Just wanted to thank all of my ClutchFans peeps for the advice. I spoke with a few longtime musicians since this thread was started, and they pretty much advised me to learn right-handed (for a variety of reasons) mainly because: 1. For me, being ambidextrous, it will likely be easier for me to learn righty because the left hand will do all the work in the beginning (chords) and the right hand will basically be strumming, not necessarily really picking initially. That will come later. So they believe I can learn faster this way. 2. As some others mentioned, if I ever needed to pick up a guitar and play on the spot, or to try other guitars, the vast majority of people around play righty, so it will be convenient in this manner. Soooooooooo....I am going to try it righty for now and see how it goes. The guitar I picked is an Ibanez....black.....love it. http://www.guitarcenter.com/Ibanez-V200S-Solid-Top-Acoustic-Guitar-104473822-i1326056.gc It was highly recommended, and supposedly is a better guitar than the price reflects from a sound and quality perspective. Thanks again everyone. I'll keep you posted on how it goes....as if you care. Lovin' you, HOOP-T
cool. congrats. in the future when you want more guitars, go to GC or something. they let you bargain the price. for that guitar, i can probably get it $180 flat in the shop. the more expensive item you buy, the more you can save. i've gotten over $50 off the regular price in store before. and trust me, this won't be your only guitar if you stick to playing.
Thanks for the tip. Actually, one of the guys I spoke with over the weekend can get me a pretty deep discount on anything from GC, since his band buys a ton of stuff from there. I appreciate the feedback!
one more thing though. a lot people who plays guitar end up turning into "gear whores". i started about a year and half ago. i've now accumulated 17 guitars and 4 amp heads and cabinets. just watch out for yourself. i'm heavily in "debt". sigh... effect of capitalism.
I started messing around with my guitar last night (first time) and was following some basic instructions on about.com...and made it to the point of playing some basic chords (G, C and D majors)...and all I can say is that holding my fingers in the right position for each of these is incredibly difficult. Is this just part of the learning curve? I find that I usually end up with one of my fingers is pressing against a fret but also lazily laying against one of the other strings and end up making a weird sounding chord. My fingers were really sore from pressing so hard...does this go away or do my fingers finally learn the right pressure and location to play? I'm enjoying the beginner's steps that I'm taking (chords, stumming, tuning the guitar)...but I really wish the learning curve wasn't so steep.
you'll be fine. yes, chords are much harder than single notes. once your fingers toughens up, you'll be fine. you can buy some of those grip master to help your finger strength. you are probably playing open chords right now, which are easier. but open chords are basically the easy versy of bar chords. if you move all open chords up one fret to another note, you will have to use you index finger to completely press down on all 6 strings while the other fingers have to follow the rest. if you enjoy playing, you'll be fine in no time.
Hey HOOP, i just found this thread. I am a lefty also. I am about to start learning guitar and I can't make up my mind to start left or right. I play decent on drums. I do the open hand technique on hihats and play the ride cymbal with the right hand as normal righties. I have a right handed cheap guitar sitting here and I am debating to see if i should just get a left handed guitar and make it easier on myself. All the advantages you get as a righty player is good like playing other people's stuff etc but ultimately I want to chose the hand that will make me a good player. I don't want to be a sucky righty when I could be a good lefty. things i do with my right: write, scissors, bat, changing gears in the car with right seems more natural to me than when I used to with my left overseas. left: knife, eating utensils, shooting basketball, throw a baseball, bowling, giving injections... I know chord wise both hands are new to it...so that doesn't really matter but strumming wise it feels so much more natural to do with left. it moves more "gracefully" compared to my right. also what's a decent guitar? Are brands like ibanez, washburn, ovation good? I know martin and taylor are good stuff but i don't have that kind of money. My max is like 500, even then I would want to spend around 300 i guess. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navigation/left-handed-acoustic-electric-guitars?N=100001+330617+10 thanks for the help guys. sucks being a left and right people forcing you to do things their way.
