Lefty or Righty? Playing Guitar When You’re Left-Handed

Left-handed people have four ways of playing guitar:

• play a right-handed guitar right-handed
• play a left-handed guitar
• play a right-handed guitar that has been altered to play left-handed, or
• turn a right-handed guitar upside down, making the strings reversed from the normal order

There are adequate guitar models to choose from for left-handers (albeit more expensive). However, more importantly, all guitar-specific music is generated to mimic the guitar in a right-handed position, forcing left-handed players to reverse the images in their mind to match their positioning which puts lefties at a disadvantage when learning to play the guitar.

BTW - we are not against left-handers, we have sons and daughters that are southpaws! And the world has given us many fantastic lefty guitarists including Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Toni Iommi, Slim Whitman, and Kurt Cobain … to name just a few.

We recommend first-time players to try to learn in the right-handed mode of playing. This means holding the guitar so you will be strumming with your right hand, and fretting the neck of the guitar with your dominant left hand. We’ve found most lefties can adapt relatively easily, making their guitar experience much easier and less expensive over the long haul.

However, if you find that you are not able -- or don’t want -- to make the adaptation to the right-handed style, here’s a good resource for left-handed guitarists:

http://www.southpawguitars.com/
http://www.guitarnoise.com/lesson/lefties-anonymous/

All the content in the 90-Day Guitar Guide is geared toward the right-handed players.

If you up for learning as a Righty, please start by taking the quick Guitar Quiz. The Guitar Quiz allows us to customize recommendations to meet your specific goals.

The entire 90-Day Guitar Guide is free. Get started and take the Guitar Quiz today!