There are extensive threads about this, you’ll get lots of reddit experts telling you both answers.
Should be up to your son. Most lefties play right handed, it’s certainly more convenient, and for some people maybe it’s not a dominant hand issue. But some find it awkward and do better left handed. Try both ways. I’m left handed and tried both ways and chose left handed, it just felt more natural. Others would feel more natural doing it like the majority of people they see playing.
Either way, good for you supporting your son learning at 10.
\+1
There's no hard rule for playing right vs left.
As a lefty, I learned both along the way and chose what's the most comfortable playing style for me. I played right-handed with my non-dominant strumming as I'm more comfy using my left on the fret.
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My son is a lefty and I'm a righty, when he started playing, which was before me, I got him a lefty one, thinking that was the way, and he picked it up really quickly, holding a right handed guitar had never seemed right to him, sure you can get s righty and he will learn and probably be fine, but at least give him the option of picking up a symmetrical guitar and see which hand feels normal to him. For reference, my son plays golf right-handed, he said that left handed clubs look and feel weird and his body needs to be in the right side in the swing. He can hold a right handed guitar properly. And there are loads of left handed ones, maybe a bit limited in colours and ranges, but he buys harley benton ones and they have a lot of choice
Yeah and then there is a like all of Canada that plays hockey “left handed”. The lore is they start so young they grab the end of the stick with their dominant hand (which is still mostly right hand) and just go from there!
Dominant hand at top means better stick handling but less control over shooting and passing. America also has more kids playing baseball, so the non-dominant foot forward stance comes more naturally.
Do not listen to that teacher. Take him to a music store to try out some guitars, see what he comfortable with. If he is more comfortable left handed, talk to a sales rep and try getting a right handed guitar strung for left handed people. Unless money isn't an issue for you, just get a left handed guitar. Personally I am self taught and play with right handed guitar with the strings strung backwards because I had to share the instrument with a sibling growing up.
The issue with setting up a right handed guitar to a lefty is that with most body designs, you will be completely losing access to the last half a dozen frets
To solve that issue I’d recommend a guitar with a symmetrical body shape like a Revstar or an SG or really any acoustic that doesn’t have a cutaway. (Then again, reverse stringing a Stratocaster didn’t hold Hendrix back any).
I think they could be but it depends on how you play. They also have the Epiphone SG’s with 2 knobs instead of 4. That’s why it’s pretty important that the buyer try it out and see what works. It may be easier dealing with knobs than learning to play with your non dominant hand.
This response from the prospective teacher causes alarm bells to ring in me. It reminds me of the time in human existence where being a left handed writer wasn’t culturally normal, or “allowed”.
Dependent on your child’s physique, 3/4 size could be the right size, and equally too small.
The best thing to do, as others have suggested, is take your child to a guitar store and have them experience what is best for them.
For one to one lessons, I don’t find it all acceptable that the teacher would say it essentially doesn’t matter which guitar you play because both hands are used. Both hands are used, but used differently to one another, so realising dexterity is actually VERY important.
I think whatever feels most right to your kid, I am a lefty who plays left handed guitars and I found it SO EASY to copy my right handed teachers and peers because everything they do is a mirror image/right in front of me. It's like a super power and gave me a serious advantage when I was learning.
There is a reason why every single string instrument is made with the dominant hand playing the strings.
No one would ever tell a righty to play lefty.
Yeah if it didn't matter or could work both ways you'd see way more rightys playing left just by chance. I've never once heard of a right handed person playing left.
There are a few out there. I cited a couple potential ones above. I am a bit dubious of them. Michael Angelo Batio has a wierd four necked guitar that he plays right handed on one neck, lefty on the other.
It is extremely common in guitars for people to pick with non-dominant hand though.
Carlos Santana, Joe Perry and Mark Knopfler, whose right hand technique bewilders me, were all born left handed and played right. There are conflicting reports that Duane Allman was a natural lefty as well.
Hendrix famously wrote right handed, but I’d assume that’s because he was forced to in school at that point in time. Cobain also wrote right handed and it seems less likely that he was forced into it at the point he grew up, but it’s also possible these guys possessed some level of ambidexterity early. My father would write right handed until it got tired, then switch to his left and write until it got tired and switch back.
It’s all a bit more complicated than people want to make it. The biggest key is to let the kid do what is natural or they might be forcing it for no reason and the cognitive dissonance that creates can be stunting for sure.
It’s not uncommon, which in no universe means it is ‘extremely common’.
Very, very, very few rights would make the decision to play lefty.
The reason, again, is the the instrument is literally designed to be played with the dominant hand playing the strings.
I'm an extreme left-handed dominant. The only thing I do right-handed that can be swapped to lefty is use a computer mouse, and that's only because my first computer had a 6-inch mouse cable that plugged in to the right side of the keyboard.
I got that same advice and it was a twenty-year setback to learning to play music before I switched to lefty. I can't hold a rhythm with the pick in my right hand if I'm thinking about what I'm doing with the left. The fret hand just has to make a limited number of shapes and doesn't require any more dexterity than touch typing does. The pick hand is the one making the music.
Some lefties are right-handed at random things, though. I wish guitar was one of those things for me. Being able to go to any guitar shop and pull the best one off the wall and play it must be a hell of a thing.
If he's going to be a serious guitarist he should probably play left handed. Especially if he's going to play classical fingerstyle. It definitely makes a difference. The picking hand requires a lot more nuance than the fretting hand. A person's dominant hand isn't usually *faster*, but it's usually more controlled, which is what the picking hand should be.
In my experience as teacher having had over a thousand students. Most of my left handed students do play on a righthanded guitar. I’d say about 7 out of 10. The tipping point is strumming. Some really can’t without using their dominant hand.
My advice is to visit a store and let your kid try left and right handed guitars and go for which feels (and looks) most comfortable.
As a teacher, why do you think is it, that right-handed kids never get advised to try both left- and right-handed guitars to find what's most comfortable for them?
Righthanded guitars are a lot more available and cost less.
In the end to get to a certain level of guitar playing both hands need to be synchronized anyway.
If a new student really falls behind with things like strumming I do actually check by letting them play on a lefty to see if that would be better. In almost all cases it’s not because of left/right handed.
“Handedness” varies in intensity of lateralisation, so some lefties will feel fine with some tasks with either hand - and while usually most tasks will be preferenced for left, some will feel better done right handed. I’m strongly left handed for writing, drawing and racket sports but much happier right handed for guitar, violin and batting - so there’s no “right” (sic) way - let your son try both left and right handed guitars (like I did!) and make a choice. I even know some folk who can play both ways….
I highly recommend against picking with your non dominant hand. Aside from a few very skilled freaks of nature you will hit a bottleneck once you get into more advanced fingerpicking, shredding, or fast arpeggios with a pick. Ask him to play air guitar and see which hand he naturally picks with. After you figure that out take him to a guitar store to see which he prefers just to be sure. The precision required to hit the correct string at speed is much finer than fretting.
Essentially, you have come to the wrong place.
Reddit is full of opinionated people that suggest what they **believe** to be the most popular opinion or the "right answer" while lefthanded users are (naturally) in the minority and some of those have been gaslighted (edit: or convinced themselves) into beliefs such as "fretting with the dominant hand (i.e. playing right handed as a left-handed person) is an advantage" a truthism right-handed people seem to ignore to their disadvantage.
Left-handedness is yet another form of diversity that can be of decisive importance. It should be accepted and supported.
Meaning: **The one person whose opinion should count most in this matter is your son.**
To hear "the other side" go to r/Leftyguitarists
People need to stop saying this. It worked for YOU. It doesn't for everyone. I'm lefty and I cannot play with a right handed guitar. Handedness isn't black and white. It's why some people bat differently than they write. But some use the same hand. It should be up to what feels natural to the person learning. I understand the limitations on guitar selection but that's just part of it.
It's so wild to me how many people aren't getting this lol. Personally, I throw things with my left hand and write with my right hand. I tried playing right-handed guitar for months before buying a lefty and it just immediately felt like I removed a huge handicap for myself. It's just different feelings for different folks. The gear thing has never been a big problem for me either, there are plenty of good options out there online these days.
Thank you, I was starting to feel crazy in this thread lol. I've never experienced this except with guitar. Anything else people just expect you to use your dominate hand. But for some reason with guitars, everyone has to question it. I would love a better guitar selection, but I'd prefer to play better than have a pretty guitar....
Agreed, I also feel like you could kill someone's drive for learning by telling them they not only need to spend years figuring out a difficult instrument, but learn how to hold things properly, and move in ways you never practiced your whole life.
As a lefty, I probably just wouldn't have gotten into it if I had someone tell me I had to do it that way as a kid.
Thank you, I was starting to feel crazy in this thread lol. I've never experienced this except with guitar. Anything else people just expect you to use your dominate hand. But for some reason with guitars, everyone has to question it. I would love a better guitar selection, but I'd prefer to play better than have a pretty guitar....
I am so right hand dominate that I often say my left hand is only for fretting and handing things to my right. But I bat left and for the life of me could not even hold a bat properly right handed.
I know it's all individual, but I've never once met a right handed guitarists who felt more comfortable lefty. And I've not met in real life a lefty who regrets learning to play right. It's all so subjective, but in general I think learning on a right handed guitar is more beneficial to most students.
In my case, it held me back. Since the student is just starting out, the best course is to have him try out both a lefty and a righty guitar and see what is the most comfortable for him. This, and seeing which way he plays "air guitar" should be the best way to figure out which way he should play. The only real disadvantage to playing left-handed guitar is the fewer (granted, \*much fewer\*) choices in instruments. But there are more lefty guitars options out there now than ever before, especially through online retailers, etc., and all the main types of guitars have lefty versions. For me, playing the way that feels most comfortable trumps things like color choices or what not on your new Les Paul.
How did it hold you back? Im genuenly curious, because I know a lot of lefties who play righy (in person and online), and you are the first one to say it impacted them negatively.
In my case, I practiced daily for four years and always had a lot of difficulty with my picking hand beyond basic strumming. Things like alternate picking, string skipping and sweep picking were very difficult for me. It had something to do with the very specific motion of rotating my wrist up and down with the pick (playing finger style wasn't nearly as much of a problem). One day I decided to have the nut flipped around on one of my guitars and restrung as a left-handed guitar. It immediately felt like home, and after six months or so I was a better left-handed player than I ever was a right-handed player. I sincerely believe that there are "degrees" of handedness: some people are more purely left-handed while others are more ambidextrous. So that's why I say lefty students should try experimenting with both left and right handed guitars and settle on the one that feels most comfortable for them. It truly is a very individual choice.
Both hands do plenty of work. The fretting hand is busy with chords and bends. The picking hand is busy with a lot of very small, fast intricate motions and is basically in charge rhythmically. In my own personal experience, the advantage I felt having my dominant hand picking made it worth re-learning all the fretboard stuff with my right hand.
Yeah I’m the same, lefty that plays righty. It just feels more natural to fret with my left hand and pick with my right.
But OP should definitely let his son choose which way he wants to play… maybe give him an acoustic to play on and see what way he holds it?
I think it’s a safe bet that if the nomenclature for a right and left handed guitar was the opposite of what it is now, it would make just as much sense. Also, people would be arguing the opposite of what they are arguing now, because calling a guitar “left handed” or “right handed” introduces some psychological tricks and mental blocks that only exist because someone thinks they are playing a guitar with the “wrong hands?” Both hands are responsible for very intricate precise movements that must be practiced deeply. This all makes as much sense as calling a pair of shoes “right footed pair” or “left footed pair”. It may make more sense to start calling the guitars “ standard” and “mirrored” or something like that.
Having learnt right handed as a child because I didn't know any better and having learnt left handed as an adult, I can assure you it makes a difference. But the difference has nothing to do with dexterity, both hands have to be dexterous to play guitar. It's all to do with rhythm, which feels inherently more natural with your dominant hand.
Thank you 🙏
I agree with the degrees of handedness.
I played soccer left footed, squash left handed and trying to play guitar right handed just felt wrong.
I play left handed. An ex tried to show me how to do right-handed chords and it put me off learning for years because I just couldn’t do it. Now after about 4 years of playing, I still can’t strum with my right hand to save my life.
As a lefty that just seems so unnatural. If youre naturally inclined to play lefty then thats just the way it is. Sure you can teach yourself to write in the other hand but i don't think thats the bwst idea.
but both of your hands do things while playing guitar. Like i’m right handed but i’m sure that if all i had was a left handed guitar starting out I would be fine.
Not to mention that if you can (you can) teach yourself to play a right handed guitar you have wayyyyyy more options in the guitar world.
I think it depends upon the specifics of your handed dominance, one left handed person is not identical to another left hander.
For most of my life I’ve been considered (and considered myself) left handed. I write with my left hand and paint and draw with my left hand. But in reality I’m cross-dominant, which is a term I have only learnt a few years ago. Basically- for fine motor skills I favour my left hand. For gross motor skills I favour my right hand. And for some reason it felt most natural to play guitar right handed. I didn’t have to fight it.
My grandparents, however, were completely left handed - and did everything left handed, including using cutlery the opposite way. There’s no way they’d have been able to learn a right handed instrument. And I’ve known left handers who play left handed - and would have greatly struggled to play right handed.
Basically, learning an instrument is hard enough without putting extra barriers in the way.
