Top 9 left handed Guitarist advantages


1. Keep Your Hands Off!

Consider this scenario.  You’re at band practice and your hyperactive drummer wants a shot of your brand-spanking-new guitar.  You agree and he proceeds to crank the amp to 11 and thrashes around the room like a demented hamster on speed. Whilst doing this his dumb-ass manages to cream your headstock into the wall after getting entangled in cables.  You exchange words and you leave the band with a broken axe and possibly a criminal record.
Now consider this scenario as a lefty. You’re at band practice and your hyper-active drummer wants a shot of your brand-spanking new guitar.  “I do beg your pardon kind sir, but this instrument happens to be of the left handed variety and as such you would not be able to produce fine music with your right-handed mindset”.  Disaster averted, band saved, jail-time avoided! Huzaaah!
Obviously that’s an extreme example, but being a lefty has certainly saved my grubby mates from getting their dirty paws on my pride and joy over the years!

2. Perfect Band Symmetry

Let’s consider aesthetics for a second as nothing looks more pleasing to the eye than symmetry.  If your band is a standard vocals, drummer, bassist, guitarist setup and your guitarist/bassist is a left handed player you have perfect stage symmetry. It just looks good people!
Also contemplate this.  Whilst on stage any interaction will look infinitely better between guitarists and bassists.  If two right handers decide to stand adjacent to each other for an epic solo play-off they’re just playing on top of each other, generally in each other’s spaces.  With a right and left hander you can stand back-to-back out of each other’s way in full rock-god stance…awesome sauce!  Statistically speaking a band with a left handed guitarist in it is 3% more likely to attract attention, because looks are almost everything these days, and left handed guitarists look unique.

3. A Good Investment

If you are lucky enough to snag a rare guitar and manage to keep it in mint condition its value is only going to increase over time.  The same could be said for a right-hander but when you consider how much rarer left handed guitars are you can actually view your guitar as a nice investment.  For example Ibanez have recently produced an incredibly small, limited run of left handed JEMs and who knows if they will ever manufacture these again?   What is a hobby for you now could be a nice little retirement fund for you further down the line when your fingers are too arthritic to make sense of a fretboard any longer.

4. eBay Competition

If you opt to buy second-hand from an auction website such as eBay you are going to have far less competition when bidding.  In fact chances are you may be the ONLY person bidding and that can result in an absolute steal of a deal.  A lot of the time a good left handed guitar can be had for significantly less than its righty equivalent.

5. Straightforward Tuition

Sitting opposite from your guitar tutor he/she will effectively ‘mirror’ you, making it very easy to copy what he/she is showing you.  Personally I have never taken professional lessons but I would imagine taking them from a right handed tutor as a left handed player would have its advantages.
Likewise if you are a left handed guitar player considering a career as a guitar teacher the same benefit is implied.

6. In Store Condition

Roughly seven to ten percent of the world population is left handed and who knows how many of those are left handed guitar players.  Also consider that many lefties will source their guitars online knowing that their local stores will most likely stock only a small number of left handed guitars.  This should mean that any left handed guitar you do find in store should have had very minimal play (if any at all) and should be in mint condition.  Just go take a peep at the righties, I would bet that a significant number of those guitars had some decent fret-wear, grime in the fretboard, possibly a small ding or two etc..

7. Hey…You Play Guitar…Play Me Something…Now!

I have been at several parties where the host has had a guitar sitting in the corner and when they realise that I can play they get the entire party cheering me on to play something mind-blowing for them.  This is something I genuinely hate with a passion, it’s akin to strolling up to a comedian in the street and requesting them to tell you a joke.  Fortunately the good old “oh I can’t, i’m left handed ” excuse saves my drunken ass from having to indulge their drunken asses.

8. Studies Show Left Handed Advantages!

If you visit a guitar website and ask the community if you should play lefty, the general reply will be something along the lines of  ”oh, play right handed so that your dominant hand will be able to perform the complex fretting easier “. However, a recent study for the National Institute of Sports and Physical Education in Paris found that left handed people have faster eye-hand coordination with their right hand than even right-handers do.  So taking this into account wouldn’t it be logical to suggest that a lefty playing left handed guitar would not only have their dominant left hand performing complex picking motions with no effort, they would also have better co-ordination in their fretting hand than their righty counterparts?

9. Don’t Believe The Hype

Don’t let the normies sway you from walking the left handed guitar route, if playing lefty feels correct to you then dive in.  Do not fall for the horror stories and just enjoy learning this fantastic instrument.  There are PLENTY of excellent left handed guitars available and they are made easily available via the internet usually for more or less the same price as their righty counterparts.  This is 2010 not 1990 and I gotta tell you, being a left handed guitar player is such a non-issue now. Don’t suppress your left handed roots guys ‘n gals!

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