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Ambidextrous

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(@anonymous)
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Joined: 17 years ago
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Topic starter  

I bet us left handed people that play a right handed guitar are better at legato playing. :roll:


   
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(@chalkoutline)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 157
 

My son is a lefty and plays a right handed bass. Thats what he started on and it didnt seem to make a difference. I have also heard that Mark Knofler (sp?) is a lefty but of course he plays a right handed guitar. Seems to have worked out well for him.

As my mother (a lefty) said...If the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa then only left handed people are in their right minds.

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(@jimscafe)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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I am a lefty, playing guitar with my left hand.

I tried playing right handed (manily classical), with a teacher for 4 months. Sure I was doing OK. But one day I switched strings round on my electric guitar and it felt sooo much better, more comfortable, more natural. The difference was so much I quit playing right handed there and then.

I love playing the guitar, and I think playing left handed is much better for me. Probably I have progressed faster than I would have continuing to play right handed.


   
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(@anonymous)
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Joined: 17 years ago
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Topic starter  

I have also heard that Mark Knofler (sp?) is a lefty but of course he plays a right handed guitar. Seems to have worked out well for him.

Your right about Mark Knopfler. I found an article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Knopfler

Does anyone else know of a famous lefty that uses a right handed guitar?

Or a righty that uses a left handed guitar... It could happen.


   
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(@wes-inman)
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This is a little off subject but my father was an ambidextrous golfer. He had a set of right-handed and a set of left handed clubs.

He liked to play nine holes lefty and then nine holes righty and compete against himself. His score was about the same both ways (80s).

I was a switch hitter when I played baseball.

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
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 Mike
(@mike)
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I write, throw and play guitar right handed, after that everything is either switch or straight left handed. :?

I don't get it either, but it is what it is and I go with the flow.


   
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(@schecter)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 27
 

the wierdest thing i have ever seen is this one guy that played a leftie guitar, but the strings were in reversed order, the big one on bottom and the little one on top :?

"I’m one of those lucky beginners who never actually makes a mistake." - Chris_C


   
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(@97reb)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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I saw Steve Vai play live once with a double neck guitar. The thing was, one neck was lefty, the other was righty. He played them both at the same time doing some hammer-ons and pull-offs. I think if you have the time and commitment, one could play both.

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(@noteboat)
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Joined: 21 years ago
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That's string orientation, though - it's really no different from learning an altered tuning.

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(@metaellihead)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 653
 

I think NoteBoat covered this best.

Has anyone else since starting noticing more dexterity in their non-dominant hand since starting guitar? I'm over a year and a half in and I've noticed that I have a lot more left hand control than I used to. I can comfortably use the mouse left handed and write with my right, for example. I can catch and throw things with it, ect.

-Metaellihead


   
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(@ajcharron)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 121
 

In my old interview with Rik Emmett he discusses this very subject. He's left-handed, but plays a righty guitar and feels this is one of is advantageous.


   
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(@waltaja)
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Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 170
 

i eat, throw, write and ummm je...left handed. i also kick with my left foot. but i play guitar right handed. when i bought my first guitar i tried both left and right handed and found the right handed guitars more comfortable.

but... i can also write with my right hand (and good i think) and i bat right handed

so i don't know what that means in the end, but i thin i do ok playing right handed

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-Led Zeppelin-


   
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(@noteboat)
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The brain's a complicated thing, and the side that's dominant isn't always taking over 100% of the time. There's nothing mechanically that keeps you from being good at guitar whether you learn it the 'right' way or the 'wrong' way - after all, there are pianists who are right handed, and pianists who are left handed. But most instruments don't give you a choice - the guitar is easily set up either way.

I'm sure if it was built in only one version, there would still be both right and left handed guitarists. Since we DO get a choice (unlike pianists, trumpet players, clarinetists, etc.), we tend to use the dominant hand for strumming.

I started thinking back to my days as a percussionist. We all worked long and hard to develop 'independence' - the ability to play any rhythmic figure with either hand while the other hand did something else. But even though we COULD do figures either way... every drummer I've ever seen sets up his kit so the dominant hand works the ride cymbal. How come?

The answer (I think) is that the first thing you work at is regular rhythm - and that'll come first to your dominant hand. When you later add indepencence, you could in theory change things around, but you've developed the habit of regular rhythm with the dominant side - it's the time-keeper, and the non-dominant side does the decorative figures.

I think the same is probably true of guitar - because rhythmic precision will come sooner to the dominant hand, it's the one that makes the most sense to use for the more rhythmic role - as the strumming hand.

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(@rejectedagain)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 175
 

i'm left handed, but i taught myself to play right-handed. i find it easier because i have more coordination in my left hand which helped me fret chords easier and quicker. I only had strumming problems because my right hand isn't as coordinated, but i overcame that. :D


   
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(@gleystee)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 29
 

I too am a lefty playing a right handed guitar. I made this decision several years ago for convenience- I didn't want to walk into a guitar store and have about 2% of the options available to me. Other than the initial akwardness of strumming (which I'm sure everyone experiences), playing right handed has always felt reasonably comfortable.

However, I do occasionaly have problems is when I am trying to play fingerstyle. I find it difficult to use my ring finger for things such as banjo style rolls. I think this is just because it is a weak finger and it should be strengthened, so I usually warm up by playing a few simple melodies with just that one finger, and that usually seems to do the trick.


   
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