chipchappy
thudmaster
Lefty playing righty club with a side of curious what my dominant hand would be like for picking here
Why do guitarists choose to play left handed?
- Thread starter ShiftPoint
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The Mirror
Well-Known Member
Holy hell. I've got a headache just watching him play. That's so damn confusing.
marcwormjim
Well-Known Member
This was a nicer read than I was expecting.
My reply to the original post’s YouTube spam is to not click the embedded video, and my reply to every other post is that I initially played an upside-down righty left-handed, but gave it up once it was clear I would spend the rest of my life converting basic chord fingerings to something more awkward. I felt restricted to picking out simple melodies by ear and playing them on one string.
The next time the bug bit me, I tried it right-handed and have stuck with it. That I avoided having to track down a lefty guitar was an unplanned bonus, and playing right-handed seems like less of a crime against society and nature.
My reply to the original post’s YouTube spam is to not click the embedded video, and my reply to every other post is that I initially played an upside-down righty left-handed, but gave it up once it was clear I would spend the rest of my life converting basic chord fingerings to something more awkward. I felt restricted to picking out simple melodies by ear and playing them on one string.
The next time the bug bit me, I tried it right-handed and have stuck with it. That I avoided having to track down a lefty guitar was an unplanned bonus, and playing right-handed seems like less of a crime against society and nature.
Esp Griffyn
Play more music
I'm a lefty playing righty. I started with a normal right-handed guitar after the guy in the guitar shop said there wasn't so much choice for lefties. I knew this would impact me down the line if I went with my natural inclination towards a left-handed guitar, so I bought a regular guitar and got on with it.
In all truth, I think lefty guitars do musicians a disservice. There should be more information out there about just picking a right handed guitar (or bass) and getting on with it because it will just work out better in the end.
In all truth, I think lefty guitars do musicians a disservice. There should be more information out there about just picking a right handed guitar (or bass) and getting on with it because it will just work out better in the end.
Grindspine
likes pointy things
There are no left handed pianos...
Availability is so much better for right handed guitars...
I think it was quoted from Ed, Edd, and Eddie, "There is no left hand; there is a right hand and a wrong hand!"
I had to stop watching the video due to the weird creaking sound.
Availability is so much better for right handed guitars...
I think it was quoted from Ed, Edd, and Eddie, "There is no left hand; there is a right hand and a wrong hand!"
I had to stop watching the video due to the weird creaking sound.
CrazyDean
Well-Known Member
Also, I forgot to mention, left handed guitars just look WRONG!
This. Until recently outside of Fenders, Gibsons, and the one LH Ibby RG you were sweet out of luck for LH guitars. It's better now but options are still rather limited.
Dayn
Well-Known Member
I don't really buy the whole 'dominant hand' being used for a certain thing. I'm right-handed, I play right-handed guitars. My right hand is dominant and is quite powerful.
But my left hand is far more dexterous (or should that be sinistrous?), far more agile. It's been that way for a long time, well before I ever picked up an instrument. I wear my watch on my right wrist, because my right hand fumbles it. My left hand slips it on and fastens it in an instant. And no, I can't write for shit with my left hand.
A friend of mine is left-handed and plays lefties. She sometimes thinks it would've been better to learn to play a righty just for the sheer availability. But by then it's probably too late.
But my left hand is far more dexterous (or should that be sinistrous?), far more agile. It's been that way for a long time, well before I ever picked up an instrument. I wear my watch on my right wrist, because my right hand fumbles it. My left hand slips it on and fastens it in an instant. And no, I can't write for shit with my left hand.
A friend of mine is left-handed and plays lefties. She sometimes thinks it would've been better to learn to play a righty just for the sheer availability. But by then it's probably too late.
A-Branger
Well-Known Member
Im a right handed person so cant understand the whole thing or what you guys go trough and if it really is a "right way" to do stuff. And although I do believe its how you learn, I still think theres an advantage on having a lefty guitar.
to put things out of context and weird, and jsut a fun story semi-related...... Im a right handed, right footed. So I kick a ball with my right foot. And on the world of board sports theres the "normal" way to stand on a board (surf/wake/snowb/skate/ect) which is with your right foot back, and then theres "goofy" which is with your left foot back. For some odd reason I have no clue, I learned skate board and wakeboard on a goofy stance, same with snowboard latter in life. But when it comes to surfing I learn it on a normal position.....??????. I tried on a few times to re-learn it differently but my muscle memory wont allow me to stand up on a goofy position. So I had to struggle forever to get some decent balance and be able to perform and move the board. I learn it and I can surf properly, but I know my learning curve would have been sooooooooooo much quicker and everything would be much much easier if I have kept the same stance on the board. Even after many years I still struggle to get some manoeuvres done that I know I could be able easily on a snowboard, like I have to re-think everything and remind myself on how its done
funny enough I cant for anything sacred in life be able to roll on a skateboard on a normal stance, but Im perfect to do so on a 4ft wave.... go figure.
