Any guitar teachers here?

[carfish7]

Well, I finally caved and said I'd help a newbie get through the rough beginnings of becoming a guitar player. I have zero experience and really have no business playing at "teacher", but am offering what I can of my own experience and hoping the Mel Bay can provide the rest.

My question is about a request my student made to give a left-handed guitar a try, based not on the student being "left-handed", but rather, as she describes, "left bodied". OK. I pointed out that since this exercise involves BOTH hands learning new skills, one should be able to make it happen the "right" way. Part of this desire to change is, I'm sure, fueled by the awkwardness of getting one's hands to form chords as well as strike the strings properly, and I have tried to point out that this skill will come after much repetition - basically that she will have to train her hands to make these goofy shapes as second-nature, at which point the physical challenges of learning to play basic stuff will have been conquered and then we can move on to more complex lessons.

She has been at it for 7 weeks now and wants to be able to master this stuff, but I see no way around the frustration and awkwardness that comes with such a journey. Did I do her a disservice by poo-pooing the notion of starting over as a lefty? I used the old "you'll have a tiny fraction of the right-handed player's selection when it comes to buying instruments" argument first, btw. She has my Special FM as her learning tool, so we know she isn't being hampered by a shitty plank. What say you, educators of the newbie realm?

Thanks for any assistance with this issue.

[django49]

Almost reading my mind, as I was thinking of asking a similar question.

After all these years, my wife finally wants to pick up a guitar(!)

She is MOSTLY left handed (she does some things righthanded).

I explained that both hands need to learn a new skill, that most song/chord/instructional material is printed for RH players and that finding a guitar will be more difficult and possibly more expensive. (And we have more than enough in the household already).

Is it better, when starting from scratch, to try it righty first? She has initial resistance from the "I'm left handed and I should try that first" point of view. My gut tells me she will hang it up if she has to not only learn the basics but also have to transpose all the chord symbols, etc.

Experience from others would be most appreciated!

[carfish7]

Maybe some lefties can chime in as well and share their experiences being so oriented and first learning to play......

[atquinn]

Make her learn right-handed. It might help to point out to her that there are no left-handed pianos, violins, etc... My brother's left-handed and he plays righty no issue. If she insists, make her play Eric Gales style (flip over a right handed guitar, but don't re-string it).

-

Austin

[carfish7]

If she insists, make her play Eric Gales style (flip over a right handed guitar, but don't re-string it).

-

Austin

Thanks, Austin.

Shit, maybe I should just have her learn from Mr Gales, as he's here in town and offering lessons!

[Bobby Marshall]

I write with my left hand, so I guess I am considered a lefty.

I play guitar what is considered righty.

Given my left hand is stronger than my right, I think it makes total sense for a "lefty" to play "righty".

As far as the student goes, I have only had 3 students so not much experience there but I would tell her what I said above, if she is more comfortable with her left hand, that is the one that should be on the fretboard, so she should stick with the "righty" or traditional playing style as it is to her advantage based on the reasoning behind her concerns.

Good luck to you and your student.

[cynic]

Adolph would be proud!

I had a friend in school at the time I started playing. He was the one that I used to get together with pretty often and we'd show each other what we'd been working on, learning/teaching as we went.

He played left handed, so I had occasion to frequently mess around with a lefty guitar while still getting used to a righty.

It's a completely different feel. There's no way I would have put up with the frustration and coordination issues if I had been forced to play lefty. I'm right handed at everything I do, but there's a "spatial dexterity"? in my left that's not shared. I could never get my right hand fingers to fall on the neck where I intended.

On the other hand, it was awesome when we were teaching each other stuff because it was a mirror image.

I say screw forcing her to do something she's not as comfortable with, it's hard enough as it is.

[carfish7]

I say screw forcing her to do something she's not as comfortable with, it's hard enough as it is.

Umm, there is no forcing of anything, just a question being asked first of me and then of the HFC, so.....

I know she is frustrated, but after 7 weeks of doing it one way I guess the question is, does anyone think it would be wise to switch? Her frustration is due to not having trained her hands yet to do stuff like form chords and pick cleanly. I mean, it will be just as hard to train those digits anyway, right or left, right?

