Left Handed Guitar Player: Left Handed Acoustic Guitar Method Using A Right Handed Guitar

Left Handed Guitar (Upside Down) Tutorials

2012-01-03T12:09:00.003-05:00

Sometime ago I offered video left handed guitar lessons. I got very little response and was forced to abandon the idea. Since then, I've been getting new requests. So in response, I've decided to make the same offer but instead of making videos, I'm offering live one on one tutorials via Skype. This is better than a video because we can actually interact. The session will go on until you're comfortable with what you've learned, but no longer than one hour at $15 per session. Payment will be made using the PayPal "Donate" button located on the side bar of this page. The advantage of these type of sessions is that you can use them when you need them and not have to follow a lesson plan, so you can learn on your own and only use me when you need my help. I can help beginners and advanced left handed guitar players.

If you're interested in a one on one tutorial, send me an e-mail at bwillismusic@gmail.com. We'll set up a convenient time for us both. Thanks, Ben

Should I Play A Right Handed Guitar Left Handed?

2011-09-03T13:18:00.000-04:00

Should I play a right handed guitar left handed ? I can't answer that question. That is up to you. All I can do is offer my experience with being a left handed guitar playing a right handed guitar. Why would you want to when you are left handed and just beginning to learn guitar? I explained earlier that my reason was economic. When I was learning I had to borrow someone else's guitar because I couldn't afford one of my own. Of course the guitar that I borrowed was a right handed guitar and I couldn't change the strings around because it didn't belong to me. If you want to do it to be different than I see no problem with that. The more of us odd balls out there the better.
Should I change the strings around on a right handed guitar? You can do anything you want to but I wouldn't and here's why. You may start out with a cheap $100 guitar, switch the strings to make it left handed and it's no big deal. What about when you graduate to a more expensive acoustic, say in the $1000 to $5000 range, or one that has a life time warranty? I recently contacted a major guitar manufacturer with the question: Would changing the strings on a guitar harm the instrument. Here is the answer:" We don't recommend anyone to switch strings, since bracing, bridges, and tone bar are set up for right-handed players. It is better to play it upside down. Otherwise, it could be harmful to the structure of the guitar". Not to mention that you just blew your warranty if something warps inside. I can't comment on the effects of an electric guitar with a solid body but I know that the bridge, nut, and saddle might be a problem. As far as the pick guard is concerned, you would either have to avoid "scrubbing" the strings or have one fitted on the other side of the sound hole. I personally leave the pick guard as it is. When the instrument shows scratches on the other side it becomes a left handed guitar and that makes it unique. One modification that I have made was placement of the strap buttons. There is one located on the top of the guitar. That one is ambidextrous and no problem. The other is usually located on the heel where the neck joins the body. If it is in the back facing your body or pointing to the right than there is no problem. If it is on top than we have a problem. Because of its location your strap will most likely slip off. Remove it and put one either in the back, to the right or on the bottom facing down. Most higher end guitars do not come with one and it is up to you to have it installed. It's easy to do and only requires a drill and small bit. I hope this helps you out in making a decision on playing a right handed guitar left handed. If you have any questions or comments please e-mail me at bwillismusic@gmail.com. Please check out Country Demo Radio.

International Left-Handers Day

2011-07-23T14:04:00.004-04:00

To commemorate International Left-Handers Day Aug. 13th, I have joined with The Amazing People Club (below) to help promote membership to gain access to their stories of amazing people in history.

The Amazing People Club celebrates International Left-Handers Day – 13th August
There are about 600 million lefties in the world & this day has been celebrated since 1976. It is a celebration of their uniqueness but also to make everyone aware of some of the difficulties faced, in our modern world equipped for right-handers. It is said that left-handers operate using the right side of the brain, while right-handers use the left side of the brain. Does this mean that only left-handers are in their ‘right’ mind? Did you know that many of our Amazing People Club honorary members were left handed? Gifted talents such as Mozart, Michelangelo, Einstein, Marie Curie, Mark Twain, Beethoven, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Da Vinci to mention but a few. Every month we give away FREE inspiring stories to our members. To celebrate this day, we would like to acquaint you with one of our amazing left handers for FREE, when you ‘join the club’ at:
Amazing People Club. Access “Wolfgang Mozart” eStory/Audio in Members news, August only.

Mozart is one of the world’s most celebrated musicians. Did you know that he was left-handed? Follow him from his early years when he was composing at only five years of age to his most prolific times. Explore what he did and what inspired him to do so, understanding what his personal motivations were.

