Learn To Play Guitar For Left Handers

Being left handed doesn’t just mean you hold you pen funny, or that the scissors are upside down, it comes into every area of your life. When it comes to learning a musical instrument, especially a stringed instrument like the guitar or violin, there are problems come up all over the place with chord conversion, or getting the guitar to sound the same as a right hander when it’s upsidedown. Jimi Hendrix is a model lefty guitarist; he was showing up people with an upside down, with reverse strung guitar, while he was drunk or on drugs! Ok, maybe the drugs and drinking aren’t such a good example, but he defiantly had the idea.

Unlike the 60s’ however now-a-days there are guitars made for lefties, left handed scale generators, left hand chord progression and even tabs written for lefties. So anyone, even lefties, can bring rock to the next level. But do left handers have an easier time learning guitar than right handers?

Learning to play guitar is a painstakingly simple task no matter what hand you play with. The simplicity of the instrument fools the common person into thinking the instrument’s simple to master. Although left handers are known for their above average statistics in money and intelligence, Lefties still have as much trouble learning an instrument as a righty. Some musicians, despit there left-handedness, find it easier to play the instrument with their right hand Robert Fripp from King Crimson, Noel Gallagher from Oasis.

So what does it take to learn to play guitar for a left hander? The same dedication and passion for music as a right hander, although you may see up-coming Paul McCartney’s and Kurt Cobain’s and Jimi Hendrix’s playing an upside down, reversed strung guitar in their room while everyone around them is yelling at them to shut up. It’s all about practise practise practise, and learning from as many people as you can. There are courses and teachers like Music master Pro, But regardless of your teacher, if your passion drives you, we’ll see the next Jimi Hendrix in no time.

Author: Tony Schirmer
Tony Schirmer is a passionate guitarist and music lover. He started and currently runs a large range fo websites varying from Comptuer hardware to a guitarist facebook group.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Schirmer

Gretsch Guitars G6119-1962HTLH Left-Handed Chet Atkins Tennessee
Still reverberating throughout Shea Stadium, one of the most recognizable ’60s pop icons returns! With its vintage HiLo’Tron pickups, rocking bar bridge

Looking for a left-handed guitar – then check out our online shop for the latest offers.

Left Handed Guitar Playing – A Guide

First if you think that you "should" be right handed because that is how guitars are designed, think again. If the hand that keeps telling you it wants to perform actions is your left hand, you are better off listening to it. This is your active hand, which makes your right hand passive. So in a way, your left hand tells your right hand what to do. Paul McCartney is one guitar player who tried to make his right hand do the picking and it did not work. He only started to get anywhere with playing the guitar after he changed the strings around and started picking with his left hand. There are lots of left handed guitar players who have mastered their instrument and gained fame and fortune. I have already mentioned Paul McCartney, and there are many others like Curt Cobain, Tony Iommi, Jimi Hendrix and Slim Whitman.

Dick Dale, "King Of The Surf Guitar" is one notable exception to this rule. The first guitar he learnt to play on was a normal right handed guitar. So he forced his hands to learn to play without changing the order of the strings on the guitar. Even after he was able to buy custom made left handed guitars, he still played with the strings in the right hand positions because that is what he was used to. Bobby Womack and Albert King also play like this.

So what changes need to be made to a guitar to make it suitable for playing left handed? Well, when you hold a guitar in playing position the sixth string – the E string which is the thickest guitar string needs to be on top of the guitar, that is closest to your shoulder. To achieve this the order of the strings needs to be reversed. If you hold a right handed guitar in front of you and look straight at it, the sixth string is on your right hand side. To string the guitar for left handed playing, the first string should be on the right hand side.

Also, the two parts of the guitar that actually hold the strings on – the bridge and the nut need to be changed around. If you look closely at these parts you will see that they have slots cut in them to hold the strings. Naturally the nut and bridge will need to be turned upside down to fit the strings in the reverse order.

Now for the question of buying left handed guitars. Many guitarists complain that left handed guitars cost around double the price of right handed guitars, so you will need to do some serious shopping. Tokai and Vintage make serviceable mid-range left handed guitars for a reasonable price,. Fender make all the ‘basic’ model Telecasters and Stratocasters for leftys, and Gibson make left handed versions of all their flagship guitars.

Now let us look at another challenge for left handed guitarists – chord charts. If you do a search on the web you will find a range of printed left handed chord charts and chord generators. A good on to start with is "Left Handed Guitar Chord Chart", by Robert Tarchara. There are also books that are written especially for left handed guitar players:
Mel Bay Left-Handed Guitar Chords, by William Bay, 2005
Guitar Case Guide to Left-Handed Chords, by Rikky Rooksby, 2001
Guitar Case Guide to Left-handed Scales, by Rikky Rooksby, 2006

Fortunately there are many left handed guitar players who have been willing to share the knowledge and experience on line. Some can be found on forums, others have set up their own websites. Among other tips they can help with where and how to buy left handed guitars.