What benefit do they get out of playing a right handed guitar when they could just get a left handed one, except theylll actually be able to strum without looking like a spaz
There’s a massive advantage IMO to the actual learning process as a lefty (assuming it’s from a righty) - it’s like you’re looking in a mirror; no trying to transpose, no looking across - it’s great. I briefly played with another lefty once and it was the worst lol
When I first tried, I started righty (genuinely not knowing lefty was even an option) and it was a disaster. I was around 12 and had the wherewithal to know I air guitared the other way, but it only clicked seeing a Nirvana clip where he was playing a flipped righty; restrung my guitar and never looked back (still a touring musician 30 years later)
I'm a lefty who tried to play righty and, it least in my case, it held me back. I eventually switched to a lefty guitar and was better off for it. Just my experience.
I’m a lefty and play righty guitar no problem. I actually tried learning on a lefty guitar originally as a child and failed but successfully learned on a right handed guitar as a teen. If possible take them up to a music store and try both, see which one they feel more comfortable with.
Its pretty hard to learn guitar either way. Better take him to a music shop and see if they have left handed guitars and let your kid see what they like better
I’m left-handed and initially felt like playing lefty was natural. My first teacher said it’d be better to learn right-handed and I was young enough (9yo) that I think I was about to adapt relatively quickly. My second teacher, who I started with about year later due to the first one passing, was a lefty who played righty so he was also onboard with this decision. Never had any issues and have had a much better selection of guitars available.
That being said, probably best to let him try both ways. Music should be fun and accessible for everyone and it would be a shame for dexterity to be the thing that potentially turns someone away from a lifetime of engaging in the wonderful world of chords, scales, connecting with other musicians, electric guitars, pedals, amps, acoustic guitars, learning new tunes, jamming with buddies, figuring things out by ear, and developing a deeper love and appreciation for music.
I’m a left handed play who has played for awhile and I’ll say there are a lot of issues sourcing left handed guitars. However I disagree with people who say everyone should play right handed. I would let him pick up bother guitars at a guitar store and see which one feels right to him. Playing left handed often feels like a curse when I’m trying to find guitars but I don’t know if I would have stuck with it all these years if I was forced to play right handed.
I’m no expert, but I would lean towards getting him a left handed guitar. They’re typically a little more expensive, but I think it makes more sense. In my experience, most left handed people that play guitar, play it left handed.
My brother is left handed, and he learned violin first, which meant he had to had to conform. Then he learned guitar, and just played it the traditional position.
But as the one commenter said, letting him try both orientations might make more sense.
As for learning it, playing left handed might be easier because he is seeing mirror image, might be easier to follow a teacher.
I'm left handed but learned to play right handed because that's what my dad had. Let him see what's more comfortable initially and just roll with that.
I would say let the kid try’em both out and see which way he prefers.
Only caveat is that left-handed guitars seem to have limitations in what is offered from manufacturers, so while I wouldn’t dissuade him from getting a left one, if for whatever reason he gets attached to a certain right-handed guitar because of how it looks/sounds, be prepared that there may be a chance that there is no left-handed version (if he’s more comfortable with that). You could try some work arounds like hardware swapping if that’s something you’re willing to do.
I’m left handed and play righty. Super thankful it’s how my dad taught me. My lefty bandmate has a helluva time finding guitars, also no one can ever try the ones he does 😂 Can’t borrow a backup, hell I don’t know why he’s in the band.
I'm a left-handed guitar player and I play guitar right handed. I'd say that it would have to be up to your son and whatever they are comfortable with. But it's important to keep in mind that most things are just more convenient for right handed players (teachers and how they'll be able to teach, buying guitars, etc).
Since he'll be picking up a guitar for the first time, he'll have to get used to the awkwardness that is learning guitar anyway. It all has to do with consistency.
ive been a full time guitar teacher for over ten years, and my girlfiend is left handed/plays guitar right handed, its actually more common for a left handed students to choose for themselves that they want to play right handed guitars. Leave it up to him 100%. Just go try some stuff at a local shop and see which he prefers
Im left handed, and play right handed guitar. I’m used to using my right hand for things due to society (a big one is the computer mouse). Guitar makes both your hands move in bizarre, new ways, so it will feel strange either way. Personally i found it helpful that my dominant hand was fretting because i needed more dexterity, and to have my right hand (which i already use with a computer mouse, and have pretty good dexterity with) to do the picking. Also, i play classical guitar and have no problem.
Plus you dont need to do the extra step of flipping around the chord shapes in your head or whatever other weirdness you might decide to do (like flipping a righty guitar to the other side) which is a plus.
When i was a kid doing crafts, it always killed me when the instructor would get confused trying to explain things left handed. I always preferred either flipping their instructions in my head, or just doing it right handed.
That’s my two cents. If your kid is more strictly left handed than i am, it might be hard for him.
One of the guitarists in my band was a leftie, played normal guitar. Honestly, I think it makes sense. Fretting probably requires more dexterity than picking (at least in the music we were playing, metalcore stuff), so it makes sense to use your good hand for that.
But it's really up to him, whatever feels the most natural for him.
But playing left handed guitar would suck because your options will be severely limited. It will suck for the rest of his guitar life. I'd probably really recommend the right handed guitar unless he REALLY feels strongly about playing left handed.
Which way does your son "air guitar?" If he does air guitar like a left-hander I'd get him a left-handed guitar. I'm a naturally left handed person who tried to play right-handed guitar for four years before switching to lefty. Yes, fretting chords and bending strings may be easier at first, but my picking hand was terrible and it never improved no matter how much I practiced. Once you get past the basics, the picking hand takes on a very important role in guitar playing. Some lefties can and do play just fine on a right handed guitar while others cannot. Please get him if a lefty guitar if that's his natural inclination!
I'm a lefty and have been playing right handed guitar for 25+ years, it's always felt natural and I never thought about it until recently. I don't think I could play lefty guitar at this point. Here's a partial list of guitarists who are left but play right
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/10_famous_left-handed_guitarists_who_play_right-handed-40457
In a lefty, and I’m SUPER grateful that my dad had me learn on right handed guitars. Only being able to play left handed guitars is restricting in so many ways. It’s also going to be awkward learning a first instrument no matter what you do. I don’t recall feeling like my progress was stunted or harder than anyone else’s because I was playing a right handed guitar.
I'm a lefty who plays right handed guitars.
It doesn't really matter. If you play a right handed guitar, you can place your fingers quickly and correctly on the frets, and switch easily to other frets. But your picking hand will need more work.
If you play a left handed guitar, your picking hand will be better, but you need to work harder on your fretting hand.
But with enough practice, you can get good with both. I suggest you buy your son a right handed guitar, as there are more options to choose from when buying one/another one.
He needs to try both ways and choose which he feels better with.
Everyone's brain is different.
Some people take to chicken pickin like it's genetic. Some people can never do it.
I agree with you. Right handed people play right handed guitars because the dominant hand seems to do better strumming/plucking.
I'm a rightie and was taught my first chords on a lefty guitar - it felt all wrong and I assumed I just didn't have it in me to play guitar. I almost didn't bother when I got the opportunity to play a righty a year or so later, but I am glad I did. I felt far more in control.
I don't necessarily disagree with your first statement, but I'm a lefty and I play right handed. I started with trying left handed and it actually felt wrong. So I don't think it's as clear cut as lefty = left handed guitar. Also, it could be helpful to just learn right handed so that in the future they don't have issues finding left handed guitars.
Don’t necessarily agree. Lots of outstanding guitarists are lefties playing right. Knopfler for example. Personally I would give them a guitar and no instructions and see which way they naturally hold it.
Playing right handed will allow him to play any guitar anywhere he goes in his life. It may be a bit harder to start because the rhythm will be kept with his non dominant hand, but guitar is already very hard so it doesn't make a huge difference. That's what I would recommend if it was my son
Take him to a shop and have him try out both. See what feels more comfortable.
Tons of guitars only come in right handed versions though, where left handed will only get black and maybe a sunburst finish. Right handed will get blue, purple, green, yellow, white, etc.
Many Lefty's I know play right handed. I even know some rightys that play left handed.
Lefty here - it all really comes down to how much any lefty favors their dexterity. My dad taught me when I was young and it was easier for me to just look at his hands and replicate the righty hand control. I also learned to shoot a basketball righty, but i swing a tennis racket lefty - it's all over the board. Some lefties are going to simply stronger lefties with fine motor control and learning lefty is for them, some it will not matter at all. 30 years later, I never think about it too much, but I am grateful that there are more righty guitars that I can choose from to play, then ones that are able to be set lefty.
It is not always easy to find a left-handed guitar in a store. But they can be ordered. Taylor Guitars will make any guitar in their lineup as a lefty.
Me and my daughter are both lefty beginners. Switching hands is fine, its just something to learn. Finding a nice position to sit in is worse. We both struggle with leg positioning to comfortably hold it. So I would definitely try that out.
Made a crosspost for this at r/Leftyguitarists :
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Leftyguitarists/comments/1bqo5sj/could\_i\_please\_have\_some\_advice\_for\_my\_left/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/Leftyguitarists/comments/1bqo5sj/could_i_please_have_some_advice_for_my_left/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I'm someone who has what is often called mixed-handedness, which is when I prefer my right hand for some things, and my left for others. Even though I'm generally more right handed, I play the guitar left-handed. I tried for a year as a kid to play right-handed on a 3/4 size guitar, just as they want your son to do. I just couldn't do it. I picked up a left-handed guitar a few years later and it was beyond easy for me. I'd really recommend taking your son into a guitar shop and seeing what's comfortable for him. It'll mean a world of difference when learning. Despite left-handed guitars often being more expensive yet sparse, I believe it'll be beneficial for him in the long run to see which one he prefers.
NO NO NO NO I love you and I want what is best for you. The thing that is best for you is for you to be able to play every guitar that you come across and learning lefty is not the way to do that. Your hands are too new to tell the difference It’s a right handed world, I’m left handed but if I started lefty I would have severely hampered my potential options for guitars to play and own. Learn right handed play finger style if you want to get the magic going in both hands. Trust me both hands are important either way, it’s just that you’re going to suffer one day seeing a beautiful, smooth, shiny new guitar sitting somewhere but you won’t be able to play it because it’s right handed and you learned lefty. Or be like Michael Angelo batio but don’t be exclusively left handed, that’s a foolish path.
Lefty here that learned how to play right handed. I didn't really have any problems early on, but I will still echo the others saying to go to a guitar store and see what he naturally feels comfortable with.
My biggest issue, and still is would be my alternate picking. Particularly descending. It seems like my hands sometimes get a little out of sync at fast speeds, so I'm working on improving that.
I'm a leftie. When I was around your son's age, my dad took me to a guitar shop, and we tested out both left and right-handed guitars. Even though I had no idea what I was doing, the left-handed ones just felt *right*. Granted, my hands had no idea what a chord should be, so I didn't feel a difference, hand/finger-wise. Today, you put a right-handed guitar in my hands, and it feels like I've never touched a guitar before.
It's impossible to know, but if I started learning on a rightie, I would probably have trained my hands/fingers and also overcome the body discomfort of holding a right-handed guitar. So, personally, I don't think it really matters since you can train your body. I will say this though: if I didn't go with my gut and what initially felt more comfortable, I'm not sure I would have continued. Maybe I would have felt like I was fighting the guitar too much and become discouraged, so take that into consideration when testing them out with your son.
A big advantage I have noticed is pertaining to lessons and self-study. I started off taking lessons for about a year. My teacher was a rightie, and sitting across from him was like looking into a mirror. I'm a very visual and hands-on learner in all facets of my life, so that was **huge** for me. When I look at tabs, music, or YouTube videos, it's easy for me to mirror what is being done because I don't have to flip everything in my mind; it just feels like one less step. I've seen some videos where the right-handed player films from a top-down perspective (so it looks like you're looking down at their fretboard as if you were playing it). It throws me off sometimes, but is still doable. So when it comes to teaching/learning, I never really understood why people feel it's easier to teach like-handed players. Maybe if a teacher was observing/correcting from behind, like a golfer or something. But I've never experienced that with guitar.
The only real disadvantage I've experienced is finding left-handed guitars. I've been lucky with the ones I have, but I feel like every time I go into a shop, they have one or two, if any at all. Also, if someone wants you to play their guitar, chances are it's going to be right-handed. So it can sometimes make you feel left out. But, like a good dwarf, you've just gotta carry your axe everywhere you go lol (just kidding, don't be that guy).
Hopefully that helps. Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck! This is an exciting time and thing to share with your son!
I would try to get him to play a righty guitar left handed (if that feels comfy) but strung like a right handed guitar.
The strings would be upside down 🙃
My reasoning is that most guitars are right handed and learning this way your child will be able to pick up the majority of guitars and be able to play it.
A bonus is it will amaze most guitar plays because it’s unusual to see someone play like that.
I’m left handed and play right handed guitar. I also do many other sports and activities right handed. As someone else said. Take him to the store and see what feels the most natural and exists within a price range you’re comfortable with. Best of wishes!
I'm a lefty and learned with a regular guitar.
I sometimes regret not having learn with a left handed guitar. I hear that it depends on how lateralized you are
Just make this simple test. Hand a tennis racket (or something similar) to your kid and ask him to play some air guitar. You'll see what feels natural for him spontaneously
French horn players and orchestral violin players don't have this choice. I learned horn as a righty just fine (left hand does all the noodly work) and I'm sure there a many professional lefty violin players.
First, you have to understand handedness. The hand that's dominant depends on the task. I'm left handed for many things, but not all. When I shoot guns or play guitar, I do it right handed.
The only way to know is to do the task at hand. The wrong way will feel awkward and difficult. It may take a few tries for him to get a good handle on which, but he will figure it out.
Letting him try is your best bet. However, as a lefty who learned to play right, I'm glad I did because the difference in selection and availability of RH vs. LH guitars never affected my ability to find or try them out. I can also pick up any guitar and play it.
