Question For The Lefty Players

[Easton55]

Always wanted to ask this so I will; what made you decide to go against the norm and play left handed? And how did you decide to try it? I first started playing when I was 8, (and well past that now, haha) and have tried it a couple times and just can't make it feel right. I'm not knocking anyone who does play this way either, just asking how you came to making it work this way. Everyone I've known has always been taught or starting learning right handed, so was always curious how others got to lefty style.

 

[jack daniels]

Back when I started playing it just felt correct for me to play left handed as I am left handed in everything that counts. I've always been left handed, my father is left handed and my paternal grandfather was left handed. Left handed guitars were not plentiful back then so, for me it was righty guitars strung lefty ala Jimi Hendrix. Then later in life when the money got better, and guitar companies were all of the sudden taking more notice of lefties by making more lefty guitar models was I able to start a collection.

I understand Elliot Easton has quite a selection of lefty guitars When I was a teen and inquired about lefty guitars at the local music stores the common response w/o fail was, "we just so happen to have ---- guitar previously owned by Elliot Easton of The Cars that's for sale on consignment". And that's no lie, I seriously started to wonder if Elliot Easton had cornered the market on all left handed guitars as I heard his name more often than not when looking for lefty guitars.

It's sort of ironic that Gary Moore was a true southpaw but taught himself how to play right handed. Quality left handed guitars were not readily available or monetarily accessible for most in the U.K. at the time when Gary first started playing. It's also interesting to note that the most affordable guitar for many players of Gary's genre and prior started out with tele guitars as their main axe(s).

 

[Easton55]

Cool story! And I should have added, I myself am left handed, but do pretty much everything as a righty. Baseball, hockey, golf, guitar, all non left handed. I learned to play guitar the regular way, and never even thought about playing left handed.

 

[paul-e-mann]

I picked up a right handed guitar and started strumming it upside down, nobody corrected me or told me I was doing it wrong. By the time I realized it was too late!

 

[jack daniels]

Lefty just felt correct for me, and really had nothing to do with any conscious forethought.

 

[Bear R.]

Im like you Easton..Im a Lefty but do "most" things right handed..We're "now lets see if I can spell this" Amadextrious..

ps..get this..I used to write with both hands..exactly the same penmanship..exactly..then my teacher told me I wasn't allowed to do that in their school and was told to pick a hand..it was hard to decide..they both felt the same, so I picked left..im still pissed over that one..I might a been a killer 2 handed painter or something..oh well..i never did learn to write with my right hand again..bit**..ha,ha..

 

[jack daniels]

Im like you Easton..Im a Lefty but do "most" things right handed..We're "now lets see if I can spell this" Amadextrious..

ps..get this..I used to write with both hands..exactly the same penmanship..exactly..then my teacher told me I wasn't allowed to do that in their school and was told to pick a hand..it was hard to decide..they both felt the same, so I picked left..im still pissed over that one..I might a been a killer 2 handed painter or something..oh well..i never did learn to write with my right hand again..bit**..ha,ha..

Then you really should have turned out like this guy....

 

[Bear R.]

Ha,Ha..Ya your right JD..i probably should have..ha,ha..That's a funny Video man...

 

[jack daniels]

That could have been you Bear R. lol

 

[Las Palmas Norte]

Im like you Easton..Im a Lefty but do "most" things right handed..We're "now lets see if I can spell this" Amadextrious..

ps..get this..I used to write with both hands..exactly the same penmanship..exactly..then my teacher told me I wasn't allowed to do that in their school and was told to pick a hand..it was hard to decide..they both felt the same, so I picked left..im still pissed over that one..I might a been a killer 2 handed painter or something..oh well..i never did learn to write with my right hand again..bit**..ha,ha..

Humm ... Not quite sure how to categorize myself. Always played guitar right and that's the way my dad, who was right handed taught me. Many things I have a preference for using my left but it's not clearly that simple. I write right handed if I have more than a small note. For some reason I use my left hand for small notes and crosswords etc. The list is long so I won't bore you any longer.

Cheers

 

[Kidcotton]

I'm a guitar lefty. I write right handed, shoot a pistoal righty, but a rifle lefty. I play pool lefty. Basically if I use 2 hands, I'm a lefty. I don't think I had a choice. If (when) I pretended to play guitar on a tennis racquets as a kid - I did it lefty. This is the way I made sure my son was a righty before I bought him his first guitar - I gave him a tennis racquet and told him to rock out! If they don't know then you have a dilemma.

Steve.

 

[Biddlin]

Humm ... Not quite sure how to categorize myself. Always played guitar right and that's the way my dad, who was right handed taught me. Many things I have a preference for using my left but it's not clearly that simple. I write right handed if I have more than a small note. For some reason I use my left hand for small notes and crosswords etc. The list is long so I won't bore you any longer.

Cheers

Since ancient times, left-handedness has been a sign of evil or bad luck. The tendency for parents to reorient their sinister child's hand preference has been around just as long. In a practical sense, it is a right-handed world, whether we're talking M-14s or manual can openers, so adapting makes a lot of sense. Even more for guitarists, who want the widest list of options in guitars.

 

[ColorfulMusic]

Always wanted to ask this so I will; what made you decide to go against the norm and play left handed? And how did you decide to try it? I first started playing when I was 8, (and well past that now, haha) and have tried it a couple times and just can't make it feel right. I'm not knocking anyone who does play this way either, just asking how you came to making it work this way. Everyone I've known has always been taught or starting learning right handed, so was always curious how others got to lefty style.

Very simply, it feels natural. When you picked up a guitar I bet one way felt foreign and the other way felt right.
That it! Plain and simple. Any other analogy or psychoanalysis is pure bullshit!

 

[jack daniels]

Very simply, it feels natural. When you picked up a guitar I bet one way felt foreign and the other way felt right.
That it! Plain and simple. Any other analogy or psychoanalysis is pure bullshit!

!00% ceerect. I wholeheartedly endorse this statement.

 

[Bear R.]

I write right handed if I have more than a small note. For some reason I use my left hand for small notes and crosswords etc. The list is long so I won't bore you any longer.

Cheers

That's too cool Norte..Very cool story man..and no, not boring at all..Kinda Interesting really..