Left Handed Guitar Update/ Left Handed Trivia

2011-04-22T13:58:00.006-04:00

Just wanted to update and let folks know that I'm still around. The "Demo" business has been slow and steady meaning that I've had a few takers on my offer, but I'm not overwhelmed, so if you're a non-musician songwriter and have a song or two that you want put to music, send me an e-mail. I don't "set your poems to music". I make a pro demo of your pre-written lyric and melody that you can burn and give to friends or send to publishers. It is a work for hire agreement and you retain 100% of the copyright. The cost is $50 via PayPal. To hear samples of my left handed guitar style and vocal, click here. You can also purchase downloads of my music there, or find it on iTunes.

If you think that playing a left handed guitar is evil, and God forbid if you play a right handed guitar upside down, here are a few facts about left handedness.

In religious art, Jesus and God are nearly always drawn giving blessings with their right hand, and the devil is usually portrayed doing evil with his left hand.

The artwork found in ancient Egyptian tombs shows most Egyptians as right handed. Their enemies are shown as left handed.

The Anglo-Saxon root word for left is lyft, which means weak or worthless. Riht means straight or just.

According to a theory, before birth all babies are right handed, which means that the left side of their brain is dominant. During a difficult birth, oxygen deficiency can cause damage to the left side of the brain, making it weaker and enabling the right side to compete for dominance. If the right side wins, the baby will be left handed. Hey we didn't ask to be born did we?

Got My Martin Guitar Back/ Songwriter Demo Service

2010-12-29T19:27:00.007-05:00

Well I got my guitar back. As I explained in the last post, I had to pawn it during a financial emergency. Things came down to the wire and I nearly lost it. If that had happened, this left handed guitar player would have been out of commission for quite a while. However instead of not being able to play the guitar for a while, I've gained some work. Here's how it happened.

I belong to a musician/songwriter forum and have been active for four years. Made a lot of friends and did some collaborations with other members. Some of the songwriters are not singers or musicians, so they can't demo their own songs. A demo is self explanatory. It's just a sample of how the song sounds, usually just a guitar/vocal or a piano/vocal recording that the songwriter sends to a publisher. The publisher then pitches the song to an artist so that they can make their own recording of the song. Demo's are for promotion purposes only and can't be sold as a commercial record. I got the bright idea to offer my services and make simple guitar/vocal demo's at a very temporary cheap rate so that I could get my guitar out of hock since the due date for payment was the next day. The response was overwhelming. The first day I made enough to pay the interest owed and prevent them from selling my guitar. By the third day, I made enough to actually get the guitar back, which I did.

I've got about 15 or so demo's to do over the next coming months. Most of the writers aren't ready yet so I have some time on my hands. I dusted off my recording equipment and I'm restudying recording techniques so I'm ready to go.

I would like to extend my offer to make a guitar/vocal demo to anyone who is reading this, has a song in mind, but needs a clean completed song of what you've written. This is not a co-write, so you must have a lyric and melody ready before I can record the demo. It's on a work for hire basis, so you own 100% of the copyright. The cost will be $50 for a basic vocal/guitar demo.

The process is easy. Send me an e-mail and let me know if you're interested. I can do any song in the folk genre, bluegrass, Americana, country, acoustic. You get the picture. I don't do techno, dance, hip hop, jazz etc. You can hear samples of my music by clicking Soundclick. Once we agree on a deal send $50 via the donate button on the side bar. E-mail me the lyrics. If you have basic recording capability on your computer, make a rough recording of the melody by either singing it, humming it, or picking it on the guitar strings and e-mail the file to me. Any way you can to convey the melody to me. We may have to use the telephone or Skype.

I hope to get some responses because this is a really good deal and the work will keep me off the streets. Thanks, Ben

Hard Times For Musicians

2010-11-14T15:09:00.009-05:00

I haven't posted in a while so it's time that I did. Unfortunately I don't have much to say about left handed guitar playing or playing a right handed guitar upside down this go-around. The subject here is hard times, and for the musician, the possibility of losing your instrument to survive. It happens more often than you think, even to the best musicians.

One of the toughest ways to make money in this day and age is in music. You can be the best, make recordings, put them on the Net for download sales but people will find a way to download your music for free anyway. Most people who steal music are of the attitude that all musicians are rich and don't need the money. The fact is that of the hundreds of thousands of musicians who sell downloads on the Internet, only about 3000 make enough money to earn a living, and that's world wide. Not very many really rich musicians out there. Most of these hundreds of thousands have other jobs to support themselves. The best way for a musician to make money is to play live and sell merchandise, T-shirts etc. But not everyone plays live. A great number of musicians only record, and depend on download sales, which kills the argument of music stealer's that "I'll go to your concert or show if I like the music that I stole". That's a bogus argument.

