Lefty with a righty guitar that needs help?

Question

i just picked up my brothers acoustic guitar (he is a righty and i am a lefty) and i want to learn how to play it, im learning tabs online and i was just wondering what problems i might face

e.g. will there be certain notes i wont be able to play because the strings are reversed?

Answer 1

In my opinion, you have an advantage.  Your left hand is the one which does the most work.

I have taught numerous left handed violin players.  We do not change anything.  They have done great.

Answer 2

you can reverse the strings yourself.  Just take em off and put them on opposite and it should be fine.  Its kinda hard to play with the strings upside down, but god knows alot of people can do it.  I used to know one song playing lefty upside down, but it was just kind of a joke.  I recomend reversing the strings

Answer 3

Learning right handed isn't that hard. I have a few friends that have done that. But reversing the strings'll work.

Answer 4

how will u be able to play at all

Answer 5

your going to have to learn to how to play it with the hand your not used to. when i was playing the clarinet, u had to play it with your left hand on top, and i was more comfortable with my right, over time i got used to the other hand i didnt want playing, playing. im so used to it like that now. the point is, just learn to play with your right hand instead of your left. good luck :)

Answer 6

Replace the strings but make them the opposite of what they are supposed to be. Then look up to the heavens and get help from jimi hendrix.

Answer 7

I'm a lefty and I play a right handed guitar. For me I'm comfortable with it. I'm not sure about you, but if it doesn't feel comfortable for you, you can switch the strings but you might have to get the bridge of the guitar changed, since every hole on the bridge is made specifically to fit a particular string.

Answer 8

You are on the way to damaging your brother's guitar beyond repair if you have reversed the strings.  Guitars are braced asymmetrically since the bass strings exert more tension than the treble strings do.  If you reverse the strings you're exerting more tension than the guitar can withstand.  If you don't believe me talk to the repair tech at your local music store.

There's absolutely no reason you shouldn't learn to play righty.  Each hand has an important job to do and it doesn't really matter what hand does which job.

Answer 9

dude just switch all the strings to be backwords and you have it.

so switch the EadgbE string order  to EbgdaE

Answer 10

Yes, there are going to be certain notes you can not play. The strings are all flipped around, so you got to be really flexible and strum backwards. I guess you can change the strings backward, but your brother would need to use it too, I mean are you guys willing to change it back and fourth? Plus, the strings would be curled around the pegs, so you have to buy new packs of strings, because it is really hard to place the curled area inside the tuning area (a.k.a. machine heads) again. You can either learn to play like a right-handed person or buy a left-handed guitar.

I know you don't want to waste money because you are trying it out, but there are very cheap guitars out there. Heck, I even saw a 30 dollar guitar. It might not be the best, but you can see if you like it, but I suggest the price range of about $50 - $100 (or more if you want to waste more, lol).

Left-handed people can adjust to using their right-hand to play instruments. So you can just keep trying that out. (I really hope it works out for you.)  OR If you really want to try guitar, buy a cheap one.

I recommend playing the guitar if you are into playing instruments. It is a great instrument, but you need to take good care of it. Since it is fragile. You need to buy fret cleaners, like oil, clean your guitar every once in a while. The wood is very fragile and change the strings every once in a while. But it is worth it!

There are people who plays many instruments that are left-handed, but they NEED to use their right hand to play that instruments. Like the violin or cello. My friend was a lefty, but turned out using her right hand to play the violin and she joined many contests.

Hope it helps!

Kev

Send me a message if there are any questions! I will be glad to help you out.