Plus, I have no access to a lefty axe.

Geez - Adolph? Really?!?

[BlueRedWhite]

Two 9 year old nieces, one is a righty, the other one is a lefty. Both learning classical guitar on a right handed guitar, and they both play a bit of piano, both are confortable.

[cynic]

Umm, there is no forcing of anything, just a question being asked first of me and then of the HFC, so.....

More a ref to "Make her learn right-handed" and "If she insists, make her play Eric Gales style" than anything in the initial question, and yes, really..."making" people be right handed conjures up a certain image in my head, and it has a skinny mustache.

My experience (which is only personal, not with students or a group) is my fingers/hands responded to the training differently in that my non-dominant hand (left) seemed to have more tactile/spatial acuity and was far better suited for forming chords.

It may turn out she does fine playing right, I'm just "offering what I can of my own experience" that suggests she might not.

[zorrow]

I have a friend who is lefty, but plays "righty". Thanks to that, there are more options available to him when shopping around for a guitar. Tablatures look more natural for "righties" too. I guess then, if you're starting from zero, try to start "the right way".

[atquinn]

Umm, there is no forcing of anything, just a question being asked first of me and then of the HFC, so.....

More a ref to "Make her learn right-handed" and "If she insists, make her play Eric Gales style" than anything in the initial question, and yes, really..."making" people be right handed conjures up a certain image in my head, and it has a skinny mustache.

My experience (which is only personal, not with students or a group) is my fingers/hands responded to the training differently in that my non-dominant hand (left) seemed to have more tactile/spatial acuity and was far better suited for forming chords.

It may turn out she does fine playing right, I'm just "offering what I can of my own experience" that suggests she might not.

Oh please http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

-Austin

[Jason01]

I never learned righty so I can't really compare how hard it would be. As far as chord shapes and such because I never learned it the other way my brain just flips the shapes naturally without having to think about it. Some people are alot more ambidextrous than others and while you guys are right, there are no left handed pianos I think there should be. How hard would it really be to program a keyboard to work in reverse? I'm not a drummer but when I've sat behind the drums I have alot of trouble because my left hand wants to run the hi hat.

[hrtatak]

I am a lefty.

My first go round at the guitar was spent trying to learn it right handed. I really didn't have much choice since I was around 8 years old and sharing a guitar with my Mom who was also learning to play. She is a monster piano player and there was always music around the house when I was growing up. Playing righty didn't "feel" natural to me but since I was just starting out it really didn't matter. I fell out of a tree and broke my arm when I was 10 and that ended the guitar lessons for several years.

It just felt better to hold a guitar as a lefty when I finally decided to try playing again. I bought a Flying V from the local guitar hero and he refiled the nut so it could be restrung left handed and I was off to the races.

Now the cool part about playing as a lefty is the mirror image thing when you are facing a right handed player. It really helps both players when trying to show each other what you are doing.

I can play simple stuff on a righty flipped over but playing it holding it the proper way ain't gonna happen. Hell I struggle enough as it is playing left handed.

My advice is to hand her a guitar and whatever orientation of the guitar feels the most natural is the way she should learn.

[gorch]

Generally, our brain has the ability to learn nearly everything lefty what's supposed to fall under terms righty. I am a computer science guy sitting before the screen the whole day, righty myself. Once I read about moving the mouse to the left would help to support your brain work as well as supporting the sitting position. It took only a couple of hours to get used to it. Today I feel more comfortable using the mouse on the left since my right hand can navigate the cursor key block at the same. Once, I have seen a real lefty performing the same way much much faster than I would ever be able to perform as a left trained righty.

As a child I trained myself kicking the ball with the left leg too with soccer. After a while it worked pretty good and still does today. I've never mastered it but also never lost the ability. Our brain develops synapses on request and they remain there for the rest of our life.

On the other hand, my brother is a true lefty. His brain halfs are truly swapped. At school they forced him to write right handed, with the result that he never got of mixing up d's and b's among other literature difficulties. Finally, it made him a very difficult school lifetime as the effects irradiated to almost every other field like math i.e. In some way he is still affected today.

What I want to say is, either side you can learn to do things the other hand side, but would probably have difficulties or need more time (if ever) to master a skill.