That brings me to the subject. I've been playing the guitar left handed for about 30 years now. I've owned several guitars that I've sold or traded in for other guitars. My latest was a Martin DM. The financial crunch hit me pretty hard the last couple of years. My download sales have dropped to zero. You'll notice that I have ads on this blog. The revenue is small. I had to put a freeze on my regular web site so it's not available at this time. To top it off I had to pawn my Martin two weeks ago. Any one who has been in music for a while knows that there is no shame in pawning an instrument. It happens all the time. I've had a PayPal "Donate" button on the right sidebar of this page for the last couple of years that I've used for online left handed guitar lesson payments. I just added "Help me get my guitar out of pawn" to the button. So if you find the information contained in this blog beneficial and feel like giving up a buck or two, I would greatly appreciate it, but please don't feel obligated. I'll continue posting as much as possible.

You can also help out by finding the "Buy The CD Now" button on the right sidebar to purchase my CD "The Lighter Side Of Poverty" via CDBaby. You can download the whole album or purchase singles. You can also have the physical CD shipped to you. The album was recorded in 2006. My newest music can be sampled and purchased by clicking this link to Soundclick.

I'll get back to the subject of playing a right handed guitar left handed in the next post. Until then, best to all. Ben

Update: I got my guitar back. Will explain in the next post.

Bill Staines - Left handed Guitar Player

2010-03-31T17:14:00.007-04:00

Not only is Bill Staines a great singer/songwriter, but he is a superb left handed guitar player. He plays a right handed guitar, left handed upside down. The same way that I play and that's what this blog is all about.

I first heard of Bill Staines in the mid-eighties after I had already been playing this style of guitar myself. I fell in love with his music and even taught myself how to play a couple of his tunes. He has a unique way of "finger picking" the guitar that he developed himself. I couldn't finger pick at the time and there was no YouTube videos to watch him play and maybe pick up on his technique, so a few years later I developed my own way of finger picking.

Different Left Handed Guitar Styles

From what I can see from videos, Bill uses a metal thumb pick to pick the high strings and maybe the bare index and middle fingers for bass and other notes. This looks like standard finger picking only upside down. Normally the thumb pick would play the bass notes. I remember myself trying to pick like this, only with metal picks on my index and middle fingers along with the metal thumb pick. It sounded too much like a banjo roll so I gave it up. I came up with a two finger method of playing left handed guitar with a right handed guitar. You could call it a two finger method but I actually use three fingers. I hold a regular flat pick between my thumb and index finger that I use to play high and middle strings. I use my bare middle finger to play bass notes. It's worked out pretty well for me.

Right Hand Thumb

While the right handed guitar player and the standard left handed guitar player use four fingers to make chords (leaving the thumb to rest) it looks like Bill uses his thumb to chord the high E string. Why didn't I think of that?

Below is a video of Bill Staines performing "Child Of Mine". Notice that he has pick guards on both sides of the sound hole.

Playing A Right Handed Bass Guitar Left Handed

2010-01-06T12:18:00.007-05:00

I started playing the bass guitar, left handed of course about six years ago after I began writing my own music. I produced my first CD and needed a bass for the tracks. I had an old right handed electric bass laying around the house which I never played before, and decided to fix it up and take a stab at playing the bass guitar myself. It was missing a string and the nut was broken. I installed a new nut and replaced the string.

I had never played the electric bass before but did have a little experience with the upright fretless bass. Making the transition from a fretted guitar to a fretted bass guitar wasn't as easy as I thought, but much easier because I am a guitar player. Just imagine you're playing the bottom four strings of a guitar, but try to not play chords. It's much easier to play a right handed upside down bass guitar left handed when playing single notes.

The problem that I had and still have is remembering the notes to play to correspond with the chords that the regular guitar is playing. I had to constantly put the bass down and pick up my acoustic guitar to find the fingerings and try to memorise them. Once I had the song memorised I could then start recording. It worked out OK but don't ask me to improvise on the bass. I can play my own music on the bass, but I am by no means a real bass player.

There are several video bass lessons available on YouTube and I use them when I have time and am in the mood for it. I've learned a few intros to popular songs but haven't taken it much further yet.

Other Left Handed Instruments

About 20 years ago I took a stab at playing the banjo. The one that I owned was right handed. This may be the most difficult instrument to play left handed upside down only because of the 5th string peg. It gets in the way and you have to work around it. I decided to play it right handed. I started out doing pretty well but couldn't get used to playing right handed so I eventually lost interest and sold the banjo. You can find left handed banjos now on the Internet where the 5th string peg is on top of the neck.