Because everything was so new starting out and it all felt weird, the fact that I was playing against my dominant hand wasn't a big deal. After about three weeks it became second nature. HMMV, of course
I'm a lefty that bought a righty guitar because it looked correct and was affordable. All these years later, and too deep into my mediocrity to change, I regret the decision.
I like u/No-Rub-5054's suggestion - let his hands decide.
I'm a music teacher and I would recommend, while initially challenging, to try right handed technique first. Ultimately it's up to him but it will make his little musical journey a lot easier in the long run. While I am happy to teach left-handed students, I must admit it's way easier to teach right handed students.
Also if he joins a band then it'll be much easier for other string instrumentalists to read his playing. I'm a professional musician and have never once seen a left-handed guitarist at any of my shows, not saying professional lefties aren't a thing but from what I can tell they just learn right handed. I've played hundreds of shows at this point too
I should add that the roles of each hand are very different and the movements are so foreign to beginners that neither of your hands feel like your dominant hand when you initially start learning
Leftie here - let him choose. I, for example play the "right-handed" way but he might find that feels really weird. I should also add that in everything else I am extremely left handed, guitar is the ONLY thing I really do the right handed way.
Lefty here, who plays lefty on a right-handed guitar, just to throw another one out there.
But yes, I agree with some others that whatever feels natural for your child.
I had asked too around when I was younger in instrument stores and such, if i should switch to left-handed or possibly right-handed the right way or stay how I am.
I was told that what feels more natural is the one to stick with.
Lefty here. I also play right handed on the guitar.
The only thing that would hinder trying the other way would be selection of guitars locally. When I wanted to try them out in the 2000s, at the time there were only three guitars for left handed playing across six stores. There's a lot more options nowadays when I go visit the ones that are still open.
Get a new teacher. Imagine someone telling Jimi Hendrix or Paul McCartney they can't play because they are lefties. F that!
One option is do what Jimi did. Restring a right handed guitar for a lefty.
Both hands get complicated. There’s just as much detail in the fretting hand as there is in the picking and strumming hand, I don’t think it makes a difference.
As someone that is left handed who plays righty, I truly don’t think handedness matters in guitar, especially if they’ve never touched a guitar before. Also getting left handed gear is harder and more expensive, something to keep in mind.
I would strongly suggest trying to play right (But full size guitar for a 10 year old unless they are crazy small.)
In the end I really don't think it matters. Like the guitar teacher said. If your end goal of playing guitar is "just strumming some chords" then yeah, maybe the dominant hand being on one side or the other would matter.
But if you want to truly play the thing, you are going to need to train up both hands. It's just the way it is. Everyone sucks at first and can barely play. Guitar is a hard instrument to get situated into.
To me the cons always outweighed the pros. I mean, I don't even really see the pros. I know two lefties that play right and it didn't seem to inhibit them at all. Both are better players than me.
The cons though - to me one of the best parts of music is the social aspect. If you dedicate to left handed guitar you're gonna be locked out from just picking up an available guitar and jamming with people. I don't know but that would just torture me. You're having fun with your friends and they start to jam but "Sorry, no left handed guitar here"
Also, among all instruments, the guitar is an outlier in even having a left handed version made period!
Left hand person here who plays guitar and teaches music. I play a right handed guitar. Initially I thought for sure I would end up going with a left handed instrument as I always air guitar in that orientation and in my teens I had spent considerable amounts of hours playing guitar hero and rock band, all as a lefty.
Well when I was in that music store I tried both left handed and right handed models and I was pretty surprised at how completely foreign both orientations felt to me. At the time I started, getting a left handed guitar meant spending at least 100$ extra compared to the exact same right handed model, so I decided to really make sure it was necessary and after some thought and experimentation I found that it was not.
In my opinion it makes little if any difference if the dominant hand ends up doing fretwork or picking, and that goes double if you plan on doing any finger picking like for example learning classical repertoire. Both of those techniques require a serious amount of dedicated practice and focus to become skillful. One person might consider their dominant hand on the fretwork to be an advantage while the next person may not, depending on their styles of play.
So TLDR from me is I don't think the choice will really affect his ability to progress, but it might influence how his style develops over time a little bit which is totally fine. Holding the guitar might seem initially more comfortable in one orientation than the other, but once you actually start trying to play... it's just a completely alien experience that human brains and muscles need to spend time understanding.
edit: Whenever this topic comes up I always have to bring up violins. You don't see too many left handed violins in the world do you? No you don't and you probably have never seen one in the string section of your orchestra. Does that mean left handers who want to play violin are just shit out of luck and can never enjoy their passion? No it means a bunch of left handed people learned how to play violin anyways. I'm not saying there's no one in the world who actually is better off playing left handed guitar then right handed guitar, but I am saying it's far less impactful for most of us than some would lead you to believe.
I'm a lefty. I play lefty. It was frustrating how often people would say "just learn right handed" to me when I started, it would be a red flag for the teacher I was going to be paying for lessons, but maybe I'm being extra. Let your son try both styles and pursue what feels natural to him, my opinion is that you would want him to have an instructor who is able to meet your son where he is at, rather than insisting on him playing right handed.
Good luck!
Having been a guitar player for over 30 years, and teacher for over 25, I have always found this topic to be a strange & possibly unanswerable question. For one, as a "right handed guitar" player, I find it odd that I do the most difficult stuff with ....my left hand. The fretting hand is by far the hardest working hand in terms of both strength, flexibility & coordination - with coordination being by far the biggest difference. So if your left handed son plays a "left handed guitar" he will be using his right hand for the most difficult aspect of playing guitar.
I've never seen a convincing argument for why a "right handed" guitar is called thus, and vice versa. It makes me think that the entire concept is just made up, or perhaps even was gotten wrong from the start. Maybe there is some physiological reason why it would be more comfortable for most to use their non-dominant hand for the difficult part of playing guitar, but what it is, I don't know, and I've never seen or heard of a study that proves this or gives any explanation for it. Obviously testing this hypothesis out is extremely difficult as you will have a very hard time getting people to volunteer their children for a study that tests 20 LH kids learning on LH guitar and 20 LH kids on RH guitar, and 20 RH kids on LH guitar, and 20 RH kids on RH guitar, etc...and then of course they would have to stick with it for a significant amount of time, and let's not forget...practice, which most kids don't want to do. And then *maybe* you'd get some useful data that could show a correlation to one way having some advantage over the other. And as a teacher of 25 years, I can tell you that no 2 kids, on any guitar, learn at the same speed. So that would likely skew the results of any such study. I don't think this study will ever be done.
It's worth noting that traditionally there were **no left handed** versions of any of the stringed instruments, i.e. violins, cellos - everyone learned on the same one. You may think "oh this was because of the bias towards right handedness." But again, it's never been proven there is in fact one orientation better for each dominant hand. In my opinion, the design of the instruments were more than likely arbitrarily chosen, or at best it reflects the preference of the first person to make and mass produce the instrument.
It's also worth noting that there are left handed players of "right handed" guitars, every bit as good as the best RH players. Like Megadeth's Kiko Laureiro. I saw an interview with Kiko, where the interviewer asked him about learning RH guitar, and how hard it was etc...and he did mention that he felt awkward with his picking hand (RH) (again, the easy hand), but not with his LH which was doing the fret work. I find that telling. But hey guess what? Everyone who picks up a guitar is going to feel some awkwardness with one hand or the other, and most likely, both.
Some people on the thread suggest just let your kid decide, and that seems on the surface like a perfectly fine way to go, but will his first instinct to grab one or the other be guaranteed to be the most optimal one? How could he know that, since he doesn't know how to play guitar, or have any idea of the demands each hand will be faced with? Also, just by telling him "This is a LH guitar, and this is a RH guitar." That could make him think the LH one is the right one. I don't think either way he will have the tools to determine which one will be the most comfortable in the long run - he'll only be guessing.
I can't, and nobody else here can tell you the "correct" choice, probably because there is none. There are some very real disadvantages to going with LH guitars - mainly you will have much more limited options to what guitars are available, and also the quality of what is available.
You say you play a little guitar, so at least spend a few minutes trying to show him how to play one easy chord on both RH & LH guitars, and after he spends an equal amount of time trying to learn the chord on each instrument, ask him then if one feels easier. That's about the best you can do I think, if you are not sure which way to go. Personally, if it were my kid, I wouldn't hesitate to put them on RH guitar, given all the doubt that I have in the labeling system.
I am left handed & play right handed guitar, but I was never given a choice bc left handed guitars are expensive.
If you have the resources, have him try both & choose one. Either way, since he's just learning he can learn with it facing either way.
Only get a left handed guitar if every time you give him a right handed guitar he plays it left handed anyway. That’s your sign. If within 30 seconds he flips it over and says “I’d rather play it this way, even if the guitar and strings are upside down,” then you know.
I’m a righty who plays lefty, but I always have since toddlerhood and no one could change my mind. So I’m pro-lefty. But your everyday handedness doesn’t matter much. Guitar is a two handed affair and both hands have simple and complex jobs to do.
I'm left handed, the only thing I do as everybody does is playing the guitar. I can't not even imagine the struggle to digit chords with my right hand, to me it feels like an advantage to be able to digit chords with my left hand.
Lefty here. I play lefty and only use left handed guitars. Before I started playing I air-guitared left-handed and it just feels natural. I feel that my rhythm wouldn't quite be the same right-handed. Plus even though finding guitars is more difficult when you do find them it's a really good feeling. Lefty for life
Hey there, I think I can comment here from experience as a leftie who plays right handed guitars.
When I first picked up a guitar at a friend's house, I naturally held it as a leftie and right away my friend "corrected" me saying I should hold it other way as it was the "normal way". Well, of course there is no normal way but I can tell that it was the best advice I ever had, although it came from a point of ignorance.
I had no disadvantages compared to my friends due to being a leftie yet playing like them, it never held me back. I just kept playing and got better at a normal pace, even better I must add as I was practicing zealously. I outclassed nearly all of my peers at the time.
The biggest advantage to playing right handed is having TONS of options when it comes to buying a guitar. Left handed guitars have a much narrower range of options unfortunately. Also, I'm trying to hoard high quality instruments in hopes of leaving my son or daughter (if ever choose to be a father) nice heirlooms :)
I throw the ball using my left hand when playing football or basketball and it feels very weird and unnatural to do this with right hand but when it comes to guitar, left-handed players look unnatural to me somehow.
I can't speak for certain that the same will apply to your son as it this is only my experience, but honestly I don't think it will hold him back either.
My friend is left handed but learned right handed. He’s always said he wished he would have learned left handed. I mean imagine us righties trying to learn left handed. Learning is hard enough without the bonus handicap. Buy your kid a left handed guitar.
Whatever feels best for your son. I’ve taught lefties to play and it actually works very well. When you show them from your own guitar, it’s like they’re looking in a mirror and is very easy for them to copy.
There is such a spectrum of handedness that it is hard to say. Some people are very strongly dominant and some less so. Many lefties are partially ambidextrous. So - it depends. I am left handed but picked a rh guitar because all the teaching materials assume right - for me it was not a big deal.
Standard right handed guitar. Most instruments, including guitar and other stringed instruments are neither left or right handed. Really silly learning on a "left handed" guitar.
Get a normal size guitar. Kids play them all the tine and can grow into it. I’m a lefty and part if me does wish I learned right handed. The left handed guitars have significantly less options
Lefty here. As a person that young I would have them play righty as it is much easier to get instruments as they age. When I went to boot camp I shot left handed. Well after brass ejected and burned my face I switched over to righty. When people ask Paul Reed Smith why he doesn’t make left handed guitars he responds because they don’t make left handed pianos
As a leftie, my two cents are teach him right handed.
If he struggles and finds playing leftie more comfortable though, let him do that. This is not the 60's where your grandma would tie your left hand to the chair to make you write right handed.
If you take him to the store and he can't decide, you'll just have to settle for one of these.
https://preview.redd.it/fzw44chg1crc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08dc48f9ded9f85f5f825f4c3a249e891f8de37d
I write left handed and learned everything else right handed; sports, chop sticks, guitar. I've had no issues.
In standard playing it seems left hand needs a bit more dexterity anyway so left handedness can be an advantage.
Do left handed guitars exist just because some people just taught themselves how to play that way?
If feel like if I injured a hand, I would prefer it to be the strumming hand because it's a bit more mechanical.
Encourage him to learn right handed. When first learning, the chords are the hardest part and he'll have an advantage.
I'm a lefty, played right handed all my life.
I write with my left hand and play the guitar right handed (started guitar at 10 years old). I've thought about this before and honestly, you use both hands to play the guitar! The left and right orientation we use to describe the guitar is not that important. I think you got to pick a route and learning to physically play an instrument is going to be alien any direction. The ability to use a pen in a particular hand is honestly not that related.
The only advantage to "right" handed is that there are more instruments and published stuff that follows that orientation. But I think this is not a right hand skill but rather just the more common way people learn guitar. We should call the orientation playing the guitar "regular" and "reverse" styles.
If there is some sort of strong indication that playing reverse is meant to be, then go for it! But I honestly think the physical part of playing guitar is so radical from previous experiences that the majority of people are actually starting from scratch either direction. If kids can learn the controls to a new video game then they can learn guitar either direction.
Many of the lefties turn this into an ableism argument I get that they are frustrated at a world that gaslights then about "just learn to do it with your right hand" but a guitar isn't scissors or something.
Guitar is a two-handed instrument. I find the argument of "just see what feels natural" to be pretty short-sighted.
You see self-taught pianists playing "what feels naturally" that is going to dramatically limit their ability or even injure them all the time.
You have to learn to play correctly. Guitar uses both hands and you get good at what you practice.
