THE LEFT/RIGHT-HANDED GUITAR MYTH.

(A Message for All Guitar Teachers/Manufacturers/ Retailers/Parents.)


As a player, then teacher of guitar for the last fifteen years I want to share with you my experiences along the way.
But firstly I want to ask you all a question:-

Are we a hundred percent sure that the original inventor of the guitar was right-handed??

(bearing in mind it is hard for the historians to actually agree on what actually was the first “guitar- as- we- know- it- today” forerunner and where, when and by whom this mysterious instrument was created?? as there were many and varying breeds such as a five-string, paired strings, etc in existence)

For what its worth, my guess is that this mysterious person was indeed left-handed!!

Or shall I say, to be more precise, this person had more strength and dexterity in the left hand.

Now threes a thought!

Let us remember, that all of us are different.

There are some of us who seem to do almost all tasks with one particular hand, and a small proportion who are truly ambidextrous, and then there are those of us,( quite a large number of the population) who, like myself, depending on the task in hand, change from right to left as they go along their merry way. (Ring any bells??)

To give you an example, I write, draw and paint with my left hand, play tennis and golf with my left hand, brush my hair with left hand, but I iron with my right hand, sew with my right hand use knife and fork the right-handed way, use desert spoon and fork the left-handed way, play guitar the right-handed way and so on, the list very long and varied in the use of different hands.

Now at this stage you might think “so what?” or “well she writes with her left hand, she is definitely a “lefty”.

I also consider myself a “lefty”,

I play piano and never struggled with the left hand as many do.

But having looked very closely at this subject and discussed at great length with pupils and parents, some very interesting points have come to light.

As teachers it is vital to make sure our pupils are given a CHOICE of hand for a particular task.

Do not assume because your pupil writes left handed that they will need a left –handed guitar for instance!

We can so easily steer a child to the wrong hand for learning a new task.
The child will manage, but may never get to their full potential.
Also, they usually stick with the hand they first learned the task with, and accept their limitations through life. (Such a shame!)

So the personal choice in the early stages is so important.

As teachers, we have an obligation to give that choice to ensure a student develops to their full potential.

Retailers, please, you are very often in the front line when it comes to this vital choice. When a parent comes to you feeling sure their child needs a left-handed guitar because they write with their left hand, do you go with the flow, because after all a sale is a sale?, or do you point out that in actual fact their child might be at an advantage and may even prefer a so called “right-handed” model.
(Also pointing out the fact that they will have much more choice of models available, and also the re-sale value will be better which of course is by the by)

Let’s now look at my very own mixed bag of left/right handed tasks in more detail.

Fortunately I had a wonderful first school teacher who allowed us the freedom to choose which hand we steered our pens with, but more importantly she also encouraged us to experiment with both before we settled on a choice!!

Wasn’t that wonderful!?

So we had a class with 5 “lefties” in it.

This was also good from the point of view that kids are heavily influenced by others and hate to be the odd one out, and will go to great lengths to fit in, even if it means agonising over trying to write with the right hand just to fit in.
(Ring another bell?)

I was lucky I didn’t have that pressure at school.

Home was a different matter.

My nana looked after me while my mother worked.

She was a lovely lady who unwittingly and lovingly steered me to learn tasks the right handed way because she was right handed.

She set the table with my first knife and fork the right handed way.
So I learned that way. It was easy. (Take note)

She taught me to sew my first button on the right handed way.
(To this day I hate sewing by hand).

When I was old enough she decided I should try my hand at ironing, the ironing board being permanently resident in the back parlour, set up the right handed way. (Cant stand ironing either, and I am terrible at it!)

My first experience of the delights of spotted #### and custard were at school.
The spoon and fork being at the top of the place setting, making it easier to make a personal choice of which hand the spoon went into and nobody there on the all important moment to influence the choice.
So naturally being a lefty, I chose the left hand to shovel the stodgy stuff into my mouth.
Do you see why I had no problem with my grand-mothers so called “right-handed” knife and fork setting?
Because, here, it is still the left hand which shovels the food into the mouth!!

So here another can of worms!! Is the majority of the nation eating their main course left or right-handed??????
Because, what do they do with desert?
They immediately stop using the left hand to shovel food to mouth and begin using the right hand!!!

How crazy is that!!??

Just because someone somewhere decided that that is how we will set up the silver on the table, the majority like sheep just follow the idea.

(No wonder “lefties” earn the label of being logical people!)

The other tasks such as tennis and golf were personal choices made later in life.

LIKEWISE THE GUITAR!!