Author: Ricky Sharples
Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.
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Learn Electric Acoustic Guitar FAST And FUN,How To Play Guitar …
But as with so many aspects of playing guitar, this is a personal choice, and whether you are right handed or left handed, it will be important for you to experiment and listen.

Learn How To Play Electric Acoustic Guitar FAST AND FUN!
Team Method Guitar is the Rolls Royce of guitar courses. It’s hard to imagine anything that these guys have left out.

This is a great video on building a left-handed guitar.

Learn The Basics Of Electric Guitar

If you want to learn the basics of electric guitar and your first lesson isn’t for a while you’re probably wondering what to do while you’re waiting. Is there any kind of preparation you can do? You could try looking at the free guitar lessons on the internet but it’s advisable not to try too much because even at a very early stage you could start forming bad habits. Sometimes new electric guitarists already have some knowledge of music theory or can even play another musical instrument, but that doesn’t really give you an edge when learning the basics of electric guitar.

 If you are impatient to get started you could check out YouTube. If you are just starting with the electric guitar do a search for "basic guitar lessons". And take the time to just watch the guitarists giving the lessons on video. You don’t have to actively try to imitate them, but just watch. Spend a few days or a week doing this for an hour or two and you’ll be surprised at how much you have learnt.

When you’re looking at the electric guitar lessons on the internet don’t worry if you don’t like what you see. The video lessons on YouTube are not to everyone’s taste – especially someone just trying to learn the basics. Maybe you’re just the kind of person who prefers direct contact with the teacher. Some teachers even come to your house to give you lessons.

When you take your first lesson your teacher will show you the correct hand positions and the correct way to hold the guitar. That way you do not begin your life as electric guitar player with bad habits, possibly laying the foundation for injuring your wrist or arms later. If you haven’t found a teacher yet the local guitar store is a good place to start. You could answer advertisements in your local paper but I think a recommendation from somebody who already plays guitar is better.

When you are browsing the free electric guitar lessons on the internet take note of the kind of information you can get without paying. Many people complain that free lessons are not as good as paid lessons but it’s up to you to judge that for yourself. If you go with free lessons when you first start playing the electric guitar, quite possibly even after some months you will still not be playing a complete song. Free guitar lessons cannot give you the impetus to set up a practice regime for yourself and to systematically learn chords in different positions on the guitar fretboard, practice chord progressions, and then put this knowledge into practice with some of your favorite songs. An electric guitar is not easy to carry around but it’s best to take your own guitar to your lessons. You don’t need the extra hassle of adjusting to a strange guitar when you are learning new material.

When it comes to learning songs you can make great use of the free tab sites on the internet. Some of these sites have tabs for music that you can’t get in music shops. You can also try the various guitar tab groups on MySpace. Some of the free tab sites on the web also have free lessons. If you do a little searching you could find out about the various parts of your electric guitar and how to use them, such as whammy bar technique or how to play harmonics.

By: Ricky Sharples
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog containing all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, video guitar lessons and how to learn guitar scales.

 
Electric Guitar Freaks: Getting The Most Of Your Guitar String
The number one cause for string decay is the grime and sweat that is transferred from your hand to your strings when playing.

Electric Guitar Freaks: Power Chords 1
This will help you move fast when playing power chords. The basic chords which all guitarists should know are the F, G, Am, E.

Although these articles are not specific to guitars left handed playing, most of the info is not specific to which hand you play with. 

Beginners Blues Guitar – Learn Blues Guitar

Beginners Blues guitar lessons are ideal, if you’re just starting out learning to play the guitar. If you are reading this article then you are proably intrested in learning blues guitar. There is nothing like being able to strum some cool Blues guitar riffs. Blues is an incredible genre of music.

At the heart and soul of most Blues songs is the guitar. If you’re just starting to learn to play, or always wanted to play the Blues, you have to remember one thing: Even the most skilled Blues guitar players were novices themselves at one time or another.

This is usually one of the simplest forms of music that has played a huge part in the evolution of other genres that are popular in today’s culture. The origin of Blues is thought to have began somewhere between 1870-1900.

The Blues peaked in popularity in the 1960’s. Back then it was one of the most cherished and loved music genres. Blues paved the way for many other genres of music. When something becomes loved, its inevitable that it evolves and changes. Creative people, like musicians, often will take something and add their own style or flavor to it. That’s exactly what happened to the Blues.

