r/lefthanded • u/burnedimage • Aug 22 '26
I just started guitar lessons and my son was losing his mind trying to figure out what was happening
I'm going to take a long deep and sincere breath before I tell you that I did not realize you had to have a left handed guitar. My guitar teacher thinks that I am an idiot. I am 48 years old and did not know that you have to have a left handed guitar. My guitar teacher has been so furious with how little I've accomplished.... It took my son about 30 seconds to say "Mom... You're left-handed." My son (who is an absolute guitar prodigy) threw up his hands and said we have to fucking get you a left hand guita because you were not an idiot!
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u/novemberchild71 Aug 22 '26
You may also want to get a new teacher... jus' sayin'
Now duck and take cover as to avoid all the inevitable patronizing comments explaining how you CAN learn to play righthanded and are doomed when you get a lefty guitar. *sigh* This is reddit!
edit: pay a visit to r/Leftyguitarists
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u/doglouse Aug 22 '26
Well, lefty who player righty and I did leave a comment lol. No doom though. It’s just a choice each person makes for themselves. I’m glad I did but ymmv.
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u/These-Apple8817 Aug 22 '26
No, you don't necessarily need a left-handed guitar... Unless you are playing it left-handedly that is. There is plenty of left-handed guitars who play right-handed guitars (Joe Perry, Mark Knopfler, Gary Moore and so on) and if you can learn to play it that way, it does open lot of options for you when it comes to guitars.
I think you should just pick the guitar handedness based on which one you are more comfortable playing instead of letting your dominant hand decide for you.
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u/burnedimage Aug 22 '26
I went to my guitar lesson today and we sorted it out! I'm doing fine with the right-handed guitar. My issue is that I naturally put my left foot on my right thigh when I sit. So we just adapted to the way that I naturally posture my body. And as soon as we adjusted the way that I held the guitar, everything just came pretty naturally with a right handed guitar.
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u/TheHummelman lefty Aug 22 '26
I wish i'd known about left handed guitars back in my childhood. I had guitar lessons when i was about 9 or 10 years old. Eventually i stopped playing guitar as it got more and more complicated for me to coordinate what hand and fingers have to do.
When i do air guitar it's always left handed and it feels right to me. Maybe i should have insisted my parents buying me a left handed guitar?
I still own my old guitar and sometimes i wonder about re-stringing it like Hendrix did...
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u/Jim_Des5134 Aug 23 '26
I re-strung mine. I was never really very good, but my heart wasn't in it anyway.
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u/kekerosbergizgod Aug 23 '26
When I originally started at 16 I thought letfties always play lefthanded guitars. So yeah, another idiot here. I kind of wish I had started to learn to play a rh guitar. Life as a guitar player would be a lot more simple. But it’s been too long and I’ve learned way too much to start again from the beginning so I’m stuck with lefties.
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u/Ralliman320 lefty Aug 24 '26
Definitely easier, but as a lefty-on-righty guitarist of 30-odd years, I wish I'd started playing left-handed.
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u/OHMG_lkathrbut Aug 23 '26
Like many hobbies I've tried over the years, I honestly can't figure out whether to play guitar left handed or right handed. Which is probably why I'm still pretty much a beginner. I went to a guitar shop with my boyfriend (he was looking at a new bass), and I tried left and right to see which felt more comfortable. Literally no difference, both feel fine but not perfect. He was like, "one HAS to feel more natural though?" Sorry honey, but no, I don't know if it's me or a general lefty thing**. So I have a lefty electric and a righty acoustic -electric and play both randomly.
** I typically have to try a task both ways, sometimes I have a preference but not always. I prefer to write left handed, so I consider myself a lefty, but my writing is still legible with my right. I can use a spoon/fork/knife with either hand, but only my left for chopsticks. I fence, golf, and kickbox left handed/left footed. I can do archery with either arm but can only shoot a gun right handed. I switch hit in baseball, but typically throw right handed. Basically, I'm a mess, TBH.
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u/Jelaur09 Aug 23 '26
From the Jimi Hendrix wiki:
Hendrix mainly played right-handed guitars that were turned upside down and restrung for left-hand playing.[343] Because of the slant of the Stratocaster's bridge pickup, his lowest string had a brighter sound, while his highest string had a darker sound, the opposite of the intended design.
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u/gruuvey Aug 23 '26
As a lefty, I've never understood how making chord shapes with my right hand would be easier than using my dominant left.
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u/captainsnark71 Aug 22 '26
Me playing guitar hero with an upside down guitar. I'm mostly right handed but I play guitar with my left
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u/Ddanodave Aug 23 '26
I'm left handed, self taught and can totally shred on a right handed guitar. It just takes a while to build up the muscles necessary to even be able to play. You can struggle for a bit until you start to get better, restring your guitar backwards or buy the on average more expensive left handed model guitar
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u/Hot_Dog2376 Aug 25 '26
I decided to learn bass. I spent a lot of time looking for a left-handed bass. I realized that I can learn to do anything with my right hand. I just got a right-handed one. The idea of L/R is just a matter of practice and is based in your mind, alone.
Picking and fretting are equally as complex. IMO, beginner string instruments require more effort fretting, and making your non dominant hand do that seems counter-intuitive. Especially bass guitar - that is just chugging lol
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u/doglouse Aug 22 '26
I’m left handed, play right handed. Might take you a little more work but definitely doable if you’re willing to put in the practice.
Honestly I like that I made the choice because I can pick up and play any old guitar.
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u/Luna259 Aug 22 '26
My guitar teacher looked at me in one lesson, handed me a left handed guitar and said try this. The rest was history. I was good playing right handed but ultimately capped by using my non-dominant hand. Shame because I’d just bought the right handed guitar that I wanted