New guitar for leftie string it jimmy hendrix style?

December 24, 2005 3:11 PM

I've gotten my 5 year old a 1/2 size guitar for Christmas. I remembered as he picked it up for the first time from under the tree this morning- that he is left handed. I'd like to be able to teach him the basics. Should I restring the guitar for a leftie, or teach him to use his right hand for strumming? What do most left handers do? Should I train him Jimmy Hendrix style?
posted by Dag Maggot to Media & Arts (31 answers total)

just teach him the regular way. i'm lefthanded and when i was little i played violin the regular way and learned guitar in college right-handed as well. i'm not sure why some lefties play guitar backwards, you don't need to. he'll be fine, especially since he's young. have fun!
posted by radioamy at 3:15 PM on December 24, 2005

Best answer: There is something to be said for using your most dexterous hand for fingering. One might ask why right handed people started playing the way we do. He'll be fine, and might even be finer than if you restrung the guitar.
posted by qwip at 3:22 PM on December 24, 2005

I agree, just teach him the regular way. I'm left-handed too, and an ex-player of stringed instruments; I think I would have found it awkward at best to try to learn to play upside-down, though admittedly I was no prodigy. If, waaaaaay down the road, he shows continued interest and lots o'talent, he might decide to switch it up, but at this age I think it'd be easier on him (and you) to learn it the way everybody else does it.
posted by Gator at 3:30 PM on December 24, 2005

There is something to be said for using your most dexterous hand for fingering.
A left-handed friend of mine says this is why he likes playing guitar much more than bass.
Also, note that a smaller guitar tunes slightly differently than a full sized one.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 3:37 PM on December 24, 2005

Response by poster: How does a smaller guitar tune differently from a full sized one martinX?
posted by Dag Maggot at 3:39 PM on December 24, 2005

Remember that little fingers are not that strong, so they can not forcibly depress the strings.

Adjust the bridge so that the strings are as close as possible without buzzing.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:47 PM on December 24, 2005

...and of course that means the frets must be aligned.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:48 PM on December 24, 2005

Best answer: How does a smaller guitar tune differently from a full sized one martinX?
posted by Dag Maggot at 3:39 PM PST on December 24 [!]

We have little guitars for little fingers here too, and though they don't exactly tune differently, they seem, because of their scale, to not tune perfectly. BTW, it's not like we've spent hundreds of dollars for perfect little guitars either.

Oh, and stick with regular guitar holding/playing. There's no right or left for piano, sax etc. If he keeps it up he'll eventually both hands will be doing pretty intricate and precise movements.
posted by snsranch at 4:28 PM on December 24, 2005

Were it my kid, I'd probably watch him, and only flip it if he discovered he preferred fretting with his right hand. Future guitars will be cheaper and easier to pick up used, and when hanging out with other musicians he won't have to worry about whether a lefty instrument is available to play.

The standard dominant hand strumming setup might relate to large and small movements. I'm pretty deft with my non-dominant hand, but can't punch worth salt.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 5:24 PM on December 24, 2005

skallas: Because they're not asymmetric activities.

Why all these string instruments evolved to be stopped with the left hand is actually an interesting question, since it's clearly the more dextrous activity. On the other hand, most left handed players do play with left handed instruments, at least on guitar. One thought I have is that to have the right hand perform the operative action of actually sounding the strings feels more natural, even though it's the less complex action.
posted by abcde at 5:44 PM on December 24, 2005 [1 favorite]

The fact is, you need a lot more strength and dexterity in the hand holding down the chords then you do for strumming.

Unless he's going to be playing classical Spanish style, teach him how to play normally.

That's what I think, anyway. I'm right handed and I'm not that good of a guitarist, but really the whole thing just seems completely backwards w.r.t handedness.
posted by delmoi at 5:46 PM on December 24, 2005

Another vote in favor of teaching him to play the standard lefty way. My guitar BB recently put up a poll asking lefties who learned lefty would rather have learned righty, and all 24 people who responded - some professionals among them would have preferred to learn righty.