Blues is often given credit for giving birth to the following genres of music: Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, Bluegrass, and Rock and Roll.

Blues is still alive and well. Blues music just doesn’t enjoy the same popularity it once did at its height. Even if Blues itself isn’t as popular, the genres that evolved from it are. You can still get a taste of Blues in some hit songs. Blues will never truly die.

Blues is mainly played with a guitar which makes the music all the more appealing to people who want to play guitar. For amateurs, there are many ways to learn how to play this type of music and one of them is by taking a beginners Blues guitar course. You will most likely learn what exactly Blues is. How it stands out from all the other genres. Most important, how it is successfully played on the guitar.

You can try to learn Blues songs on your own. However, your time would be better spent if you had the proper instruction. You’ll sound a lot better and learn more quickly if you take some beginners Blues guitar lessons.

Considered as one of the most influential genres of music, Blues has contributed much to the success of most genres while retaining its identity as the one that started it all. If you’re a fan of blues who wants to relive those good old days, then a beginners Blues guitar system may just be right for you. As you can see, because Blues influenced so many other types of music, if you can master playing Blues music on your guitar, you’ll more easily be able to play other genres.

By: Jim Bodine
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
You will find a review on a great online product that teaches beginners blues guitar here. Or visit play-basic-blues-guitar.blogspot.com and with a little practice you will be playing like a Pro.

 
Guitar Playing Sweep Picking Exercise | Gibson Guitars
I am more of a ibanez and esp guy. Both my rg5ex1 and ax2e allow me to go from soft blues to screaming metal and in between.

VIDEO on GUITAR PLAYING – Blues Basics

The Challenge Of Being A Left Handed Guitarist

The majority of musical instruments can be played equally well by those who are either right handed or left handed, and switching from a right handed musician to a left handed one with the same instrument is not usually a problem. However, in the case of the guitar this is not always true, and although some models of guitar can be handed over from a right handed person to a left handed one without any trouble or difficulty, there are many cases when a guitar is very clearly designed for someone who is specifically right handed that would prevent a left handed person from being able to play it at all, or at least, not effectively.

Guitars can often be constructed specifically for a left handed or a right handed person, and there is a marked difference between the role of the dominant hand and the secondary one. So in the case of a right handed person, the dominant hand would be their right one, with their left hand being considered the secondary hand. It is the role of the dominant hand to pluck or strum the strings of the guitar, with the secondary hand being used to hold the strings against the fret board or neck of the guitar to construct the chords to be played. The reason for the hands being used in this way round may seem odd at first, since, for a right handed person, it would appear that the left hand is doing more work through constructing a complex sequence of chords.

Often, for a beginner, one of the greatest challenges lies simply in being able to train the secondary hand to physically bend, twist and stretch to the chords, because our secondary hands are not as dextrous or flexible as our dominant ones, and although in normal everyday life this is never really noticeable (unless you try to write with your secondary hand), when playing a guitar it becomes very noticeable. However, the reason for playing a guitar this way round is because, once the chords are learnt and achievable, most of the expression of the music is generated through the strumming of the strings by the dominant hand, and the dynamics, tone and colour of the music comes almost entirely from this hand.

Our dominant hands are better able to create the very subtle distinctions in playing style which produce the expression of music, and overall quality, whereas our secondary hands are far more clumsy, and whilst we can teach them the basic chords, teaching them the subtly of tone and dynamics would be an almost impossible task. The same method of playing is true for those who play the violin, with the left hand, or secondary hand, being used to hold the neck of the instrument, and play the chords, with the dominant hand holding the bow which is responsible for giving the instrument the voice, tone and colour of the music.

There are some people who do not believe that the option of playing with either left or right hand should be available, and that everybody should play the instruments in the same way, with left handed people holding a guitar or a violin in the same way as a right handed person, but these people are generally a minority. No information is available as to whether these people are right or left handed however! It is unlikely that a standardisation of guitars and violins is likely to occur, since there is already a wealth of styles, designs and many custom options available to players, and many people develop their own style of music and performance through the natural way in which they hold the instrument.

Certainly with famous left handed guitarists including the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney and Kurt Cobain, it is unlikely that left handed guitarists will be overlooked.

By: Victor Epand
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, left handed guitars, custom guitars. You can find the best marketplace at these sites for guitars, drums, keyboards, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio.

 
Left Handed Guitarists | Left Handed Guitar
Are you on your way to becoming a left handed guitarists? You are probably like me and others learning to play with standard strings because you didn’t want to switch them.

Left Hand Guitarists and Left Handed Guitars
Many left handed people newly learning to play guitar end up learning to play right handed out of frustration.

If you are learning left handed guitar – Get inspired by this video…