Left Handed Guitarists - I have a question

[Donnachaidh]

My son is left-handed, and we are having a hard time finding instructors willing to teach him as a left handed guitarist. Is this a common problem? This really irritates me (I'm also a southpaw) and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for him. He's got an acoustic guitar now, but he wants to get an electric soon.

ANY advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Ron Green]

1. Why would he need to hold the guitar that way?

His left hand, after all, is the one that makes the chords and runs the scales. As a left-hander, he's got more dexterity (pardon the little pun) where he needs it most. I never understood why right-handers don't turn the thing around.

[Donnachaidh]

2. I really think the teachers we've spoken to just don't want to bother

It's irritating, and seems to be a bit of a discrimination to me.

He always excelled in his piano lessons because of his lefthandedness. His teachers always said that. Where right handed students struggled doing the left hand practice - he excelled.

It's very frustrating as a parent to have to search out a specialized teacher, only because the teachers around here think he should automatically learn right handed. NO exceptions.

[Ron Green]

3. I didn't make my previous response very clear.

I agree that he ought to learn "right handed," because his left hand does the more important work of making the chords and playing the scales and arpeggios, while the right hand just does the picking.

I also am left-handed, and I learned to play on a normal instrument strung the normal way. I've played for over 40 years, and always have believed that the "right handed" setup works much better for a left-handed player.

[MrsBrady]

4. you don't need to learn it left hand....

it is very RARE to play the other way...you won't find teachers who will teach that way, probably....
and all the music books are written for the instrument to be played the traditional way.

Personally, as a guitarist and a violinist, I don't think of playing them as right handed or left handed.
That's just the way they are played.
And certainly the violin is never turned the other way.

[DarkTirade]

5. I'm with Ron_Green, it's best to learn a 'right handed' guitar.

You've got two hands doing two seperate things anyway, so being left or right handed really doesn't make much of a difference. I'm pretty close to ambidextrous, and my brother is a full-on leftie and we both learned to play 'right-handed' just because that's how you play guitar. They don't have left handed pianos or flutes. And you'll be hard pressed to find a violin that's strung backwards and has a chin rest on the right side. So why do it for guitar?

Just my $0.02.