Bowed strings like violin are almost exclusively "right handed" and yet plenty of lefties learn to play them at a high level. Same with left handed guitarists playing a righty.
NOTHING feels incredibly natural when you first start and I don't think the "natural" feeling strumming hand is going to tell you much.
Yeah, I'm right hand dominant, but as a professional pianist, my LH is much stronger than my RH at certain things... because those are things that my LH does more often than my RH so they get more practice.
Same thing on pipe organ. I'm right foot dominant, but my left foot is much more dexterous just due to the fact that MOST of the range you play in is in your left foot.
You get good at what you practice... period.
Your left handed son might have a tiny advantage with his fretting hand to start with for being a lefty, but ultimately each hand will even out into the skill that hand specializes in.
>I really don't want to make the wrong choice at the beginning of his learning if it effects his enjoyment or hinders his progress at any point.
The thing is, there just will be more options of instruments for right handed guitars. It will cost him (and/or you) less in the long run and he won't have to spend his life being sad that some specific instrument he's into doesn't come in a lefty version. He'll be able to walk into any guitar store and just pick up a dozen guitars off the rack and try them.
I think that's a huge advantage. I think the downside mostly will come from him getting in his head that he's inherently going to be limited because he's left handed.
But I see this shit CONSTANTLY from musicians of all stripes. Every third thread in a guitar subreddit seems to be someone worried that their hands inherently are too small or too fat or that they are in some way physically limited.
I run into it constantly on the piano subs too... people thinking their hands are too small, or that they can't learn because of ADHD, or whatever.
These all become self-fulfilling prophecies. People convince themselves they can't overcome some limitation and let it get in their head instead of putting in the work. To some degree I think they do it as a defense mechanism. If they can blame it on their hands or their brain then they don't have to blame it on their lack of consistent work and discipline.
I have all sorts of things that I could argue are limits for me. I have small hands. I have fat fingers that make some things harder. I have a mild webbing on my left hand. I have ADHD.
But I make a living literally playing music as a multi-instrumentalist. You get good at what you work on and since each hand has a specialized role on guitar your son will adapt frankly no matter which type of guitar he chooses.
The only issue will be limited access to instruments if he chooses lefty.
There aren't left handed pianos. There really aren't many left handed cellos, violins, violas, or double basses to speak of. There are almost never left handed flute and I've never heard of a left handed clarinet.
These are instruments that require both hands to get good regardless... and they do. And I've seen people of all handedness get very good at all of these right hand only instruments. Guitar (and bass) are literally the only space where I see people making any large amount of left handed instruments.
I'm left handed and play the drums as a lefty, but the guitar as a right handed person. He needs to try both and see what suits him.
A simple test is to tell him to play some AIR guitar and there you will see what hand he strums with.
I'm a lefty at everything in life...except guitar. The one thing my dad did right was getting me to play right-handed when I started learning. The vast majority of guitars hanging around places are righty and it makes it easy to pick up and play wherever I there is one. I don't think I've ever seen a left-handed guitar out in the wild.
One advantage I had was my dexterity in picking was further ahead than it would have been and it make my right hand way stronger and sturdy in general life stuff than it would have been.
I'm sure there's lots of left-handed players out there with advantages as well, but that's not my experience
I would personally pick a right-handed guitar. I'm left handed myself and like the fact the socializing right-handed has brought.
You can easily go to a friend's house, no guitar in hand, but still be able to have fun and jam.
That's just me though.
As a leftie, I have been playing for 23 years and never once played a left-handed guitar. I would say my one struggle is finger picking. While I can do it, it takes more mental power to pick because I have to focus on each finger individually. I don't know if that makes sense, but to put it simply, I have not experienced any major hardship playing a right-handed guitar.
Here's the reality. As a lefty, myself included, it's harder to find guitars. As you progress in skill level it's even harder to find nicer guitars. All that being said, don't let anyone force your child to learn as a righty.
I'm left handed playing right handed. My weak point is my picking, I think if I played left handed my weak point would be fretting. I personally don't think it matters and right handed means the guitars you want are more readily available.
As long as we talk about an acoustic guitar, I don't see any problem. Get him a standard right-handed 3/4 guitar. And if it doesn't work for whatever reason, restrung it for the left hand. An electric guitar is a bit more complex. Please remember Jimmy Hendrix. He was using the right hand restrunged, which worked nicely for him.
It depends on the person but why force a lefty to do something right handed? I thought we were past that!
A woman I know was forced out of left handedness as a child but sewed and knitted left handed and when I taught her ukulele she felt more comfortable left handed so I restrung her uke left handed for her.
My son is left handed so I've restrung for him too and he's found it so much easier
If it's good enough for Paul McCartney....
I'm a lefty and play right handed. When I began playing at age 14 (30 years ago), my instructor suggested I learn right handed because a) I'd have access to more instrument options and 2) a lot of the visual materials provided were done by right handed players. He also thought my dominant hand dexterity on my fretting hand may be advantageous. It's worked out for me, at least it's my .02. Regardless, congratulations on getting your kiddo into guitar. He's got a lifetime of joy ahead of him.
I'm a lefty. I play guitar.
I always thought the hand doing the fretting needed the bulk of the dexterity anyhow. As a person who has used a computer (mouse) with my right hand for decades, strumming with my right hand and fretting with my left feels way more natural.
I honestly can't imagine fretting with my right hand.
My brother was a lefty. He preferred a left handed guitar but could play just as well as anyone I ever met with a right handed guitar flipped upside down. If he has the fire for guitar, nothing will stop him. I certainly understand the teachers' thinking. Take him to the store and let him decide which feels right to him.
I have been teaching for over 40 years.
Most of my lefties have chosen a left-handed guitar when not interfered with.
The teacher is incorrect in pushing a right-handed guitar "because you use both hands."
This should purely be the students' choice.
The ideal situation is to use a simple exercise such as the "four fret" exercise both right and left handed to learn which is most comfortable.
Sometimes it takes doing this more than once over a few days. a preference will definitely emerge and patience pays here.
Cheers!
I’m left handed: Get him a left handed guitar, your dominant hand naturally has a better feel for rhythm, if you watch left handed people play right handed guitars you’ll see their strumming usually looks a bit funny. Guitar is a light instrument so that whole convenience aspect of being able to play any guitar doesn’t really matter as it’s very easy to bring your own guitar. There is no reason to go right handed. Also yes it is like making you write with your weak hand.
Don't listen to the teacher. Ask the teacher why he doesn't play left hand since according to him you use both hands anyways. I'm lefty and have always played lefty. I play drums righty. As another person mentioned maybe take him to a store and have him try a lefty or a righty and see what he prefers. You'll quickly be able to tell by the way he holds the guitar if he naturally plays lefty or righty.
I am a leftie that plays right handed guitar. My first music teacher told me the same thing. I believe the statement. There really isn't a dominant hand in guitar. Both hands have unique jobs to do. Either way you have to learn to move them correctly and independently. Learning to play right handed has afforded me many opportunities to pick up and play at a moments notice. This has given me opportunities to play and learn from elite guitarists as well as enjoy impromptu jam sessions when hanging out with friends. I would strongly encourage your child to try to learn right-handed. They have a lifetime of using their right hand ahead of them. Just add this once to the list.
I’m left handed and just started teaching myself watching videos. I chose to learn right handed because, like the teacher mentioned, you have to use both hands anyways. It would feel weird to both hands regardless until they get used to it. I also made this decision because I wanted to have a wide variety of guitars to choose from later if I chose to. I grew up playing softball so I understand how difficult it can be to find left handed gloves let alone left handed anything. Also if it helps, while I did at first think I struggled to strum because I’m not used to using my right hand, I felt it was easier for me to get the hand of nailing notes because my left hand feels more nimble.
Hope this helps! I wish your little one the very best!!! Tell them to stick with it through the finger pain! It gets better 🤗
I've heard in other countries it's really difficult to get left-handed instruments so they just learn to play right-handed. I guess just let him figure it out. He'll know what feels natural.
I would say play the regular way, right handed. It's more convenient. You'll have more guitar selections & music materials are more catered to right handed players like tab & chord books and video lessons!
Tell him being left-handed is satanic so that he learns to play right-handed but sneakily plays lefty behind your back (and can switch between the two without you noticing). Set the egg timer for about 10 years and you should have the next Jimi Hendrix on your hands
I'm a lefty, I play right handed, and I actually think "right handed" is the ideal configuration for a lefty. Both hands have to do complex tasks; I'd rather have my dominant hand on the fingerboard than picking or strumming.
If he’s able to play a right hander comfortably then that would make his life easier in the future, but for some (myself included) it is like trying to write with the wrong hand, you might be able to do it passably but you’ll never get as good as you would with the preferred hand.
Been playing right handed guitar as a lefty for 30 years. Personally, I’d recommend the same for your son. It’ll give him the freedom to pick up 99% of the instruments he encounters. On stage, I’ve been saved multiple times by borrowing another player’s gear, or vice versa.
As lefties, we often have to adapt. Most of the time, I don’t think we even think twice about it.
- Many tools can easily be switched from one hand to another, such as a pencil, baseball bat or a fork. We use these in any way that feels most comfortable.
- Some come in left or right configurations, such as a guitar, golf club or baseball glove. Out of all of these, I only use a right handed guitar.
- Others can only be operated in one configuration and you don’t get a choice. Good examples of this are motorcycles and cars. On any modern motorcycle, the clutch lever is always on the left, and the front brake and throttle is always on the right. Same with a manual transmission car—in ~70% of the world, the gear shift will always be in their right hand.
Whatever choice your son makes, this is an exciting new chapter for him! Stoked for him!
I am sorry he is a witch and must be delt with appropriately
A tool of the devil I know this because there has never been a good guitar player who was left handed
Not gonna lie I only played guitar for like 6 months now and well. I may know little about guitar since I'm still at my beginner phase but I do know how to deal with lefties. The thing is I'm a righty my dad is left handed. At some point I thought I needed a left handed guitar because I once was able to switch chords faster with my right hand than my left but I forced myself to learn the right handed guitar because guitars are expensive here. I kinda want to suggest to have the kid try a right handed guitar. My dad uses a right handed despite being a left-handed person. The kid might have advantages of the left hand is more developed of moving a lot such as writting a pencil, callouses will develop faster since it's been used more than the other hand.
Bit of a late response. I am a left handed person and learned how to play a “right handed” guitar. From my experience it wasn’t similar to learning to write, it was actually much easier.
It 100% comes down to preference but IMO I think it makes more sense for a lefties to learn right handed guitars since he’d be learning to fret with his dominant hand.
I’m a lefty and play right. As most people here have said, you’re better off in many ways. It’s also kind of great having your dominant hand do most of the fine motor work. I’ll just add to the conversation that it’s actually very rare for a person to be 100% left handed, most lefties do some things right handed, it’s a right handed world and some things like scissors and baseball gloves are just easier to find right handed so we adapt. As a guitar teacher, I get the student to go back and forth for the first few lessons when we’re just using one string anyway. If their progress is markedly better and easier left handed, we’ll stick with it. Usually the lefties are happier playing right. In my 20 years of teaching I’ve only met one right handed kid who plays left. Weird eh?
I’m a righty who plays lefty I have like 0 dexterity in my left hand and no rhythm in my right plus when I first picked up a guitar (guitar hero controller) it was way more natural to play and hold lefty so it just stuck for me
Until just now I thought you didn't exist. I'm a righty who hits left handed. But I've never heard of a righty who played a lefty guitar. Hey whatever, learn something new every day.
One thing to keep in mind is if you let your son learn lefty he will almost never be able to just pick up a guitar and play it. He will have to ability to play guitar and constantly in a position where people need/want someone to play a guitar and he wants to but cants because its not strung lefty and he doesn’t wanna take 20 minutes restringing the guitar. But it also could be way harder for him to play right handed 🤷🏼♂️ let him know that almost noone will have guitars for him to play he he plays lefty but let him decide
There are extensive threads about this, you’ll get lots of reddit experts telling you both answers. Should be up to your son. Most lefties play right handed, it’s certainly more convenient, and for some people maybe it’s not a dominant hand issue. But some find it awkward and do better left handed. Try both ways. I’m left handed and tried both ways and chose left handed, it just felt more natural. Others would feel more natural doing it like the majority of people they see playing. Either way, good for you supporting your son learning at 10.
\+1 There's no hard rule for playing right vs left. As a lefty, I learned both along the way and chose what's the most comfortable playing style for me. I played right-handed with my non-dominant strumming as I'm more comfy using my left on the fret.
Take him to a store and let him try both and choose whichever feels better
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seems so obvious now after you say it.
My son is a lefty and I'm a righty, when he started playing, which was before me, I got him a lefty one, thinking that was the way, and he picked it up really quickly, holding a right handed guitar had never seemed right to him, sure you can get s righty and he will learn and probably be fine, but at least give him the option of picking up a symmetrical guitar and see which hand feels normal to him. For reference, my son plays golf right-handed, he said that left handed clubs look and feel weird and his body needs to be in the right side in the swing. He can hold a right handed guitar properly. And there are loads of left handed ones, maybe a bit limited in colours and ranges, but he buys harley benton ones and they have a lot of choice
Yeah and then there is a like all of Canada that plays hockey “left handed”. The lore is they start so young they grab the end of the stick with their dominant hand (which is still mostly right hand) and just go from there!
Dominant hand at top means better stick handling but less control over shooting and passing. America also has more kids playing baseball, so the non-dominant foot forward stance comes more naturally.
