Advice for left handed guitar players

Should you get a left-handed instrument? I answer this question and more.

You can tell I made this video awhile ago since I'm talking about in-person lessons. I quit doing that months ago. I still teach via Skype.

Did this video help you? Buy me a coffee and show your support!

More free lessons

Want Skype lessons?

Buy Jamie's music

[misfit]

I'm a lefty and my teacher is right handed. She strums her right hand while I strum my left. And it's easy to learn because if your a lefty, you have a higher chance to learn because you're facing your teacher. Why? Because the guitars are facing in the same direction. It's just the strumming that is different. You'll get this mirror feeling, like you are really learning from a mirror.

[julianmorris]

I’m an extreme lefty and when I started learning right handed people told me learn to play right handed because there’s more choice, I found it impossible to even hold the guitar right handed ☹️ soon as I got a lefty it felt great and half the battle 😄
I remember being in school and teachers trying to make me write in an exercise book the “correct way up”😂 they just couldn’t comprehend how the hell my writing was so good with the book at “that angle “😂
Play the way god made you I say because there’s a ton of left handed guitars available now👍😄✌️

[frankperry]

Hi Jamie. I love your videos and I can see you are a great teacher. I am what I consider to be a true lefty. I was given my 1st guitar as a present on my 13th birthday in March 1964 one month after The Beatles 1st Ed Sullivan Show appearance. My parents didn't realize I was left handed so when I was presented with the guitar (a sears silvertone) I turned it upside down and the strings were wrong. I switched the strings around and the guitar was never in true tune. I had to someday finally get custom lefty guitars to get the ones that stayed true to tune. The hand we pick or strum with is the hand that determines whether we are right or left handed. Even though my left hand is dominant, it is natural for me to use my right hand to form chords or play up and down the neck of the guitar. Left handed guitar players are largely discriminated against because righty's are so dominating and so much so that righty guitars are in the shops by the thousands compared to just a very few true lefty made guitars. Many left handed kids go on to play righty just for the fact that lefty guitars are hard to find. I was in England years ago and in London I found a shop that had a whole giant wall of custom lefty guitars and the owners told me Paul McCartney had endorsed them in providing this huge amount of lefty guitars. In the USA they just sell lefty kids a righty and if they are just beginning maybe it doesn't matter so much because either way of playing is awkward at first for anyone trying to learn. Bill Staines plays an upside down righty without changing the strings around. I wish I could do that, but I had to change the strings for a true lefty setup. You are right that a righty guitar is designed for a righty player. Any upside down righty guitar I ever had with the strings switched around I could never tune true. I got my first true lefty at Rudy's in NYC in 1982. I still play that guitar almost every day and sometimes I pick it up a day or 2 later and it's still in tune. I have 6 true lefty's and am just about to receive my first true lefty 12 string. It's a Martin ready to be shipped to me this week. I am very proud to stick to my true lefty playing. I play or did play at a lot of open mics and hopefully when we beat back this pandemic we'll be able to perform at public gatherings again. I have a Kinks song that has become my personal anthem: I'm Not Like Everybody Else. It was the B side of Sunny Afternoon. The B side is the gem of the 2, my opinion. I love the extra attention I get from groupie's when they discover, I'm not like every other right handed guitar player. I love you Jamie and I would recommend your youtube lessons and videos to everyone I meet and I am doing so as I go. Not putting down you righty's but lefties ARE discriminated against big time.

[bospivey]

Any idea why the argument “your left hand will be used fretting, which is the more complicated part” is used, when all right hand guitarist use their left hand to fret? If what you and others say is true, then why don’t right handed people play guitars the opposite way? I think the answer is simple. Your dominant hand being your strumming/picking hand is much more important, as it holds the rhythm.

[bw]

Three places you can for sure find left handed guitars are Ebay, Amazon, and Southpaw Guitars in TX, who does shipping.

[MichaelFontana]

I throw right-handed. I remember being told to write right-handed by nuns in catholic school in first grade, even though I could write equally well with either hand. I tried playiing guitar right-handed, but just couldn't do it. I do most things I've learned myself left-handed. Why anyone would force someone left-handed to play an instrument right-handed is beyond belief. So biased!!

[zvikamark]

I am a lefty drummer 66 years old. This means the the option on stage are limited.since most sets are set up for the opossite side. however if you are leftie you should play any instrument on your strongest side. This is connected to the Brain fucntion.

