Fellas, I have a lefty accoustic guitar and want to knonw if any of you teach or if you recommend any good places. Price, location and other details can be worked out.
Honestly, you will save yourself a ton of time, money, and grief if you just start learning a righty instead. It's not that hard cause youre starting from scratch anyway, plus your good hand (if you're a left handed person that is) will be working the frets, which to me is the hard part anyway.
table makes a good point. I thought i was a lefty but then learned righty, but if your set on it the guy would have to be a pretty bad teacher to not be able to teach you. Its not that difficult to learn from one or the other. My lead guitarist was a lefty and we would teach eachother things all the time.
Honestly, you will save yourself a ton of time, money, and grief if you just start learning a righty instead. It's not that hard cause youre starting from scratch anyway, plus your good hand (if you're a left handed person that is) will be working the frets, which to me is the hard part anyway.
I am a lefty and I was given this advice too, don't do it. You will never become an advanced guitarist by switching hands because you may fret well put you strumming will feel awkward and IMO your accuracy at hitting strings is more important then fretting. Most teachers can teach you to play left handed or at least any worth his salt. Keep in mind the greatest guitarist of all time Jimi Hendrix played a righty backwards but he still played left handed. Kurt Cobain and Tommi Iomi are a couple more good lefties. You should not have to compromise just because you are left handed, you will pay more for guitars however. Cheers fellow backwards player.
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I am a lefty and I was given this advice too, don't do it. You will never become an advanced guitarist by switching hands because you may fret well put you strumming will feel awkward and IMO your accuracy at hitting strings is more important then fretting. Most teachers can teach you to play left handed or at least any worth his salt. Keep in mind the greatest guitarist of all time Jimi Hendrix played a righty backwards but he still played left handed. Kurt Cobain and Tommi Iomi are a couple more good lefties. You should not have to compromise just because you are left handed, you will pay more for guitars however. Cheers fellow backwards player.
I don't play the guitar, but when I read Table's comment, I was waiting to see if someone would reply with this type of post. I have fooled around with guitars plenty, and I think that trying to play it backwards would be super difficult when it comes to strumming.
IANAGI, but I would almost think it would be easier to teach/learn if either the student or the instructor was opposite handed, as it would mean the guitars mirror each other when you are facing each other. So your fretting hands are side by side, as is your strumming hand.
At the very least, its not like you would be trying to learn to play with your toes, it can't be that hard to teach a lefty...can it?
It depends on the person. Some lefties find they learn super slow when trying a righty guitar and learn much faster when playing left as feels natural.
Being a left-handed guitarist can feel terrible though, whenever you goto a friend's place and they have a guitar there - that you can't play...whenever you goto a guitar store - and all the cool guitars are ones you can't play, etc.
But Matata has a wicked point - lessons would be easier as it's a mirror image.
I am a lefty and I was given this advice too, don't do it. You will never become an advanced guitarist by switching hands because you may fret well put you strumming will feel awkward and IMO your accuracy at hitting strings is more important then fretting. Most teachers can teach you to play left handed or at least any worth his salt. Keep in mind the greatest guitarist of all time Jimi Hendrix played a righty backwards but he still played left handed. Kurt Cobain and Tommi Iomi are a couple more good lefties. You should not have to compromise just because you are left handed, you will pay more for guitars however. Cheers fellow backwards player.
Sure, if he's becoming the next Jimi or Iommi, than go lefty if it's that important to be the best (although Im guessing those goes would be guitar gods no matter what they played with) . But if you just want to play for the fun of it, it definitely is easier in a lot of ways.
I think a lot of lefties have dexterity in their right hands these days because they use a mouse with their right (at least I do). I'm admittedly no guitar superstar, but I found the change fairly simple. My strumming is definitely not the biggest issue, ha.
Honestly, you will save yourself a ton of time, money, and grief if you just start learning a righty instead. It's not that hard cause youre starting from scratch anyway,.
BOOO! The biggest waste of time and money and by far the most grief I have encountered as a lefty, was when I was 7 years old and wanted to take guitar lessons but noone wanted to let me do what was comfortable. I quit a couple months in.
fast forward to when I am making my own money, i buy myself a lefty. been playing ever since.