I also play the right handed mandolin left handed upside down. Like the bass, I use it to accompany my music and I play very little lead. I mostly chop chords. You can buy a left handed mandolin. I'm not sure if they make a left handed violin but it's possible. I play a little fiddle, right handed. They even make left handed drum sets. You could possibly build your own drum set by checking the Internet looking for cheap drum sets. I highly doubt that you can find a left handed piano but I don't see a problem or handicap for a left handed person who wants to play the piano.

For you bloggers out there, check out my friend Allyn Hane's blog at Blogger Illustrated.

Learning How To Play The Guitar

2009-11-17T13:36:00.006-05:00

I've been through this subject of left handed guitar playing before but never went into much detail. The question is this. I'm left handed, I don't want to force myself to play right handed and I don't want to play a left handed guitar, so how can I learn how to play my own way? Or the question could be this. I want to play left handed but I only have access to a right handed guitar, how do I learn? All I can do is offer my own experience.

I was about eight years old when I first saw a real guitar as far as I remember. My older cousin owned one and was taking lessons. I loved the sound. A couple of years later, my father brought home an old F hole guitar that he borrowed from a friend. He intended for my older brother to learn how to play, but he showed no interest. Though the guitar only had five strings I picked it up when no one was around. This was in the mid 60's. I began playing melodies on a single string. I knew a lot of songs because my family owned lots of 45RPM and 33RPM records. I didn't have a clue about tuning or what chords were. I just played familiar melodies left handed on a single string. My father eventually had to return the worn out guitar.

My parents knew that I always wanted a guitar but with six kids they weren't rich and couldn't play favorites, but they did what they could. When I was in 7th grade they bought me a cheap single pickup electric guitar for Christmas. No amp. At about this time I was buying songbooks with chord diagrams. I never tried to play right handed. I was learning about Jimi Hendrix around this time and adopted his method of switching the strings around on a right handed guitar. I learned a few basic chords but found others more difficult or impossible to play. I lost interest and quit playing mostly because I had no amp to actually listen to the guitar.

The next Christmas my parents bought me an acoustic guitar, another cheap department store model but I didn't care. Instead of switching the strings like a left handed guitar, I decided to try to learn how to play upside down. I had plenty of music books with chord diagrams and directions for how to properly tune the guitar. I finally learned how to tune. I was learning songs from Peter, Paul, an Mary and David Gates And Bread to name a couple that I remember. I could now play all of the basic chords, but that cheap guitar was hard to play with the high action on the fingerboard. I quit playing again and concentrated on high school band. I was also playing Alto Sax at this time. Another reason that I gave up the guitar was because I was embarrassed that I didn't have a brand name instrument.

I started playing again at around age 20 when My brother bought a Sigma guitar and let me play it. Everything that I had taught myself earlier came back to me, so I got my own guitar and haven't quit since then. After a couple of years, I decided to find someone to give me "Fingerpicking" lessons. I found a teacher who was willing to teach a left handed upside down guitar player and took several lessons, enough to learn basic fingerpicking, then I went back out on my own.

If you want to learn how to play a right handed guitar left handed, you may have to do it on your own like I did. It can be taught by a teacher, but most aren't willing to do it. I was lucky to find one who took it as a challenge. He can put me on his resume', though I only took a few lessons, he did help me. I've offered to give lessons in past articles but I don't see it as feasible anymore due to lack of interest. I've only had a few replies and have actually only recorded a few lessons. Must be in my delivery. I don't know.

How To Find A Left Handed Guitar

2009-10-06T10:31:00.004-04:00

For Real Left Handed Guitar Players

Yes this post is for real left handed guitar players who want to know how to find a left handed guitar, and an extension of my last post. Of course you can use this info if you play upside down and want to restring a left handed electric guitar like I discussed before.

The reason that there are fewer left handed guitars is obvious, there are fewer left handed people. In the old days it was nearly impossible to find a left handed guitar at the local music store unless you lived in a large city. They usually had to be ordered and took weeks to get, but things have changed.

Vintage Guitar Stores

This may be the easiest and cheapest way to find a guitar. There are more vintage guitar stores than ever within driving distance for most people. They sell used guitars and sometimes you can barter for a price. Some of these guitars will be as expensive as a new one especially high end models like Martin or Taylor. They may have one or two left handed models in the store but the choices will still be narrow.

Guitar Center

Chain stores like Guitar Center offer a wide variety of new and used guitars. Your chances of finding a left handed model in stock are good.

