Hi All.
My name's David (as if you hadn't guessed by my username lol) I'm from Manchester in the UK. I have been recently searching for a new hobbie/interest and finally found what I am looking for in playing the guitar. I play the accoustic and haven't been playing for very long, about a week so far but I really enjoy learning and reading all the helpful material on various website including Guitar Noise.
If I could be so cheeky to ask a question to the more experienced players - I'm a left-handed person however when I purchased my guitar the assistant explained to me that it would be better to buy a right-handed guitar? I don't seem to have encountered any problems with this to date but I am still at a very early stage - basicaly just learning the open chords at the moment. Does this sound strange to any of you?
Thanks for reading and hope to chat to you all soon.
Dave.
Hi David,
Welcome to GN. This is a great site for learning a lot of things about guitars.
Here there are several lefties so they can give you their opinions. In general there are lefties that play as lefties and lefties that play right-handed guitars. If you tried both and you chose the right-handed I guess it will be better to you. Some people say it is better in that way because your left hand will be better for the neck (speed, strength, etc.).
And there are great lefties players that plays right-handed guitars, for example, Mark Knopfler.
I'm right handed, but I know several left handed players. Don't let a clerk tell you what he/she thinks is best for you. Try both a left handed and a right handed guitar and see what feels more natural to you. You may very well be one of those lefties who prefer to play a rightie guitar, but, then again, a lefty guitar may make all the difference in your personal progress. Remember that the clerk is trying to sell you something and, if they didn't have any lefty guitars in stock, the clerk would say whatever was necessary to get you to buy. Especially if he/she is working on commission.
OH! And, welcome to Guitar Noise! We look forward to seeing you around the forums! :D
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"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"
Hi David, and welcome to GN! I'm just down the road from you in Newton-le-Willows, halfway to Liverpool.
re your question - if you're going to play left-handed (ie strumming with your left hand, fretting with your right) you would be better off with a lefty guitar. If you buy a right-handed guitar, you'd have to change the nut around and that would involve a fair bit of messing about. Plus, if there's a pickguard, it's going to be in the wrong place and won't protect the wood from scratches from strumming, etc.
See you round the forums!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Welcome to GN, David :)
I am not really all that experienced but I am left handed and play right handed. I figured it would be easier, 1. to find a guitar and 2. to play someone else's if I was out somewhere. So far I have not had any problems with it even though, when playing air guitar, it is my natural tendancy to want to strum with my left hand. Like I said though, I am not really advanced and doing anything that requires much speed or coordination so I can't yet say if it would make a difference later on.
I have picked up left handed guitars in the store since I've been playing and it felt so weird that I couldn't play but I also do several other things right handed like use scissors, play baseball, use a righty mouse, etc., so it would probably also depend on how left hand dependent you are.
Like others said, you should try both and see which way is more comfortable for you and go from there.
All my life I wanted to be somebody. Now I see I should have been more specific.
Welcome to GN.
I am a fellow lefty here as well and I play left handed. The more natural is what it is.
Welcome to GN!
#4491....
And another vote from the left-handed-person-who-plays-right-handed fraternity.
In the first few days, it doesn't matter which way round you play - they're both equally as awkward - but eventually you start to build up some skillset one way or the other, and if that means left-handed then left-handed it is.
Most lefties have to adjust to a right-handed world and work both ways- I have a left-handed ruler on the desk at home, left-handed scissors in the kitchen for quartering chickens, use a baseball bat left-handed, a cricket bat right-handed, throw the ball left-handed (and, yes, I can juggle too), but things like PC keyboards (and I;m sure a lot of us use a mouse with our left hand but a right-handed button configuration), phones, calculators and piano keyboards are only made in right-handed versions.
Guitars are built both ways, so if you decide that playing left-hande is the way it's going to be, then the guy in the shop should change the guitar. Most left-handed players have no difficulty swapping tabs and chord boxes around to work left-handed - why should they; they have to do it for everything else in life.
Best,
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
Howdy,
I'm not left handed but hope to be someday. :D
Welcome to GN
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Welcome aboard! 8)
Dan
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