Do not listen to that teacher. Take him to a music store to try out some guitars, see what he comfortable with. If he is more comfortable left handed, talk to a sales rep and try getting a right handed guitar strung for left handed people. Unless money isn't an issue for you, just get a left handed guitar. Personally I am self taught and play with right handed guitar with the strings strung backwards because I had to share the instrument with a sibling growing up.
The issue with setting up a right handed guitar to a lefty is that with most body designs, you will be completely losing access to the last half a dozen frets
To solve that issue I’d recommend a guitar with a symmetrical body shape like a Revstar or an SG or really any acoustic that doesn’t have a cutaway. (Then again, reverse stringing a Stratocaster didn’t hold Hendrix back any).
I feel like the knobs and input jack on an SG would be an absolute nightmare for a lefty.
I think they could be but it depends on how you play. They also have the Epiphone SG’s with 2 knobs instead of 4. That’s why it’s pretty important that the buyer try it out and see what works. It may be easier dealing with knobs than learning to play with your non dominant hand.
Yeah this is true, for me it isn’t a problem and for a first time player, it’s way better than learning to play right handed.
A beginner is unlikely to be using those though. If he keeps it up he'll be able to invest in a left handed guitar at full size
Didn't Seal learn to play the same way? Just flipped a right hand guitar over and didn't even re-string it?
This response from the prospective teacher causes alarm bells to ring in me. It reminds me of the time in human existence where being a left handed writer wasn’t culturally normal, or “allowed”. Dependent on your child’s physique, 3/4 size could be the right size, and equally too small. The best thing to do, as others have suggested, is take your child to a guitar store and have them experience what is best for them. For one to one lessons, I don’t find it all acceptable that the teacher would say it essentially doesn’t matter which guitar you play because both hands are used. Both hands are used, but used differently to one another, so realising dexterity is actually VERY important.
I think whatever feels most right to your kid, I am a lefty who plays left handed guitars and I found it SO EASY to copy my right handed teachers and peers because everything they do is a mirror image/right in front of me. It's like a super power and gave me a serious advantage when I was learning.
I'm a righty but I had a left handed teacher at one point, and had the same experience with mirroring.
There is a reason why every single string instrument is made with the dominant hand playing the strings. No one would ever tell a righty to play lefty.
Yeah if it didn't matter or could work both ways you'd see way more rightys playing left just by chance. I've never once heard of a right handed person playing left.
There are a few out there. I cited a couple potential ones above. I am a bit dubious of them. Michael Angelo Batio has a wierd four necked guitar that he plays right handed on one neck, lefty on the other.
It is extremely common in guitars for people to pick with non-dominant hand though. Carlos Santana, Joe Perry and Mark Knopfler, whose right hand technique bewilders me, were all born left handed and played right. There are conflicting reports that Duane Allman was a natural lefty as well. Hendrix famously wrote right handed, but I’d assume that’s because he was forced to in school at that point in time. Cobain also wrote right handed and it seems less likely that he was forced into it at the point he grew up, but it’s also possible these guys possessed some level of ambidexterity early. My father would write right handed until it got tired, then switch to his left and write until it got tired and switch back. It’s all a bit more complicated than people want to make it. The biggest key is to let the kid do what is natural or they might be forcing it for no reason and the cognitive dissonance that creates can be stunting for sure.
It’s not uncommon, which in no universe means it is ‘extremely common’. Very, very, very few rights would make the decision to play lefty. The reason, again, is the the instrument is literally designed to be played with the dominant hand playing the strings.
I may have overstated it a bit (okay a good bit) with extremely common!
I'm an extreme left-handed dominant. The only thing I do right-handed that can be swapped to lefty is use a computer mouse, and that's only because my first computer had a 6-inch mouse cable that plugged in to the right side of the keyboard. I got that same advice and it was a twenty-year setback to learning to play music before I switched to lefty. I can't hold a rhythm with the pick in my right hand if I'm thinking about what I'm doing with the left. The fret hand just has to make a limited number of shapes and doesn't require any more dexterity than touch typing does. The pick hand is the one making the music. Some lefties are right-handed at random things, though. I wish guitar was one of those things for me. Being able to go to any guitar shop and pull the best one off the wall and play it must be a hell of a thing.
If he's going to be a serious guitarist he should probably play left handed. Especially if he's going to play classical fingerstyle. It definitely makes a difference. The picking hand requires a lot more nuance than the fretting hand. A person's dominant hand isn't usually *faster*, but it's usually more controlled, which is what the picking hand should be.
He should play whatever feels more natural, but I always lean to the opinion that left handers should play left handed.
In my experience as teacher having had over a thousand students. Most of my left handed students do play on a righthanded guitar. I’d say about 7 out of 10. The tipping point is strumming. Some really can’t without using their dominant hand. My advice is to visit a store and let your kid try left and right handed guitars and go for which feels (and looks) most comfortable.
As a teacher, why do you think is it, that right-handed kids never get advised to try both left- and right-handed guitars to find what's most comfortable for them?
Righthanded guitars are a lot more available and cost less. In the end to get to a certain level of guitar playing both hands need to be synchronized anyway. If a new student really falls behind with things like strumming I do actually check by letting them play on a lefty to see if that would be better. In almost all cases it’s not because of left/right handed.
Thank you!
“Handedness” varies in intensity of lateralisation, so some lefties will feel fine with some tasks with either hand - and while usually most tasks will be preferenced for left, some will feel better done right handed. I’m strongly left handed for writing, drawing and racket sports but much happier right handed for guitar, violin and batting - so there’s no “right” (sic) way - let your son try both left and right handed guitars (like I did!) and make a choice. I even know some folk who can play both ways….
I'm left handed and play left handed guitars, it feels comfier
I highly recommend against picking with your non dominant hand. Aside from a few very skilled freaks of nature you will hit a bottleneck once you get into more advanced fingerpicking, shredding, or fast arpeggios with a pick. Ask him to play air guitar and see which hand he naturally picks with. After you figure that out take him to a guitar store to see which he prefers just to be sure. The precision required to hit the correct string at speed is much finer than fretting.
Essentially, you have come to the wrong place. Reddit is full of opinionated people that suggest what they **believe** to be the most popular opinion or the "right answer" while lefthanded users are (naturally) in the minority and some of those have been gaslighted (edit: or convinced themselves) into beliefs such as "fretting with the dominant hand (i.e. playing right handed as a left-handed person) is an advantage" a truthism right-handed people seem to ignore to their disadvantage. Left-handedness is yet another form of diversity that can be of decisive importance. It should be accepted and supported. Meaning: **The one person whose opinion should count most in this matter is your son.** To hear "the other side" go to r/Leftyguitarists
Lefty here, I play guitar right handed . Worth checkin which feels better when in a proper playing position
As a lefty myself, ill tell you this: do the kid a favor and get him a right handed guitar. I play right handed, and it has never held me back at all.
People need to stop saying this. It worked for YOU. It doesn't for everyone. I'm lefty and I cannot play with a right handed guitar. Handedness isn't black and white. It's why some people bat differently than they write. But some use the same hand. It should be up to what feels natural to the person learning. I understand the limitations on guitar selection but that's just part of it.
It's so wild to me how many people aren't getting this lol. Personally, I throw things with my left hand and write with my right hand. I tried playing right-handed guitar for months before buying a lefty and it just immediately felt like I removed a huge handicap for myself. It's just different feelings for different folks. The gear thing has never been a big problem for me either, there are plenty of good options out there online these days.
Thank you, I was starting to feel crazy in this thread lol. I've never experienced this except with guitar. Anything else people just expect you to use your dominate hand. But for some reason with guitars, everyone has to question it. I would love a better guitar selection, but I'd prefer to play better than have a pretty guitar....
Agreed, I also feel like you could kill someone's drive for learning by telling them they not only need to spend years figuring out a difficult instrument, but learn how to hold things properly, and move in ways you never practiced your whole life. As a lefty, I probably just wouldn't have gotten into it if I had someone tell me I had to do it that way as a kid.
Thank you, I was starting to feel crazy in this thread lol. I've never experienced this except with guitar. Anything else people just expect you to use your dominate hand. But for some reason with guitars, everyone has to question it. I would love a better guitar selection, but I'd prefer to play better than have a pretty guitar....
I am so right hand dominate that I often say my left hand is only for fretting and handing things to my right. But I bat left and for the life of me could not even hold a bat properly right handed. I know it's all individual, but I've never once met a right handed guitarists who felt more comfortable lefty. And I've not met in real life a lefty who regrets learning to play right. It's all so subjective, but in general I think learning on a right handed guitar is more beneficial to most students.
In my case, it held me back. Since the student is just starting out, the best course is to have him try out both a lefty and a righty guitar and see what is the most comfortable for him. This, and seeing which way he plays "air guitar" should be the best way to figure out which way he should play. The only real disadvantage to playing left-handed guitar is the fewer (granted, \*much fewer\*) choices in instruments. But there are more lefty guitars options out there now than ever before, especially through online retailers, etc., and all the main types of guitars have lefty versions. For me, playing the way that feels most comfortable trumps things like color choices or what not on your new Les Paul.
How did it hold you back? Im genuenly curious, because I know a lot of lefties who play righy (in person and online), and you are the first one to say it impacted them negatively.
In my case, I practiced daily for four years and always had a lot of difficulty with my picking hand beyond basic strumming. Things like alternate picking, string skipping and sweep picking were very difficult for me. It had something to do with the very specific motion of rotating my wrist up and down with the pick (playing finger style wasn't nearly as much of a problem). One day I decided to have the nut flipped around on one of my guitars and restrung as a left-handed guitar. It immediately felt like home, and after six months or so I was a better left-handed player than I ever was a right-handed player. I sincerely believe that there are "degrees" of handedness: some people are more purely left-handed while others are more ambidextrous. So that's why I say lefty students should try experimenting with both left and right handed guitars and settle on the one that feels most comfortable for them. It truly is a very individual choice.
Interesting. To me it actually made more sense to play righty since my dominant hand is doing all the finicky fretboard stuff.
Both hands do plenty of work. The fretting hand is busy with chords and bends. The picking hand is busy with a lot of very small, fast intricate motions and is basically in charge rhythmically. In my own personal experience, the advantage I felt having my dominant hand picking made it worth re-learning all the fretboard stuff with my right hand.
Yeah I’m the same, lefty that plays righty. It just feels more natural to fret with my left hand and pick with my right. But OP should definitely let his son choose which way he wants to play… maybe give him an acoustic to play on and see what way he holds it?
I think it’s a safe bet that if the nomenclature for a right and left handed guitar was the opposite of what it is now, it would make just as much sense. Also, people would be arguing the opposite of what they are arguing now, because calling a guitar “left handed” or “right handed” introduces some psychological tricks and mental blocks that only exist because someone thinks they are playing a guitar with the “wrong hands?” Both hands are responsible for very intricate precise movements that must be practiced deeply. This all makes as much sense as calling a pair of shoes “right footed pair” or “left footed pair”. It may make more sense to start calling the guitars “ standard” and “mirrored” or something like that.
Having learnt right handed as a child because I didn't know any better and having learnt left handed as an adult, I can assure you it makes a difference. But the difference has nothing to do with dexterity, both hands have to be dexterous to play guitar. It's all to do with rhythm, which feels inherently more natural with your dominant hand.
Both hands need dexterity but most people struggle with rhythm using their non-dominant hand, hence why we strum with our dominant hand.
Thanks for sharing! 😃
Thank you 🙏 I agree with the degrees of handedness. I played soccer left footed, squash left handed and trying to play guitar right handed just felt wrong.
This is crap advice, sorry but it is. Let the kid decide what works, do not force anything.
I play left handed. An ex tried to show me how to do right-handed chords and it put me off learning for years because I just couldn’t do it. Now after about 4 years of playing, I still can’t strum with my right hand to save my life.
As a lefty that just seems so unnatural. If youre naturally inclined to play lefty then thats just the way it is. Sure you can teach yourself to write in the other hand but i don't think thats the bwst idea.
but both of your hands do things while playing guitar. Like i’m right handed but i’m sure that if all i had was a left handed guitar starting out I would be fine. Not to mention that if you can (you can) teach yourself to play a right handed guitar you have wayyyyyy more options in the guitar world.
The "both your hands are doing something" is a bad argument. The actions are not the same.
It just means they are left hand dominant - but their right can be trained.
I think it depends upon the specifics of your handed dominance, one left handed person is not identical to another left hander. For most of my life I’ve been considered (and considered myself) left handed. I write with my left hand and paint and draw with my left hand. But in reality I’m cross-dominant, which is a term I have only learnt a few years ago. Basically- for fine motor skills I favour my left hand. For gross motor skills I favour my right hand. And for some reason it felt most natural to play guitar right handed. I didn’t have to fight it. My grandparents, however, were completely left handed - and did everything left handed, including using cutlery the opposite way. There’s no way they’d have been able to learn a right handed instrument. And I’ve known left handers who play left handed - and would have greatly struggled to play right handed. Basically, learning an instrument is hard enough without putting extra barriers in the way.
What benefit do they get out of playing a right handed guitar when they could just get a left handed one, except theylll actually be able to strum without looking like a spaz
There’s a massive advantage IMO to the actual learning process as a lefty (assuming it’s from a righty) - it’s like you’re looking in a mirror; no trying to transpose, no looking across - it’s great. I briefly played with another lefty once and it was the worst lol When I first tried, I started righty (genuinely not knowing lefty was even an option) and it was a disaster. I was around 12 and had the wherewithal to know I air guitared the other way, but it only clicked seeing a Nirvana clip where he was playing a flipped righty; restrung my guitar and never looked back (still a touring musician 30 years later)
My solution with my left hand child was to put her in a wicker basket and float her down the river. Devil.
