Left handed kids - teach them to play right handed?

Fuengi · October 2020

Bit of a thing with this at school at the moment with my son and a friend being southpaw.

School music teacher says play right handed, I agree. Mums say they they think that's wrong but don't play.

Bigger issues in the world at the moment I know.

What do you say?

Winny_Pooh · October 2020

Didnt hurt Knopler, Gary Moore not Steve Morse. I'd say have them try right handed and see how they take to it according to the school teacher's experience.

WiresDreamDisasters · October 2020

Play left handed. Make more interesting and better players.

brucegill · October 2020

I can’t believe they actually recommend that in this day and age?!

They’re left handed. Play left handed.

stratman3142 · October 2020

I'm left handed and play right handed. I'd say give right handed a good try first. I'm glad I started that way as there are more options when buying guitars. Swap if the learner really can't get on with it.

Cols · October 2020

I’m left handed but play right handed, because when I started I only had access to a right handed guitar. By the time I had money to actually buy one of my own, I’d progressed too far and it would have meant effectively having to retrain my brain. I’m not a terrible player, but I do wonder if I would have been better if I’d learned left handed from the start.

Playing guitar requires dexterity from both hands; I think it ended up with the dominant hand picking because a lot of rhythm and expressivity comes from how you strike the string. But then you’ve got the poor old non-dominant hand doing all the vibrato, legato and the dreaded barre chords.

Back to the kids - they’ll probably do fine right handed, but better to go left handed from the beginning if possible. Being an old cynic, I suspect the music teacher wants them to play right handed for the same reason I’ve ended up right handed; too much of a pain in the neck to source left handed instruments for them.

Fuengi · October 2020

brucegill said:

I can’t believe they actually recommend that in this day and age?!

They’re left handed. Play left handed.

It's probably harmless enough. Let's not go too Markle about it, it's not like they are not enforcing slavery or anything, just suggesting kids try things out a different way.

Brad · October 2020

I’m also a lefty that plays righty as that’s what felt most comfortable when holding a guitar for the first time, I instinctively went right handed. I vividly remember being asked to try it the other way because I’m left handed, but that felt way more awkward, so I stuck with right handed. Seriously, just hold the guitar the wrong

way round for you, then imagine having to learn from that starting point. It’s doable of course, plenty of examples of that. But why make life harder?

In my experience, go with what feels comfortable for the kids. I have my suspicions but I’d love to know the music teacher’s reasoning for wanting them to play right handed if it goes against what is comfortable for them.

If possible get them the sit with a guitar right handed and to fret even just one note. Then do the same thing but sat left handed. Their reaction will tell you (and them) everything you need to know.

soma1975 · October 2020

I'm a lefty that plays righty. It makes no difference which hand you lead with so don't limit their options for guitars and make them pay over the odds all their life and look weird to everyone else with their mirror guitars and not be able to pick up other people's guitars.

WiresDreamDisasters · October 2020

soma1975 said:

I'm a lefty that plays righty. It makes no difference which hand you lead with so don't limit their options for guitars and make them pay over the odds all their life and look weird to everyone else with their mirror guitars and not be able to pick up other people's guitars.

This is your experience. It's not mine. So "it makes no difference.... etc etc" is not truth, it's just opinion.

My experience is that I tried to learn right handed initially, and really struggled. Then I got a left handed strat copy, and became a badassmotherfucker.

And the options for guitars these days are very good for left handed players.

Forcing a kid to play right handed when they might be more comfortable playing left handed, is just going to result in them giving it up quickly and getting into making synthwave.

monquixote · October 2020

I'm a lefty who plays righty.

Just let them try it and swap if they struggle.

breezytele · October 2020

Let them follow their instinctive grasp of the instrument
yes, plenty of lefties play right handed, but they’re simply comfortable that way.

if they’re coerced into playing the wrong/uncomfortable way, they’ll give up..

sammysaber · October 2020

Another convert here - as a young teen had to have a Gibson Flying V (Chandler's sent a letter saying they could make one). Guitar teacher at school said given how crap I was, might as well go right handed. All good but a few years later when shred was everything, there was a Gary Moore interview where he said that due to switching hands, he found it more difficult to do bla bla - that really stuck in my mind for a while thinking what a mistake I made - not having the wisdom that practice and graft was needed rather than blaming my deficiencies on the switch.

I think the important thing here was that it was my choice.

As above, at worst they can switch back and be the next Jimi.

