FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Left Handed Guitar Instruction

Question:
I have a 13 yr old youngster that I want to buy a first guitar for. I'm > planning on buying a strat. This boy is left handed. > The question for you lefty's is, would he be able to play a right handed > guitar if he's just starting out anyway? > The only reason I'm hesitant about buying a lefthanded guitar is that if he > picks it up and decides to continue playing. Left handed guitars are harder > to find. And in some instances aren't even available unless you pay premium > dollars to get them.

Answer:
Based on 25 years of teaching experience, I urge you to buy him a right handed guitar and have him learn to play right handed. First off, finding lefthanded guitars is a real problem especially good ones. Secondly, almost all of the books that are written for guitar instruction are written for right handed players and he would have to invert all of the chord diagrams and fingering patterns. Finally, a lefty has his strength in his left hand, which is where you need it for playing guitar, since the left hand is the one that presses all the chords. To my way of thinking he would actually have an advantage over right hand players because of the strength in his left hand. All of my left handed students have done fine with right handed guitars and have never regretted learning to play that way.