Internet

The Internet has many easy to find web sites that deal in left handed guitars. There are only a couple of problems when ordering over the Internet. You can't hold the guitar before putting out your money. You can't inspect it and play it first. You can't barter or trade in an old guitar. You must pay shipping and repay shipping if you return it. Most of these web sites give you three days to return the guitar if it doesn't suit you, and offer to pay return shipping if it arrives damaged. Some will not refund your money but offer a store credit. Most of these sites offer reasonable prices that are comparable to right handed guitar prices.

Pawn Shops

I've never seen a left handed guitar in a pawn shop. My guess is that they don't buy them because it would be difficult to resell.

Left Handed Guitar Myth. It's Too Expensive/ How To Find A Left Handed Guitar/ Electric Guitars

2009-08-25T11:22:00.013-04:00

When I was first learning how to play the guitar I had a cheap department store acoustic. It was a right handed guitar, so I filed the nut and saddle and restrung it for left handed playing. I tried to learn how to play left handed and maybe I just didn't give it enough time to get used to it but eventually gave up. I went to a music store that was owned by a friend and asked about how to find a left handed guitar. He didn't have any in stock and said that it would take several weeks to get one. There also wasn't much of a choice back then. That was in 1981. I bought a right handed Takamine off the shelf on credit.

I used the Takamine to teach myself how to play upside down. After about a year with the Takamine I traded it in for a Martin. I have been playing Martins ever since. During that time a friend loaned me a right handed electric Les Paul. I fiddled around with it somewhat but never felt comfortable with it with the knobs being on the top of the body. They interfered with my picking hand. I'll talk more about electric guitars in a minute.

I read guitar forums occasionally and talk with other guitar players. Whenever the subject of left handed guitars comes up I read or hear the same comment. They are more expensive. That is a myth. It may have been true in 1981 but with the Internet where you can get most anything, I just don't see expense as being the case. You can even find cheap Basses on the Internet. For you strictly left handed guitar players (not upside down players like myself), Who don't know how to find a left handed guitar, there are plenty of web sites that sell them at reasonable prices. Most may be used but who cares. Sometimes used is better. Any Thing Left Handed is a site that provides links to several guitar sales sites. Southpaw Guitars may be the the one stop site to go to if you're looking for a left handed guitar. If you can find a quality left handed guitar for under $1000, that's a good thing. The two web sites mentioned above can do that.

As for electric guitars, I get e-mails asking if this site is for acoustic only because of the title of the blog. I only use the word acoustic for the search engines, and I play an acoustic guitar so I know more about them than electric guitars. It doesn't imply that this is an acoustic site only. Which brings us to the problems of playing a right handed electric guitar left handed upside down. The dreadful knobs. They will most likely be on top of the guitar body where your hand and wrist are positioned. You will inadvertently turn the knobs while playing or they will just be in your way. Also there's a problem with the cord if it's plugged in the front of the guitar. It will be in the way. The cord problem can be fixed pretty easily by running it to the back of the body and securing it with ol' reliable duct tape. The knobs are a different story. When I played the electric guitar for a short period, I made sure that I was aware of the knobs and avoided touching them while playing. It takes getting used to but it can be done.

A more expensive way to customize an electric guitar for playing left handed upside down is to buy a left handed guitar and restring it for right handed playing. Problem solved. The great bluesman Albert King did this. You are playing comfortably and the knobs and chord are on the bottom of the body where they should be.

Thanks For The Left Handed Support

2009-06-25T04:23:00.004-04:00

When I started this left handed blog a year and a half ago, I really didn't know what to write about. I thought that I would only have enough information to write a couple of posts, but here we are at 33 articles and getting bigger. I hope someone has benefited from at least one post.

I started writing this blog to share my experiences as a musician who plays the guitar in an unorthodox way, left handed upside down with a right handed guitar. I've since found that there are many "closet lefty's" out there from my e-mails and comments section. There are also many beginners who want to play the guitar left handed. I've said many times that the decision is up to you beginners. I have never said that you should play this way or that it is better than the alternatives. This is actually the alternative. The standard way to play the guitar is either by playing a right handed guitar right handed, or by buying a made for left handed guitar. Left handed guitars aren't as expensive as you may think. They're easy to find on the Internet. I would prefer to test drive one first which you can't do on the Internet.

I've had my share of criticism for not going with the fold and simply learning to play right handed or using a left handed guitar. It's too late. I've been playing upside down for thirty years and that ain't gonna change now. Just an aside for you guys who like to leave comments with snide remarks and a link to your guitar site. It won't be published. If you want a link from me just send an e-mail and ask. It's that easy. You don't have to Spam the comments section. I usually allow links from comments but I can tell when it's a phony comment just for the purpose of leaving a back link.

