[OldManGuitarNewbie]

I am right handed and play the guitar a bit. Love it. My grandson has decided he'd like a guitar and I'm excited about getting him one and introducing him the this hobby (well, for me it is!)

The issue is he is left handed. He's 11, and has never played an instrument or done anything else that has a decided difference for left or right handed-ness. I am asking for your suggestions what to get him:
A left handed guitar and deal with all the problems of guitar and instructor availability, chord diagrams, etc. -OR-
A right handed guitar where he MIGHT have some difficulty learning due to his "left handed-ness".

My initial thought was to get him a lefty guitar, but there are not a lot available. Plus, I started doing research and the issues of chord diagrams, tabs, instructor able to teach lefties, etc became a bigger issue. So now I am thinking about getting him a righty - we plan to go to a guitar store this weekend.......so I need some advice before then, please!

[jdpaz]

I'm a lefty who started on a "right-handed" guitar. Never was a problem.

[OldManGuitarNewbie]

jdpaz said:

I'm a lefty who started on a "right-handed" guitar. Never was a problem.

Thanks. I am inclined to have my grandson start out that way also. Heck, if Paul Simon can play like he does that way what the heck, right?

[jdpaz]

It amazes me how fast youngsters pick up the guitar.

[DDog]

I am a lefty.. started playing right handed... never was a problem.. matter of fact.. I picked up a left handed guitar over the weekend at Guitar Center... I couldn't figure out how to use it...

[Dewy]

Don't get him a left handed mic to sing into either.

Seriously... getting him a left handed guitar might be slightly helpful at first, but a handicap for the rest of his guitar playing career. Less than 10% of guitars in store are set up left handed, and no instructional information available to my knowledge for left handed players, they are always "interpreting".

Not to say said child would not excel at either... just one seems to be the smoother path.

[Stringthing]

I'm left handed and play right handed. If he has never played, his hands don't know guitar. It's all muscle memory as he has none now. Right or left the muscles will have to be trained. There's more right handers to learn from. Lessons and diagrams are setup for the right hand player. IMO I think it would be easier learning right handed.

[GeoNjules]

Might even be a slight advantage going righty.
His fretting hand would be dominant, maybe making it easier to make the chord shapes.......just a thought......Geo.

[OldManGuitarNewbie]

Okay, ya'll, I am convinved! We're gonna look at right handed guitars this weekend! He has never even mentioned the left/right thing, that was just me. So I suspect he'll find a regular, right handed guitar will work just fine for him.

Thanks to everyone who replied...........

[carol m]

I'm a righty that switched to lefty because of hand injury issues - playing the 'wrong' way round was no different to when I first started out as a righty - ie it seems to be impossible. Except - you can never find any left handed guitars to choose from, they're more expensive, and all the chord diagrams are back to front. When you watch someone playing and you want to see and learn what they're playing, you have to mentally switch everything around, and you'll probably never find a lefty teacher. Also you can never just pick up a friend's guitar and try it out - or lend your guitar to someone else if you have visitors and they want to jam with you.

Both hands have to learn heaps of different skills - and in my opinion it makes no difference which set of skills each hand learns if you're starting from scratch.

[monk]

If your grandson wanted to play piano or trumpet, left handedness would not be an issue.

He will actually have a slight advantage over a right handed beginner in that he will be using his stonger hand to finger chords.

For all of the reasons mentioned in the posts above I teach my beginning students to play "right handed". Rather than say left hand/right hand, I use the terms fret hand/pick hand.

Another consideration is that "right hand" acoustic guitars are built and braced to be strung "right handed" will never sound as good when strung lefty. Converting electric or acoustic instruments is a costly proposition and is never as simple as just reversing the strings. It's a job for a qualified reparman.

Regards,
monk

[OldManGuitarNewbie]

Thanks. We are looking forward to visiting the GC this weekend. I'm curious to see which guitar he likes. I will have to rely a lot on the clerk's recommendation because I know little about electric guitars. But even though he doesn't know how to play a guitar, I can show him how to hold one, and he can "feel his way around" each one and hopefully find one that feels right at least. I figure just about anything in my price range is going to sound about the same.

[DDog]

I know you didn't ask.. but my first guitar was a Fender Squier Starter kit... Guitar, Amp, Bag, and Cables.. worked out great and relatively in-expensive... I recommend it highly!

[OldManGuitarNewbie]

DDog said:

I know you didn't ask.. but my first guitar was a Fender Squier Starter kit... Guitar, Amp, Bag, and Cables.. worked out great and relatively in-expensive... I recommend it highly!

Thanks for the recommendation. I have seen those in the ads seem to be a good price. I think I will rent something the first month or two. The place where I am taking lessons has a very good rental fee, so I'll go that route to start until I see if my grandson really does want to play.......we'll see how much he practices!!

[DDog]

actually that is a great idea! I wan't smart enough to think about that at the time... but I was pleased with the squier.. just couldn't keep that sucker in tune for long!!

[boroboy41]

Definately a vote for right-handed guitar, a left handed guitar would probably be short-term gain - long-term loss. As has been mentioned in previous posts this is a multi-handed discipline so the "weaker" hand has to play some part either way round

[OldManGuitarNewbie]

I talked to the folks where I take my acoustic guitar lessons. I can rent a nice electric with amp for $40 a month, so that's the plan. I figure after 4-8 weeks I'll know if my grandson is going to be a guitar player. <g> Heck, by then I might decide I need an electric guitar! I've already got a couple of steel string acoustics and one classical......maybe I should round out the stable, eh? <g>