Final instalment! Playing a right handed guitar left handed but still strung right handed.

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  • NibulniblinNibulniblin Frets: 183
    edited September 2020
    Here's my son - doesn't know any different, poor lad.

    https://youtu.be/rgRDjZcAE4s
    The Future is simply time waiting to become History.
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  • I have literally nothing to add to the guitar part of this thread; I just want to wish you all the best with your recovery and future playing. I can’t even imagine how I’d feel if I damaged myself and couldn’t play any more :/
    Too much gain... is just about enough \m/

    I'm probably the only member of this forum mentioned by name in Whiskey in the Jar ;)

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  • ewalewal Frets: 2558
    One of the best and most creative bass players ive worked with played a right handed bass left handed.
    The Scrambler-EE Walk soundcloud experience
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  • I have literally nothing to add to the guitar part of this thread; I just want to wish you all the best with your recovery and future playing. I can’t even imagine how I’d feel if I damaged myself and couldn’t play any more :/
    Cheers mate. Hopefully it's not the end but just the beginning (again).
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  • hoopshoops Frets: 223
    I play a right handed guitar flipped over with strings in original positions. I learnt that way on a friends guitar so I couldn't change the strings over. Having done it from the beginning it seems natural to me now. Good luck with your quest, just keep at it, it can be done.
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  • FelineGuitarsFelineGuitars Frets: 11496
    tFB Trader
    Another great player who played that way was was Paul Raymond from UFO. 

    Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
    Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.

    Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.

      Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com.  Facebook too!

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  • pjfpjf Frets: 330
    Here's my son - doesn't know any different, poor lad.

    https://youtu.be/rgRDjZcAE4s
    Very nice! 
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  • sofasteve said:
    Are some chords impossible to play upside down strung?
    No. The tricky thing is resisting the habits formed over years of playing whichever way around you did before the break.

    When I had a go on a Fender Tenor Tele, I knew full well that it was (then) tuned like the top four strings of a guitar. This did not prevent my fingers trying to position themselves on the fingerboard as if it carried six strings. RESULT - Trainwreck with some strings fretted twice.

    Experiences like this are a useful reminder of how much about playing any musical instrument is learned habit.

    scrumhalf said:
    Would it be possible to play it on your lap a la Jeff Healey? 
    Might be easier to try the Stanley Jordan approach. 

    This amounted to a regular electric guitar, worn normally on a strap and prepared to be played entirely by two-handed tapping. In effect, a Chapman Tenor Stick on the cheap. 

    Jordan tuned in parallel fourths, EADGCF.
    Be seeing you.
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  • Devil#20Devil#20 Frets: 1910
    First of all I'm sorry to hear that, it's a real bummer. However, if I was in that postion I think I'd struggle just flipping a right handed guitar and having the high E nearest my chin.

    Justin of Justin Guitar fame started playing left handed to see what it would be like starting out as a beginner and calls it Nitsuj (Justin backwards). It might be worth pinging him an email and explaining your situation and asking his opinion on how he found the experience because he's effectively put himself in your position (but obviously through choice). He might convince you to string it low E nearest your chin so you're playing recognised chord shapes.

    Also. if you've a couple of acoustics it might we worth stringing them both ways and just learning your cowboy chords and seeing which you can adapt to quickest and that's your answer to the way forward. Obviously, you won't have to learn everything from scratch, just the playing side. A lot of playing guitar isn't just about the physical playing of the instrument itself.

    Even if you have to sell your guitars then the financial hit might be "carbon neutral" to best describe it (not literally but you know what I'm trying to say). Maybe even better than that because aren't lefties cheaper on the second hand market? Good luck anyway. Hope you get back on track soon. 

    Ian

    Lowering my expectations has succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.

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  • fretfinderfretfinder Frets: 4978
    edited September 2020
    Sorry to hear of your predicament. Why not just give it a try (playing a right handed guitar upside down, top E uppermost) and see how it goes? I’ve personally known two friends over the years who played that way. Admittedly that’s how they learned and was the only way they ever played but it seemed to enable them to do some slightly different things, that ‘normal’ players didn’t or couldn’t do. That way you could keep your existing guitars, as you say. Give it a good six months or a year maybe and if it’s really not working out then you could switch to being a proper leftie. Good luck either way. 
    250+ positive trading feedbacks: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57830/
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  • ICBMICBM Frets: 71957
    I know someone who badly burned her left hand and could no longer play right-handed, but re-learned fully left-handed with the strings the normal left-handed way, so that can definitely be done. I think she uses a thumbpick.

