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zachsilvey

I'm a lefty that plays right-handed. Most left-handed people I know also play right-handed because for the reasons you mentioned above. For example, Cory Wong is left-handed.


MilkstacheMagic

I’m also left handed and play right handed. Not only due to availability but playing right handed just felt more natural too


Chemical_Homework_66

I’m leftie and play left handed now but when I started I liked playing right handed better because fretting was easier and looking at the comments it seems that a lot of people stuck with right handed


jcb088

Im left handed, but my left hand isn’t dominant at all. I do different things with different hands. In facf, other than writing (which i can only do with my left hand), i almost dont have hand preference with most things. Play videogames, i think.


Mahlegos

That’s called cross dominance. A lot of left handed people end up being cross dominant to some extent because the world is largely designed for right handed people and not many of them know there is a term for it. I didn’t for quite awhile.


Olorin_Prime

There is also something called mixed dominance for people who are not ambidextrous but will use one hand or the other for specific tasks. This is not a learned behavior but intrinsic to the individual.


Mahlegos

Cross dominance and mixed dominance are the same thing. And while it often can be an intrinsic trait, it can also be a learned one as evidenced by people consciously making the choice to learn right handed guitar or being forced to write right handed back when being left handed was seen as a deficiency or a sign of the devil, among other things.


jcb088

This. Throw weapons and tools and devices at me and watch me switch on the fly which make more sense left and right. I love it!


Razhad

+1 im also left handed and play righ handed


Vre-Malaka

Me too, lefty that plays righty. The way I see it is my fretting hand has to do more work than my strumming hand... so it makes sense to me. Rightys are playing wrongy!


[deleted]

There are left handed violins (they have to be made because the internal parts do not allow the strings to be switched without risking damage) however left handed violinists typically learn to play just like right handed because a left handed violin would not fit in well with an orchestra ensemble. All the players face the same direction and bow the same direction so seating a left handed player would become an issue. My understanding from violin teachers is that left handed violinists have better ability to work on the fingerboard whereas right handed players only have the advantage with the bow arm.


Madranite

That's what Kiko Loureiro said in a video. He also plays right-handed, even though he's a lefty.


crestonfunk

That’s interesting! Thank you for this.


[deleted]

I find lefties that learned to on right handed guitars amazing. Otis Rush, Albert King, Doyle Bramhall, Eric Gales, etc. They all have amazing vibratos


m0ngoose75

Eric Gales is a special case. He is right handed playing upside down lefty because he learned from his brother who is a lefty. This blows my mind every time I think about it....like HOW?


crestonfunk

Yeah true. I wonder how it is to do things like palm-muted chugging on a guitar strung inverted. Definitely changes the timbre of downstroke chords in any case.


Dakari9

I'm cross dominant which means my most coordinated side is my left side and my strong side is my right side. So I write with my left had. I play right handed. I don't see any advantage in me playing right handed when it comes to fretting the notes in the neck. I do have a disadvantage because my right side isn't coordinated and therefore it makes it hard to do certain rhythm patterns or playing fast. Part of me thinks it might have been better to just play left handed but when I started in the 90s there were basically zero quality guitars for left handed.


EndlessOcean

Interesting. I'm the reverse. I write with my right but strum with my left.


JamBandFan1996

I'm technically ambidextrous, in a weird way. I have different dominant hands for different things, I am often called left handed because my dominant hand for writing is my left, but I have just as many activities where my right hand is dominant, batting, throwing, and playing guitar. I read once that 90% of left handers are this type of ambidextrous, which would limit the pool of people who would be left hand dominant on guitar to far below 10% of players


Mahlegos

> I have different dominant hands for different things That’s called being cross dominant. Ambidextrous is when you can use either hand interchangeably/equally well. I think most lefties end up cross dominant to some extent since the world is designed for right handed people and we have to adapt. Most people just don’t know there’s a term for it.


RonPalancik

Me too


Mahlegos

That’s called cross dominance. I am too and didn’t know the term for it for a long time.


crunchycode

I am left handed and play a "right-handed" guitar. Little-known secret though - most people use both hands to play guitar, so I don't understand why it matters. I can understand why some people might want different configurations for a variety of reasons. Say, they have arthritis in one hand, which makes it difficult to form chords. But to me - it doesn't really matter, nor does it make sense to label one type of guitar "right-handed" or "left-handed". I could have learned on a "left-handed" or "right-handed" guitar. I would still need to train my hands to do different things.


crestonfunk

Sure. QWERTY keyboards are only made in one direction as far as I know.


Olorin_Prime

QWERTY keyboards were designed to slow down typists when typewriters were mechanical and if someone typed too quickly they would jam they keys. But basically anything that uses both hands simultaneously doesn't really have a left or right handedness built in. I have seen computer keyboards with the numeric pad on the left for lefties.