Now that I've got that off my chest, I want to thank my regular readers for their support and I hope that you are learning something. You don't have to go with the flow if you don't want to. If you have a particular problem let me know and maybe I can help. I didn't have help when I was learning because people looked on my style of playing the guitar as a novelty. I'm not the only one out there anymore because the Internet is bringing us together. Another note to the naysayers. We are not complaining or claiming to have a disadvantage. I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

I want to start posting some video basic left handed upside down guitar lessons soon but money is almost nil, so I may have to wait until things get better. I still have a "Donate" button on the side bar (hint, hint). One more thing. This blog was rated number 24 of the 100 best guitar blogs on the Internet by the web site Street Musician based on Technorati and Alexa ratings, (as I pat myself on the back).

Left handed E-Mails

2009-05-19T19:03:00.006-04:00

Well folks, I screwed up. I was going to publish several e-mails that I have received from left handed musicians asking different questions about playing a right handed guitar left handed upside down. I think that you can learn a lot from these Q and A's but I deleted most of them. I don't know how or when but they're gone. I did manage to save a few so I hope they help.

Kurt Say's

I have now read all your blogs and I am even more inspired to play upside down than ever. I have tried to play when I was younger, but was told that wasn't how a guitar was played. So, I never picked it up again. Now I have the chance to meet some extremely good guitarists in my genre of music and I really want to be able to play to some level that they are. Of course, I am 45 and learning how to play, but I read and have written music so I have the concepts of music down. Now I want to make it practical.
Having had to adjust my entire life to the "right" way of doing things. As a natural lefty, I have learned to play golf right-handed and in the game of baseball I throw left and I switch hit at bat. Because I grew up with pencils in grade school, I have taught myself how to write backwards and upside down so as not to get the lead all over my hand. I even tie my shoes right-handed. I am the only one in my family that is left-handed, so tackling and perfecting and upside-down, right-handed guitar is my new goal in life. Thanks for the pics of the basic chords, I will definitely be referring to them over and over again.

My Answer

I know what you mean by adapting to a right handed world. I recently
injured my right wrist. I am used to opening doors with my right hand to
turn the door knob. With an injured wrist I now have to use my left hand
to turn the knob. Being left handed I naturally turn the knob to the left
which causes my knuckles to rub against the door jamb which makes it
difficult to turn the door knob completely. Only one example.

Again Kurt says

I have been looking into ways to make my guitar learning experience a bit
more enjoyable. I ran upon this website where the guitar has small LEDs
in the fretboard to assist with the fingering of the basic chords and some
of the advanced chords as well.I consider you an authority on the left-hander playing the right-hander upside-down. Do you think that this would be a useful learning tool? It sure does make it look possible.
Also, I read somewhere that a pick guard on the top of the body may be a
useful addition to playing upside-down. What are your thoughts?

My Answer

The price looks right, but it is a gadget. I wouldn't expect a great sound
out of it. $400 is a decent price for a starter guitar but like I said
it's a gadget so more emphasis was taken into the electronics instead of
sound quality. And it could break. I would spend $200 on a used Takamine
instead.
As far as the pick guard, yes because left handed upside down players tend
to use a broad upstroke and less of a down stroke so leave it on. Plus
people can tell that you are playing upside down with the pick guard on
top.

Lynnette says

Mr. Willis, do you have any pictures of chords played left handed and upside down on the mandolin? I play a left handed guitar and have been fooling around with a mandolin but I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know whether to get it restrung or what.

My Answer

Hi Lynnette, I fool around with the mandolin a little too and also play it
upside down. I don't have any pictures and don't consider myself a
mandolin expert but find it fairly easy to make basic cords.
I just look at a standard chord chart for mandolin as a basis and use
whatever fingers that I can on my right hand to make the chords. Most of
the basic mandolin chords only require two or three fingers.
Try playing it upside down before you restring it. Learn the basic G, C,
and D chords. If you can chop those three chords for 4 or 8 beats each
before changing, you can probably teach yourself to play.

Personal one on one left handed guitar video lessons are still available for $15 a pop. Just e-mail me and tell me what you want to learn and I'll customise each lesson to your needs and send it to you via e-mail.

How To Convert A Right Handed Guitar For Left Handed Playing

2009-04-15T11:36:00.013-04:00

Don't be confused by the title of this post. This is not a "how to restring your guitar to play left handed" directions post and has nothing to do with switching your guitar strings around. That would be too much work, and to the inexperienced may require a skilled luthier or repairman because it would require changing the bridge and nut.

