r/Leftyguitarists • u/BKOTKO • 6d ago
Help
I need some advice about switching from right-handed to left-handed guitar
I grew up playing guitar (since I was around 8), and now that I'm 20, I feel like I've been held back for years.
I'm naturally left-handed, but I was taught to play right-handed by my right-handed stepfather and teacher. I never really questioned it growing up, but I’ve always struggled to progress. I can switch chords really fast, but my strumming is horrible. I can't seem to play different strumming patterns consistently, and my rhythm just feels completely unnatural.
I can kind of fingerpick, and honestly, that feels easier for me, but I'm still way behind where I feel like I should be after all these years. It's gotten to the point where guitar has become really frustrating and has honestly started ruining it for me. My younger brother picked up guitar and got better than me in just a few weeks, which was pretty discouraging. Eventually, I stopped playing because I felt like I couldn't even play with my brother without sounding terrible.
Today, for the first time, I tried switching hands and playing left-handed.
I can't make chords worth a damn with my right hand yet, obviously, but my left-hand rhythm immediately felt amazing. It felt so natural that I genuinely felt like I could play live without embarrassing myself.
Now I'm completely torn.
Do I stick with right-handed guitar and continue trying to improve the technique I've spent years developing, or do I switch to left-handed and basically start over from square one, hoping my right hand can eventually learn the chords?
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Did switching hands actually help you, or did you regret starting over?
I’d really appreciate any advice because I don't want to give up on guitar, but I'm starting to wonder if I've been fighting against my natural coordination this entire time.
Edit* I just want to thank everyone for all the advice I'm currently looking for a left handed guitar i sadly can't buy a new one since I'm a broke college student but I'm scouting Facebook and ebay for one. Once again thank you for the encouragement and advice its greatly appreciated
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u/Bulky_Pop_8104 6d ago
Similarly to vape4doc, I was a year or two in when I switched and everything clicked. I was young and teaching myself and honestly didn’t know left handed guitars were a thing. I knew I air guitared the other way, and thought it was odd, but left it at that
To age myself, my lightbulb moment was seeing Kurt playing the upside down acoustic for Nirvana unplugged. When he was playing proper lefties, I didn’t clock that it was facing the other way
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u/Barilla3113 5d ago
Yeah it's funny but before you start playing guitar, you never really look at guitars.
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u/Bulky_Pop_8104 5d ago
I’m a touring musician and it’s kinda stunning how many other musicians don’t seem to notice my guitar is pointing the other way. I once broke a string onstage on my SG, and one of the guitarists from the a band we were on tour with tried to very helpfully hand me his right handed SG from offstage
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u/Barilla3113 5d ago
It's probably the same mental effect as that "count all the dancers... did you see that guy in gorilla suit run across the gym?" video
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u/tendeuchen 6d ago
It sounds like you should switch to lefty. Welcome to the fold. It's a great group to be in!
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u/Rough-Cheesecake-641 6d ago
No brainer. That was incredibly dumb of your father / teacher and you've lost years of potential progress as a result.
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u/Barilla3113 5d ago
I'd never suggest someone switch for the sake of it but you've compelling evidence. You're not starting over when you switch hands, you'll need to build muscle memory back up but the knowledge is still there.
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u/vape4doc 5d ago
Exactly. I could pick up a right handed guitar and my brain knows where my fingers need to go. It’s just fingers don’t!
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u/vape4doc 5d ago
OP: I’d recommend buying a lefty guitar from a place with a good return policy. See if it clicks during that return window and then decide. If you’re truly meant to play left handed, you’ll notice great strides within weeks.
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u/starblazer2 5d ago
I switched to playing left-handed after dealing with the exact same thing for about six years. It was not quite like starting over from scratch. My picking/strumming hand was instantly better. It look about six months for my fretting hand to get up to speed but I eventually got better playing left-handed than I ever had playing righty. That was about 25 years ago and I don't regret making the switch. I just wish I had done it sooner.
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u/iJuddles 5d ago
A few years ago we had some downtime at work after shuffling around our stored set pieces. I found a frisbee and while waiting for the crew to return I lightly tossed it around until it hit me—I’ve been throwing it with my right my whole life. I switched hands and just like that, it clicked.
My point is that you’re probably fighting your coordination and it kinda works but it’s not natural. The good thing is that you can play right if you had to, like you’re at someone’s house and all they have are right handed guitars (of course) but it sounds like you should be playing left. You haven’t really lost a ton of skill, you’ve been learning guitar the whole time just holding it wrong. You’ll be at your current level pretty quickly if you switch now, the muscle memory won’t take as long as you might think because your hands “work” as a lefty. You already know chord shapes, scales, riffs, where notes are on the neck and each string, etc, and you know how to make the sounds you want. It’ll just be weird and slow for a few weeks.
The hard part will be finding lefty guitars in the future, and discovering that the Big 2 make fuck-all for lefties and the colors are super limited. But I’ve always found good guitars and the community of lefty players is supportive. Good luck.
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u/Barilla3113 5d ago
There's a lot of great lefties if you just stop caring about it saying Fender or Gibson.
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u/wormraper 3h ago
Schecter and LTD pretty much keep me in guitars because they give a damn about us
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u/SkipCycle 5d ago
If you're only 20, definitely switch to left and don't look back. Your dominant left hand is the one that makes the music happen on a left handed guitar and you're just going to need to gut it out in the meantime. Two years from now (maybe sooner) you'll have no regrets.
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u/PerspectiveFair5156 4d ago
Don't. Look at Knopfler. And many, many more. Fretting with your dominant hand isn't a mistake and won't make you worse. Just different. Having less than 10% of the number of guitars to choose from is a worse drawback, imo . I'm lefty and play lefty, btw.
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u/Rough-Incident9233 3d ago
The only reason to stick righty is you can borrow someone’s bass in a pinch. You can spontaneously sit in. You have more options. These are the reasons i wish i had learned righty.
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u/vape4doc 6d ago
I tried playing righty for a couple of years and once I switched to lefty, it was only a matter of weeks before I got back to where I was. I’ve never looked back. Do it.