Guitar Lessons: Basic Tips for Left Handed Players

Arts & EntertainmentBooks & Music

  • Author Paul Jhonson
  • Published April 18, 2010
  • Word count 680

Regardless of whether you are right handed or left handed, you can learn how to play the guitar. Some things are more difficult for lefties, such as playing the guitar, but there are ways to work around it. If you really want to play a musical instrument and are willing to put in the extra work, you can do it. Don't give up on your musical dream. It's all about practice, a willingness to try something new and of course the desire to learn how to play well.

There are a lot of left handed guitarists in the world who play even better than right handed musicians. There are lots of ways to help you learn how to play the guitar in spite of your left handedness. There's no excuse not to learn how to play the guitar if you really want to do it.

First, you need to understand that there may be some basic issues that you will have to overcome when you start to learn. Here are some easy tips to help get you started on learning the guitar basics:

Tip One: Choosing the right guitar can be confusing for the left handed guitarist. However, there are lots of options available to help you make the right choice. You can buy a guitar that is made for right handed users and just have the position of the strings changed. Usually there's someone at your local guitar store that can help you do this if you don't know how. Some lefties don't like this type of set-up, but if it works for you, this is one of the easiest options.

The other way is to buy a special guitar made for left handed players. Believe it or not, they do sell specially designed guitars for lefties. However, before you spend money on a guitar, you should try both options out to see which feels the most comfortable and works best for you.

Tip Two: Guitar lessons and basic guides can be confusing to left handed players. As with everything else in this world, guitar lessons are written with right handed players in mind. You are probably already use to doing this in other areas, but you will need to reverse what they are teaching and it will make more sense.

Tip Three: Only buy a guitar from a professional store with a solid reputation. There are a lot of stores that prey on novice guitarists and will sell you a defective or cheaply made guitar. You can check out your local stores, ask other left handed players where they shop or even search for stores online. When you shop on the Internet there will be a lot of choices - unfortunately, you won't be able to try before you buy.

Tip Four: Have confidence that you will be able to learn to play the guitar. You need to know the basics and not be worried about your abilities if you are going to play your guitar in front of other people. You shouldn't let being left handed hold you back. There are lots of amazing guitarists that are left handed such as Jimmy Hendrix, Curt Cobain and even Paul McCartney.

Tip Five: Beginning guitarists should really not learn how to play the guitar using a right handed guitar held in a left handed way. This will cause you problems when you start to learn chords and other techniques. Advanced chords will be the worst - maybe even impossible to learn how to play.

Tip Six: Remember that learning how to play the guitar should be fun. If you find it easy and comfortable to play a left handed guitar, you shouldn't even try to learn how to play a right handed version.

These tips should help make it easier to play the guitar if you are left handed. Guitar lessons can be much easier to learn if you have all the right tools and keep these tips in mind - pretty soon you'll be playing just as well as any right handed guitarist could learn how to play.

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