little strings facing up and big strings down.


whats that called ?

[gaybear]

i can play power chords on left handed guitars when i play them upside down


so like still strumming with right hand, but strung little strings facing up and big strings down.


whats that called ?

I think it's called "strumming with right hand, but strung little strings facing up and big strings down" or "beer"

[avj]

My son is left handed. Well, he writes left handed. He throws right handed. He bats either way at baseball or with a hockey stick. He was both footed at soccer, but is becoming more of a right dominant when taking power shots. When he picks up one of my guitars to strum, he always does so lefty.

This sounds very much like me. In retrospect, I'm glad I switched to playing guitar "right-handed" where my left hand does the hard work.

[honeyiscool]

It just reads like you don't believe handedness exists. it's weird. and i'll maintain that it takes more coordination to shred pick evenly than it does to do a hammer on. hell, half the reason i use hammer ons or pull offs is outta efficiency/laziness.

No, you're reading that into what I'm saying. I think it's fine to play lefty, but for you to think of a simple statement that "lefties can play righty" is full of discrimination and prejudice is odd because first of all, you seem to be inserting words to make it say "all lefties should learn to play righty because it's the correct way." I'm not saying that at all, and secondly, many lefties have tried it and succeeded and they don't complain about what they've achieved on the guitar.

It's not like being gay and never being able to achieve happiness because you're forced to be straight. It's more like there are two hands that are involved in playing guitar and just because you write with one hand does not necessarily mean you should pick with that hand either because honestly I don't know. I do get frustrated at how weak my left pinky is, and this is despite playing classical piano and later, electric guitar most of my life. My right hand can move as fast and accurately as I can think, and honestly, I think when you're playing leads, your fretting hand has a lot of the same functions as the right hand of a pianist, it really does. So forgive me for thinking that maybe having that be your dominant could be useful to you.

[SKC Willie]

My son is left handed. Well, he writes left handed. He throws right handed. He bats either way at baseball or with a hockey stick. He was both footed at soccer, but is becoming more of a right dominant when taking power shots. When he picks up one of my guitars to strum, he always does so lefty.

This sounds very much like me. In retrospect, I'm glad I switched to playing guitar "right-handed" where my left hand does the hard work.

write, throw, and kick left handed.

bat, swing, and play guitar right handed.


None of these things I do well, I might add.

[Billy3000]

I had a friend in high school and college who was left handed and played guitar right handed. He always made a point when asked about this to say that "when everyone first picks up a guitar it's awkward so it doesn't matter which hand is your dominant hand whether you play left or right handed cause it's going to be awkward either way."

He sucked at guitar. And it was because he had no ability to play with any sort of rhythm or keep a steady strum or picking pattern.

I've picked up left handed guitars and haven't had much difficulty with fretting with my right hand, but have had absolutely no ability whatsoever to strum or pick properly, because it doesn't feel right at all. This is what I would imagine it being like for a left handed player trying to play right handed. Even the "it's awkward for everyone, just power through it and you'll learn" point doesn't apply in my opinion because even when I was starting out on guitar and didn't know how to play at all I didn't have problems getting my right hand to cooperate with keeping a steady strum pattern. But I do when I pick up a left handed guitar and try to strum with my left hand. It doesn't work, and saying lefties should try to play right handed cause it will be better for them in the long run is narrow minded.

[SKC Willie]

it's an interesting topic but I think if you tell some one to learn to play guitar right handed because there are so many more options for guitars, they're a lot less likely to learn.

that said, I play right handed (I learned on my brothers guitar that he had laying around) and I'm a lefty; I can pick fast, alternate pick, and all kinds of chicken picking. I think my best best attribute as a guitarist is my picking, so it's really just finding out what works best for you and do it.

[ekwatts]

Playing guitar is a learned skill and can be done right or left-handed regardless of whether or not you are naturally inclined that way. So what? You do what feels comfortable for you. Using the historical argument is rather silly for two reasons, primarily because the conservative nature of musicians and musical instrument makers would never have countenanced the idea of building an instrument "the wrong way round" for something that was considered a very rigid discipline, and secondly because the electric guitar came about in the last 60 years and the shape and form is integral to the design.

I'm left-handed and I play righty because I learned on right handed guitars. I don't think it did me any harm particularly, but that's me. I'm sure there really are plenty of people who feel handicapped having been forced down a particular path and to suggest that they are simply being churlish for being penalised for being part of a minority is rather silly. The whole point of guitar, unlike those musicians who played harpsichord in the renaissance for instance, is that it is a hobby and as such people expect to be catered for.

[hotrodperlmutter]

I think my best best attribute as a guitarist is my picking

i can vouch for this.