Why do you play chords with your left hand and strum with your right?

Question

At least in my opinion, it would be easier for a right handed person to play chords with their right hand and do the more simple strumming with their left hand. So why is it that you have to play chords left handed? Wouldn't it be easier to do those chords right handed?

Answer 1

cutequestioner - there are left-handed guitars.

That said, I suppose someone could try learning that way. Never really thought about it. When you first start guitar, you just sort of accept that it's going to be hard, so you don't really think about the specifics =P

Answer 2

true, but if you played chords with your left hand you would either have an up side down guitar or crossed hands/arms.

Answer 3

It must have something to do with how the brain is wired. Because most right-handed people strum with their right, while most leftys strum with the left.  There are a few expections, but that's basically how most play.

Answer 4

You might think that, but the right hand is extremely important.  It is not just strumming up and down.  It controlls the rhythm and the timing of the song.  It needs to be almost automatic while you concentrate on the left hand to form the chords.  That's why it's done that way.  The right hand has to do tricky things without much thought.

Answer 5

This is the same reason why left handed strum with the left hand. I am left - handed and play right-handed. Actually, if I was to start over, I would have played left-handed and forget about following the crowd.