I'm a guitarist and left handed

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   So when I started learning guitar I used the regular left hand on frets and right hand on picking/strumming approach. But apparently most left handers do the exact opposite. And apparently some do the left handed approach just by flipping the right handed guitar over so the high E is on top.
How do you hold it and is it really better to hold it "left handed" if you're left handed?

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DJPuffyLemon Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 18 2008 Location: L Status: Offline Points: 520	Topic: I'm a guitarist and left handed Posted: March 14 2008 at 00:22
	So when I started learning guitar I used the regular left hand on frets and right hand on picking/strumming approach. But apparently most left handers do the exact opposite. And apparently some do the left handed approach just by flipping the right handed guitar over so the high E is on top. How do you hold it and is it really better to hold it "left handed" if you're left handed?

Petrovsk Mizinski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: December 24 2007 Location: Ukraine Status: Offline Points: 25210	Posted: March 14 2008 at 00:57
	To answer your question straight out, it doesn't matter. If you are already playing the right handed way, just keep going with it. There aren't any left hand pianos, left hand keyboards, but that didn't stop lefties from playing them. The strength and dexterity will come with practice, as all guitarists must do to be good. I am right handed, and you might make the assumption that my picking hand would be stronger and more accurate. Here's my story.. When I had to relearn to play in April 2005, I began with alternate picking on diatonic scales, and my picking never really took off. By about Januray 2006, I had begun on Legato, the more serious technical 3 note per string stuff a la Joe Satriani. Within 2 months, my Legato had outstripped my my alternate picking which I had been practicing for 10 months. This goes to show, despite my left hand seemingly being weaker, I had discovered a technique that came more naturally to me than the others, something many guitarists experience. To some, sweep picking comes easy to them, to others, 8 finger tapping does, Legato, Alternate picking and so on. To this day, my sweep picking still sucks (well to some people I'm awesome, but 3 note per string patterns aren't that amazing IMO), not because of my left hand, which is pretty good at fretting the notes, but my right hand (my dominant hand) being out of sync with my left. The trick is too find out what your weaknesses are, and work on them now. These days, I've been working on alternate picking so much, that I can play approximately 15.67 notes per second cleanly, and it's no longer far behind my legato. Some questions: How long have you been playing? What do you want to achieve with the guitar? (in terms of how far you want to get with it?)


MikeEnRegalia Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21206	Posted: March 14 2008 at 03:17
	I'm left handed and play the guitar right hand style without any problems. To be honest, I never understood why right handed people play the guitar the way they do ... the left hand does all the difficult stuff!
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Atavachron Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: September 30 2006 Location: Pearland Status: Offline Points: 65268	Posted: March 14 2008 at 03:27
	^ I know, it makes no sense ..I'm right handed and my left does things it really shouldn't be able to do as the 'weaker' hand. Hughes; some excellent observations on playing.. I too found a big weakness for me was a synch problem between my fretting and pick attack, and I started focusing on bringing the two together ..I also tended to play too aggressively which led to unwanted sloppiness

N Ellingworth Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: April 17 2006 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1324	Posted: March 14 2008 at 04:14
	I'm another left handed player who play in the right handed way, I've never had any problem playing and whilst I am far from being a technically proficient or fast player I'd say that for the types of music I play I'm at the right skill level and speed.

Petrovsk Mizinski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: December 24 2007 Location: Ukraine Status: Offline Points: 25210	Posted: March 16 2008 at 21:10
	Ohh and another thing I forgot to mention the first time, is that you have WAY more choice when it comes to guitars if you play the right handed way. Some brands even charge a premium on their lefty models, so you may even save some money playing right handed.


Slartibartfast Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam Joined: April 29 2006 Location: Atlantais Status: Offline Points: 29630	Posted: March 17 2008 at 07:20
	You can't play the guitar left handed, you'll hurt yourself. Hendrix who?
	Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...

Petrovsk Mizinski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: December 24 2007 Location: Ukraine Status: Offline Points: 25210	Posted: March 18 2008 at 08:01
	Another good thing about playing right handed, is that guitar tabs are pretty much always written for right hand playing, so you don't have to stumble working things out for left handed playing. That said, work out as much stuff as you can by ear, your ear will get better that way.