Left or Right???

Hello everyone!

This is my first post. :)

Anyway, I'm a lefty and can't decide if I want to play the guitar left handed or right handed. Does anyone have any suggestions or tools to help me determine which I should try????

Hi Saiyah,

I teach a lot of lefty beginners in the "real world". I always encourage them to play a standard guitar (not a lefty guitar). With very rare exceptions, this works out just fine. The fact is that playing the guitar requires both of your hands to learn all sort of new moves, so there is not much gained in my opinion by learning on a lefty guitar.

The upside to learning to play "rightie" is that all the guitar music you encounter will be readable without you having to translate it in your head to a lefty interpretation. Also, pretty much any guitar you encounter (at a friends' house, a party, a store), you can pick up and play. Lefties who learn on a lefty guitar are limited to those fairly rare guitars.

My two cents! Hope it helps!
-Lisa McCormick, Guitar Tricks Instructor

Thanks so much, Lisa! I'm going to go rightie!

Ya that fact alone would make me want to encourage playing a righty more. If you learn left, you will only be able to play left, and that puts up a lot of limitations.

Originally Posted by: hunter1801Ya that fact alone would make me want to encourage playing a righty more. If you learn left, you will only be able to play left, and that puts up a lot of limitations.

same goes for right handed people though, i mean, when you started learning assuming right handed, did you say, i wonder what i should play? no. you go with your dominant hand. then again, i am a big fan of not doing something just because everyone else does and that makes it easier.

I've known a few left handed people that plays the guitar right handed. Goes back to left handed guitars not being as available. The other guitarist in my band it a lefty and plays lefty, he's always bitching about stores never having any left handed guitars....Plus, left handed guitars cost more..

Originally Posted by: SaiyahHello everyone!

This is my first post. :)

Anyway, I'm a lefty and can't decide if I want to play the guitar left handed or right handed. Does anyone have any suggestions or tools to help me determine which I should try????

Honestly, you probably just need to play the guitar whatever way is more comfortable for you (which will most likely be left handed).

Good luck and enjoy!

I am a lefty as is my father a lefty and we both learned how to play right handed. I HIGHLY recommend you learn right handed.

There isn't a dominant hand when playing guitar, especially if you are learning how to pick or worse; thinking about learning classical. Both hands do equal work and I don't think it wouldt have been easier for me to learn left handed over right handed.

JMO

Hi there everyone,

First post ever, brand new to the site and guitars.

I am also wondering about the right vs left question. I've been practicing only about a month, so if I switched it wouldn't be that much of a loss.

Here's the deal for me....I have broken my left wrist and hand a few times in the past. The result is that my fingers do not stretch anywhere as easily as they do on my right hand.

Example, power chords requiring the index finger to be in one fret and the ring and pinky two frets down were impossible for me at first. It's only been in the past few days that I have got the hand/fingers to stretch the required distance and then they bounce and stuff. I know that with practice the required stretch will most likely come....BUT ...on my right hand, I can stretch that distance already and I have never even practiced with the right hand.

What do you all think? Should I stay a righty or switch now while I'm new at this? Do folks like me generally gain the needed stretch and dexterity with practice?

Thanks for your opinions in advance.

Hi Shoedog,

Welcome to the site and to the guitar!

If you had not injured your left hand in the past, I would say folks like you (i.e. new guitar players, lefty or righty) would eventually develop the stretch they need to make power chords, etc. with practice. And I would generally encourage a lefty to play a standard "righty" guitar, as both hands are required to learn to do a lot of things and playing standard guitar just makes life a little easier in terms of access to instruments, etc.

You may be a special case because of your injury. It's a great sign that it only took you a few days to work up the stretch for power chords, but it's impossible to say how and if that injury will play out as you continue to develop. Playing guitar may actually be therapeutic - or you may find you come up against some physical limitations that are a result of the injury.

I don't know if this is even helpful as I don't feel I can officially recommend one path over the other for you - but maybe this will help you think it out and decide which way to go based on your own instincts about your own hands.

Best wishes - Lisa McCormick
Guitar Tricks Instructor

Hi Shoedog,

I've broken Left hand when I was young. My pinky is sometimes a problem. I get still get weird spasm sometimes even after all those years. because of that, I play a lot more with the three other fingers. I do think Lisa is right about it being therapeutic. Sure, my pinky is limiting me sometimes but it is still 80-90% functional. I do beleive having played guitar has given me some sort of physical readaptation on a level regular exercises wouldn't have. Inner hand muscles are hard to train. Guitar playing is a great way to make them work. It requires movements you don't normally do in your everyday life.

You do have to be extra careful and listen to your body. Stop at the first sign of pain. Even if you're having the time of your life :) It's sometimes frustrating but it better in the long run.

Thanks Lisa and Benoit. I guess the key is that practicing is definitely not hurting either my hand or wrist, I actually think it's good for them. After reading your posts and thinking some more about it, the advantages of being a righty are enough to justify spending some more time and seeing if the hand and wrist will continue to come around. If I am stuck after a few months I can always re eval. Thanks.