From: Stephane Boucher Newsgroups: rec.music.makers.marketplace,rec.music.makers.guitar,rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic,alt.guitar Subject: Playing lefty FAQ - sort of (Was Re: Should Leftie learn...) Date: 03 Feb 1997 19:05:25 -0500 Here's that time again. In the hope of avoiding a flame war, here's a summary of pretty much all that's been said in similar threads in the past. But in short, there's no general agreement on the matter. Why write this? --------------- There is periodically a thread that starts with some left handed person asking what side he should be playing. (I've started such a thread once :-)) Being left handed, and having started playing guitar, I obviously got interested with this question and as a result did some investigation. Don't expect me to tell what side I've chosen. I don't think it is relevant for you to know what I have done. As far as I'm concerned, there's never been a convincing arguments in those threads, but the arguments are pretty much always the same. So, maybe with this we can reduce the volume of such threads. Availability of guitars ----------------------- Righty guitars are definitely easier to find. A reasonable variety of lefty guitar is nevertheless available. A few vendors that make lefty models: Martin, Seagull, Norman, Simon&Patrick, Fender, G&L, Yamaha, Ibanez, Takamine, Epiphone, etc. You can even get National steel body guitars, in case you're into blues. You may however often have to make special order to get lefty guitars. To help the cause of those who play lefty, lets point fingers at a few vendors that are known for sure to not make lefty models :-) Godin (They have the acousticaster, but they do not make any solid body lefty), PRS, etc. (Lefty players will have to contribute on this one. That is all I know) As for more exotic non-guitar string instruments, there does not seem to be much lefty, except for electric bass guitars. Lefty violins are reportedly very rare, although you can occasionally see people like A. McIsaac (sp?) play lefty fiddle. Bluegrass instruments can apparently be ordered from Southpaw Guitars. Availability of accessories --------------------------- Lefty thumb picks are not easy to find, but there are places where they can be found (Soutpaw Guitars sell those). It is also very difficult to find lefty amps or lefty strings, not to mention lefty straps, lefty cables, lefty flat picks, lefty slides, lefty tuners, lefty metronomes, lefty sheets of music, and I probably forget a few more. BTW, the previous paragraph is a joke, in case you did not notice... Various Arguments ----------------- Here is a number of arguments regarding what is the best side to choose. I could provide a counter argument for pretty much all of those, but I won't. I'm sure you can do that part on your own. DISCLAIMER/WARNING: None of those points are necessarily true in whole or in part. They are a collection of opinions, some of which are in contradiction, because they come from different people. Things such as "I" do not necessarily represent me. It represents the person who presented the argument. o The most difficult part of guitar playing is fretting (chord patterns and such), therefore if you are lefty and play righty, you will be using your best hand to do the most difficult part of guitar playing. o Rhythm/speed/endurance/precision are what you need for picking, therefore using your best hand for picking is the choice to make. So, if you are lefty, play a lefty guitar. o Both hands are equally important. It does not make a difference which side you play. So you might as well play righty, since righty guitars are easier to get. o Play righty even if it is harder. At least you'll be able to borrow friends guitar, play guitars in guitar store. You'll have a wider choice, and the lefty guitars tend to have an up-charge. o Pick up a lefty, and see how it feels. Pick up a righty, and see how it feels. Choose the side that is more comfortable. If you don't feel a noticeable difference, choose right side, since righty guitars are easier to find. o Beginners have no basis for judging "comfort". Guitar playing is inherently unnatural and uncomfortable no matter how you do it, until the time when you have developed some technique. However, by that time, you are already invested in one side. Cost ---- It is often the case that lefty models have an up charge compared to the same righty. But in some cases, there is no up-charge, such as for Martin guitars. Statistics ---------- Handness is not a black and white thing. But at the same time it is not very well known. For more information check the left handed universe page. There seems to be lots of lefty playing right. There are also plenty of lefty playing left. In either case I don't think anybody have statistics on those. And it is not obvious whether those statistics are meaningful. The fact that more people might play lefty or righty is not necessarily an indication that it is the best approach to take from the technical point of view. Those numbers also do not account for those who have tried but failed (we definitely do not hear from them in guitar newsgroup, since they've given up :-)). Also, the fact that a person claims that he plays one side may not be meaningful to you. Maybe that person is more talented than you, maybe less. His handness is unlikely to be the same as yours (remember that handness is not a black and white thing). Other sources of information ---------------------------- DISCLAIMER: Those sources do not constitute recommendation. It is up to you to decide if they are good or not. I'm in no way related with anyone involved with the following sources, other than having heard of them. Jeff Vineburg is a militant lefty. He has a bunch of interesting links: Links to various vintage guitar dealers that deal lefty guitars List of lefty guitars and basses for sale. http://www.op.net/~jeffv/ or more precisely: http://www.op.net/~jeffv/lefty.htm (A little publicity for Jeff so that he does not complain about me advertising of his home page: He plays in a group called "Nuclear Fish". Info available in his web page. :-)) The left handed universe: http://www.xs4all.nl/~riksmits/ Southpaw Guitars, Houston, Texas: http://www.southpaw.net/ Route 66: http://www.southpaw.com/ -- , Stephane Boucher, ing sbo@nortel.ca - NORTEL - Tel: (613)763-9778 Bell-Northern Research / Recherches Bell-Northern