also who was the one who decided a guitar must be played with that combination of hands???.... like who though about making the left hand do the most work, when on a piano its the right......... I think it comes from classical instruments, maybe they needed more presision for the bow? on a violin/ect...??
also fun fact, my last drummer from back home he played right footed with his feet, but left handed with his hands. So a normal drumkit but he hits the hi-hat with his left and snare with his right, and he could play crazy advanced stuff
to put things out of context and weird, and jsut a fun story semi-related...... Im a right handed, right footed. So I kick a ball with my right foot. And on the world of board sports theres the "normal" way to stand on a board (surf/wake/snowb/skate/ect) which is with your right foot back, and then theres "goofy" which is with your left foot back. For some odd reason I have no clue, I learned skate board and wakeboard on a goofy stance, same with snowboard latter in life. But when it comes to surfing I learn it on a normal position.....??????. I tried on a few times to re-learn it differently but my muscle memory wont allow me to stand up on a goofy position. So I had to struggle forever to get some decent balance and be able to perform and move the board. I learn it and I can surf properly, but I know my learning curve would have been sooooooooooo much quicker and everything would be much much easier if I have kept the same stance on the board. Even after many years I still struggle to get some manoeuvres done that I know I could be able easily on a snowboard, like I have to re-think everything and remind myself on how its done
funny enough I cant for anything sacred in life be able to roll on a skateboard on a normal stance, but Im perfect to do so on a 4ft wave.... go figure.
also who was the one who decided a guitar must be played with that combination of hands???.... like who though about making the left hand do the most work, when on a piano its the right......... I think it comes from classical instruments, maybe they needed more presision for the bow? on a violin/ect...??
also fun fact, my last drummer from back home he played right footed with his feet, but left handed with his hands. So a normal drumkit but he hits the hi-hat with his left and snare with his right, and he could play crazy advanced stuff
Herrick
Hello Mangs
I didn't know this such a mystery. Left handed guitarists play left handed guitars because they are left handed.
KnightBrolaire
Say yes to Chugs
fun fact: michael angelo batio is a lefty who plays right handed guitars, got bored one day and decided to be ambidextrous and write terrible music.
diagrammatiks
Well-Known Member
but not really because very few left handers actually play left handed.
the release of the prs se lefty makes me seriously think about becoming michale angelo ratio.
He's mostly playing the lefty side...but IMO things are a lot more interesting once he's playing the RH guitar RH near the 4 min mark.
MAB's technical skills are off the chart. He's like using a jackhammer to open a bag of potato crisps. So much potential and so much power, but only seemingly used to quickly mash a bunch of tasteless junk in an undeniably over-the-top display of theatrics. On some level, I love it, but generally, I find it difficult to take in large quantities. I mean, the above video, is like "Whoah! ... Wow! ... hmmm, wow, that's cool... okay, kind of abrasively repetitive..., man...that's tough to pull off, but why... this is difficult to watch." And it's not even his original music - the thing is that I think most of us really wanted to like MAB, but the whole schtick just didn't resonate with people.
On the other hand (I made a pun, haha), you also have Douchebag Maestro Alex Gregory - who's like you took Yngwie, got him drunk off his ass, then set his EQ to T+10 M-10 B+10 Gain +11 (IMO, DMAG has one or two moments where he has cool ideas, but his attitude is more than enough to negate those few moments). Anyone who rags too much on MAB should be threatened with having to endure a few minutes of DMAG.
diagrammatiks
Well-Known Member
plus once you are two handed tapping does it really matter.
@bostjan
also i kind of love mab's music. It sounds like somebody made the metal version of the Y's III soundtrack
I played this game so much this music is burned into my soul. MAB is another of those guys that's huge in japan.
@bostjan
also i kind of love mab's music. It sounds like somebody made the metal version of the Y's III soundtrack
I played this game so much this music is burned into my soul. MAB is another of those guys that's huge in japan.
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KnightBrolaire
Say yes to Chugs
He's mostly playing the lefty side...but IMO things are a lot more interesting once he's playing the RH guitar RH near the 4 min mark.
