I'm left handed and i play right handed.....Is he strictly left? or Ambidextrous? Then if he wants to play left does he want upside down RH strings or LH strung...... He sort of has to work out these things for himself i think.....Because its a harder than normal start i'm thinking he needs a keen interest to start the guitar before its pushed on him and if he has a RH guitar to play with while he's comprehending what feels comfortable to him it will help the process totally. He can then work out no i'm a RH'er or upside down RH feels right or this is totally wrong i need a LH guitar.
Hope it helps!!!

Good luck..

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I say buy a left handed guitar because when first starting you want him to be as comfortable as possible so that the frustration stay as minimal as possible. This will just increase the possibility that he will stick with it.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

If he really wants to learn go to a pawn shop and pick up a junker that you can flip the nut on.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Me too. And many, many others out there as well, including some very famous players.

So many things are not really left- or right-handed, but just come down to the way you first pick them up. I play tennis left-handed, pool right-handed, and use scissors with either hand.

To begin with, put the guitar in the girl's hands right-handed and the chances are she'll feel fine carrying on that way. However, if it really feels wrong that way for her, why then she's one of the ones who does need a left-handed guitar. Nothing wrong with that either, but find out first.

Cheers - C

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i always thought, after id started learning, why it wouldnt be better to use your stronger hand as the fret hand ? im right handed, and can only think it would have been to my benefit for my strongest, most controllable hand to be the one doing the fretwork.

either this idea is rubbish, or im a genius. form tells me to expect the first explanation......

I'm a lefty who plays right because my father thought it would be faster for me to learn using my dominate hand as my fret hand.

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Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.-Khalil Gibran

Krab...Duane Allman was left handed,I've always thought that dominate fretting hand could be an asset.

Absolutely Ceri, If there be any ambidexterity in this child whatsoever, as a lefty playing right i think you would be doing them a injustice by pushing them straight to a LHD, Give them a RHD to start and see if it makes sense to them. If they are LH only with everything then sure get them a backwards Geetar!!

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It may be for the fretting hand Rebelsoul. But its definitely a disadvantage with the strumming hand, When you spend your life with your left being your leading hand it takes a while to learn lead with your right, This has always been a slight problem for me, Mates of mine that have been Professional musicians for 20 years plus still notice it, to this day. My fretting hands ambitions don't meet my strumming hands ability's. I'm a hack drummer too and i sincerely cant work out to this day how i should set the kit up, RH is how i've learnt but LH leading for fill comes a lot more natrually.
Sounds all pretty mixed up huh.... I'm rattling on but a subject i've been dealing with for decades....

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I agree 100%. As I've mentioned on previous threads, I'm a lefty but started out playing guitar right-handed. Some things were indeed easier, like string bending and barre chords, but my picking hand was always pretty terrible. After a couple years of doing it this way, I actually switched to playing lefty and immediately felt more comfortable. It took a few months but I was eventually able to completely relearn the instrument left-handed and I've played lefty ever since.

As far as the OP's grandson is concerned, I think it's important to let him play whatever way seems most comfortable to him. If he keeps picking up his sister's guitar and playing it upside down, he should probably learn on a true left-handed guitar.

It's true that there are plenty of left-handed folks who learn to play right-handed and do just fine. Then there are others (like myself) who can never quite get the hang of it. If he's showing a preference for playing lefty, that's the way he should learn. It will make things more comfortable for him and ultimately allow him to better fullfill his potential on the instrument.

Very interesting y'all....since I'm a righthander,I just never knew....makes a lot of sense though!

Reb, I have a friend that can play both ways...he is left handed, but after a couple years, he realized it was exceedingly difficult to find quality lefty guitars (back in seventies) so he switched to righty. He plays much better righty and he thinks it is because it is his dominant hand on the fret board. We have discussed this several times and he wishes he had just started out righty to begin with and not have wasted the time as a "Wrong Handed" guitarist! (Sorry Mr. Feathers, he meant no harm!)

FWIW

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no hard and fast rules in regards to this issue. Some lefties learn to play right handed and it works just fine, while it doesn't work so well for others. That's why I think it's important for someone starting out to try it both ways and see whatever feels most comfortable. If it feels better playing right handed (or there doesn't seem to be a difference either way) then he or she should learn on a right handed guitar. If it feels noticeably better or more comfortable playing left-handed, then that's the way he or she should learn. There are plenty of quality left-handed guitars out there these days, so there's really no good reason not to play lefty if that's the way that feels "right."

When I first started playing in HaleAmano, we ran into a guy named Isaac Kamaile jr.

Upon first meeting him, I thought he was the janitor or something. He struck up a conversation with me, and it was cool, but he never mentioned he was in the headlining band.

Later on, Ryan says, "That's Isaac, he's big in Hawaii, watch him play".

So I'm watching this guy play, and I'm just going "something is so strange, but I can't quite put my finger on what". I did notice that he was a lefty and playing a Gibson SG turned upside down. But it wasn't until about halfway through their set that I noticed a very amazing thing about Isaac.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZwwfqE7tcQ&feature=related

Not only does he play the SG left-handed and upside down, it's still strung up as a right handed guitar.

There were a few other guitar players in the audience and I had to let them in on it. They never really realized it either. It was so fascinating to watch, and he was so good, he gained a LOT of respect from the crowd. I'll never forget seeing Isaac play. I'd never seen anything like it.

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That was my logic too. But my left hand was the one I really messed up. I'm happy with what I can play

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic