Hello. I've recently discovered left-handed playing, and was wondering... (yes, I've never seen anyone play up close before.) Is left-handed when the thickest string is on the top or bottom? Thanks.
Left-handed guitarists string the guitar the opposite way to right-handers, so yes, from top to bottom, thickest to thinnest, a left-hander would still have the guitar strung E A D G B E.
I'm guessing here, are you a natural left-hander who's been taught to play right-handed?
My grand-daughter is left-handed, plays guitar right-handed (can't strum with her left) and plays violin left-handed(holds the bow in her left!!!)
Try it both ways, if you feel more comfortable playing right handed then stick with it.......one way is bound to feel more natural.
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
If it is a case of right handed versus left handed, someone else had the same problem a while back........
http://forums.guitarnoise.com/viewtopic.php?p=59284&highlight=#59284
you might want to send him a PM, ask his advice........
Hope this helps,
Vic.
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
If you look down at your guitar while you are playing (left handed or right handed), the thickest string is always closest to your face.
Thank you. Yes, I am naturally left-handed, although I'm not sure which way I've been taught. I strum with my right hand, which I'm guessing is right-handed.
I'd love to try it left-handed! Flipping my guitar feels too weird though, because the strings are out of place.
Rather than making changes to your guitar, go to a local music shop and try left handed modals. See if it is more comfortable left handed vs. right handed.
I am both left handed and right handed. Certain things "feel" more comfortable a certain way. I play the guitar right handed but, i do a lot of other things left handed. It's all in the "feel" of your hands and up against your body.
My 7-year-old son is already displaying signs of being truly ambidextrous...most notably, playing baseball, he bats equally well from either side of the plate. He's seemingly right-hand dominant for things such as eating, wrting, etc., but does a large number of tasks just fine either way. He's also expressed an interest in guitar since Daddy has started playing, so I'm considering buying one of those little 30 inch acoustic guitars for him to try out. The one I'm looking at appears to have a straight bridge, so it'd be an interesting experiment to string it both ways and see how he does.
I guess I didn't really have anything to offer you for advice, but it's nice sometimes to think "out loud" in the forums when the subject matter is semi-pertinent. :lol:
I write with my left hand, play tennis left handed but 'bat' right handed!!
I tried the guitar right handed (after starting with the left) but it felt soo much better when I changed the strings on my Les Paul clone to left handed - that I bought a couple of left handed guitars. For me it worked - and I would not go back.
One way will feel natural, the other a little forced - though it sounds as if you could play right handed, if it feels more natural to play left then that is the way to go.
I feel I made the correct decision to change to left handed and am happy with the progress I am now making.
Don't take the advice about more options and guitars if you play right handed, it is true, very difficult to go into a shop and find a choice or even one left handed guitar. I live in Manila and there are no left handed guitars for sale as far as I can tell in the whole of the Philippines!! Still I would not change. Ordered my LH guitars through the internet and collected them on a recent trip to the US. Plan to visit a LH guitar shop on my next trip to the US.
But better to play any guitar where you make progress than have a wide choice but never get the full potential of using the natural left of right handed way..
This topic has been discussed several times in these forums so a search should provide some additional info. I play lefty because it felt much more natural to me. I write and eat left-handed but generally play sports right-handed. I think any lefty (and there a number of us on the GN forums) will tell you to go with what feels more natural/comfortable. Starting on guitar will feel awkward no matter what so think about which way feels more natural to hold the guitar and which hand feels more "rhythmic" for strumming.
You'll be in good company if you go lefty: Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Kurt Cobain, D.ick Dale, etc...
Good luck!
P.S. The thickest string is always closest to your head - playing lefty means strumming with the left and fretting with the right. There are some exceptions (e.g. D.ick Dale) where folks play a right strung guitar left-handed.
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential." - Dr. Evil
A very interesting thread for me this.
I play cricket right handed
Pool left handed
Tennis right handed
Eat left handed.
All in all, i am a pretty messed up being!
I too had this dilemna when i first started. I decided to learn as a proper leftie, the reason being that i figured that my "natural" (left) hand would be more rhythmic, and also that it would pick up finger picking much easier than my right. And so far that's exactly what happened.
Rhythm should not be underestimated when making this choice. Take an egg shaker and beat out a variety of rhythms with left, and right, hand and see if one feels much more comfortable than the other. If it does, I would say strum with that hand.
Whatever you choose, good luck!
Matt