Best,

Sammy

Rich210 · October 2020

I think it's different for everyone but there should be options for kids to try and get a sense of what's right for them.

I'm a bit all over the place with my handedness. Left hand writing, right hand guitar, right arm throwing, left hand batting, right arm serving, left hand flicking, left hand table tennis, right arm punching etc.

I think you can learn to improve your handedness but the key thing is enjoyment in learning. So if kids feel more comfortable with one way or another they should go with that. It's a really good question to be thinking about, maybe get him a uke and restring it left and right and see which he prefers?

Teachers shouldn't dictate against natural inclination.

axisus · October 2020

stratman3142 said:

I'm left handed and play right handed. I'd say give right handed a good try first. I'm glad I started that way as there are more options when buying guitars. Swap if the learner really can't get on with it.

100% right for me.

Just go anywhere and check the (not very good) selection of left handed guitars. They will thank you for it in later life if they keep it up!

soma1975 · October 2020

WiresDreamDisasters said:

soma1975 said:

I'm a lefty that plays righty. It makes no difference which hand you lead with so don't limit their options for guitars and make them pay over the odds all their life and look weird to everyone else with their mirror guitars and not be able to pick up other people's guitars.

This is your experience. It's not mine. So "it makes no difference.... etc etc" is not truth, it's just opinion.

My experience is that I tried to learn right handed initially, and really struggled. Then I got a left handed strat copy, and became a badassmotherfucker.

And the options for guitars these days are very good for left handed players.

Forcing a kid to play right handed when they might be more comfortable playing left handed, is just going to result in them giving it up quickly and getting into making synthwave.

Alright mate, just a bit of fun. Sorry that everyone laughs at your back to front guitar.

benecol · October 2020

I'm the only right hander in my house. Everyone pretty fiercely southpaw (my wife's the same age as me, so grew up with the classic correct left-handedness at all costs thing). But I've always been lead to believe that, because guitar is pretty difficult for both hands, it's one of those things that it's fine for left handers to do right handed. Plus there'll be plenty more (and cheaper) guitars to choose from.

Kilgore · October 2020

Brad said:

I’m also a lefty that plays righty as that’s what felt most comfortable when holding a guitar for the first time, I instinctively went right handed. I vividly remember being asked to try it the other way because I’m left handed, but that felt way more awkward, so I stuck with right handed. Seriously, just hold the guitar the wrong
way round for you, then imaging having to learn from that starting point. It’s doable of course, plenty of examples of that. But why make life harder?

I'm inclined to agree with this. I'm a lefty who plays right handed. Holding the guitar lefty just didn't feel right.

jmf1928 · October 2020

Lefty here. I play righty and prefer it. I’d rather have my dominant hand fretting than picking. Also much easier to buy and sell gear, which is the inevitable outcome for all of us guitar players.

yorkio · October 2020

benecol said:

Plus there'll be plenty more (and cheaper) guitars to choose from.

Just look at the classifieds here - 389 pages of right-handed guitars to wade through compared to two pages of lefties - and half of those ads are WTBs! Scrolling to the bottom of the first page of the main Guitars FS page takes you back to 20 September while the bottom ad of the lefties is from July 2018!

lysander · October 2020

Worth noting that pretty much all other instruments are played the same way by right and left handed people, there’s no such thing as a left handed piano or violin or saxophone.
My wife is an excellent pianist and cellist and is left handed. One of my kids is left handed and will most likely be learning instruments in standard handedness including guitar if he feels like learning it.

Vibetronic · October 2020

I tend to let them stick with their dominant hand...but I do tell their parents that instrument choice is a lot easier later on if they learn right-handed! One thing I've found is that one of two of the left-handers find chord boxes really hard to read...there's a couple of sites which have printouts of the open chords for left-handers which is quite useful for them (they are very young though!).

WiresDreamDisasters · October 2020

soma1975 said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

soma1975 said:

I'm a lefty that plays righty. It makes no difference which hand you lead with so don't limit their options for guitars and make them pay over the odds all their life and look weird to everyone else with their mirror guitars and not be able to pick up other people's guitars.

This is your experience. It's not mine. So "it makes no difference.... etc etc" is not truth, it's just opinion.

My experience is that I tried to learn right handed initially, and really struggled. Then I got a left handed strat copy, and became a badassmotherfucker.

And the options for guitars these days are very good for left handed players.

Forcing a kid to play right handed when they might be more comfortable playing left handed, is just going to result in them giving it up quickly and getting into making synthwave.

