Left/Right Handed?

JerkMoans

tampaxboo said:

i think it's important people learn left-handed if that is their natural bias. left-handedness is part of what makes people who they are, so it should be valued, not over-ridden.
there is so much pressure in society to conform to standardisation in all aspect of our lives, gender, school, work, etc, that it is healthy practice, and character building, to learn to draw the line and say 'this is me and i'm keeping it'.
your son could even begin to feel that you are stigmatising his left-handedness by wanting to learn to do things the same way as everyone else. maybe he likes that idiosyncratic quality about himself; it makes him feel 'different' in a positive way.

so definitely look beyond the convenience aspect to the personality you are shaping with your interventions (even with the best will in the world).
he may actually be happy to sacrifice some occasional inconvenience in guitar shops in exchange for the feeling that his difference was accepted and valued. he may even like the idea of playing an upside down guitar like hendrix. to be different, to stand out.
maybe hendrix enjoyed and fostered his kooky upside-down look as just another opportunity to show off his 'this is weird but i'm going to do it anyway' attitude. the attitude that ultimately informed his whole musical approach.

he may not be bothered at all, but it's an angle i would think carefully about if i were a parent.

^^^ this. A far more articulate explanation of why I’ve encouraged my daughter’s own inclinations to embrace her sinister handedness (and her brother’s but he’s a drummer...)

olafgarten

Another thought would be to give him a lefty strung upside down, confuse him even more  

SCMIV

tampaxboo said:

i think it's important people learn left-handed if that is their natural bias. left-handedness is part of what makes people who they are, so it should be valued, not over-ridden.
there is so much pressure in society to conform to standardisation in all aspect of our lives, gender, school, work, etc, that it is healthy practice, and character building, to learn to draw the line and say 'this is me and i'm keeping it'.
your son could even begin to feel that you are stigmatising his left-handedness by wanting to learn to do things the same way as everyone else. maybe he likes that idiosyncratic quality about himself; it makes him feel 'different' in a positive way.

so definitely look beyond the convenience aspect to the personality you are shaping with your interventions (even with the best will in the world).
he may actually be happy to sacrifice some occasional inconvenience in guitar shops in exchange for the feeling that his difference was accepted and valued. he may even like the idea of playing an upside down guitar like hendrix. to be different, to stand out.
maybe hendrix enjoyed and fostered his kooky upside-down look as just another opportunity to show off his 'this is weird but i'm going to do it anyway' attitude. the attitude that ultimately informed his whole musical approach.

he may not be bothered at all, but it's an angle i would think carefully about if i were a parent.

Fully agree with all of that...

Yeah, I'm a left hander that plays left handed. The process of deciding that was pretty simple when I started; strumming/picking with the left hand just 'intuitively' made sense when I start as a teenager, was much harder the other way round (the 'correct' way lol, what bollocks...), and the tutor I had encouraged going with the one that felt better. So, it's not just about technique, it's about feel and personality, and about removing barriers that get in the way of enjoying yourself and being able to express yourself and feel comfortable - that bit looks different for everyone.

The limited choice/range of left handed instruments is an absolute pain in the arse, but arguably was much, much worse when I started playing years ago. A lot of that argument changes as the market for budget gear increases. The plus side of having a limited range of available instruments does, however, means getting to grips with and appreciating what you like/need of a guitar more, because you're often stuck playing the same ones for longer (even if the downside is that you don't get such an automatic availability of different shapes, neck variations, etc.).

But yes, I really resent the approach of being a 'correct' way with regards to left/right handedness (because it always implies an incorrect' way) that goes beyond 'which feels better for the player' - I think there's a bias here with regards to 'the hand that does the flash stuff' that completely misses the idea of feel and the importance of picking hand competence. But really, if the argument is that picking hand dexterity and coordination can be built up, learned, and compensated for, then the same argument applies for the fretting hand, since it's about the harmony of the two.

guitars4you

olafgarten said:

Another thought would be to give him a lefty strung upside down, confuse him even more  

The way Eric Gale and Albert King play would be confusing to many - totally mirror image of what we are use to

grungebob

I’m left handed and learnt right handed. I actually nailed the basics quick which certainly helped maintain my interest in guitar, the more complex right hand techniques was a little bit more difficult to learn but at that stage I was already heavily invested in guitar and the struggle was worth it. Plus now I have a larger market if guitars available to me. 

UnclePsychosis

If he plays air guitar which way round does he do it? Learn that way. Genuinely! 

darcym

I'm left handed - but play the guitar right handed, and I think you need to let him "hold" both a left and right handed guitar and which ever one feels more natural to him is the way it should be taught. 

My left hand is massively dominant, and holding the guitar right handed just felt more natural to me, as my dominant hand was doing the (what seemed like at the time) the hard work on the fret board, the idea of my weaker hand making complex shapes and changing them quickly was just crazy. 

That said I know other left handed players who felt  "odd" holding the guitar right handed, so the learnt left handed and shine, so I really think it's a matter of the person, hold both move your hands around both and which ever feels more natural is the way you should learn. Learning something new is hard, learning something new while you're fighting against your natural instinct just feels to me like it would make it even harder.

p90fool

The great thing about pop music is that, despite all the teachers, colleges and universities who offer ways to study it, THERE ARE NO RULES.

You're not "supposed"  to do things this way or that way, you're not "supposed" to do anything anyone else does at all. 

I think a lot of people lose sight of that and with the best intentions try to facilitate ways of following conventions.