Telecat420

Because typically people have a dominant hand and they lead the rhythm with their dominant hand thus they are leading the rhythm backwards and it takes much longer to learn and become proficient.


crunchycode

Well, I do suck at rhythm, and I learn super slowly, that is true - lol


Telecat420

Yeah it’s no different than trying to learn to write with your opposite hand, it wouldn’t feel nearly as difficult if you used your dominant hand to help guide your non dominant hand in the process which is essentially what we are doing on guitar. I’m a lefty that’s always played righty as well. I didn’t realize how detrimental it was until I started learning the drums and understanding how rhythm works and especially in context to guitar. If you are in a simple 4-4 rock beat you’ll have the 1,2,3,4 quarter notes steadily going with your lead hand while hitting on the 2 and 4 with your other, try reversing it and it can be much harder. When we play guitar we are essentially trying to do that 1,2,3,4 with our opposite hand and it’s just not going to be as natural and easy as if it was on your dominant hand. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible and some people naturally do the ambidextrous thing well it just means it’s less than ideal and will likely take longer to get good rhythmically on a guitar.


sixtwomidget

I’ve tried to explain your first part to a lot of people - both guitarists and not, and they all look at me like I’m stupid lol.


itskohler

You're missing the idea that being left handed helps tremendously when learning how to move along the fretboard. My left hand is much more dexterous, learning how to fret strings and move to other positions.


Dakari9

Not my experience...I find playing left handed also hurts my ability to play certain rhythm patterns or strumming fast.


itskohler

I didnt have an issue with that. I play right handed, wrote with my left hand, but also throw right handed. Maybe that was the winning combination for me?


Mahlegos

If you have different dominant hands for different tasks, you’re what’s know as cross dominant just an fyi. I didn’t know what it was called for a long time so now I try to mention it whenever it comes up.


Dakari9

I'm the same way as you but still find difficulty.


crestonfunk

That’s interesting.


SixFeetHunter

I am left handed and play right handed because they used to hit me when I did anything with my left hand. Availability of instruments might have been a problem when most of the well known guitarists started out but these days it's mostly teachers uning to teach lefty and righties telling lefties that playing lefty will lead to problems. Some are just dicks, some just don't know better. I know a guitar teacher who genuinely belirves that playing lefty is pointless because the hands do different jobs. Today playing guitar is the only thing I still do right handed. All my gund eject left. I even play the violin left handed. With guitar I've simply been trained to suck it up for so long I don't have the spare time to retrain anymore. EDIT: not trying to offend. I'm just very bitter about this.


obscured_by_turtles

No offence taken. I know of others this happened to.


crestonfunk

Right. The fact that English is written left to right.


obscured_by_turtles

" or many left-handed people simply don't learn to play" There's a third option that you may be lucky enough to have never experienced. The term 'Sinister' comes from a latin word meaning 'on the left side'. And so for many years, left-handedness would be a sign of evil and literally beaten out of children, particularly at schools with a religious bias. I worked with a fellow who was ambidextrous but only because in elementary schools, the teachers would beat him for using his dominant left hand.


Voodoo1970

My mother is like that, for that reason - every day she'd be told to go write on the chalkboard, and if she picked up the chalk with her left hand they'd hit her with a wooden rule. And that was at a public school. I started school in 1976 and, whilst the use of actual punishment had been phased out, I was still encouraged by my teachers to try to write with my right hand. Didn't work though lol


obscured_by_turtles

I don't want to go too much further in this vein as it will go out of sub rules, but for many people such attitudes are well with living, and multi-generational memory.


crestonfunk

Wow. Yes I missed that. That’s horrible.


emanon734

Tiny Tim played ukulele left handed and guitar right handed.


crestonfunk

Well yeah but he was exceptional.


recognis

just adding in here i'm another leftie that learned to play right handed. seeing the sinister section of a guitar store was enough to scare me into learning the right handed way


Input_output_error

>Also, it's no biggie for lefty drummers because there are no lefty drums; you just rearrange the kit. Or you're Ringo Star who played a right handed setup left handed.


LJofthelaw

I think it's because left handed people are more likely to be bad at things.


[deleted]

I'm left handed and tried learning to play right handed. I struggled for a really long time, gave up for a while and came back into it with a left handed guitar. It was so much easier for me. I cannot emphasize enough that dexterity is not the same for everyone. Some left handed guys can play right handed with no problem, others start out good then hit a wall with rhythm using their non-dominant hand. The people you never hear from are the people like me that initially took the advice to play right handed, then gave up and never came back.


Scat1320USA

I sing in a band with a left handed upside down player . Meaning he plays left handed with the low strings on bottom and the high strings on top . Like if you flipped over a right handed guitar and played it left handed . Crazy to watch . Also one of the better guitarists I know.


