How to Learn Left-handed Guitar

The guitar is usually played and taught in what is considered by some to be the right-handed configuration. In more traditional styles of music, this does make sense because the plucking hand would do the vast majority of work. With more modern styles of guitar, this line has become rather blurred with both hands having to perform a variety of different, but equally precise techniques. Some players do find the left-handed configuration more comfortable and better suited for them.

Things You'll Need

• Left-handed guitar (acoustic or electric)
• Guitar amplifier (if playing an electric guitar)

Instructions

1. Decide you really want to learn to play left-handed guitar. There are plenty of left-handed people who play right-handed guitar well. Make sure the comfort factor of using a left-handed guitar is important enough to make up for the inconveniences.

2. Determine what style of guitar you want to play. Different styles of guitar use or emphasize techniques differently, changing the ideal path of learning that style of guitar.

3. Get used to reading right-handed chord diagrams and guitar tab. Virtually every sheet of guitar music uses these. Chord diagrams are particularly a hazard because they are written backwards for a left-handed player.

4. Focus on learning to play your style of guitar rather than left-handed guitar. There are so few learning resources for guitars tailored toward left-handed playing that focusing solely on that will mean missing out on a lot of stylistic techniques and lessons.

5. Practice until you can play guitar subconsciously. Once you are used to looking at right-handed guitar tab and chord diagrams and can play the guitar subconsciously, the oddities of playing left-handed guitar no longer are issues because you will no longer be over-thinking the handedness factor.

Tips & Warnings

• The more focused you are on what style of guitar you want to play, the quicker you will be able to get to the point where you are able to play that kind of music. The logic of left- and right-handed guitar only really makes sense in the few styles of guitar where the picking hand does the majority of the work. With more modern styles, particularly among lead guitarists, the relative amount of work each hand does is so close that the difference of handedness is not that big of a factor.

• When buying left-handed guitars, expect a very limited selection and occasionally to pay more for the same model as a right-handed player. Left-handed players will sometimes over-think the handedness aspect of playing and have trouble making the transition to playing subconsciously. Playing left-handed is no harder than playing right-handed; the only difference is that it is a little awkward to read most guitar resources.

References

• Left-Handed Guitar: The Complete Method; Troy Stetina; 2001
• Fretboard Mastery; Troy Stetina; 2007

Resources

• Guitar Technique Lessons