Help a confused lefty!

Hi Reed!

Yet another Lefty playing 'normal' (left hand fretting) here. I am totally left handed (and footed), writing, punching, eating, kicking

I started out with violin (where lefty players are *extremely* rare, but they exist) and didn't even considered trying lefty when I started some 20 years ago.

Sometimes I think I've gotten as far as I can with my strumming hand. I don't think I'll ever get real fast and accurate - I've even considered switching - but each time I realise that the costs would be FAR too high :cry:

The upside is that my chord changes are extremely good :roll: :lol:

In my next life I will start out lefty

But the bottom line is - don't invest too much time before you make up your mind. I don't think there are many good players out there who can handle both ways (or?)

[Slightly O.T.: maybe this can tell us something: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html ]

Good luck!! :-)

lars

I'm yet another leftie who plays guitar right handed.It was how my pops played, so it made borrowing his guitars a ot easier when I was starting out. Weird thing though, a friend from school who was right handed learned to play guitar left handed from his dad (who is also a leftie). Both of us found that learning was about as difficult as it was for anyone else we spoke to.

That friend did notice one particular thing about playing as a leftie though, a lot of time spent borrowing his right-handed mates' guitars meant he understood/was comfortable with the fret board and had better ears than a lot of right handed guitarists. Playing both left handed guitars and right-handed ones (R.H. ones played upside down) meant he couldn't rely on the same visual markers most of us get some help from. That might be something you want to consider.

Either way, I think guitarists generally have 'weak' picking hands, simply because its so easy (particularly if you're self-taught) to overlok. I suffer this problem myself, and am working hard to correct it. I'm really comfortable with finger-picking compared with most of the people I've jammed with, but then my dad was constantly doing this, so it was one of the first things he showed me on guitar once I'd mastered a couple of chords. The key here is PRACTISE. Everything is uncomfortable/hard without it.

Well guys its been just about a month since I first posted here. Thanks again for all the tips and suggestions, I've taken everything into consideration. I've been playing everyday since my finger tips died for about two hours, sometimes more. My roommate plays right handed and I've been playing a flipped right handed acoustic left handed. I like to switch and play on my roommates right handed guitar (RH) for awhile and then go back to playing left handed on mine, this helped me make a final as to which side I would play regularly, although I would like to continue learning on both sides. While playing right handed finger picking is a lot easier for me than holding a pick. I compared this to holding a pencil or pen right handed, it just feels awkward for me. I am able to comfortably hold a pick left handed, pick much faster and more accurately.

Perhaps I'll post some videos when I get a little bit better Dylan :P . I watched yours and those are what motivated me to finally get playing, I doubt I was the only one! They taught me that there really is no easy way to get started, you just need to sit down and put in the time, thats what I've been doing and I love it so much already. Thanks man.

Thank you all!