    When I work on left-handed guitars I do sometimes try to play them left-handed - it’s difficult, but it is definitely easier to get my head around if the strings are also the normal way with the low E at the top, which is by far the most common so I think there is a good psychological reason for that.

    I would second the suggestion of bass, as well - it’s surprisingly different from guitar and might be easier to learn left-handed if you’re not trying to break as many old habits at the same time. 

    "Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski

    "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson

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  • sofasteve said:
    Eric Gales and Otis Rush also left handers who played right handed tuning swapped over. Like Dick I think that's how they learned so they didn't have the obstacle of relearning. 
    I'd be tempted to try to learn something new rather than trying to get your brain to reverse everything to start with. Maybe something on one string ( as mentioned above like a Dick Dale riff). 
    That's my issue I think. I feel like I'm throwing away everything I've learnt since i was 15 years old. It's  very bitter pill to swallow.
    It’s relearning some muscle memory, everything you know about music otherwise remains the same. 
    The problem with starting by playing something familiar is that you have to unlearn something at the same time, it’s probably easier to start with something simple but unfamiliar so there’s less ‘damn this used to be so easy’ going on, your muscles start making new memories and you get a sense of progress. 
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • usedtobeusedtobe Frets: 3841
    Cello?
     so if you fancy a reissue of a guitar they never made in a colour they never used then it probably isn't too overpriced.

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  • usedtobe said:
    Cello?
    A Quick One, While He’s Away ;)
    Be seeing you.
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  • usedtobe said:
    Cello?
    A Quick One, While He’s Away ;)
    I can't believe it...
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  • ColsCols Frets: 6953
    Fundamentally, there's no reason why a right-handed person can't play a left-handed guitar - or vice versa.  I'm left handed, but play right handed because that was the only guitar available to me when I was starting out.  The problem is switching.

    Effectively, both learning to play upside down and learning to play left handed would both mean relearning the practical aspects of guitar from the ground up again.  The muscle memory associated with fretting notes, vibrato and picking will be lost and you'll have to develop them again in the opposite hands.

    Playing a right handed guitar left handed will present ergonomic difficulties regardless of which way you string it; the controls, cutaway, contouring and (in some cases) the neck profile will all be wrong.  It'll be a wrench, but I'd recommend selling your existing guitars and getting a left handed guitar to start the process of retraining the muscles.

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  • Sorry to hear of your predicament. It's devastating to think you could lose the ability to do something  you love. How far into your recovery are you?
    I trapped my left hand in the car boot just over 2 years ago and when I hammered on the roof to get my sons attention for help he misunderstood and drove off, dragging me after the car. 
    It broke all 4 fingers and made a right mess of my hand.
    But 2 years on I am playing relatively normally, considering what happened, not without pain sometimes and I do concentrate on the Bass guitar mainly now. 
    Point is... I thought I wouldn't play again! So you may be surprised and make a better recovery than you expect 

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  • Balrog68 said:
    Sorry to hear of your predicament. It's devastating to think you could lose the ability to do something  you love. How far into your recovery are you?
    I trapped my left hand in the car boot just over 2 years ago and when I hammered on the roof to get my sons attention for help he misunderstood and drove off, dragging me after the car. 
    It broke all 4 fingers and made a right mess of my hand.
    But 2 years on I am playing relatively normally, considering what happened, not without pain sometimes and I do concentrate on the Bass guitar mainly now. 
    Point is... I thought I wouldn't play again! So you may be surprised and make a better recovery than you expect 

    Cheers, I'm glad you made a decent recovery from what sounds like a horrific experience! I'm 3 months in to what was an arm broken in four places. Shoulder in 3 places and elbow in 1 which required an operation to screw the bones back together. I suppose if I ever regain the wrist movement then I could switch back to standard right handed playing.

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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    edited September 2020
    Didn't Albert Collins play his guitar the wrong way around ?
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • sofasteve said:
    Cheers, I'm glad you made a decent recovery from what sounds like a horrific experience! I'm 3 months in to what was an arm broken in four places. Shoulder in 3 places and elbow in 1 which required an operation to screw the bones back together. I suppose if I ever regain the wrist movement then I could switch back to standard right handed playing.

    Wow! You don't do things by halves do you? I really hope things work out for you. It sounds like your the kind of guy that doesn't give up easily, so I'm sure you'll find a way to play. 
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