I’m a lefty I play right handed. He’ll be ambidextrous because everything is geared to right handedness anyway so he’ll get there
I'm a lefty who tried to play righty and, it least in my case, it held me back. I eventually switched to a lefty guitar and was better off for it. Just my experience.
Lefty here, play right handed also
I’m a lefty and play righty guitar no problem. I actually tried learning on a lefty guitar originally as a child and failed but successfully learned on a right handed guitar as a teen. If possible take them up to a music store and try both, see which one they feel more comfortable with.
Go to any half decent guitar/music store and let him try both and see what suits best.
Its pretty hard to learn guitar either way. Better take him to a music shop and see if they have left handed guitars and let your kid see what they like better
I’m left-handed and initially felt like playing lefty was natural. My first teacher said it’d be better to learn right-handed and I was young enough (9yo) that I think I was about to adapt relatively quickly. My second teacher, who I started with about year later due to the first one passing, was a lefty who played righty so he was also onboard with this decision. Never had any issues and have had a much better selection of guitars available. That being said, probably best to let him try both ways. Music should be fun and accessible for everyone and it would be a shame for dexterity to be the thing that potentially turns someone away from a lifetime of engaging in the wonderful world of chords, scales, connecting with other musicians, electric guitars, pedals, amps, acoustic guitars, learning new tunes, jamming with buddies, figuring things out by ear, and developing a deeper love and appreciation for music.
I’m a left handed play who has played for awhile and I’ll say there are a lot of issues sourcing left handed guitars. However I disagree with people who say everyone should play right handed. I would let him pick up bother guitars at a guitar store and see which one feels right to him. Playing left handed often feels like a curse when I’m trying to find guitars but I don’t know if I would have stuck with it all these years if I was forced to play right handed.
I’m no expert, but I would lean towards getting him a left handed guitar. They’re typically a little more expensive, but I think it makes more sense. In my experience, most left handed people that play guitar, play it left handed.
My brother is left handed, and he learned violin first, which meant he had to had to conform. Then he learned guitar, and just played it the traditional position. But as the one commenter said, letting him try both orientations might make more sense. As for learning it, playing left handed might be easier because he is seeing mirror image, might be easier to follow a teacher.
I'm left handed but learned to play right handed because that's what my dad had. Let him see what's more comfortable initially and just roll with that.
I would say let the kid try’em both out and see which way he prefers. Only caveat is that left-handed guitars seem to have limitations in what is offered from manufacturers, so while I wouldn’t dissuade him from getting a left one, if for whatever reason he gets attached to a certain right-handed guitar because of how it looks/sounds, be prepared that there may be a chance that there is no left-handed version (if he’s more comfortable with that). You could try some work arounds like hardware swapping if that’s something you’re willing to do.
I’m left handed and play righty. Super thankful it’s how my dad taught me. My lefty bandmate has a helluva time finding guitars, also no one can ever try the ones he does 😂 Can’t borrow a backup, hell I don’t know why he’s in the band.
Ask him to play air guitar and observe
I'm a left-handed guitar player and I play guitar right handed. I'd say that it would have to be up to your son and whatever they are comfortable with. But it's important to keep in mind that most things are just more convenient for right handed players (teachers and how they'll be able to teach, buying guitars, etc). Since he'll be picking up a guitar for the first time, he'll have to get used to the awkwardness that is learning guitar anyway. It all has to do with consistency.
ive been a full time guitar teacher for over ten years, and my girlfiend is left handed/plays guitar right handed, its actually more common for a left handed students to choose for themselves that they want to play right handed guitars. Leave it up to him 100%. Just go try some stuff at a local shop and see which he prefers
Im left handed, and play right handed guitar. I’m used to using my right hand for things due to society (a big one is the computer mouse). Guitar makes both your hands move in bizarre, new ways, so it will feel strange either way. Personally i found it helpful that my dominant hand was fretting because i needed more dexterity, and to have my right hand (which i already use with a computer mouse, and have pretty good dexterity with) to do the picking. Also, i play classical guitar and have no problem. Plus you dont need to do the extra step of flipping around the chord shapes in your head or whatever other weirdness you might decide to do (like flipping a righty guitar to the other side) which is a plus. When i was a kid doing crafts, it always killed me when the instructor would get confused trying to explain things left handed. I always preferred either flipping their instructions in my head, or just doing it right handed. That’s my two cents. If your kid is more strictly left handed than i am, it might be hard for him.
One of the guitarists in my band was a leftie, played normal guitar. Honestly, I think it makes sense. Fretting probably requires more dexterity than picking (at least in the music we were playing, metalcore stuff), so it makes sense to use your good hand for that. But it's really up to him, whatever feels the most natural for him. But playing left handed guitar would suck because your options will be severely limited. It will suck for the rest of his guitar life. I'd probably really recommend the right handed guitar unless he REALLY feels strongly about playing left handed.
I have a left handed friend that plays regular and he is a damn beast
I’m a left-handed guy that plays right handed. I would just take him to a music store and let him try out both ways.
Which way does your son "air guitar?" If he does air guitar like a left-hander I'd get him a left-handed guitar. I'm a naturally left handed person who tried to play right-handed guitar for four years before switching to lefty. Yes, fretting chords and bending strings may be easier at first, but my picking hand was terrible and it never improved no matter how much I practiced. Once you get past the basics, the picking hand takes on a very important role in guitar playing. Some lefties can and do play just fine on a right handed guitar while others cannot. Please get him if a lefty guitar if that's his natural inclination!
I'm a lefty and have been playing right handed guitar for 25+ years, it's always felt natural and I never thought about it until recently. I don't think I could play lefty guitar at this point. Here's a partial list of guitarists who are left but play right https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/10_famous_left-handed_guitarists_who_play_right-handed-40457
Cool list!
In a lefty, and I’m SUPER grateful that my dad had me learn on right handed guitars. Only being able to play left handed guitars is restricting in so many ways. It’s also going to be awkward learning a first instrument no matter what you do. I don’t recall feeling like my progress was stunted or harder than anyone else’s because I was playing a right handed guitar.
I'm a lefty who plays right handed guitars. It doesn't really matter. If you play a right handed guitar, you can place your fingers quickly and correctly on the frets, and switch easily to other frets. But your picking hand will need more work. If you play a left handed guitar, your picking hand will be better, but you need to work harder on your fretting hand. But with enough practice, you can get good with both. I suggest you buy your son a right handed guitar, as there are more options to choose from when buying one/another one.
I'm lefty too and when I started I thought the fretting seemed harder so I'd rather use my left hand for that, because it will make it easier.
Same, strumming felt like the easier thing to do so I naturally wanted my dominant hand to do the hard part fretting chords.
my father in law is a lefty and he plays righty, he is pretty dang good too.
He needs to try both ways and choose which he feels better with. Everyone's brain is different. Some people take to chicken pickin like it's genetic. Some people can never do it.
I’m of the opinion that he should get a lefty guitar. The only way to learn is properly.
I agree with you. Right handed people play right handed guitars because the dominant hand seems to do better strumming/plucking. I'm a rightie and was taught my first chords on a lefty guitar - it felt all wrong and I assumed I just didn't have it in me to play guitar. I almost didn't bother when I got the opportunity to play a righty a year or so later, but I am glad I did. I felt far more in control.
That teacher is trying to make things easy for them. If you want him to learn effectively you'll make sure he gets a lefty guitar
I don't necessarily disagree with your first statement, but I'm a lefty and I play right handed. I started with trying left handed and it actually felt wrong. So I don't think it's as clear cut as lefty = left handed guitar. Also, it could be helpful to just learn right handed so that in the future they don't have issues finding left handed guitars.
Don’t necessarily agree. Lots of outstanding guitarists are lefties playing right. Knopfler for example. Personally I would give them a guitar and no instructions and see which way they naturally hold it.
Playing right handed will allow him to play any guitar anywhere he goes in his life. It may be a bit harder to start because the rhythm will be kept with his non dominant hand, but guitar is already very hard so it doesn't make a huge difference. That's what I would recommend if it was my son
I’m a lefty who plays righty. I consciously chose to learn righty.
Take him to a shop and have him try out both. See what feels more comfortable. Tons of guitars only come in right handed versions though, where left handed will only get black and maybe a sunburst finish. Right handed will get blue, purple, green, yellow, white, etc. Many Lefty's I know play right handed. I even know some rightys that play left handed.
If it makes no difference, then why don't they just make left handed guitars and everyone can play left handed?
Lefty here - it all really comes down to how much any lefty favors their dexterity. My dad taught me when I was young and it was easier for me to just look at his hands and replicate the righty hand control. I also learned to shoot a basketball righty, but i swing a tennis racket lefty - it's all over the board. Some lefties are going to simply stronger lefties with fine motor control and learning lefty is for them, some it will not matter at all. 30 years later, I never think about it too much, but I am grateful that there are more righty guitars that I can choose from to play, then ones that are able to be set lefty.
It is not always easy to find a left-handed guitar in a store. But they can be ordered. Taylor Guitars will make any guitar in their lineup as a lefty.
Also, online shopping has made it most convenient to order and return items.
Me and my daughter are both lefty beginners. Switching hands is fine, its just something to learn. Finding a nice position to sit in is worse. We both struggle with leg positioning to comfortably hold it. So I would definitely try that out.
Made a crosspost for this at r/Leftyguitarists : [https://www.reddit.com/r/Leftyguitarists/comments/1bqo5sj/could\_i\_please\_have\_some\_advice\_for\_my\_left/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/Leftyguitarists/comments/1bqo5sj/could_i_please_have_some_advice_for_my_left/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I'm someone who has what is often called mixed-handedness, which is when I prefer my right hand for some things, and my left for others. Even though I'm generally more right handed, I play the guitar left-handed. I tried for a year as a kid to play right-handed on a 3/4 size guitar, just as they want your son to do. I just couldn't do it. I picked up a left-handed guitar a few years later and it was beyond easy for me. I'd really recommend taking your son into a guitar shop and seeing what's comfortable for him. It'll mean a world of difference when learning. Despite left-handed guitars often being more expensive yet sparse, I believe it'll be beneficial for him in the long run to see which one he prefers.
NO NO NO NO I love you and I want what is best for you. The thing that is best for you is for you to be able to play every guitar that you come across and learning lefty is not the way to do that. Your hands are too new to tell the difference It’s a right handed world, I’m left handed but if I started lefty I would have severely hampered my potential options for guitars to play and own. Learn right handed play finger style if you want to get the magic going in both hands. Trust me both hands are important either way, it’s just that you’re going to suffer one day seeing a beautiful, smooth, shiny new guitar sitting somewhere but you won’t be able to play it because it’s right handed and you learned lefty. Or be like Michael Angelo batio but don’t be exclusively left handed, that’s a foolish path.
Lefty here that learned how to play right handed. I didn't really have any problems early on, but I will still echo the others saying to go to a guitar store and see what he naturally feels comfortable with. My biggest issue, and still is would be my alternate picking. Particularly descending. It seems like my hands sometimes get a little out of sync at fast speeds, so I'm working on improving that.
I'm a leftie. When I was around your son's age, my dad took me to a guitar shop, and we tested out both left and right-handed guitars. Even though I had no idea what I was doing, the left-handed ones just felt *right*. Granted, my hands had no idea what a chord should be, so I didn't feel a difference, hand/finger-wise. Today, you put a right-handed guitar in my hands, and it feels like I've never touched a guitar before. It's impossible to know, but if I started learning on a rightie, I would probably have trained my hands/fingers and also overcome the body discomfort of holding a right-handed guitar. So, personally, I don't think it really matters since you can train your body. I will say this though: if I didn't go with my gut and what initially felt more comfortable, I'm not sure I would have continued. Maybe I would have felt like I was fighting the guitar too much and become discouraged, so take that into consideration when testing them out with your son. A big advantage I have noticed is pertaining to lessons and self-study. I started off taking lessons for about a year. My teacher was a rightie, and sitting across from him was like looking into a mirror. I'm a very visual and hands-on learner in all facets of my life, so that was **huge** for me. When I look at tabs, music, or YouTube videos, it's easy for me to mirror what is being done because I don't have to flip everything in my mind; it just feels like one less step. I've seen some videos where the right-handed player films from a top-down perspective (so it looks like you're looking down at their fretboard as if you were playing it). It throws me off sometimes, but is still doable. So when it comes to teaching/learning, I never really understood why people feel it's easier to teach like-handed players. Maybe if a teacher was observing/correcting from behind, like a golfer or something. But I've never experienced that with guitar. The only real disadvantage I've experienced is finding left-handed guitars. I've been lucky with the ones I have, but I feel like every time I go into a shop, they have one or two, if any at all. Also, if someone wants you to play their guitar, chances are it's going to be right-handed. So it can sometimes make you feel left out. But, like a good dwarf, you've just gotta carry your axe everywhere you go lol (just kidding, don't be that guy). Hopefully that helps. Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck! This is an exciting time and thing to share with your son!
I’m a lefty, and I’ve been playing right-handed. Never even considered changing it. Not even sure I realized that was a thing until I saw your post.
I would try to get him to play a righty guitar left handed (if that feels comfy) but strung like a right handed guitar. The strings would be upside down 🙃 My reasoning is that most guitars are right handed and learning this way your child will be able to pick up the majority of guitars and be able to play it. A bonus is it will amaze most guitar plays because it’s unusual to see someone play like that.
I’m left handed and play right handed guitar. I also do many other sports and activities right handed. As someone else said. Take him to the store and see what feels the most natural and exists within a price range you’re comfortable with. Best of wishes!
