Left Handed Guitar Lessons

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Getting started with left handed guitar lessons will for most “southpaws” be a little more challenging than lessons might be for the other 90% of the worlds “would be guitarist” population.

That shouldn’t stop you though. You might even have an advantage. Research at University College London suggests that left handed people as a group have produced an above average level of high achievers. That is especially so in the field of sport and the arts. So in fact you could have the edge when it comes to your left handed guitar lessons.

There are many examples of massively talented left handed guitar players to take example from. Jimmy Hendrix, Sir Paul McCartney, Tony Lommi and Mark Knopfler who is actually a lefty but plays his guitar right handed, to name but a few.

Being left handed guitar lessons will ask you a question. Should I play guitar left handed or should I try right handed? That might sound a silly question. But when you look around, possibly as many as half of the otherwise left handed guitar players actually play their guitars right handed. It is a measure of just how left handed a left handed player really is! Just what is the level of your handedness dominance?

If you are starting out from scratch then the consensus of opinion is that you really should at least start right handed. There are some very good reasons for this. Chief amongst those reasons is that everything for guitar is set up for the right handed player. That applies to the instrument itself as well as for most printed and recorded learning resources.

If after having tried this for two or three weeks you still find that when fretting a note your fingers can’t quite find the correct string then of course it is time to start your left handed guitar lessons.

Either you will have to source a left handed guitar or if needs be, you can flip the guitar and restring your right handed guitar in reverse with the thickest string at the top again. Not ideal, but certainly by far the cheapest option and if you see pictures of Jimmy Hendrix and his guitar you'll see that’s how he preferred to play it!

With your left handed guitar lessons the materials used are just the same as for right handed players. The difference will be the interpretation of the visual elements which you will need to reverse. Left handed players do not normally seem to have a problem with this and will capture the material with the same speed as their right handed counterparts.

Elements of any left handed guitar lessons which use video recordings will not present any issue as to a left handed player what they are seeing is an exact mirror image of what they will be playing.

It can be that if you wish to begin left handed guitar lessons then a home study course will work in your favour. As it may take a little longer to first get the hang of chord position and reading tablature then instead of normal face to face lessons a home study course gives you the ability to repeat each lesson as many times as you find necessary.

If you have started off with a flipped and restrung guitar and feel that playing the guitar is going to be for you, then at your first opportunity make the move to a left handed instrument. When you do, your left handed guitar lessons will really take off - and your enjoyment of playing the guitar will take off too!