I'm a "corrected" lefty, and honestly a little bitter about it

[effzee]

I think you’re overthinking it. There are no left-handed violins, violas, cellos, contrabasses (nevermind pianos, wind instruments, etc). And if I remember correctly, there was a study that noted the percentage of left-handed concertmasters was higher than left-handed people in the general population. If anything, it’s an advantage to have the dominant hand on the fingerboard.

As a righty, playing guitar has made my left hand almost as dexterous as my right. I still can’t write with it, but I do/prefer a lot of stuff in daily life that non-musicians who are righties don’t do with it.

Playing an instrument is awkward in the beginning, so flipping it at that point in your development probably was just a marginal difference that would even out later anyway.

But playing left handed was completely natural to me and flipping was no marginal difference, it was very awkward and I'm certain I would have progressed in a completely different direction musically if I'd been permitted to do what came natural to me.

What ended up happening is I made very little progress, struggled with the right handedness (but at the time just thought this is normal, never questioned the decision) and then gave up for a long time. I had been hoping to some day get a band going with friends, but that never materialized, etc etc

 

[Fendereedo]

Lefty here taught righty, purely because the school didn't own a left handed guitar. Everything else I do is left handed.

 

[effzee]

That being said (and historical cultural tendencies notwithstanding), however, I believe you should have been encouraged to hold your guitar in whatever way seemed right to you, especially since you’d already been at it for a while.

This is the crux of my post. The "teacher" saw how much I struggled to hold the guitar that way, but still insisted that that was the right way to do it and never once gave any thought to what was working for me or not.

I'm sure if, on the day I got the guitar, I was shown how to hold it properly and was playing it right handed from the start, it would have worked out differently.

 

[loopfinding]

But playing left handed was completely natural to me and flipping was no marginal difference, it was very awkward and I'm certain I would have progressed in a completely different direction musically if I'd been permitted to do what came natural to me.

What ended up happening is I made very little progress, struggled with the right handedness (but at the time just thought this is normal, never questioned the decision) and then gave up for a long time. I had been hoping to some day get a band going with friends, but that never materialized, etc etc

It probably was normal. You were only playing for a few months like that, so it’s hard to say all these years later how well you were playing anyway. I started as a kid and I didn’t really play with basic competence until almost like two years in. Guitar is awkward and hard for everyone.

 

[effzee]

My dad was a converted lefty. He played right-handed-strung guitars upside down, Dick Dale style. Big bonus for me —I could 'borrow' his guitars and play them right handed.

Ha! That's brilliant. I have a lefty friend with a nice collection of guitars, but I can't play any of them

 

[effzee]

Hendrix - Case closed

Hendrix was born right handed and forced to play left handed?

 

[hemingway]

I'm not sure what the big deal is - or what the "correct" way to play a guitar is.

We right-handed players actually have to learn to do all the fiddly stuff with our left hands. Our "better" hand just plucks and strums.

 

[hemingway]

I’m not entirely sure why I have a left hand.

Well, you'd struggle to play guitar without it.

 

[effzee]

Depending how far in you are, it doesn’t make sense to switch. Gotta just ride it out, righty or lefty. If a righty learned on a lefty guitar, I’m sure they’d have the same overall learning experience, and it would make no sense to switch to a righty guitar later and throw out their progress.

The only thing I will say is that playing a righty strung guitar lefty (with the high E closest to you) is not a great choice for more advanced chording stuff. I’m sure we can cherry pick savants, but I feel like the majority of people I see play this way (as opposed to people who just play guitar strung lefty) hit a ceiling.

Yeah I think I would have been ok simply stringing the guitar the right way around

 

[Killing Floor]

I started as a violinist, then a bassist, then guitar and a couple others. I’m right handed. Without a doubt my right fingers are faster, stronger and more accurate and more touch sensitive. Point is I have always wondered if a righty would play better and learn faster on a left handed guitar.