I was fortunate enough to have a try with a so called “left-handed guitar” in my local music shop before parting with my hard –saved pocket money to purchase a so-called “right-handed” guitar.
I remember exactly why I chose the standard guitar configuration.
Because without doubt, the left hand has to do the hardest learning task and hardest work on the finger board on this so –called “right-handed” guitar?

As a young beginner, the left hand needed both STRENGTH as well as dexterity.
The right hand cant even get a sound worth having from the easiest gentle thumb strum till the left hand has got its act together on the fingerboard.

Yes, we know that in time the right hand will have to learn to be nimble as a classical guitarist with finger picking and accurate with string geography etc, but it has lots of time to do this while the left hand gets to grip with the complexities of the fingerboard and builds up strength.

(Not helped by the fact that student instruments in most cases prove harder to play than professional ones, but we won’t open up that can of worms now!)

The majority of my guitar students over the years never got the choice of left or right-handed guitars, but I can say emphatically, that the ones that excelled the most happened to be left handed students, playing on “right-handed” instruments.

Co-incidence?? I don’t think so.

However, lately, parents seem to be much more aware of the importance of correct hand choice for their kids, but this has actually caused me problems as a teacher.

Instead of allowing the child the choice of guitar configuration, and chatting to me first, they are rushing out to buy left-handed guitars for their kids just because they push a pen with their left hands, thinking they are helping them instead of giving them the choice!!

Added to which we now have a few books published especially for the so called “left-handed player” with chord grids printed the opposite way etc. and “lefties” naturally make a B-line for them!

Please, please, give your “lefties” the chance of the gift of advantage over the “righties when it comes to learning guitar???!!
Don’t take that advantage away by thrusting a wrongly labelled “left-handed-guitar” in their laps and unwittingly put them at a possible disadvantage.

Kieran was a pupil of mine who happened to be a “leftie”.
His mother rang to say he had been struggling with a teacher for two years and wasn’t getting anywhere, and could I take him on?

Now I know a lot of teachers find teaching kids with “left-handed guitars” very difficult, (I have even heard of some who refuse to teach them!) but I never had that problem with two “righties” who chose “left-handed-guitar” configurations in the past. (He! he!)
I just taught by example sitting opposite like a mirror image. I found this worked well for all of us.

After the first lesson with Kieran, I quickly realised his left hand was very weak.
I asked him what tasks he did with his left hand.
He told me he wrote with his left hand.
But nothing else!!!
So I asked him if he would mind experimenting with one of my little “right-handed” guitars, and trying for a couple of weeks to see how he got on.
He was up for it, (excited because he liked the look of mine better than his), and thankfully I got the approval from his mum immediately.

Needless to say, he improved by leaps and bounds, and kept my guitar. I kept his and to this day it is my “left-handed” demonstrator model. (Ha-ha!)

We could open up another whole can of worms with regard to all string instruments where the left hand does the hard work.

Do you think there may be a sound reason why so many of the nations were absolutely terrible on the violin at school??? (She giggles mercilessly!)

The musical instrument manufacturers are now having a nervous breakdown at this point!



Sharron Testo (CTABRSM)

North Notts.

QUOTE

Do you think there may be a sound reason why so many of the nations were absolutely terrible on the violin at school??? (She giggles mercilessly!)

One BIG reason is because violinists don't have the luxury of frets.

Irrespective of left/right-handedness, there is the huge issue of intonation and finger placement on any non-fretted instrument. The student has to bow, stop the string and listen to the tuning all at the same time. This is a lot for the brain to assimilate all in one go, especially for the student who may not be the most musically inclined - and let's be really honest here, the majority of the population are not overtly musical in the performing sense. This is not meant as a derogatory remark. If they were very musical, then everyone who took up a musical instrument would be able to achieve near professional playing standards. Even woodwind and brass players have to listen and 'tune' their notes.

Secondly, it IS possible to buy left-hand violins, properly built for the job, but, they are only ever used by folk musicians.

The layout of an orchestra or ensemble simply wouldn't cope with people playing left-handed violins etc. Due to the seating arrangements all the instruments have to be pointing in the same direction, ie. to the players left. If you had one or two people playing left-handed set-ups then they'd be clashing instruments with the person sat next to them.

You will probably shoot me down in flames and claim 'leftie discrimination', but I assure you it's not. Concert platforms are often pretty overcrowded places anyway, so with space at a premium everyone needs to be packed tightly together, and uniform direction of instruments is the only way round it.

Thanks Amanda, comments taken onboard.

However, I think you missed my point.