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plus your good hand (if you're a left handed person that is) will be working the frets, which to me is the hard part anyway
if this was true how come rightys hold their guitar with their good hand strumming?
Thanks for the input guys. I am a lefty but am quite ambidextrous, as I feel my right hand is actually a little quicker. I just feels natural to hold a guitar in my left hand and from the little that I've played i like it.
I guess I will call some of the music shops around Chinook and ask for lessons. Thanks!
K, weird question kinda in the same vein. I'm right handed, recently bought a guitar. How important is the pinky finger? I only ask because the pinky on my left hand seems to have really limited mobility when I curl my hands around the neck of the guitar. My pinky on my right hand seems to do much better making me wonder if I should try to learn as a left?
K, weird question kinda in the same vein. I'm right handed, recently bought a guitar. How important is the pinky finger? I only ask because the pinky on my left hand seems to have really limited mobility when I curl my hands around the neck of the guitar. My pinky on my right hand seems to do much better making me wonder if I should try to learn as a left?
It'll improve as you play more. It'll take a few months to a year.
Don't try playing as a lefty if you are righty. Accurate picking is much harder than accurate fretting.
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I am a lefty and I was given this advice too, don't do it. You will never become an advanced guitarist by switching hands because you may fret well put you strumming will feel awkward and IMO your accuracy at hitting strings is more important then fretting. Most teachers can teach you to play left handed or at least any worth his salt. Keep in mind the greatest guitarist of all time Jimi Hendrix played a righty backwards but he still played left handed. Kurt Cobain and Tommi Iomi are a couple more good lefties. You should not have to compromise just because you are left handed, you will pay more for guitars however. Cheers fellow backwards player.
Who? Come on, don't get Tony Iommi's name wrong.
Just play left handed. If that is your natural way, play left. Teaching one way or another shouldn't make a difference, like I said in another post, the fingers and positions will be the same, just with opposite hands.
My lefty friend got nowhere at all trying to start out as a righty simply because that's what all the guitars in stores and at friend's houses were but it was slow going. He found a lefty guitar and learned much faster he says.
BUT, that's just his personal experience, it varies with people. There are many lefties that chose to start out as righties as starting out is the most important time to learn those skills because everybody who has picked up a guitar without knowing how to play knows how awkward it feels in either hand. If you work reasonably hard and practice with any hand, it will get better. Learning guitar is not a quick process. It takes months to a year (and more! - I'm on 5 years and I still suck) to build up the proper hand strength and flexibility and it will feel wierd and cramped and like you can't move fast or use your fingers or anything for the first while no-matter what hand you start with.
Aside from technical aspects, it probably does feel a bit crappy when you goto a friend's house or show up at a guitar store and not be able to play anything on the rack because they are all righties.
K, weird question kinda in the same vein. I'm right handed, recently bought a guitar. How important is the pinky finger? I only ask because the pinky on my left hand seems to have really limited mobility when I curl my hands around the neck of the guitar. My pinky on my right hand seems to do much better making me wonder if I should try to learn as a left?
One day it'll just work out if you keep playing. I had this problem with bar chords. Nothing was working and then one day I picked up my guitar and suddenly it worked. It takes a while for your fingers to stretch out.
Here's a potentially stupid question: I've never taught guitar to anybody before ... is it actually a problem teaching somebody who is left handed if you are a righty? I don't really understand how much different it could be.
One day it'll just work out if you keep playing. I had this problem with bar chords. Nothing was working and then one day I picked up my guitar and suddenly it worked. It takes a while for your fingers to stretch out.
Here's a potentially stupid question: I've never taught guitar to anybody before ... is it actually a problem teaching somebody who is left handed if you are a righty? I don't really understand how much different it could be.
probally easier. cause then its just a mirror image.
Won't make a difference..... unless you're playing a lefty that is stung for a righty like Albert King and Doyle Bramhall ll do... I can see that causing problems during lessons because the teacher is going to have to learn your technique as much as you his
fast forward to the 5:10 mark
but thats not what we're talking about and i wouldn't worry about it
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Guitar Lessons for a lefty
