Forcing a lefty to play tighty - thoughts?

[dreamyreality]

I am lefty and actually I prefer playing lefty.

It's true that guitar choices are SO limited AND EXPENSIVE and I always want Ibanez to make a good lefty S with 24 frets...

BUT, THANKS to that, I spend very little time thinking about gears, talking about gears... 90% of my 'guitar time' I spend on my guitar.

And, the best player I've known and work with in person, guess what, he started out 2 years acoustic/classic righty, then 2 year acoustic/classic lefty, and finally he plays lefty electric.

He's a righty.

[mozfan98]

It all comes down to preference. I'm a lefty and play a righty. I'm glad I did as there's so many guitar choices out there. That's the main reason why I switched to righty.

[DEADTUNES666]

What I always tell lefties is if you can possibly play righty do so and here's why...

Your dominant hand will now be your fretting hand...

Left handed guitars have less options, models and colors...

Right handed guitars are less expensive than their lefty counterparts...

That's it...

[dreamyreality]

Originally Posted by DEADTUNES666

What I always tell lefties is if you can possibly play righty do so and here's why...

Your dominant hand will now be your fretting hand...

Yeah, in the same line, you should always tell righties to play lefty.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me remind you that lefty guitars are made for righties, and righty guitars? for the lefties, indeed.

[Lefty Robb]

[DEADTUNES666]

Originally Posted by Lefty Robb

Why is he smacking that poor donkeys nuts?

[Ibateur]

Ensuring a dead donkey...

[540s]

Originally Posted by mmr7

Do you think a left handed player should learn from the start to play right and don't you think it will ultimately limit his fretboard dexterity?

Firstly I suspect the salesman is a tool... but thats besides the point.


I'm lefty in just about everything except for politics & guitars. When I started playing all that was available to me was righty guitars & I never even knew there was such a thing until I saw Hendrix.

After a couple decades of playing I believe the rest of the world has it backwards... As a lefty I think my playing is better than it would be if I went wiht a lefty guitar. I want the hand I have better dexterity strength & control to be my fretting hand not the other way around. Ateast thats the way it works for me.

Thats my 2 cents.... probobaly worth less than that though

[theapprentice]

I'm a lefty, but I was trained to play right-handed by my dad. It was fine and all, but one time, while I was jamming with a friend (who was a righty), I noticed that he controls his picking hand really well, but he claims that learning fretting patterns was hard. I never had much difficulty with my fretting hand. However, this thought entered my mind: What if I played left-handed instead of right-handed guitar? Will I have better control over my picking than today? Will I have worse fretting technique than what I have now?

Don't get me wrong, though. I enjoy playing righty and I spent a great deal of time to learn. Just like what the others said, one should go for whichever feels more natural and comfortable.

[Fabio]

^ Stick to legato playing! There, I solved your problem

[dreamyreality]

Some dude did an analysis of alternate picking speed and found out that Shawn Lane is the fastest alternate picker on earth, peaking at 20 notes per second.

Shawn is lefty. He plays righty.

So his left hand is actually the fretting hand.

Right brain (left hand) is associated with creativity. - think Shawn's picking hand.
Left brain (right hand) is better at being organized and follow orders. - think Shawn's fretting hand.

Another noted lefty: Kurt Corbain, who plays lefty, better renowned for his rhythm (left 'creativity' hand) that his licks (Kurt's licks? what's that?), me think.

I think all righties play the 'correct' way. All lefties should play guitars righty.

Buy how come virtually no righties is any good as Shawn Lane? Probably is it because Shawn Lane is actually a lefty, who plays the guitar the 'correct' way?

And my conclusion is, righties weren't born to play the guitar. Guitars are for lefties (who play righty).

I am lefty and I play lefty.

This horse is sooooooo dead.

[Fredjo]

Originally Posted by dreamyreality

Right brain (left hand) is associated with creativity. - think Shawn's picking hand.
Left brain (right hand) is better at being organized and follow orders. - think Shawn's fretting hand.
A

The fact is the right hemisphere gives signals to the left side of your body and the left one to your right side = forget about what I say, I overlooked that you've said it right yourself

[screamndemon69]

When I get a NEW student that has NEVER played before that is a lefty, I push them towards a right handed instrument for many afore-mentioned reasons. If someone is already playing lefty, then stay lefty. Life is easier as a righty but it is harder to make the switch once you've gotten some hand/finger training as a lefty.

[kotornut]

Kiko Loureiro is a lefty too. There are tons of lefties that play right. But that salesman overstepped his authority to say things like that.

[GuitarBizarre]

Wow, fantastic! A thread that was 5 years old, got bumped, then it died again, and got bumped AGAIN 2 years later!

Its a goddamn vampire, you can't kill this thing!


NB: Lefty that plays righty here. I've had no real problems. Even when I made a conscious effort to increase my picking chops (Which worked, as the best guitarist I know, to this day, insists that I pick better than he does), I encountered no real problems other than standard practice regime.

If handedness was that big a deal, then obviously I would have terrible picking chops. As it stands, I have some of the best out of the guitarists I know. Lefties should learn righty if only so that we don't have yet more stupid threads about ibby lefty models that are never going to be appeased until ibanez decide to create EVERY SINGLE ONE of their guitars in a left handed version just to appease less than 1/18th of the market.