There seems to be a lot of false information floating around the internet in regards to learning to play left handed guitar. This article will hopefully serve to clear up some of these misconceptions which seem to unfortunately crop up on a daily basis.
One situation I find utterly pathetic is when potential left-handed guitar players give up on learning guitar BEFORE THEY EVEN START! It is an issue which crops up all too often around the net on Twitter, Forums, Facebook etc. It goes something along the lines of…
“I really want to learn to play guitar but I can’t because i’m left-handed :’( “
“I really want to learn to play guitar but it would be too hard to find a left handed guitar teacher “
“I really want to learn to play guitar but I can’t because insertcrapexcuse “
Then you get the left handed players who have already started but just seem to be making things incredibly hard on themselves.
Last night I stumbled across a new player who was asking for left handed guitar tabs for Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’. /facepalm. To make matters worse one of the answers he got was to print out the tab and HOLD IT UP TO A MIRROR. The internet is apparently just chock full of idiots.
Every day on Twitter I see several users tweeting about how hard they are finding it to play guitar and the only excuse they have is “because I’m a lefty”. Listen up halfwits – the reason you are finding guitar hard is because at the start GUITAR IS HARD. Apparently these people expect that they should be mastering Racer X songs after a week. Learning guitar is not the same as learning to ride a bicycle, it takes dedication to become proficient at.
So let’s clear this up. What are the REAL differences when learning guitar left-handed?
Chord Diagrams for Left Handed Guitar Players
Most chord diagrams you will find will be setup for right handed players, which means that to play them on your left-handed guitar you must mirror what you see. This generally requires a tiny portion of your brain in order to flip the diagrams in your head. This is the smallest of inconveniences as let’s face it, chord diagrams are something you might use early on in your playing career and then probably never bother with again. As an alternative you can learn the chord shapes through tab, the only difference being that tabs won’t tell you which fingers to place where. But this isn’t exactly rocket science either is it?
If you ARE having a little trouble with chord diagrams try out our free left-handed chord diagrams to get you started. There is also plenty of software/apps which will provide a left handed mode for chord diagrams. It’s not something to lose sleep over however.
Tabs ARE THE SAME for Left-Handed Guitar Players
Nothing to see here folks, move along, move along. Even though apparently thousands of geniuses on the net think so, there are no differences at all..next question.
Guitar Teachers ARE THE SAME for Left Handed Guitar Players
Again, no differences here. In fact it should be easier to learn from a right handed teacher as if they sit opposite you it is really straightforward to copy what they do as they will mirror you. Any teacher with an IQ higher than seven will be able to teach you – if anyone turns you away then you’ve dodged a bullet! Personally I have limited experience with guitar tutors but both of the two I have used in the past laughed at me when I asked them if it was a problem. See our article on ‘The Mirror Effect and Learning Guitar Left-Handed‘.
Left Hand is Right Hand
Another tiny difference is that in instructional material where the writer/speaker refers to his right hand, this will actually be the left hand for us lefties. Most of the time hands will be referred to as ‘picking hand’ and ‘fret hand’ so this shouldn’t be a problem. But on the occasions that they are referred to as right and left, you just need to remember to think the opposite.
Left Handed Guitar Players Have The Upper Hand
If you have read our post on the Top 9 Left Handed Guitarist Advantages you will have noticed that us lefties actually have a natural advantage over right handed players. A recent study for the National Institute of Sports and Physical Education in Paris found that left handed people have faster eye-hand coordination with their right hand than even right-handers do. So quit your whining!
And that is it guys. The only significant difference is chord diagrams and to be honest if you can’t figure those out maybe you should go back to Guitar Hero.
Guitar is easy to pick up but tricky to master, please do not dump your frustrations on the fact that you are left handed. Man-up and get the job done…lefty style.
Learning left handed is probably an advantage because if you use instructional DVDs or learn to play song DVDs it is like sitting in front of a mirror, also if you have a r/h teacher the mirror effect works to your advantage. To quote Slash "i am not a guitar god, i am still learning to play guitar" once you start there is always more to learn, so many different styles and types of music. Somewhere there is a someone sitting at home developing a new technique, it is YOU.
Well said Wayne. I learned to play guitar (the basics at least) from DVDs and had no problem at all following the material. I wouldn't have realised at the time, but the mirror effect really makes learning from a tutor a doddle.
Playing left handed is really no crux. I tried playing righty, but it made me feel super hopeless. Same with guitar hero(at the time) being very frustrating the “Right” way. Then when I began messing around with left handed stuff a whole new world opened for me and the rest is history. seriously, messing around on the guitar is like taking your first steps as a baby: you f*ck up, but its fun because you keep learning how to get better and better. I’m still learning, and being left handed couldn’t be any more awesome or different from right handed players.