If you play or plan to learn to play left handed and not use a left handed guitar there are only a couple of modifications that you would need to make with your guitar, and they aren't really necessary. First is the guitar strap button located on the heel of the guitar. That is on the back where the neck joins the body. If you hold a right handed guitar in the left handed position you will see that the strap button is probably located on top of the heel. That can be awkward if you use a strap because the strap can easily slip off possibly causing you to drop the guitar. Remove the strap button by unscrewing it with a screwdriver if it is the screw-in type. Replace it either to the back of the heel or the bottom of the heel. This way the strap will hold firmly on the guitar.

Another modification that a left handed guitar player playing a right handed guitar may want to make is with the pick guard. As you hold the guitar in the left handed position the pick guard will be located on top of the sound hole. It should be on the bottom. Again, this may require a repairman to do the job but if you prefer, you can buy a pick guard for a left handed guitar and glue it on yourself, but a repairman can insure that it won't come unglued or curl up. If you strum a lot like most beginners do you may want to install a pick guard onto the bottom of the sound hole to avoid scratching up the guitar. I don't use a pick guard on the bottom because I mostly pick the strings and consider the few scratches that I do have as battle scars. Again these aren't requirements but the changes that you make will customise the guitar for the left handed guitar player playing a right handed guitar upside down. This method of left handed guitar isn't dominated by any style of music or type of guitar. It can be used with an electric guitar as well, with a few further modifications. I use an acoustic because I prefer it. You can play any style of music from Celtic to Hair Metal.

Left Handed Update
For the folks who ask me about what type of strumming style that they should use when playing a left handed upside down guitar I've provided a video below explaining that.

Left Handed Upside Down Guitar Chord Diagrams And Pictures Corrections

2009-03-23T19:47:00.006-04:00

I had to make some corrections to the left handed upside down chord diagrams and pictures at the bottom of the page. I hope that no one got too confused. I had the B barre chord labeled as a B flat and the diagram for the E barre chord was incorrect. I also had the wrong picture for the B chord and the C chord is actually a C/G, but I'm going to leave that one as it is because it's still a C pitch-wise. I think it sounds better than a basic C.

The chord diagrams for the left handed guitar player playing a right handed guitar are in order now. They seem to get shuffled around every time I make a change to the template so I'll have to remember that the next time that I make a change. I think everything is correct and in order now.

Remember that these guitar chords and diagrams are the way that I make them and not standard for the guitar. They are made the same as a right handed chord, but the difference is in which fingers that you use to make the chord. The fingerings are at the bottom of the diagrams printed as numbers with the index finger being #1, the middle as #2, the ring finger as #3, and the pinky as #4. The number to the left of the diagram is the beginning fret with 1 being the bottom of the fingerboard, 5 being the 5th fret and 7 being the 7th fret. If you can copy the way that I do it than all the better. If you figure out your own method then that's good too. The pictures aren't really that much help but I have them there to show what the guitar chord actually looks like being played left handed on the guitar. I think that you should put more effort into the guitar chord diagrams. The photos don't give a clear view of where the fingers should be.

As I tell beginners who e-mail me for advice, learn how to play a few chords first and don't get too caught up in music theory. Music theory is good and you can learn it at the same time, but if you learn a song that you can sing and strum along with, it will inspire you to learn more.

If you're left handed and choose to play right handed that's fine. If you want to switch the guitar strings around, that's fine too. I'm only offering another option for the left handed guitar player.

Being Left Handed

2009-03-19T12:54:00.005-04:00

Remember pay phones? There are still a few around. Have you ever used a pay phone left handed? If you have then you know about the cord of the phone brushing against your face as you hold the receiver against your left ear. That's just one example of how everyday products are made for a right handed world.

I'm getting away from the guitar in this post to talk about this subject that I have brushed upon (no pun intended) in previous posts. left handed people using right handed products. We use right handed products every day so why not the right handed guitar?

I like to fire shot guns. I don't own a shot gun but if I did I would have to buy a left handed model. The reason is that when the shell discharges, it comes out of the right side of the rifle whizzing past my face. It could cause injury to the face and eye. I have done it before and was lucky that I wasn't hurt. That's how I found out about it. If you hold the rifle right handed, there is plenty of room for the discharging shell to clear your head.

Composition books are my biggest problem with the springlike binder on the left of the page. As you begin to write, your left hand sits on top of the spring interfering with your penmanship. I have to turn the page and write on the back side where the holes are on the right, or just start writing from the last page and turning the pages backwards. If the reader doesn't like it, too bad, I'm just adapting to a right handed world.