This has been asked before, btw.
posted by ikkyu2 at 5:48 PM on December 24, 2005

That pun was entirely unintended.
posted by abcde at 5:49 PM on December 24, 2005

One thought I have is that to have the right hand perform the operative action of actually sounding the strings feels more natural, even though it's the less complex action.

I think people tend to want to do the 'most important' thing with their dominant hand, and when you don't know how to play guitar strumming seems more important, but obviously it's not.
posted by delmoi at 5:50 PM on December 24, 2005

ikkyu2: Your answer seems a little confusing, you say he should nearn the "standard lefty way" even though all the lefties say they wish they "would have preferred to learn righty."
posted by delmoi at 5:52 PM on December 24, 2005

Why all these string instruments evolved to be stopped with the left hand is actually an interesting question, since it's clearly the more dextrous activity.

I'd played the piano for years by the time I picked up the guitar, and found that I'd already apparently developed certain abilities differently in each hand: I was quicker at finding chords and stuff with my left hand, and had greater facility for melodic stuff with my right. So on the guitar.... chording with my left hand seemd like a much more natural thing than doing so with my right (and since I started out by learning chords for popular material, this worked out great).

I don't know if this was something that was developed from the way most piano I encountered went, or if it could be rooted in the division of cognitive function by hemisphere, but in either case, I don't imagine that it'd be a big difference between righties and lefties.
posted by weston at 6:13 PM on December 24, 2005

As a righty who plays a left-handed guitar strung left-handed (long story) I'd say teach him the "normal" way. Only because it makes life easier when you borrow, look to buy, or want to impress a girl at a party when you don't have a YOUR guitar.

Plug: I LOVE my Baby Taylor 3/4 size guitar. I got mine lefty and no extra cost
posted by cccorlew at 6:27 PM on December 24, 2005

I'm not sure how a smaller guitar tunes differently, but my brother had one and we never could get it tuned quite right using an electronic tuner (the sort that tells you if it's sharp or flat)
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 6:29 PM on December 24, 2005

Call me nutty, call me crazy, call me a cab, but I'd swear there are some musicians who play right-strung guitars lefty. I think Karl Wollender (World Party) and Seal do this.

Although it might not be the best way for a five-year-old to start out.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:15 PM on December 24, 2005

I play leftie, which means that I can't borrow other people's guitars and have a very limited selection when it comes to buying instruments. Do I wish I felt less of a pariah? Of course. But the alternative may well have been not being able to play at all. I first tried learning right-handed (when I was about eight or nine years old) and gave up in frustration.

But you really won't know which way will feel instinctively 'right' to him until he picks up his new guitar. I'm a bit of a mess, handed-wise (write right, throw left, etc.) but restringing a guitar was the ka-ching moment that turned things from slow and painful progress to leaps and bounds. So look out for that. There's a fair chance that he'll naturally tend to play righty, though.
posted by holgate at 7:26 PM on December 24, 2005

Response by poster: I would like to get a Baby Taylor cccorlew. If the boy shows aptitude that might be the next guitar. I'm a bit dissapointed they use a laminate for the back and sides though.

Myself, I have a Martin D-15 SE which is pretty much the cheapest all-wood martin you can get - but that was my deliminator, I wanted real wood.

But lets not open up the old Martin vs. Taylor war. Suffice it to say that all Taylor players are known devil worshipers.
posted by Dag Maggot at 7:32 PM on December 24, 2005

Dag Maggot: "Suffice it to say that all Taylor players are known devil worshipers."

Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?

Serious note: Some have said small guitars have been hard to tune. My Baby is one of the most in-tune guitars I've ever played. I'll bet quality guitars from any maker play in tun eas well. And because the strings are shorter, they have less tension so they play very easily even with thick guage strings.
posted by cccorlew at 7:45 PM on December 24, 2005

...some musicians who play right-strung guitars lefty...