You can play guitar on your lap, upside-down, behind your head, righty-strung-lefty, the point is, it doesn't matter, and if someone corrects you early on because you're doing it "wrong" there is know way of knowing what kind of individuality or creativity was lost on the way. 

Rules are for orchestras, if we all fell into that trap there wouldn't be any rock guitar at all, it would never have got off the ground. 

The joy of guitars is to pick them up and make a glorious noise, and it doesn't have to be complicated;

Neill

This left side right side thing is a subject I find fascinating. The bass player in a band I was in played guitar right handed, played tennis and cricket and snooker as a lefty, but wrote with his right hand.  He was equally good with either foot at football...

I'm also interested in the creativity that often seems to result from a left handed musician playing the "wrong" way.  The most famous example is probably Ringo Starr who many people don't know is left handed but was made to learn on a right handed kit.  Had he learned to play left handed it's possible he may never have been in the Beatles and for certain would never have come up with a lot of the distinctive drum patterns you hear on Beatles songs.  

It's a bit like the Django Reinhardt, Tony Iommi thing, where overcoming a physiological issue sometimes leads to something ground breaking. 

I remember the left handed Wilko Johnson saying he felt like he was turning himself inside out every day when he started playing right handed but look at the result.  

peteri

Good thread, I'm very ambidextrous - naturally using tools, chopsticks etc in both hands. Used to be able to write with both too but that seems to have dropped off.

(For instance used to get shouted at in school when playing tennis I'd switch the racquet from hand to hand to always do a forehand).

I suspect I'm actually quite left-handed, because many things (shooting for example) I instinctively do left handed as well as right and often the right feels like a learned rather than natural skill.

When I first picked up guitar I wanted a left handed one - see above - but actually there were none in the shop so went right handed and it's never been a problem.

I think the answers are above - if there's a choice, right handed is 'best' purely on range of instruments. But don't force something - so if you can't adjust to the right handed playing style, go lefty and enjoy it!

crunchman

Neill said:

This left side right side thing is a subject I find fascinating. The bass player in a band I was in played guitar right handed, played tennis and cricket and snooker as a lefty, but wrote with his right hand.  He was equally good with either foot at football...

My brother is a bit like that.  He's a real mix.  He's writes right handed,  but he's definitely left footed playing football.  It's more than 20 years since I played cricket with him, but I'm pretty sure he bats one way and bowls the other.

On the subject of cricket, a lot of top cricketers play the "wrong" way round - including the two greatest batsmen of the last 30 years.  Lara is right handed but bats left handed, Tendulkar is known to write with his left hand but plays right handed.  According to this article, professional cricketers are seven times more likely to bat the "wrong" way round than the general population.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2016/03/23/cricketers-have-been-holding-their-bats-wrong-say-scientists/

The whole left/right handed thing is an interesting subject.

guitars4you said:

olafgarten said:

Another thought would be to give him a lefty strung upside down, confuse him even more  

The way Eric Gale and Albert King play would be confusing to many - totally mirror image of what we are use to

I recently bought a guitar off a left hander who played that way.

Funkfingers

Playing with the strings "the wrong way up" is not that difficult if you engage your brain rather than rely on habit.

designerseye88

I am left handed and play right handed. Im pretty ambidextrous but playing left handed does feel alien to me. I remember first being given a right handed guitar and i just assumed that's what everyone played. I would never force anyone to play a certain way but playing right handed does give you more flexibility in terms of gear. 
There are many great guitarist out there who play the guitar in a way which would be seen as unorthodox. All that matters is they create good music and enjoy it. I recently saw the guitarist Eric Gales (massively underappreciated) he plays the guitar left handed and upside down, However I believe he is right handed, He was just taught by his brother who only had left handed guitars laying around.  His sound is quite unique and I think his playing style really adds to his sound. 

HHwarner

Im a strange one. Im right handed and cant write with my left, however I play darts with my left hand, I bowl skittle ball with my left hand, I throw with my left hand but I bowl a cricket ball with my right hand lol. i play guitar right handed but wouldnt stop anyone learning left handed if that felt more comfortable. I taught my wife who is left handed. She started off on a right handed guitar but prefered a left handed one when she tried it. She felt more comfortable playing that way round and one thing I discovered from a teaching point of view, its easier to teach someone playing left handed when you are playing right. Face to face teaching is easier, like a mirror image. Thats what we found anyway. 

mixolyd

HHwarner said:

Im a strange one. Im right handed and cant write with my left, however I play darts with my left hand, I bowl skittle ball with my left hand, I throw with my left hand but I bowl a cricket ball with my right hand lol. i play guitar right handed but wouldnt stop anyone learning left handed if that felt more comfortable. I taught my wife who is left handed. She started off on a right handed guitar but prefered a left handed one when she tried it. She felt more comfortable playing that way round and one thing I discovered from a teaching point of view, its easier to teach someone playing left handed when you are playing right. Face to face teaching is easier, like a mirror image. Thats what we found anyway. 

Yes I play lefty and have taught righties with great success: the mirror image is most convenient. I’ve heard of teachers refusing to teach lefties which is a real shame because if they tried it for 15 mins they’d realise that the mismatch is an advantage.

guitars4you

crunchman said:

On the subject of cricket, a lot of top cricketers play the "wrong" way round - including the two greatest batsmen of the last 30 years.  Lara is right handed but bats left handed, Tendulkar is known to write with his left hand but plays right handed.  According to this article, professional cricketers are seven times more likely to bat the "wrong" way round than the general population.

Chris Broad and Ben Stokes are two good examples of bowl right and bat left - must be others but they are 2 great examples