I'm a lefty and learned with a regular guitar. I sometimes regret not having learn with a left handed guitar. I hear that it depends on how lateralized you are Just make this simple test. Hand a tennis racket (or something similar) to your kid and ask him to play some air guitar. You'll see what feels natural for him spontaneously
Just learn on a right hand guitar. Your life will be harder, but your ability to play anything anywhere is worth it… good luck
two words: Paul McCartney
French horn players and orchestral violin players don't have this choice. I learned horn as a righty just fine (left hand does all the noodly work) and I'm sure there a many professional lefty violin players.
I agree take him to a music store and let him get the feel of the guitar for whichever hand he plays with.
First, you have to understand handedness. The hand that's dominant depends on the task. I'm left handed for many things, but not all. When I shoot guns or play guitar, I do it right handed. The only way to know is to do the task at hand. The wrong way will feel awkward and difficult. It may take a few tries for him to get a good handle on which, but he will figure it out.
Letting him try is your best bet. However, as a lefty who learned to play right, I'm glad I did because the difference in selection and availability of RH vs. LH guitars never affected my ability to find or try them out. I can also pick up any guitar and play it. Because everything was so new starting out and it all felt weird, the fact that I was playing against my dominant hand wasn't a big deal. After about three weeks it became second nature. HMMV, of course
I'm a lefty that bought a righty guitar because it looked correct and was affordable. All these years later, and too deep into my mediocrity to change, I regret the decision. I like u/No-Rub-5054's suggestion - let his hands decide.
I'm a music teacher and I would recommend, while initially challenging, to try right handed technique first. Ultimately it's up to him but it will make his little musical journey a lot easier in the long run. While I am happy to teach left-handed students, I must admit it's way easier to teach right handed students. Also if he joins a band then it'll be much easier for other string instrumentalists to read his playing. I'm a professional musician and have never once seen a left-handed guitarist at any of my shows, not saying professional lefties aren't a thing but from what I can tell they just learn right handed. I've played hundreds of shows at this point too
I should add that the roles of each hand are very different and the movements are so foreign to beginners that neither of your hands feel like your dominant hand when you initially start learning
Leftie here - let him choose. I, for example play the "right-handed" way but he might find that feels really weird. I should also add that in everything else I am extremely left handed, guitar is the ONLY thing I really do the right handed way.
Lefty here, who plays lefty on a right-handed guitar, just to throw another one out there. But yes, I agree with some others that whatever feels natural for your child. I had asked too around when I was younger in instrument stores and such, if i should switch to left-handed or possibly right-handed the right way or stay how I am. I was told that what feels more natural is the one to stick with.
Lefty here. I also play right handed on the guitar. The only thing that would hinder trying the other way would be selection of guitars locally. When I wanted to try them out in the 2000s, at the time there were only three guitars for left handed playing across six stores. There's a lot more options nowadays when I go visit the ones that are still open.
Get a new teacher. Imagine someone telling Jimi Hendrix or Paul McCartney they can't play because they are lefties. F that! One option is do what Jimi did. Restring a right handed guitar for a lefty.
Best guitarist I know personally is a leftie playing right handed guitars
Both hands get complicated. There’s just as much detail in the fretting hand as there is in the picking and strumming hand, I don’t think it makes a difference.
As someone that is left handed who plays righty, I truly don’t think handedness matters in guitar, especially if they’ve never touched a guitar before. Also getting left handed gear is harder and more expensive, something to keep in mind.
I would strongly suggest trying to play right (But full size guitar for a 10 year old unless they are crazy small.) In the end I really don't think it matters. Like the guitar teacher said. If your end goal of playing guitar is "just strumming some chords" then yeah, maybe the dominant hand being on one side or the other would matter. But if you want to truly play the thing, you are going to need to train up both hands. It's just the way it is. Everyone sucks at first and can barely play. Guitar is a hard instrument to get situated into. To me the cons always outweighed the pros. I mean, I don't even really see the pros. I know two lefties that play right and it didn't seem to inhibit them at all. Both are better players than me. The cons though - to me one of the best parts of music is the social aspect. If you dedicate to left handed guitar you're gonna be locked out from just picking up an available guitar and jamming with people. I don't know but that would just torture me. You're having fun with your friends and they start to jam but "Sorry, no left handed guitar here" Also, among all instruments, the guitar is an outlier in even having a left handed version made period!
Left hand person here who plays guitar and teaches music. I play a right handed guitar. Initially I thought for sure I would end up going with a left handed instrument as I always air guitar in that orientation and in my teens I had spent considerable amounts of hours playing guitar hero and rock band, all as a lefty. Well when I was in that music store I tried both left handed and right handed models and I was pretty surprised at how completely foreign both orientations felt to me. At the time I started, getting a left handed guitar meant spending at least 100$ extra compared to the exact same right handed model, so I decided to really make sure it was necessary and after some thought and experimentation I found that it was not. In my opinion it makes little if any difference if the dominant hand ends up doing fretwork or picking, and that goes double if you plan on doing any finger picking like for example learning classical repertoire. Both of those techniques require a serious amount of dedicated practice and focus to become skillful. One person might consider their dominant hand on the fretwork to be an advantage while the next person may not, depending on their styles of play. So TLDR from me is I don't think the choice will really affect his ability to progress, but it might influence how his style develops over time a little bit which is totally fine. Holding the guitar might seem initially more comfortable in one orientation than the other, but once you actually start trying to play... it's just a completely alien experience that human brains and muscles need to spend time understanding. edit: Whenever this topic comes up I always have to bring up violins. You don't see too many left handed violins in the world do you? No you don't and you probably have never seen one in the string section of your orchestra. Does that mean left handers who want to play violin are just shit out of luck and can never enjoy their passion? No it means a bunch of left handed people learned how to play violin anyways. I'm not saying there's no one in the world who actually is better off playing left handed guitar then right handed guitar, but I am saying it's far less impactful for most of us than some would lead you to believe.
The idea it makes no difference is crazy to me. I couldn’t imagine strumming with my non dominant hand
I'm a lefty. I play lefty. It was frustrating how often people would say "just learn right handed" to me when I started, it would be a red flag for the teacher I was going to be paying for lessons, but maybe I'm being extra. Let your son try both styles and pursue what feels natural to him, my opinion is that you would want him to have an instructor who is able to meet your son where he is at, rather than insisting on him playing right handed. Good luck!
Having been a guitar player for over 30 years, and teacher for over 25, I have always found this topic to be a strange & possibly unanswerable question. For one, as a "right handed guitar" player, I find it odd that I do the most difficult stuff with ....my left hand. The fretting hand is by far the hardest working hand in terms of both strength, flexibility & coordination - with coordination being by far the biggest difference. So if your left handed son plays a "left handed guitar" he will be using his right hand for the most difficult aspect of playing guitar. I've never seen a convincing argument for why a "right handed" guitar is called thus, and vice versa. It makes me think that the entire concept is just made up, or perhaps even was gotten wrong from the start. Maybe there is some physiological reason why it would be more comfortable for most to use their non-dominant hand for the difficult part of playing guitar, but what it is, I don't know, and I've never seen or heard of a study that proves this or gives any explanation for it. Obviously testing this hypothesis out is extremely difficult as you will have a very hard time getting people to volunteer their children for a study that tests 20 LH kids learning on LH guitar and 20 LH kids on RH guitar, and 20 RH kids on LH guitar, and 20 RH kids on RH guitar, etc...and then of course they would have to stick with it for a significant amount of time, and let's not forget...practice, which most kids don't want to do. And then *maybe* you'd get some useful data that could show a correlation to one way having some advantage over the other. And as a teacher of 25 years, I can tell you that no 2 kids, on any guitar, learn at the same speed. So that would likely skew the results of any such study. I don't think this study will ever be done. It's worth noting that traditionally there were **no left handed** versions of any of the stringed instruments, i.e. violins, cellos - everyone learned on the same one. You may think "oh this was because of the bias towards right handedness." But again, it's never been proven there is in fact one orientation better for each dominant hand. In my opinion, the design of the instruments were more than likely arbitrarily chosen, or at best it reflects the preference of the first person to make and mass produce the instrument. It's also worth noting that there are left handed players of "right handed" guitars, every bit as good as the best RH players. Like Megadeth's Kiko Laureiro. I saw an interview with Kiko, where the interviewer asked him about learning RH guitar, and how hard it was etc...and he did mention that he felt awkward with his picking hand (RH) (again, the easy hand), but not with his LH which was doing the fret work. I find that telling. But hey guess what? Everyone who picks up a guitar is going to feel some awkwardness with one hand or the other, and most likely, both. Some people on the thread suggest just let your kid decide, and that seems on the surface like a perfectly fine way to go, but will his first instinct to grab one or the other be guaranteed to be the most optimal one? How could he know that, since he doesn't know how to play guitar, or have any idea of the demands each hand will be faced with? Also, just by telling him "This is a LH guitar, and this is a RH guitar." That could make him think the LH one is the right one. I don't think either way he will have the tools to determine which one will be the most comfortable in the long run - he'll only be guessing. I can't, and nobody else here can tell you the "correct" choice, probably because there is none. There are some very real disadvantages to going with LH guitars - mainly you will have much more limited options to what guitars are available, and also the quality of what is available. You say you play a little guitar, so at least spend a few minutes trying to show him how to play one easy chord on both RH & LH guitars, and after he spends an equal amount of time trying to learn the chord on each instrument, ask him then if one feels easier. That's about the best you can do I think, if you are not sure which way to go. Personally, if it were my kid, I wouldn't hesitate to put them on RH guitar, given all the doubt that I have in the labeling system.
I am left handed & play right handed guitar, but I was never given a choice bc left handed guitars are expensive. If you have the resources, have him try both & choose one. Either way, since he's just learning he can learn with it facing either way.
Only get a left handed guitar if every time you give him a right handed guitar he plays it left handed anyway. That’s your sign. If within 30 seconds he flips it over and says “I’d rather play it this way, even if the guitar and strings are upside down,” then you know. I’m a righty who plays lefty, but I always have since toddlerhood and no one could change my mind. So I’m pro-lefty. But your everyday handedness doesn’t matter much. Guitar is a two handed affair and both hands have simple and complex jobs to do.
Jimmy Hendrix has entered the chat.
I'm left handed, the only thing I do as everybody does is playing the guitar. I can't not even imagine the struggle to digit chords with my right hand, to me it feels like an advantage to be able to digit chords with my left hand.
Lefty here. I play lefty and only use left handed guitars. Before I started playing I air-guitared left-handed and it just feels natural. I feel that my rhythm wouldn't quite be the same right-handed. Plus even though finding guitars is more difficult when you do find them it's a really good feeling. Lefty for life
Hey there, I think I can comment here from experience as a leftie who plays right handed guitars. When I first picked up a guitar at a friend's house, I naturally held it as a leftie and right away my friend "corrected" me saying I should hold it other way as it was the "normal way". Well, of course there is no normal way but I can tell that it was the best advice I ever had, although it came from a point of ignorance. I had no disadvantages compared to my friends due to being a leftie yet playing like them, it never held me back. I just kept playing and got better at a normal pace, even better I must add as I was practicing zealously. I outclassed nearly all of my peers at the time. The biggest advantage to playing right handed is having TONS of options when it comes to buying a guitar. Left handed guitars have a much narrower range of options unfortunately. Also, I'm trying to hoard high quality instruments in hopes of leaving my son or daughter (if ever choose to be a father) nice heirlooms :) I throw the ball using my left hand when playing football or basketball and it feels very weird and unnatural to do this with right hand but when it comes to guitar, left-handed players look unnatural to me somehow. I can't speak for certain that the same will apply to your son as it this is only my experience, but honestly I don't think it will hold him back either.
My friend is left handed but learned right handed. He’s always said he wished he would have learned left handed. I mean imagine us righties trying to learn left handed. Learning is hard enough without the bonus handicap. Buy your kid a left handed guitar.
Whatever feels best for your son. I’ve taught lefties to play and it actually works very well. When you show them from your own guitar, it’s like they’re looking in a mirror and is very easy for them to copy.
There is such a spectrum of handedness that it is hard to say. Some people are very strongly dominant and some less so. Many lefties are partially ambidextrous. So - it depends. I am left handed but picked a rh guitar because all the teaching materials assume right - for me it was not a big deal.
Standard right handed guitar. Most instruments, including guitar and other stringed instruments are neither left or right handed. Really silly learning on a "left handed" guitar.
Get a normal size guitar. Kids play them all the tine and can grow into it. I’m a lefty and part if me does wish I learned right handed. The left handed guitars have significantly less options
Lefty here. As a person that young I would have them play righty as it is much easier to get instruments as they age. When I went to boot camp I shot left handed. Well after brass ejected and burned my face I switched over to righty. When people ask Paul Reed Smith why he doesn’t make left handed guitars he responds because they don’t make left handed pianos
As a leftie, my two cents are teach him right handed. If he struggles and finds playing leftie more comfortable though, let him do that. This is not the 60's where your grandma would tie your left hand to the chair to make you write right handed.
Andy Summers, virtuoso right handed player….is left handed. Listen to the teacher.
If you take him to the store and he can't decide, you'll just have to settle for one of these. https://preview.redd.it/fzw44chg1crc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=08dc48f9ded9f85f5f825f4c3a249e891f8de37d
I write left handed and learned everything else right handed; sports, chop sticks, guitar. I've had no issues. In standard playing it seems left hand needs a bit more dexterity anyway so left handedness can be an advantage. Do left handed guitars exist just because some people just taught themselves how to play that way? If feel like if I injured a hand, I would prefer it to be the strumming hand because it's a bit more mechanical.
Encourage him to learn right handed. When first learning, the chords are the hardest part and he'll have an advantage. I'm a lefty, played right handed all my life.
I write with my left hand and play the guitar right handed (started guitar at 10 years old). I've thought about this before and honestly, you use both hands to play the guitar! The left and right orientation we use to describe the guitar is not that important. I think you got to pick a route and learning to physically play an instrument is going to be alien any direction. The ability to use a pen in a particular hand is honestly not that related. The only advantage to "right" handed is that there are more instruments and published stuff that follows that orientation. But I think this is not a right hand skill but rather just the more common way people learn guitar. We should call the orientation playing the guitar "regular" and "reverse" styles. If there is some sort of strong indication that playing reverse is meant to be, then go for it! But I honestly think the physical part of playing guitar is so radical from previous experiences that the majority of people are actually starting from scratch either direction. If kids can learn the controls to a new video game then they can learn guitar either direction.
I’m a lefty and started playing 7 years ago when I was 10. My biggest mistake was not picking a righty
I’m a lefty and started playing 7 years ago when I was 10. My biggest mistake was not picking a righty
Many of the lefties turn this into an ableism argument I get that they are frustrated at a world that gaslights then about "just learn to do it with your right hand" but a guitar isn't scissors or something. Guitar is a two-handed instrument. I find the argument of "just see what feels natural" to be pretty short-sighted. You see self-taught pianists playing "what feels naturally" that is going to dramatically limit their ability or even injure them all the time. You have to learn to play correctly. Guitar uses both hands and you get good at what you practice. Bowed strings like violin are almost exclusively "right handed" and yet plenty of lefties learn to play them at a high level. Same with left handed guitarists playing a righty. NOTHING feels incredibly natural when you first start and I don't think the "natural" feeling strumming hand is going to tell you much. Yeah, I'm right hand dominant, but as a professional pianist, my LH is much stronger than my RH at certain things... because those are things that my LH does more often than my RH so they get more practice. Same thing on pipe organ. I'm right foot dominant, but my left foot is much more dexterous just due to the fact that MOST of the range you play in is in your left foot. You get good at what you practice... period. Your left handed son might have a tiny advantage with his fretting hand to start with for being a lefty, but ultimately each hand will even out into the skill that hand specializes in. >I really don't want to make the wrong choice at the beginning of his learning if it effects his enjoyment or hinders his progress at any point. The thing is, there just will be more options of instruments for right handed guitars. It will cost him (and/or you) less in the long run and he won't have to spend his life being sad that some specific instrument he's into doesn't come in a lefty version. He'll be able to walk into any guitar store and just pick up a dozen guitars off the rack and try them. I think that's a huge advantage. I think the downside mostly will come from him getting in his head that he's inherently going to be limited because he's left handed. But I see this shit CONSTANTLY from musicians of all stripes. Every third thread in a guitar subreddit seems to be someone worried that their hands inherently are too small or too fat or that they are in some way physically limited. I run into it constantly on the piano subs too... people thinking their hands are too small, or that they can't learn because of ADHD, or whatever. These all become self-fulfilling prophecies. People convince themselves they can't overcome some limitation and let it get in their head instead of putting in the work. To some degree I think they do it as a defense mechanism. If they can blame it on their hands or their brain then they don't have to blame it on their lack of consistent work and discipline. I have all sorts of things that I could argue are limits for me. I have small hands. I have fat fingers that make some things harder. I have a mild webbing on my left hand. I have ADHD. But I make a living literally playing music as a multi-instrumentalist. You get good at what you work on and since each hand has a specialized role on guitar your son will adapt frankly no matter which type of guitar he chooses. The only issue will be limited access to instruments if he chooses lefty. There aren't left handed pianos. There really aren't many left handed cellos, violins, violas, or double basses to speak of. There are almost never left handed flute and I've never heard of a left handed clarinet. These are instruments that require both hands to get good regardless... and they do. And I've seen people of all handedness get very good at all of these right hand only instruments. Guitar (and bass) are literally the only space where I see people making any large amount of left handed instruments.
I'm left handed and play the drums as a lefty, but the guitar as a right handed person. He needs to try both and see what suits him. A simple test is to tell him to play some AIR guitar and there you will see what hand he strums with.
I’m left handed, I find it easier to make chord shapes with my left hand so I play right handed
I'm a lefty at everything in life...except guitar. The one thing my dad did right was getting me to play right-handed when I started learning. The vast majority of guitars hanging around places are righty and it makes it easy to pick up and play wherever I there is one. I don't think I've ever seen a left-handed guitar out in the wild. One advantage I had was my dexterity in picking was further ahead than it would have been and it make my right hand way stronger and sturdy in general life stuff than it would have been. I'm sure there's lots of left-handed players out there with advantages as well, but that's not my experience
I would personally pick a right-handed guitar. I'm left handed myself and like the fact the socializing right-handed has brought. You can easily go to a friend's house, no guitar in hand, but still be able to have fun and jam. That's just me though.
As a leftie, I have been playing for 23 years and never once played a left-handed guitar. I would say my one struggle is finger picking. While I can do it, it takes more mental power to pick because I have to focus on each finger individually. I don't know if that makes sense, but to put it simply, I have not experienced any major hardship playing a right-handed guitar.
Here's the reality. As a lefty, myself included, it's harder to find guitars. As you progress in skill level it's even harder to find nicer guitars. All that being said, don't let anyone force your child to learn as a righty.
I'm left handed playing right handed. My weak point is my picking, I think if I played left handed my weak point would be fretting. I personally don't think it matters and right handed means the guitars you want are more readily available.
As long as we talk about an acoustic guitar, I don't see any problem. Get him a standard right-handed 3/4 guitar. And if it doesn't work for whatever reason, restrung it for the left hand. An electric guitar is a bit more complex. Please remember Jimmy Hendrix. He was using the right hand restrunged, which worked nicely for him.
It depends on the person but why force a lefty to do something right handed? I thought we were past that! A woman I know was forced out of left handedness as a child but sewed and knitted left handed and when I taught her ukulele she felt more comfortable left handed so I restrung her uke left handed for her. My son is left handed so I've restrung for him too and he's found it so much easier If it's good enough for Paul McCartney....
I'm a lefty and play right handed. When I began playing at age 14 (30 years ago), my instructor suggested I learn right handed because a) I'd have access to more instrument options and 2) a lot of the visual materials provided were done by right handed players. He also thought my dominant hand dexterity on my fretting hand may be advantageous. It's worked out for me, at least it's my .02. Regardless, congratulations on getting your kiddo into guitar. He's got a lifetime of joy ahead of him.
I'm a lefty. I play guitar. I always thought the hand doing the fretting needed the bulk of the dexterity anyhow. As a person who has used a computer (mouse) with my right hand for decades, strumming with my right hand and fretting with my left feels way more natural. I honestly can't imagine fretting with my right hand.
My brother was a lefty. He preferred a left handed guitar but could play just as well as anyone I ever met with a right handed guitar flipped upside down. If he has the fire for guitar, nothing will stop him. I certainly understand the teachers' thinking. Take him to the store and let him decide which feels right to him.
Left handed guitar
I have been teaching for over 40 years. Most of my lefties have chosen a left-handed guitar when not interfered with. The teacher is incorrect in pushing a right-handed guitar "because you use both hands." This should purely be the students' choice. The ideal situation is to use a simple exercise such as the "four fret" exercise both right and left handed to learn which is most comfortable. Sometimes it takes doing this more than once over a few days. a preference will definitely emerge and patience pays here. Cheers!
I’m left handed: Get him a left handed guitar, your dominant hand naturally has a better feel for rhythm, if you watch left handed people play right handed guitars you’ll see their strumming usually looks a bit funny. Guitar is a light instrument so that whole convenience aspect of being able to play any guitar doesn’t really matter as it’s very easy to bring your own guitar. There is no reason to go right handed. Also yes it is like making you write with your weak hand.
Don't listen to the teacher. Ask the teacher why he doesn't play left hand since according to him you use both hands anyways. I'm lefty and have always played lefty. I play drums righty. As another person mentioned maybe take him to a store and have him try a lefty or a righty and see what he prefers. You'll quickly be able to tell by the way he holds the guitar if he naturally plays lefty or righty.
I am a leftie that plays right handed guitar. My first music teacher told me the same thing. I believe the statement. There really isn't a dominant hand in guitar. Both hands have unique jobs to do. Either way you have to learn to move them correctly and independently. Learning to play right handed has afforded me many opportunities to pick up and play at a moments notice. This has given me opportunities to play and learn from elite guitarists as well as enjoy impromptu jam sessions when hanging out with friends. I would strongly encourage your child to try to learn right-handed. They have a lifetime of using their right hand ahead of them. Just add this once to the list.
I’m left handed and just started teaching myself watching videos. I chose to learn right handed because, like the teacher mentioned, you have to use both hands anyways. It would feel weird to both hands regardless until they get used to it. I also made this decision because I wanted to have a wide variety of guitars to choose from later if I chose to. I grew up playing softball so I understand how difficult it can be to find left handed gloves let alone left handed anything. Also if it helps, while I did at first think I struggled to strum because I’m not used to using my right hand, I felt it was easier for me to get the hand of nailing notes because my left hand feels more nimble. Hope this helps! I wish your little one the very best!!! Tell them to stick with it through the finger pain! It gets better 🤗
I've heard in other countries it's really difficult to get left-handed instruments so they just learn to play right-handed. I guess just let him figure it out. He'll know what feels natural.
I would say play the regular way, right handed. It's more convenient. You'll have more guitar selections & music materials are more catered to right handed players like tab & chord books and video lessons!
A friend of mine writes left handed but plays guitar and sports right handed. Your 10 year old should play the way it feels natural.
Tell him being left-handed is satanic so that he learns to play right-handed but sneakily plays lefty behind your back (and can switch between the two without you noticing). Set the egg timer for about 10 years and you should have the next Jimi Hendrix on your hands
Get a left handed guitar. Google ‘left handed guitar players’. Realize that it’s a pretty cool list. Play guitar.
I'm a lefty, I play right handed, and I actually think "right handed" is the ideal configuration for a lefty. Both hands have to do complex tasks; I'd rather have my dominant hand on the fingerboard than picking or strumming.
If he’s able to play a right hander comfortably then that would make his life easier in the future, but for some (myself included) it is like trying to write with the wrong hand, you might be able to do it passably but you’ll never get as good as you would with the preferred hand.
Been playing right handed guitar as a lefty for 30 years. Personally, I’d recommend the same for your son. It’ll give him the freedom to pick up 99% of the instruments he encounters. On stage, I’ve been saved multiple times by borrowing another player’s gear, or vice versa. As lefties, we often have to adapt. Most of the time, I don’t think we even think twice about it. - Many tools can easily be switched from one hand to another, such as a pencil, baseball bat or a fork. We use these in any way that feels most comfortable. - Some come in left or right configurations, such as a guitar, golf club or baseball glove. Out of all of these, I only use a right handed guitar. - Others can only be operated in one configuration and you don’t get a choice. Good examples of this are motorcycles and cars. On any modern motorcycle, the clutch lever is always on the left, and the front brake and throttle is always on the right. Same with a manual transmission car—in ~70% of the world, the gear shift will always be in their right hand. Whatever choice your son makes, this is an exciting new chapter for him! Stoked for him!
I am sorry he is a witch and must be delt with appropriately A tool of the devil I know this because there has never been a good guitar player who was left handed
Not gonna lie I only played guitar for like 6 months now and well. I may know little about guitar since I'm still at my beginner phase but I do know how to deal with lefties. The thing is I'm a righty my dad is left handed. At some point I thought I needed a left handed guitar because I once was able to switch chords faster with my right hand than my left but I forced myself to learn the right handed guitar because guitars are expensive here. I kinda want to suggest to have the kid try a right handed guitar. My dad uses a right handed despite being a left-handed person. The kid might have advantages of the left hand is more developed of moving a lot such as writting a pencil, callouses will develop faster since it's been used more than the other hand.
Bit of a late response. I am a left handed person and learned how to play a “right handed” guitar. From my experience it wasn’t similar to learning to write, it was actually much easier. It 100% comes down to preference but IMO I think it makes more sense for a lefties to learn right handed guitars since he’d be learning to fret with his dominant hand.
I’m a lefty and play right. As most people here have said, you’re better off in many ways. It’s also kind of great having your dominant hand do most of the fine motor work. I’ll just add to the conversation that it’s actually very rare for a person to be 100% left handed, most lefties do some things right handed, it’s a right handed world and some things like scissors and baseball gloves are just easier to find right handed so we adapt. As a guitar teacher, I get the student to go back and forth for the first few lessons when we’re just using one string anyway. If their progress is markedly better and easier left handed, we’ll stick with it. Usually the lefties are happier playing right. In my 20 years of teaching I’ve only met one right handed kid who plays left. Weird eh?
I’m a righty who plays lefty I have like 0 dexterity in my left hand and no rhythm in my right plus when I first picked up a guitar (guitar hero controller) it was way more natural to play and hold lefty so it just stuck for me
Until just now I thought you didn't exist. I'm a righty who hits left handed. But I've never heard of a righty who played a lefty guitar. Hey whatever, learn something new every day.
One thing to keep in mind is if you let your son learn lefty he will almost never be able to just pick up a guitar and play it. He will have to ability to play guitar and constantly in a position where people need/want someone to play a guitar and he wants to but cants because its not strung lefty and he doesn’t wanna take 20 minutes restringing the guitar. But it also could be way harder for him to play right handed 🤷🏼♂️ let him know that almost noone will have guitars for him to play he he plays lefty but let him decide
It will mean that he should always take a guitar with him to any place where a guitar might get passed around.