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Originally Posted by Flaming Homer
I decided to pull out an old guitar we had sitting the attic and give it a try, problem is It's a right handed guitar and I'm a Southpaw, secondly I don't know how to play the guitar for the life of me. I thought about it for a while and decided that since the guitar has been in the family for a while including our not too long ago trek across the Atlantic that there was no way I'm going to buy a new one and I'll have to play it upside down and/or strengthen my right hand and play properly. The largest problem is that due to a busy schedule I have no time to take lessons for a very long time and likely long enough that by then I won't want too proceed anymore.
So due to these choices I have to learn to play a guitar upside down on my own. This is quite the uphill battle and I was wondering if any of you have learned a guitar on your own, or if you have any tips on how to make it a bit easier?
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YOU HAVE A NATURAL ADVANTAGE over regular guitar players because it's really your left hand that does the much harder and skilled portion of the work. Being more dextrous in your left hand will enable you to be a better guitar player along the fretboard. The other hand can just pluck or strum. Before you try to get it re-strung (Jimi Hendrix played left with a right handed guitar), try learning it normally. This will also make learning easier as most references, videos, and even some tabs are referring to right-hand playing. You'll also be able to try out more instruments in guitar shops
Learning the guitar at first seems hard to EVERYBODY. Everybody's hands seem weak, slow, inflexible, and painful at first. This is natural until you build your finger muscles, speed, flexibility, calouses, and most importantly muscle memory and knowledge. You have an advantage others don't being left-handed. I would suggest trying it right handed at first - I remember picking up a guitar and not knowing at all what to do, it felt like a completely alien lump of wood and strings to me that was impossible to do anything with. That's all natural. Sometimes I wish I could play the fretboard with my right hand because it's dominant and could make better finger shapes and play faster with better rythm and coordination.
You have an advantage being a lefty on a right-handed guitar if you decide to learn that way.