Righties playing left handed?

[Bach5G]

I’m thinking of giving this a try for the next few months while my finger heals.

Difficult? Easy after a couple of weeks?

I can’t even wrap my head around it but maybe after a bit of practice, things will fall into place.

[Bobby Timmons]

I messed with it but didn't really like the feeling. It takes forever to build up the coordination to do it, it absolutely isn't easy after a couple weeks. And once you do get it, it screws with your handedness. Like, I'm not left handed, why do I feel left handed now? It's a weird feeling. I don't recommend wasting time with it.

[princeplanet]

Haha, I did it for about 9 months when I joined an "arty" band whilst at university. See, they were "anti" musician, and all about attitude, which I respected so much that I wanted to be part of it. I used to hide my Jazz records under my bed if they ever came around. Very cool people (artists, writers and a fashion student). So, in order to sound untutored, and even naïve, I faked my way into the audition playing one of my guitars strung upside down. Yep, made me feel and sound like a beginner!

Problem was, it was not enjoyable, like it seemed for the others. My mind/hands thing seemed to "want" to improve without me consciously being able to prevent it. So it was frustrating, and not fun. Even if I wanted to get good at it for some extreme reason, I wonder if it would have taken less time to get good than it did right handed. On a related note, I often wonder if there was ever a backwards piano where the right hand played the bass. Would that weird for piano players?

[Litterick]

I am a leftie who plays right. If I try to play left, I feel odd. Don't mess with your wiring.

[pauln]

Every once in a while I flip the guitar over and play it like that as an exercise in reminding myself how little my "knowledge" of the instrument stands in comparison to what my hands have learned of their respective roles, and how amazingly poorly they do when those roles are reversed.

The usual orientation for playing strings (left hand on finger board, right hand sounding the strings) seems backwards in the sense that right handed people feel a greater confidence and coordination in their right hands, which would more suit the activity of the fingering hand.

However, if I correctly recall, the right side is controlled by the left side of the brain and the left side by the right. The left has specialization in sequential processing (which is likely why the language area is in the left brain since language syntax is sequential) and the right brain specializes in spatial processing (perspectives, rotations, etc.). It makes sense that the sounding of strings requires rhythmic sequencing and the finger board requires spatial manipulations... so the traditional left and right hand roles are actually well suited to the traditional orientation of the string instruments.

[hotpepper01]

The other way around: there were a couple of LH people who were great RH guitar players. Gary Moore and BB King.

[dasein]

I'm a lefty, but my very first guitar teacher strongly recommended I play righty because, as he put it, "you'll never find a decent lefty guitar."

He was correct, and now I couldn't play lefty even if I wanted to. But I do sometimes wonder how things would have shaken out if I played the instrument "naturally" from Day 1.

[Doctor Jeff]

I. Can't. Even.

Try writing with your left hand. My birthmother lost her right hand in an accident involving a meat grinder (don't ask) when she was in her twenties. She wrote with her left hand thereon. Not very pretty writing, but very distinctive.

She continued her hobby of quilting and was able to maneuver a needle pretty well through material using her right hand stump.

[lammie200]

More than a few decades ago I strung a classical guitar left-handed (I am a right-handed player) and played it for a few months left-handed. I sucked, but my right-handed playing improved greatly afterward. BTW, when I was bored in class I also practiced writing cursive left-handed but from right-to-left. I think it is a brain exercise type of thing.

[Gitfiddler]

I am a leftie who plays right. If I try to play left, I feel odd. Don't mess with your wiring.

Me to! And I agree. Trying to play leftie is way too uncomfortable and unsatisfying.

To the OP, go ahead and try it you are unable to play in your normal manner for a while.

But unless you are truly ambidextrous, don't expect much.

(Ever notice that the emoticon guitar player is lefty, LOL!)

[mickmac]

I'll start by stating a little personal history... I started on a neighbors guitar in 1947. Iam right handed. The conventional position felt wrong and awkward . I turned the guitar over and learned to play .I have been playing pro since 1961 .. Right hnd agility aallow me to play anything I want .The notes are in the same place .Pickin was more of a challenge. 50000 hours of practice solved that issue. Please note Ido not reccomend this for anyone Only that its possible Danny Gatton was left handed. Mickmac