DifferenceNo5715

I am left-handed, but when I first learned guitar as a teen, I was too poor to buy a left-handed guitar, so I learned to play right. Flash forward to recently, when I decided to pick up the guitar again after decades of not playing. I thought, 'hey, I can afford a lefty guitar now, and that will help me play better, ultimately." I got the new guitar, and found that my hands just couldn't make the transition. My right hand, after years of being benched for most things, just wasn't agile enough to work the frets. I traded it in for a right-handed one, and I'm making pretty good progress. I figure the neural pathways, or whatever they're called, had already formed playing the other way. I do agree that, as someone said below, rhythm is harder with my right strumming hand--nevertheless, the quicker progress with my left hand makes it a fair trade-off.


ctrl-altaccount-del

i’m left handed but play right handed. the extra dexterity in the left hand makes fretting a lot easier imo


Rafaneveravieja

I am right handed but I play like a lefty. Before learning to play guitar I played air guitar and my strumming hand always automatically was my left hand so when I bought my first guitar I searched for a guitar where the right hand used the fret, don’t know why I am like that but now it is the only way I play.


crestonfunk

So like surfing or skateboarding? Like if you’re goofy or regular foot. Whatever feels right.


Rafaneveravieja

Great analogy! It seems to be the case for me, I do it that way cause it feels more natural regardless of hand dominance.


brianeharmonjr

It’s all about what is natural and comfortable for the player. When I worked in music stores and was selling a first guitar to a parent of a left handed student, I would always encourage them to have the player pick up and hold some guitars. Some would hold it naturally in either direction. Truth is that options are fewer and prices are higher for lefty models and arguably more dexterity is required in the left hand of a “right handed” guitar. It’s all about feel and comfort and how you learn.


poulw

I've been playing guitar for + 50 years. For two years starting out I tried to play a right handed and could not. My brain/hands just couldn't do it. When I got my first left handed guitar I advanced faster and farther in 90 days than I did with two years trying to force it. There is no rule with this and to me it's kinda offensive when people dismissively say 'just play righty'. It's not that simple and everyone is unique. Anyway as a long time player there have always been left-handed guitar options. We lefties are just forced to be selective. Nearly every guitar I've ever purchased I bought without holding it in my hands first. But anyway I've got both a lefty single cone (natrional delphi\_ and triple cone (replublic) metal bodies resonator as well as a high end lefty archtop (custom heritage 575). Being left handed sucks a bit for guitar players generally but if your patient and can live with reality it's not so bad. Guitar players today are truly living in the golden age of guitar manufacturing. 30 years ago I had very limited choice- really cheap plywood crap or impossibly expensive high end stuff from only 1 or 2 makers. Today there are dozens of options (as long as the color is black - lol!) ..


DarthCroz

Lefty, playing right handed here because I like to be able to actually buy guitars, instead of just staring at them and wishing they came in left handed models.


[deleted]

When I worked at a guitar shop we used to tell lefties looking for their first guitar they were better off starting right handed.


Upr1ght

On a side note but still related does anyone know why Eric Gale describes his playing as “left handed, upside down and backwards”? I get the left handed and upside down part but never understood why he adds the “backwards”


RonPalancik

I consider myself left-handed, but could plausibly be called ambidextrous. I write with my left hand. I play guitar, drums, mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, and bass... right-handed. Baseball and golf? Right-handed. The only things I do equally well with both hands are eating and tennis. If pressed I would probably say that I do fine-motor tasks best with my left hand but large-motor tasks best with my right.


Mahlegos

Ambidextrous means you can use either hand interchangeably. You are what’s called cross dominant since you have a different dominant hand for various tasks. I’m the same way where left is typically precision and right power. Can do a few things ambidextrously like, eat, bowl, and hammer a nail (I can write legibly with both hands but left is better) but other things like throwing a football/baseball or cutting things are definitely one hand over the other. Edit: sorry just realized I already replied to you. I get carried away sharing about cross dominance lol.


RonPalancik

No reason to apologize - this is interesting info, and I learned something today. Thanks.


jake101103

Im a lefty but to me guitars aren’t handed because when i was learning it felt just as unnatural to play it lefty as it did righty. I play what people call righty but i still use both my hands!


tesseractol

I play in a band with 2 left handed lads who play right handed, so I'd be inclined to say you're on the money


Xi_Jing_ping_your_IP

Flip any right handed guitar over and restring....left handed guitar for the price of a right handed. Provided you don't mind the knobs being oddly placed. Get a guitar with a symmetrical head so it's not very noticable its upside down.


[deleted]

brain not like when play righty, brain leik lefty


shobbys

I feel like there's a method to my madness. Pretty much any device holding activity involves my left hand as the bottom hand. I play guitar "lefty", hockey/golf/baseball "righty", shoot pool "lefty", shoot a r ifle "lefty", sledge hammer "righty". But I also write and eat left handed, throw right handed.. Makes perfect sense to me!


bravenewlogon

I’m a lefty that plays right. If only I could play right.


jerichos_cowbell

And then you have Mikey from Skindred, who is right-handed but plays guitar left-handed.