[mightymike]

If you naturally air guitar left handed. You should probably go with a left handed instrument! If you played guitar hero left handed you should play a left handed guitar!

[krisbarry]

I just ran into you at the Ottawa guitar store shopping for my first left handed guitar. I get home and search for left-handed guitar lessons and there you are!

[karenruby]

You never hear anyone saying that a right-handed person should play left-handed because the fretting hand is more complicated and so they should fret with their right hand. I think you should do what comes naturally and what is most comfortable. When you pick up a guitar generally you will naturally hold it left or right. If it seems to make no difference, then play right since there are more right-handed guitars out there.

[brendachristopher]

I'm a 65 year old beginner, I tried right handed first and switched to left handed. I had no rhythm in in right hand. If you're not sure which way to play, pay attention to what hand you use tap to a piece of music, that's your dominate rhythm hand and the one you should use for strumming. I took violin and I have no problem forming chords with either hand. My left handed brother always played right handed.

[richardpalmer]

I'm a lefty who plays righty. I started playing guitar as a teenager in the 80s. There weren't any left handed guitars in my neck of the woods so your only choice is to play a right handed guitar. Which is fine for strumming chords but if you want to progress to guitar solos, quick riffs etc, that's where it gets hard. I found, I had to really work on my pick hand dexterity, strength and stamina. My 2 handed synch, fretting etc would then improve. Pick hand leads the fret hand, it's never the other way round. If you're a lefty beginner, you've got a lot of options today. Get yourself a lefty guitar, you'll progress further faster.

[iki_ru]

I'm born lefty naturally but I actually feel the playing right handed because I somehow thought that playing right handed is better because my fretting hand which is my hand and also my dominant hand has more control and strength to fret the strings but unfortunately my right hand is for the strumming and picking which I also feel natural about it. Considering it's the weak or non-dominant it gaves the advantage to strumm because my strumming looks smooth but when I tried my left hand to strum it felt like it's hard like it's not flexible. I notice that some born right handers are having a hard time with their fretting because their left hand is not their dominant hand but the good thing is they have the better strumming techniques and control... to finish all of this. It all starts with the process.. If you want play left handed or right handed go for it as long as you have the passion to grind for it

[BadassBrutusGuitar]

Hi Jamie.... did you see the stage guitars of good ol' Tommy Emmanuel? LOL
I think most guitars are perfectly suited for restringing for left handed.... I've seen great left handed guitar players playing on right handed stringed guitars.... that's because they learned it on a right handed...
Great video my dear....

[montaguehwilliam]

I'm a natural southpaw, but have played right handed instruments for 60 years. I don't think lefty instruments even existed in 1960. For left handed-who've-never-played beginners I suggest right handed instruments: It's going to feel awkward and difficult when you start, so does it really matter whether it's left or right handed? I doubt that getting used to playing right handed would be much more difficult. Also, chord charts and teachers are probably right handed. I totally agree about the natural advantage of lefties playing righty. The fine motor control is probably much better with the left hand.

[madmusicianmagician]

Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain were both actually right handed and decided to play left.

I'm right handed and I'm bored from playing right handed after a year, I plan on getting a left handed acoustic, I think my rhythm and picking patterns will evolve more musically inclined.

[shaiderblack]

I'm lefthanded and playing right handed guitar but my strumming is weak and can't even hold well the pick

[Biergeliebter]

When I went to get my first guitar (at Abinante's in Monterey, CA) the clerk told me to close my eyes and play air guitar. I bought their 1 left handed guitar.

[gotv]

i played right handed for a few months now, i can do chords really well but my right hand has trouble using a pick, i can do strumming patterns but i find it really hard to do fingerstyle while when i tried picking and strumming with my left i immediately got used to doing it but my fretting hand is my non dominant making it really hard to do chords, should i switch to a lefty for the long run or should just continue with my progress?

[phile]

Definitely experiment both ways and go with what feels best. Normal hand dominance doesn't necessarily mean that is how you should play. You may be better strumming or fretting with your normally dominant hand.

I'm a right handed lefty player. I need my normally dominant hand to fret, so I play left handed. Some people need their normally dominant hand to strum, so they play that way.

For some people, it doesn't matter. They should play right handed. Play the way that FEELS best. Unless the difference between both ways is negligible.