MAB's technical skills are off the chart. He's like using a jackhammer to open a bag of potato crisps. So much potential and so much power, but only seemingly used to quickly mash a bunch of tasteless junk in an undeniably over-the-top display of theatrics. On some level, I love it, but generally, I find it difficult to take in large quantities. I mean, the above video, is like "Whoah! ... Wow! ... hmmm, wow, that's cool... okay, kind of abrasively repetitive..., man...that's tough to pull off, but why... this is difficult to watch." And it's not even his original music - the thing is that I think most of us really wanted to like MAB, but the whole schtick just didn't resonate with people.
On the other hand (I made a pun, haha), you also have Douchebag Maestro Alex Gregory - who's like you took Yngwie, got him drunk off his ass, then set his EQ to T+10 M-10 B+10 Gain +11 (IMO, DMAG has one or two moments where he has cool ideas, but his attitude is more than enough to negate those few moments). Anyone who rags too much on MAB should be threatened with having to endure a few minutes of DMAG.
yeah if you watch any of his other videos he's playing righty. I remember reading an interview in guitar world where he said he's left handed but started learning right handed as a kid. He has ridiculous chops, especially for a johnny ramone lookalike. His dvds/lessons are actually pretty good and he seems to have a really good grasp on theory which is why I just laugh at how bad his songwriting is. He's basically the 80s version of rusty cooley imo.
Surveyor 777
I measure things
I'm a lefty that plays righty. Back when I started playing (late 80's) there were far fewer lefty guitars than there are now. Actually, in the shops I went to, I don't think there was a single lefty guitar. And remember, this was pre-Internet, so if you didn't see it in a store or in a magazine, it pretty much didn't exist.
But I don't know that I really have a dominant hand. I throw with my right hand, kick with my right foot, shoot a bow righty (since that's all we had growing up) but I shoot a gun lefty. I write lefty. I guess I just figured I didn't have a choice in guitars so if I wanted to learn to play I'd have to get a righty guitar.
But I don't know that I really have a dominant hand. I throw with my right hand, kick with my right foot, shoot a bow righty (since that's all we had growing up) but I shoot a gun lefty. I write lefty. I guess I just figured I didn't have a choice in guitars so if I wanted to learn to play I'd have to get a righty guitar.
ATOMICxTomato
Well-Known Member
Lefty playing a right handed guitar here. Main and only reason why i do is because it was what my brother had, since he was a righty. I never really was interested in it before and then i started messing around with it. Found out that my middle school gave free lessons after school and i started going, and thats when my love for it began. I was around 13 years old i think.
Mboogie7
When the fuck did we get ice cream?
Lefty playing lefty here. When i first started, employees at West Music, Guitar Center, etc, all told me i should play right handed as it would be beneficial, given my left handed dexterity. By that logic, right handed people should play left handed guitars. I was also annoyed with the fact that these people were kind of telling me how i should do things, simply because of my left handedness, so i refused to follow their logic and did it my way.
It ended up being really beneficial, because i later suffered an injury to my left hand that left me with decreased feeling, movement in my index finger, so i wouldn't be able to do bar chords, or several other things.
Also, given my approach to the instrument, i don't feel that i could ever have developed my right hand to be as accurate and precise when it comes to down picking / rhythm guitar, as my left hand is. The picking came very naturally to me at a pretty good speed, so it worked out in my favor.
I've always had somewhat of a bitter attitude towards this subject, not because i don't agree that it could be beneficial for a lefty to start out on a right handed guitar, but because many people (in my past experience, for example) blindly told me how i should do things just because that is considered the norm. If a lefty wants to learn on a right handed guitar, that is fantastic, but if they want to play left handed guitar, who is anyone to suggest otherwise? We're all unique and should embrace that.
As far as guitar availability, that is a downer for us haha. However companies are making more of an effort now, more so than ever, to accommodate the niche market that is a left handed guitar player.
It ended up being really beneficial, because i later suffered an injury to my left hand that left me with decreased feeling, movement in my index finger, so i wouldn't be able to do bar chords, or several other things.
Also, given my approach to the instrument, i don't feel that i could ever have developed my right hand to be as accurate and precise when it comes to down picking / rhythm guitar, as my left hand is. The picking came very naturally to me at a pretty good speed, so it worked out in my favor.
I've always had somewhat of a bitter attitude towards this subject, not because i don't agree that it could be beneficial for a lefty to start out on a right handed guitar, but because many people (in my past experience, for example) blindly told me how i should do things just because that is considered the norm. If a lefty wants to learn on a right handed guitar, that is fantastic, but if they want to play left handed guitar, who is anyone to suggest otherwise? We're all unique and should embrace that.
As far as guitar availability, that is a downer for us haha. However companies are making more of an effort now, more so than ever, to accommodate the niche market that is a left handed guitar player.
