Left Handed Guitar
Are Left Handed Guitar Lessons Any Different?
Left Handed Guitar Lessons
Deciding on whether or not to play takes a lot of soul searching. Playing an instrument is an activity that will take a huge commitment in time. Because of the discrimination they have gone through all of their lives, left handers may feel that will they not only will not find left handed guitars or that they also won’t find left handed guitar lessons.
I may have a vested interest, but I’m hoping you decide to play. Now that the biggest decision has been made, you will have decide which of your hands will be on the fret board. I can’t stress enough how important this is because if you decide to play right handed, but really aren’t comfortable with it, chances are you will move on without even looking for left handed guitars or left handed guitar lessons.
Perhaps the hardest way to learn is to take a right handed guitar, turn it upside down and not change the strings. Most lefties at least modify their strings, if you don’t, you will find it hard to find other friends or instructors that have left handed guitar lessons.
Most lefties (especially those that are on a budget) use a right hand guitar, turn it upside down and then have the strings remounted. If you use this method, you should have a luthier (guitar technician) restring your guitar because it’s not as simple as it sounds.
This method does have a couple of drawbacks. If you do this to an Acoustic Guitar, it may be hard to keep in tune. When doing this with an Electric Guitar, the big problem will be that the control knobs will always be an obstruction.
Last, but not least, you could always go with getting a genuine left handed guitar. There are at least two problems with this, availability and cost. You probably won’t find too many musical instrument stores that stock left handed guitars. To the rescue once again is the internet.
Don’t go down the road of special ordering a new left handed guitar from a music store. It will cost you. One way to save money is to look on the internet for a model that you like. By eliminating the middleman, (the music store owner) you may be able to save a lot of money. A lot of people don’t think about it, but most cities have used musical instrument stores; try there. Also, often overlooked are the pawn shops. They can have great deals if they have what you want
If you’ve picked the first option and are ready for your left handed guitar lessons, you might try working online with Ben Willis. You can contact Ben at his main website at: lefthandedguitarplayer.blogspot.com. The two of you can then work out a lesson plan.
Every solution brings up another problem. The one I see here involves tablature. With the strings being upside down, I don’t see how tablature could work, For those of you that don’t know, tablature is a quick way to see how to place your fingers on the fret board to make the notes and chords you want to play. The traditional musical student probably wouldn’t approve of it, but tablature is an easier way to learn than the old method of reading sheet music.
Fortunately, for the people choosing the second or third options, your left handed guitar lessons will be almost the same as for a right hander. The best attribute of options two and three is that you can still take advantage of the time saving feature of learning tablature.
You’re never totally alone if you have a computer. If you can’t figure out how to make a chord, login to Chordfind.com for instant instructions.
If you have decided to go ahead and play left handed (three cheers for you if you did), I feel that the best option for you is the third option: buying a left hand guitar. The nice thing about using the second or third option is that you won’t have to search for an instructor that has special left handed guitar lessons.
Since you won’t have to find lessons that specifically say “left handed guitar lessons” if you are using option two or three, I would recommend that you look into Guitar Superstars for your lessons. Things are a lot different now than when I started playing in 1970. Private lessons were prohibitively expensive, but now with lesson plans like Guitar Superstars, you can get expert help at an affordable one-time price.
If you would like to read more about left handed guitar lessons, please check out my
Squidoo lens.
About the Author
I live in Berkeley,, CA where I teach geology at the college. I have been playing guitar since 1970 and enjoy writing about the guitar.
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October 14, 2011 7:54 pm 
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