Lefty or Righty?

wrench
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Sun Aug 14, 2011 9:00 am

This one is too interesting to pass up. I, too, am a natural lefty playing righty, but I have the additional feature of having both hands deformed by Dupuytren's Contracture. I've had surgery on both hands, and I nearly lost my left hand before doing so. Since my left hand surgery at the end of 2004, I have become more righty than lefty. When I started playing 2-1/2 years ago, I chose to go righty because I played righty as a child. The little finger of my left hand wouldn't move, but an expert at Guitar Center assured me I didn't need the little finger to play guitar........

Dennis' point of picking with the dominant hand, and Neil's point of the left handed advantage both jump out at me. Besides the left hand dexterity advantage of a lefty, there is also a strength advantage. In my first year, the left hand strength was almost a problem because of string and fret wear. My fingertips were just shredded every single day. Even now, I constantly fight over-pressing with the fingers of my left hand. Picking gets much more interesting. I had no trouble using a flatpick as a beginner, and I avoided fingerpicking for over a year. I eventually migrated into it on Neil's advice (thank you Neil!), but I can't think of fingerpicking in the normal way, meaning separating the use of the right thumb and the right fingers. Piano players read and play separate clefts for the left and right hands; guitar players play bass lines with the thumb and melodies with the fingers (Travis picking). I can't do that with my right hand. I need to put the thumb and the fingers in the same cleft to play them. I think it's more a matter of the way the brain works than it is a dexterity issue. I think of it as mono and stereo. I can only process a mono signal with my right hand. The funny thing is, I can turn the guitar over to lefty, and easily play the left thumb independent of the left fingers. So I think it's this - a natural righty is wired for stereo to the right hand, but only mono to the left; and the reverse for a lefty.

I considered briefly playing lefty, but decided against it. I can fingerpick right handed; I just need to treat my thumb as another finger. Even if I were starting from scratch again, I still think I would go righty.


songman52
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Sun Aug 14, 2011 12:06 pm

Not too helpful here, I'm afraid. Just thought I'd mention there is a large music shop in Houston, TX called Southpaw Guitars. One thing to keep in mind, if you add electric guitar sometime, is that guitars are plentiful but finding a left-handed amp is nearly impossible!! They are extremely rare, though I hear they are kept by the left-handed screwdrivers and pliers.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Jerry


budman50830
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Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:40 pm

Hi, I'm new to the site and just found this thread. I too am a lefty. And I learned to play golf right handed as well. I tried to play guitar right handed back in the mid 90s and struggled terribly. I sold that guitar and gave up. 5 years ago I started driving a truck over the road and decided to try to play again. I bought a left handed Ibanez off of E-bay and almost immediately was a better guitar player left handed. Then I found my Yamaha at a local music shop and bought it. I'm no Paul Mc Cartney, but I'll never play right handed. Hope this helps.


budman50830
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Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:41 pm

Hi, I'm new to the site and just found this thread. I too am a lefty. And I learned to play golf right handed as well. I tried to play guitar right handed back in the mid 90s and struggled terribly. I sold that guitar and gave up. 5 years ago I started driving a truck over the road and decided to try to play again. I bought a left handed Ibanez off of E-bay and almost immediately was a better guitar player left handed. Then I found my Yamaha at a local music shop and bought it. I'm no Paul Mc Cartney, but I'll never play right handed. Hope this helps.


BigBear
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Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:54 pm

Miki- not to further confuse the issue but I believe there are degrees of "handedness". Some people are strongly left or right handed and I believe they should stick to their natural "side". Others are more ambidextrous. Just the fact you asked the question and play golf right handed, might indicate you feel comfortable "switch hitting". In that case I agree with "Go Right".

I am left eye dominant but have always done every thing right handed. It makes things like firing a gun challenging. I am not sure eye domination is relevant here but it's worth considering how dominant your tendency is. Go to a local guitar shop and try it both ways. I'll bet one side will feel more natural than the other.

Good luck! :cheer:


sandysue
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Sat Sep 24, 2011 3:50 pm

I love being a lefty. I do just about every thing with my left hand. However, I do play a right handed guitar, for the same reason that I am not a goofy footed surfer, I learned from right handed people. I don't know if I would be better off if I played a left handed guitar, but I really don't want to be limited by my handedness, so I'm fine with the way things are. If you believe the studies, our brains have plasticity, that is to say, we are built to adjust and learn new things, throughout our entire lives. I think it is lucky to be left handed because we are challenged all the time to make adjustments to the right handed world.


mom24kids81
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Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:32 pm

Hi, came upon this thread.
I am a lefty and have been playing this was since I first started playing, early 70's. My instructor noticed the tremendous challenge I was having playing with my right handed guitar and he simply asked if I was a lefty and he quickly changed the strings and it was like night and day how it felt.
Years later I play in our worship band at Church. I get some flack from a friend because her lefty son plays right handed and 'his' instructor says that everyone should play right. I strongly disagree, I know quite a few lefty's that play left handed quite well. If someone is a dominate lefty then it seems correct to play left handed.

I suggest, as someone else wrote to try out both guitars and see which one way feels more natural. Guitar playing is such fun and a blessing it doesn't need to be a struggle.
Hope this helps!


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