That and it looks cool playing left while the rest play right :p
I love these articles, no bullshit, just the deadhonest truth! Im lefty and im proud
Words cannot how much I love this website! If I never found it I don’t think I would have realized that I actually have more choice in guitars than I thought I did! Plus it’s also awesome to know that there is alot more lefty players out there! Long live leftyfretz.com!
Bingo, it’s not all bad being a lefty these days
Awesome article, naked truth!
Absolute beginner here but I’d have to say (at 49 years of age) that article sounds right on. I keep hearing it over and over again; practice, practice, practice. The other thing I keep hearing is; Passion, you’ve got to want it. Works for me.
rad article, i needed a little kick in the ass!
I am SO GLAD I found this site. I am so sick of people that say we should learn guitar right handed when we feel that it seems more natural to learn left handed. They argue “Well you will only have 1 or 2 guitars to choose from” That’s hogwash because many excellent guitars come as lefty. Besides I only NEED ONE guitar I can only play ONE guitar at a time! Or they say “Well you can’t go to a party and pick up any guitar and play it” and I say “Ya and also any yahoo that’s comes to my house (if there was a party for example) wouldn’t be able to touch MY guitar so that’s a good thing
. Anyway same old excuses. Then there are poor leftys who were talked into or forced to learn righty. And they say “Well I’m a lefty and I play righty” I say well good for you that you can and it doesn’t feel really wierd to you.
I just ended up getting talked into learning right handed and it has been a struggle. I always feel like just flipping the guitar over and playing upside down. Now I have two right handed guitars and I am going to sell and get a lefty electric and I’m sure it is going to be right. Thanks so much for your site and for stating the FACTS about lefty vs. righty guitar learning/playing.
Good luck with the switch, hope it works out for you
As you say, there are more than enough good left-handed guitars out there for everyone. You might have to look a little harder, but part of the fun is the hunt.
I am also glad I found this site!!! Being the only lefty in my family, I was very fortunate to have parents who never discouraged my left-handedness. I was also the oldest! Right from the get-go they knew if I wanted to play guitar, it would be left-handed. When they bought me my first acoustic, my Dad switched the strings before giving it to me. Never did I view the way I played as awkward but unique! And the cool thing is I always seemed to find left-handed electrics and basses and only my acoustic is righty but restrung.
I too have met those lefties who learned to play right-handed due to pressure from a teacher or just the assumption they wouldn’t find any learning material geared towards lefties (left-handed TABs excuse always cracks me up too!!!) So when I meet that beginner who’s undecided, I try to encourage to due what is comfortable for themselves and tell them it’s ok to restring a righty guitar and eventually they will come across left-handed models.
Again, awesome site!!!!! Thank you!!! \m/
This world is built for right handed individuals. An estimated 260 million people (worldwide) are left handed. That’s not a large amount. I’m a lefty, and have been playing bass for about 7 years. Just transpose everything. It was a little confusing at first, but anything is posible.
Not for me Fred! My father tried to teach me how to play guitar when I was 6 years. Right handed, mind you, I tried so hard at it that I got very very frustrated. My brothers picked it up very easily. As years go by I started experimenting the guitar and decided flip over my brothers guitar and play it left handed. As a result, everything fell into place. Therefore, I play the guitar Left Handed. I love it!!! I will not have it any other way.
as a right handy i have to say that as strumming is easy compare to controlling different chords so for me doing all the hard part with left hand isn’t the right way to go .some how i feel left handy guitars are more suitable for right handies cz you can actually take the controll of all the chords with your right hand
I noticed that exactly, Borhan. I find that the fingerboard requires more digital dexterity. I hold my pen and my mouse in my right hand, but I find learning guitar a lot easier with the pick in my left hand. I’m still a beginner.
The most common argument for left handed people to play right handed is “your strong hand is on the fretboard”. If that were true, then all right handed people should be playing guitar left handed!
I totally agree with you when a person is right handed they are most comfortable to do it right hand. But not all right handed people play left handed guitar. And if you really look at it, it is about the ratio of 99.1% of the people, which include the ones that are left handed, play right handed guitar. The other .9% are left handed guitar players which “I” am among the .9%. But again It is how comfortable and suitable it is for the individual.
There is also the issue of the fret hand growing a layer of callus on the fingertips…I do not want that on my dominant hand which I need for fine motor-detail work…and of course my right hand doesn’t have the same level of feedback or dexterity either. Not sure how people do much of anything with their right hands actually.