As far as I am concerned, your string sections are already playing with a left-handed set-up!
Hence, as you so rightly said, aside from the musical ability, and intonation problems, there is a greater problem with finger placement.
Perhaps the "righties" would benefit from being able to use their right hand for this skillful accomplishment??

I also question your comment about the majority of the population not being musical. ( oh yee of little faith!)

Also, believe it or not, even a guitarist supplied with the luxury of frets has to be able to tune his notes, especially so on fine gauge strings!!

All that aside, I do appreciate the need for uniform space saving on the stage.
But I also feel that perhaps too much attention is paid to the visuals here?
If not for that,could your so-called "left-handed" folk fidler be promoted to a place in the orchestra, perhaps seated on the end of a row?

QUOTE

As far as I am concerned, your string sections are already playing with a left-handed set-up! Perhaps the "righties" would benefit from being able to use their right hand for this skillful accomplishment??

I personally couldn't imagine the violin to my right, using my right hand to stop the notes and bowing with my left arm??! In fact it would be impossible for me to do so, I just don't have the co-ordination or dextrous movements in my right hand or fingers to do that.

Even though the so called "left-handed" violins are out there, I've yet to find any students I've taught who would prefer to hold the violin with their right hand and bow with the left.

To have the violin in the left and bow in the right hand, seems, to me, the only natural way of playing and, although I would be classified as right-handed (in as much that I write with my right hand and hold a fork with my left hand), my left hand is the only one I would stop the notes on a violin with.

So where does this leave the good violinists/violoists/cellists?? Ambidextrous in a limited sense??

QUOTE

I also question your comment about the majority of the population not being musical. ( oh yee of little faith!)

OK, perhaps I should have phrased that slightly differently. It's a subject that on a deeper level a lot of the people find quite difficult. I didn't mean that they are all completely tone deaf. However, I think I'm still right in saying that the percentage of the population who make up professional, or potential professional musicians, is still very small.

QUOTE

But I also feel that perhaps too much attention is paid to the visuals here? If not for that,could your so-called "left-handed" folk fidler be promoted to a place in the orchestra, perhaps seated on the end of a row?

I suppose in a school or local music group this might actually happen, but with most orchestras there is a strict order of seating in the string sections(two people to a desk). Apart from the Leader, co-Leader or Section Principals, most other desks will rotate so that everyone changes their seat on a regular basis. A left-handed player would either have to be sat on their own desk all of the time (space issue again), or permanently given a small plot at the back somewhere, so that they didn't clunk instruments with their partner. In 12 years of teaching and playing professionally, I've never yet come across an orchestra who has any "left-handed" string players.

I think it's a mistake to teach a left-handed person to play the violin the conventional way round. However, I always teach left-handed people to teach the conventional way, because I've never dared make the leap. Perhaps I should.

With every left-handed beginner I've ever taught, it's noticeable how they get confused when picking the violin up and placing it on their shoulder; they always have the tendency to put it on the wrong side, and need a fair bit of correcting before they learn to put it on the right (left) side.

There is a reason right-handed violinists play the way we do - it's because the bowing arm is the most important arm - all the dynamism comes from there. The placement of the fingers on the finger-board is a far less important aspect of playing - virtually all the expression comes from the bow. So to expect a person to do all this with the less powerful arm/hand - well, it's hard for them, and it most certainly takes them longer to reach any level of exertise; it can be done, but not without difficulty.

One day I'm going to teach a left-handed person to play the otherway round - just to see what happens. It's be hard for them to play in an orchestra, but I reckon they'd play a lot better. Just a hunch.

Shame I've bottled out with one of my newest beginners - a left-hander.

Violinia

I once read that in beginning an instrument left/right handedness is not really as big an issue as people might imagine.
The reason given for this is that as it is a new skill anyway this overrides the right/left problem. Everything you do is new, if you see what I mean.

It isn't only string instruments- even the recorder (and flute and as far as I know other wind instruments) the hand which starts out doing the more complicated work is the left, while for virtuosity the hands are both working dexterously- though I feel in both wind and most strings the RH has the more complicated job. Is it fair to start kids the way round that is easier at the beginning, but will end up with the less dominant hand doing the more dexterous job- leading to faster and more satisfying initial progress- or is it better to prepare each learner for heights many of them will never reach? Or try to decide at the first lesson how far a given student will go, or...

As for some beginner instruments being harder to play than professional ones, surely the answer should be better instruments rather than changing hands?

This is an interesting website (Moderators-and it`s related to the OP question).Worth checking out all the famous musicians who were/are left handed and offers hints.I`m left handed but I sometimes act right handed (go figure-)

http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/index.html