 

[effzee]

I'm not sure what the big deal is - or what the "correct" way to play a guitar is.

We right-handed players actually have to learn to do all the fiddly stuff with our left hands. Our "better" hand just plucks and strums.

I think that's an interesting point in general. Why does the dominant hand do the strumming/picking work. I would think it has to do with keeping the beat, but I dunno. I bet there have been studies on that. But whatever the reason, the fact is that guitars have been made special for left handers for a long time, so the dominant hand's role is consistent among us.

 

[billy logan]

Amos Garrett is a natural lefty who plays right-handed, skinny strings nearest to the floor

Fingerpicking adeptly with his less-dominant right hand - uniquely skillful and musical in bending light-gauge strings with the fingers of his left hand.

Amos_Garrett <---Wiki

 

[String Tree]

Oh, I don't do that now! I learned to do it "correctly" back then and I've played right handed ever since. That's the issue that I was writing about.

I can see why you have been bitter about it.
My point: They should have let you be.
Cheers

 

[Toto'sDad]

If any of you play golf and want to really see the difference between a pro, and even a good amateur, watch them hit left-handed shots with right-handed clubs. I once saw a guy flip a wedge upside down, playing on the old Hogan tour here at the Bakersfield Country club. His ball was up against a bush, he just hit it left-handed about three feet from the hole, made birdie. I'm lucky to even make contact with the ball doing that, let alone control it.

 

[kuch]

I'm glad you're getting it off your chest.
Now hopefully you can let it go and move on.
Play on.....

 

[SixStringSlinger]

This is the crux of my post. The "teacher" saw how much I struggled to hold the guitar that way, but still insisted that that was the right way to do it and never once gave any thought to what was working for me or not.

I'm sure if, on the day I got the guitar, I was shown how to hold it properly and was playing it right handed from the start, it would have worked out differently.

I “played” air guitar “righty” till someone showed me what lefty was, then I air guitar’s like that until my first guitar class when my teacher suggested righty But the start would have been awkward regardless.

I can understand if the teacher would have found it too difficult to adjust to teaching you in “your” way, but to basically tell you “your way is wrong do it m way or F off” was the wrong way to go about it.

 

[effzee]

I “played” air guitar “righty” till someone showed me what lefty was, then I air guitar’s like that until my first guitar class when my teacher suggested righty But the start would have been awkward regardless.

I can understand if the teacher would have found it too difficult to adjust to teaching you in “your” way, but to basically tell you “your way is wrong do it m way or F off” was the wrong way to go about it.

Yeah, the guy was very discouraging. He looked like Wilford Brimley and what I remember most from our lessons was him telling me rock isn't real music.

 

[effzee]

I'm glad you're getting it off your chest.
Now hopefully you can let it go and move on.
Play on.....

 

[buster poser]

I’m a lefty. I play guitar left handed as well as every other aspect of life. I’m happy with that. Can’t get lefty guitars, you say? I have 22 guitars and love them all. Oh, you say I should play righty anyway because my most dexterous hand is my left? Good, go and switch all your guitars over to left hand then, righty! Let me know how that works out for you.

Yeah, I guess we've all known a LH player with a "rightie," low E to the floor, but it's always fascinated me why we prefer it the "standard" way.

You would think that requirements for fretting a guitar would be analogous to handwriting (fine motor control), but most of us strum with that hand and fret with the non-dominant. This goes out the window with finger picking obviously.

I started as a violinist, then a bassist, then guitar and a couple others. I’m right handed. Without a doubt my right fingers are faster, stronger and more accurate and more touch sensitive. Point is I have always wondered if a righty would play better and learn faster on a left handed guitar.

Edit: Beat me to it.

 

[Telekarster]

Hendrix was born right handed and forced to play left handed?

No just sayin' that it's ok to play/do left I am ambidextrous, so I can relate to lefty's as much as anyone. I play guitar right handed though, but I catch and swing a batt left handed.... but I play golf right handed... go figure