If you are one of the 10% of the population who are left handed then you will be quite used to the fact that some things in life can be a little more testing for you than they may be they are for the other 90% who are right handed. Your guitar lessons are likely be one of those challenges.
No worries, being left handed makes you very versatile! It could perhaps be that being southpaw is in actual fact to your advantage. There has been a lot of research carried out at University College London which now suggests that those with a left handed orientation are likely to be high achievers. High achievement in the sphere of sport and the arts is especially evident. So maybe you might have the edge when it comes to your guitar lessons.The important factor is to be sure you have a really good guitar tutor.
There are countless extremely talented and celebrated guitar players who have travelled the learning process ahead of you. Jimmy Hendrix, Sir Paul McCartney, Tony Lommi and Mark Knopfler who is left handed but plays his guitar right handed, to name but a few.
Straight away at the outset of your left handed guitar lessons you will want to ask yourself a question. Should I play guitar left handed or should I try right handed? That will sound a daft question. It is the case that perhaps as many as half of otherwise left handed guitarists play their guitars right handed It is a measure of to what extent of being left handed you are. Just what is the level of your handedness dominance?
Most professional guitar coaches will have you at least get under way by endeavouring to play your guitar right handed. There are some good reasons for this. Just about everything for guitar is set up for the right handed player.Your choice of guitar will therefore be both wider and less costly if you can orientate yourself to play it right handed
If after you have experimented with this for two or three weeks you still find that when fretting a note your fingers won’t quite find the right string then of course it is time to start your left handed guitar lessons.
Many students starting to play the guitar find that at first they get very sore guitar fingers! If your fingers start to crack or hurt it is best to stop playing for a while to let your sore fingers heal. They soon toughen up as you continue to play your guitar..
If you can afford to buy or are able to get hold of a left handed guitar fantastic, if not you can flip a right handed guitar and restring it in reverse, thickest string at the top. Not the best way but by far the cheapest way and if you see pictures of Jimmy Hendrix and his guitar – that’s how he preferred to play it!
You will normally use the same materials for left handed guitar lessons as those to be found for a right handed player. The difference will be your translation of the visual parts which you will need to reverse. Left handed players do not usually seem to have difficulty with this and will absorb the material with the same rapidity as their right handed counterparts.
Elements of any course of guitar lessons which use video sets will not present any problem as to a left handed player what they are seeing is an exact mirror image of what they will be playing.
Especially for those considering left handed guitar lessons a comprehensive home study course makes a great deal of sense. In recognition of the fact that there may be an initial challenge as you get the measure of chord positioning and reading tablature the ability to repeat any element in a home study course at will is a feature worth having.
The question often gets asked can you self teach guitar from a home study course? The number of such courses that are purchased today certainly suggests that the probability of success is there for those that take action and give it a try!
If you have got by with a flipped and restrung guitar and feel that playing the guitar is going to be for you, then at your first chance make the move to a left handed instrument. When that time comes your guitar lessons will really take off and your pleasure at playing the guitar will take off too!
By: Alan Fuller About the Author:
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