I am such a newbie that I don't even have my first guitar yet! I found an article listing the top five beginner guitars. My problem is that I can only find the seagull for a lefty and I don't have $400 to spend on myself at Christmas time. The other ones on the list, I can't find for a lefty. Any left-handers out there have any good tips on what to buy? I live in a tiny town, and will have to drive to visit a music store so I would like to call ahead and ask about a specific one. I saw many Johnson LH'd ones on ebay, but I can't find any reviews for them.
Thanks so much!!
I've no idea what the consensus opinion is on this but I'm a lefty and I play right handed. That's just how I started. Is it more difficult? I couldn't say, but I do feel I need to concentrate more on the right handed picking side of things.
Part of the reason for playing right handed was the rubbish choice and the expensive nature of left handed guitars though.
Call ahead to the shop and ask what they have in stock for left handed acoustic guitars. If they have even one, go and try it out.
Obviously you can't play yet so "trying it out" is really limited to seeing how comfortable it fits in your hands. You want it to fit comfortably, have strings that are easy to press down on the neck and not too far off the neck (this is referred to as action).
Look up a nice easy chord (G comes to mind) and try to remember it so when you go to the shop you can play it and hear the sound out of the guitar. They all sound a bit different depending on size, shape, material, etc.
As for playing right handed as a lefty, some can, some can't. I can't and that was immediately apparent by how uncomfortable a right handed guitar feels in my hand. You'll know when you pick one up. Don't let people talk you into playing either way if its uncomfortable. Nothing good will come of that as you'll probably give up.
As a lefty playing lefty I can tell you the Fender acoustics are decent at about $200 but not great (its what I have) If I did it over again I would go for a lefty Alvarez for $300. It plays and sounds beautiful!
Lefties are almost always more $$ than righties. If money is a real issue, I've heard Johnsons are decent for short money. Beware that you'll probably want to upgrade to a $300-400 guitar from that though if you stick with it.
hi there.
Yamaha cater for the lefty and have a nice range of guitars. I started with one and haven't been dissapointed. Until my littlest boy bashed it over and broke the headstock that is....!!!!
Hmmm
If you can afford a little more, a basic larivee would be excellent too.
Matt
All great suggestions.
I have a Johson JG-624 and it's actually not that bad. I got it mostly so I could leave it setup for slide, but I've put it on a lot of tracks so far, using standard and a couple of slack tunings, and it's held up pretty well. I was actually even thinking of getting another one as a backup for live performances (and to have in another tuning).
I did a little nut filing on it and smoothed the fret edges a bit, so I can't say it was good to go straight out of the box. If you got something like that you could have someone set it up for you maybe.
As an aside, as soon as Johnson makes a lefty version of their L-Style I'll probably get two!
within decent driving distance of here and only one of them even had a lefty...they have ONE. It's a Fender DG-10 for $250, or $275 if I want the case. I'll ride out there and give it and a righty a try to see if there's any huge difference.
I've played the piano for several years, do you think that means I might be able to play right handed? I'm used to using my right hand on the keyboard. It felt awkward when I started, but I eventually got used to it.
Again, I really appreciate all of the tips. I'm taking my cousin with me (hopefully) he plays. It'll be good for me to have someone with me who knows what they are doing and isn't just trying to sell me something!
$250 is about $50 more than you should pay for the DG-10LH. You can get it for $200 through Musician's Friend online. Try it out thought. $250 might not be bad if they throw in a hard case.
Playing left or right handed, for me has more to do with rythm that anything else. My left hand is the strumming hand that keeps a beat. The right hand is only doing activity that you can develop over time anyway. If holding a right handed guitar doesn't feel totally weird to you, give it a shot. Righties are a lot cheaper and more plentiful.