Alright mate, just a bit of fun. Sorry that everyone laughs at your back to front guitar.

Alright Emp_Soma, chillout!

clarkefan · October 2020

WiresDreamDisasters said:

soma1975 said:

I'm a lefty that plays righty. It makes no difference which hand you lead with so don't limit their options for guitars and make them pay over the odds all their life and look weird to everyone else with their mirror guitars and not be able to pick up other people's guitars.

This is your experience. It's not mine. So "it makes no difference.... etc etc" is not truth, it's just opinion.

My experience is that I tried to learn right handed initially, and really struggled. Then I got a left handed strat copy, and became a badassmotherfucker.

And the options for guitars these days are very good for left handed players.

Forcing a kid to play right handed when they might be more comfortable playing left handed, is just going to result in them giving it up quickly and getting into making synthwave.

Agreed.

I was on the other end of this question, the person wanting to play guitar, who happened to be left handed. I tried the guitar both ways and lefty felt natural so I went with it.

I'm not sure why examples from the past have anything to do with what's "right" for a lefty beginner now.

Roland · October 2020

There’s been some research done on this. Some left handers can play right handed relatively easily. Some can’t. It depends how their brains work. When I was learning left handed instruments were rare. I remember making the conscious decision to play right handed, and realising that it would move me away from being ambidextrous.

Let the child decide which it finds more comfortable.

rockinmark · October 2020

Carl Brown spoke about this topic in one of his ask Carl videos. His advice is to learn right handed. Remember one of his points was the limited number of good quality lefty guitars available.

jpfamps · October 2020

A friend who is left-handed was asked "have you ever seen a left-handed piano?" at his first guitar lesson as a kid!

Equally, I know a few left-handed players who have tried playing right-handed and not gone on with it.

Given that it seems far easier to put someone off playing an instrument rather than encouraging them (and gawd knows learning an instrument is hard enough at the best of time), I suspect it is better to go with whatever feels more comfortable; the problem of finding left-handed instruments in the future is a hypothetical problem at the moment.

Incidentally Wilko Johnson and Barrie Cadogan are also left-handers who play right-handed.

Wilko Johnson says his style of playing came about because of this as he found it impossible to play with a pick, which he attributes to the fact he was trying to hold it in his "wrong" hand.

dtr · October 2020

jpfamps said:

A friend who is left-handed was asked "have you ever seen a left-handed piano?" at his first guitar lesson as a kid!

Equally, I know a few left-handed players who have tried playing right-handed and not gone on with it.

Given that it seems far easier to put someone off playing an instrument rather than encouraging them (and gawd knows learning an instrument is hard enough at the best of time), I suspect it is better to go with whatever feels more comfortable; the problem of finding left-handed instruments in the future is a hypothetical problem at the moment.

Incidentally Wilko Johnson and Barrie Cadogan are also left-handers who play right-handed.

Wilko Johnson says his style of playing came about because of this as he found it impossible to play with a pick, which he attributes to the fact he was trying to hold it in his "wrong" hand.

I'm actually quite interested in why I've never seen a left-handed piano (or keyboard). Drummers who set their kit up reversed for left-handedness are rarer than hens' teeth, though that's a pretty simple matter of choice with no special kit needed. Left-handed violins exist but don't seem to be as demanded or widely used as left handed guitars. Cars are 'handed' only based on the convention of which side of the road we drive on, but we don't hear much about how that privileges or discriminates against lefties or righties. Guitar does seem to be the statistical outlier.

Should there be left handed pianos? Or left handed cars for that matter?

Disclaimer: I'm left handed and it never really occurred to me that I needed a left handed piano, car or guitar and I've always been a bit bemused by handedness of things that need both hands. Shaped handles on one-handed tools (e.g. scissors) bug the hell out of me though.

GuyBoden · October 2020

Make all the right handed people play left handed guitars. See how they like it.

LastMantra · October 2020

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Play left handed. Make more interesting and better players.

I actually agree. Suppose it depends on what you want to do. Some people aren't really interested in making interesting music.

roberty · October 2020

Another lefty who plays right-handed here. A deliberate choice because I didn't want to live in a world full of guitars I couldn't play. Robert Fripp is a lefty who plays right-handed and it doesn't seem to have diminished his interestingness. That bit happens in your brain. Bob Balch is another. There's loads. As long as you can keep a rhythm with your non-dominant hand

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Left handed kids - teach them to play right handed?

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