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Should there be more left handed guitars
yes 63%  63%  [ 12 ]
no 37%  37%  [ 7 ]
Total votes : 19
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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:55 pm
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I haven't ever seen left handed orchestra instruments.. Maybe that proves my point.

Regardless of which is harder (strumming versus fretting) it seems that in the long run it would be worth it in terms of available gear to play right handed.

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Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:59 pm
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I'd say Fingerpicking and Complex Fretwork would be equally difficult. Of course I can only speculate, 'cause I've always been right handed, but I always put the "It's harder for me 'cause I'm left handed" argument in with the "My hands are too Big/Small" argument. They both have advantages and disandvantages that seem to cancel each other out.

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Last edited by FirstMeasure on Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 11:37 am
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At the risk of making a prohibited commercial announcement, there is a store in San Antonio called Redbone Guitars that caters almost exclusively to the left-handed guitarist. I like going in there to see what they have (and they do have some beauties), but I have a hard time finding a right-handed guitar to play around with.

Interestingly enough, I am left-handed myself. When I start learning guitar about a year ago, I made a conscious decision to play right-handed. The dearth of lefty equipment was one of the factors that led to that decision.

The wisdom of my decision was confirmed to me during a recent visit to Houston. I hadn't taken my guitar on the trip, but I had occasion to play four different guitars owned by friends and family. All of these were right-handed instruments. If I had decided to learn left-handed, I would have missed out on these little jams.

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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 1:22 pm
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cwpainter wrote:
Maybe somebody can clue me in...

I don't understand how being left handed would affect which way one first picks up a guitar. I don't think that one of your hands is better suited for picking/strumming or fretting. In fact- being right handed one would think that the prominent hand would be doing the more complicated work (the fretting) so along that line of thinking I should have been better suited to play a left handed guitar.

This is just my opinion- and it has been something that I've been thinking about for a while so if anyone has any evidence to the contrary it is welcomed.


You're definitely right. I'm left handed and played left handed guitars for the first few months starting out. Then, I switched to right hand because of the availability of guitars and the ones I wanted didn't come left handed. It took a bit getting used to, but I got the hang of it. If you were to give me a left handed guitar now, It would be very difficult for me to play. It's all about time and adaptation. There are a bunch of professional guitar players that are dominantly left handed, but play right handed guitars. The ones that have been playing left handed and are having difficult time finding the guitar that they want, I've been there and I feel for ya, man!


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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:34 pm
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Dudes! I am not a lefty by trade, only when I use a screw driver. But I have a few friends that play left and I must say there is a plethora of good Fender lefty products where I live. On the shelf even! Just checK out Long & McQuade or Tom Lee web sites. Must be a Canadian thing, always left of centre.

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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:37 pm
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I don't get what it is about left handed guitarists. I am left handed and play a right handed guitar normally. I never even thought of picking up a lefty guitar, frankly. Wouldn't having more dexterity in your hand help with fretting? That is how I look at it.


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Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:52 pm
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LigamenDeus wrote:
I don't get what it is about left handed guitarists. I am left handed and play a right handed guitar normally. I never even thought of picking up a lefty guitar, frankly. Wouldn't having more dexterity in your hand help with fretting? That is how I look at it.

I guess the question is whether having your dominant hand for fretting, or for attacking is preferable. Since I am a lefty, that has only played righty, I can't compare. Don't regret playing right handed at all, just some times wonder if i have handicapped my playing or not. I'll never know, because I have no intention of relearning again on a lefty guitar.


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Post subject: Just my opinion.
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 1:16 pm
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I'm getting rid of my Ibanez stock and making the transition to Fender. Of all the guitar manufacturer's out there, no one makes more lefties than Fender. And there's no other guitar you can mod as much as a Fender. No, it's not perfect. But they're about the best we're gonna get and that's mostly because of Jimi.

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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:05 pm
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I read the writing on the wall from Day 1 and learned to play righty. I still say it was the proper decision. You can play any guitar off the rack, you don't have to pay extra for a guitar (usually sight unseen) even if they do make it in a lefty version, you have more dexterity in your fingering hand; the list goes on and on. As a matter of fact, it is the only thing I do right handed to this day.

YMMV.

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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:05 pm
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Yet another lefty here playing righty. I tried to switch back to left handed about two years ago but after years of playing it was far to weird to come to grips with. Like others have said though, learning to play right handed has given me an opportunity to play many a sweet guitar.

Oh, an to keep it on topic, there should be more lefties available, it is a sad thing when the market availability dictates how you play.

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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:30 pm
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The music stores around here(Mt. Pearl and St. John's) have pretty good selections of lefty guitars and basses both electric and acoustic.Saturday I was in Reid Music and Long&McQuade and both stores had a good selection of Strats,Teles,P-Basses,J Basses,Les Pauls&SGs both Gibson and Eppys.My buddy Lew Skinner who until recently had a music store here is a lefty and he carried a large selection of lefty guitars.I have a lefty MIM Strat strung right to get the Jimi vibe,it's a bit of a stretch to access the upper frets but I've gotten used to it and I play it just about every day.I agree though that a lot of dealers don't stock a varied enough or large enough selection to serve left handed players.

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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 3:58 pm
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As stated earlier this is all about demand and not so much supply but manufacturing lines.

Back in the day when every guitar was a handcrafted unique piece of art, it was easier to make 2 rightys and then throw a lefty in the mix. In todays world of automated manufacturing lines, switching from a righty to a lefty means at the very least reprogramming the line and more than likely retooling a major part of it. These are both expensive and time consuming issues. Because of this, any increase in cost would be either handed straight down to the lefty player or spread out amongst all the players making the average guitar more expensive. Fair or not that is the reality and that is why we see far fewer options for lefty guitars. It would cost even more to duplicate the programming and tooling over an entire product offering than just a few select models.

For these same reasons you find fewer left handed golf clubs on the market and they are generally more expensive than their right handed counterparts.

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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 4:05 pm
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I voted yes. Although I am a right handed player, you do not see much left handed guitars in the stores. If you do, they tend to be a little more expensive for the same brand/model.

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Last edited by rkreisher on Sun Feb 14, 2010 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: What is a left handed guitarist supposed to do
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2010 6:26 pm
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JimiVanPage wrote:
There are practically no left handed guitars out there in the market. Isn't that some kind of discrimination. Who knows Fender and other guitar companies may be holding the next Jimi Hendrix back.


There is no point to this. There ARE left handed guitars. And as for Jimi... nobody held him back. 8)


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