Albert King
posted by TimeFactor at 7:48 PM on December 24, 2005

Another lefty here who plays a regular guitar in the regular position. I honestly don't know how righties make complicated chords with their bad hands.
posted by danb at 8:07 PM on December 24, 2005

It's rather a long story - and one which I'd rather not get into here, but I've learned to play both righty and lefty. My biggest takeaway from this experience is what a pain in the a$$ it is finding decent guitars for a lefty. Walk into the local guitar shop and of the 50 guitars on the wall, maybe 5 of them will be strung lefty - and of those only one will be worth a damn.

It's a right handed world and a left-handed guitar player will always be stuck. He won't be able to go to a pick up jam and borrow someone else's guitar. He won't be able to walk into the guitar shop and try all the nifty axes when he needs to get a new one. He'll be stuck with whatever crap is available to him on the far wall in the back corner that no one looks at.

As far as the physical task of learning the instrument goes, when it all comes down to it, it really doesn't matter which way he plays as long as he takes the time to learn it. It'll still take sweat and perseverance to learn whichever hand he uses.
posted by Rubber Soul at 9:11 PM on December 24, 2005

This brings up an interesting question, as to why the non-dominant hand is supposed to be used for the fretboard. I had always wondered this myself.

Personally, I disagree to some extent with the notion that the fretboard hand performs the more dextrous task. When you are just beginning to learn, yes, indeed, the fretboard hand will require a lot more strength and dexterity. However, in my own experience, I have found that the right hand pick technique is MUCH more subtle and has a great deal more influence on the sound, especially using an electric. Palm muting, alternating pick direction, pick speed, partial harmonics, etc. I reached a point in my own level of practise where I spent a lot more time working on right hand technique than I did on fretboard hand technique, and I began to understand why guitars were set up that way.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:00 PM on December 24, 2005

Was just coming to write pretty much what Rhomboid has written - those people who think the most dextrous, subtle, musical work goes on on the fretboard of a guitar really need to work on their right-hand technique...
posted by benzo8 at 11:47 PM on December 24, 2005

Just to add to what is already pretty well fleshed out. I don't think chording on the fretboard is more taxing, it isn't. But playing melodies on the fretboard (soloing) does. This is where it matters most. Especially if you play jazz fingerings and transitions. Your non-dominant hand can become very good at rote playing, thus fingering can become pretty accurate through repetition. Moving your fingers up and down the fretboard, finding the notes quickly can be tough with a non-dominant hand. That's what I have learned, and I'm sure it's different for different people. If you are going to play classical guitar, it might make sense to use your dominant hand for picking. If you play any other kind of music, you will likely find having your dominant hand on the fretboard more rewarding. Especially if you are all about rock strumming.
posted by qwip at 2:13 AM on December 25, 2005

cccorlew and Rubber Soul above have it correct. The kid can learn either way - it makes no difference. However, the world consists of about 99 right-handed guitars for every left-handed one. So, if he learns left-handed, he'll only ever be able to use HIS guitar, which he won't have brought with him, so he'll be left out of the fun. If he learns right-handed, he'll be able to use anyone's guitar, which will be the one available at the party/friend's house/whatever. Don't restring it, teach him the right-handed guitar.
posted by jellicle at 9:06 AM on December 25, 2005

I'm left-handed but from the age of 5, was taught guitar in the right handed way.

In my view, to be a good guitarist, you'll need equal dexterity on both your fingering and plucking hands. Even if you don't subscribe to that view, in getting your leftie to use a rightie, you'll help develop his manual dexterity on his perceived weaker side.

and [jellicle] also has it right. If he learns using a right-handed guitar, he'll always be able to find a guitar, pick it up, and entertain.

[unless you're going to do it the Bobby Womack way... play a right-handed strung guitar, but in the left-handed way. It requires all sorts of odd fingering techniques and is spectacular to see!]
posted by jonthegeologist at 4:15 AM on December 26, 2005

Er, I meant to say that I would suggest teaching a lefty to play guitar the standard righty way.
posted by ikkyu2 at 4:14 AM on May 22, 2006