In Victorian times lefties were frowned upon,
and often forced to write right handed in schools.
Thankfully those days are past. They should not have done it then,
we do not have to do it now.
You are lefthanded, and you have been all your life!
you do not have to conform to right handedness.
In the past I have had students come to me,
having bought a right handed guitar in a local high street store
on the advice of the salesperson, who said thet could learn just as easily!
I currently have a student, playing a right handed Mexican Fender Jass Bass,
because the salesperson told him that Fender do not make leftie guitars.
WHOA.. That guy needs talking to!!!
REMEMBER THIS....THESE PEOPLE JUST WANT YOUR MONEY!
I have even come across the web site of of a classical guitar tutor (who lives in north Kent),
proudly boasting how successful he is at making his lefty students play the wrong way round
because they would not be able to buy a left handed classical guitar!
WRONG...There are lefty classicals on the market, again at all price points.
These people have a blinkered, arrogant attitude.
This can, and does cause problems to students.
If you need a classical lefty at a good price,
check out Alhambra, Takamine, Hokada or Dean guitars, also take a look at Pavanguitars.com.
If price is not an issue, Luthiers such as Carrillo, Cashimira and Contreras build high end guitars to order.
When starting out, many students, or more usually parents,
are concerned about the cost of buying their first guitar.
OK. I'll make a concession here....
There is nothing wrong buying a cheap second hand right handed guitar,
especially an acoustic. But you have got to restring it lefthanded. Just as I did when I started out.
This would not have any noticable effect on quality of sound.
If you make progress and decide to upgrade
to a better guitar, then would be the time to see what the left handed market has to offer.
But bear in mind, there are numerous lefthanded electric and acoustic guitar packages available.
Check out the musical instruments section on e-bay.
Around £100 can get you started with a new leftie electric guitar
Lets look at the correct way forward:
1. Do purchase a lefthanded guitar
2. Do not restring it upside down,
3. Do not buy a classical if you want to play Greenday or Metallica.
4. Do not buy an electric if you want to play flamenco guitar.
5. Do not buy a right handed guitar and play upside down.
6. Do not be pressured by salespeople. If it doesn't feel right, walk out of the store.
And finally.
I have seen numerous publications of left handed guitar books.
In my opinion these are not to be recommended.
I read music and tab the same way as everyone else.
Why would I want to look at something back to front?
After all, we all read books and newspapers the same way.
Whilst these books may help the beginner learn a basic chord or two,
you would only have to adjust to the 'normal' way later on as you
progress to more demanding pieces of music.
There is a tremendous amount of printed tab, lyrics and notation available,
often with chord boxes printed out to show you what shape chord to play.
I have yet to see any music printed left handed. Lets get use to it from the outset
Trying to adjust to right handed chord symbols
after spending time learning them back to front, will only serve to confuse.
Lefties can have fun too!