My favorite is power tools. I use them a lot and they are all built for right handed users. The safety triggers use a button usually situated on the side of the grip to the left of the trigger. A right handed person simply mashes the button with their thumb to engage the trigger. I either reach over and push the button with my right hand or shift the palm of my left hand to cover and push the button. I'm not complaining. I've done it so many times that I'm good at it. Chain saws can be dangerous because the bar and chain are situated for a right handed user. A left handed user can get excess debris on their body and face. I always wear goggles.

Older water fountains were made with the button on the left. That's no problem unless you are carrying books in your left hand, then you have to either switch the books to your right hand or cross you hand over to get a drink. The newer ones have the button on both sides. That's some progress.

I haven't even begun to list things that are not made for the left handed person. Scissors, can openers, hand tools, watches etc. Sure you can buy left handed versions of most things these days but why should you have to? Why should I have to buy a left handed guitar? We have been in a right handed mindset throughout history. Being left handed was not acceptable in the past for religious and cultural reasons. In ancient Egypt, artwork was found in tombs that showed their enemies as left handed. In religious art, Jesus and God are almost always drawn giving blessings with their right hand, and the Devil is portrayed doing evil with his left hand. In many traditional Muslim cultures, it is impolite to touch food with the left hand.

So naturally being left handed has been seen as an oddity throughout history and has been ignored by manufacturers of products to the point that it's too late to retool and make things ambidexrous. Why should they since we buy them anyway?

No, I don't need a left handed guitar. I'll play my right handed guitar backwards just like I write backwards on the composition book. I can even play vintage guitars with no problem. More about the guitar in my next post.

How I Became A Left Handed Guitar Player Playing Upside Down

2009-02-24T12:05:00.012-05:00

I am a self taught left handed guitar player. I play a right handed guitar upside down. I don't play left handed guitar in the general term. I was born left handed but am somewhat ambidextrous. I write strictly left handed but can write right handed on a blackboard where my wrist is free to move and I don't have to pull the letters. I can form letters on paper with my right hand but cannot pull them to the right. I am used to pushing the pencil to the right.

When I was learning to write, I had a couple of teachers who tried to convince me to write right handed, but never went to any extreme to make me conform and they eventually gave up. I won.

Sports were different. I was and still am stronger in my right arm but more coordinated with my left. I throw a baseball with my left arm but hit a baseball right handed. I can't catch a baseball with my right hand like most left handed people do, so a left handed baseball glove never did me any good. I used a right handed baseball glove and after catching the ball, I threw the glove off and threw the ball with my left hand. Talk about being conflicted! No wonder I never joined Little League. I couldn't be left, right, or both. I was stuck in the middle.

I used to arm wrestle and was pretty good at it. I used my right arm because it was stronger. My opponents were an easy mark because they all knew that I was left handed and thought that they had an advantage. I would even ask them ahead of time if they wanted to arm wrestle left or right handed. They always chose right handed which was the wrong decision because I could always beat them.

My parents had six kids and put us all through some type of music lessons when we were old enough. They bought me a violin when I was nine years old. I don't think that they make left handed violins, at least the one that I got was right handed. I learned to play the violin right handed which was a little rough but I was able to bow with the right hand and finger with the left. I only took lessons for two years before I was forced to stop because my school grades were bad and my elementary school teacher had me dropped from the school sponsored lessons. This was in the 60's. I have a violin now that I fool around with and still play it right handed.

The first time that I was exposed to a real guitar was when my father brought home an old guitar that a friend had loaned him. It only had four or five strings on it and he intended for my older brother to learn how to play it. My brother wasn't interested, but I picked it up right away. I forgot everything that I had learned from the violin and started holding the guitar left handed. This is where I began learning how to play left handed with a right handed guitar. I knew nothing about tuning the guitar but began picking out melodies of popular songs on a single string. People would sit around and listen to me. They were impressed.

A couple of years went by and my parents bought me a cheap department store guitar with all six strings. Imagine that! Now I can learn chords. I still didn't know how to tune the guitar. I restrung the guitar so that I could play like a real left handed guitarist and got a music book with directions for how to tune the guitar. We had several music books around the house because the other kids were playing band instruments. Some of them had guitar chord diagrams but no guitar chords for left handed players. I taught myself how to chord to some melodies to songs that I already knew, so I knew how the melody should sound. I knew how to tune the strings together but not how to properly tune in key so I had a hard time playing along with other instruments. I eventually learned how to tune by ear, but that was years later.
By the time I was twelve years old my parents bought me an electric guitar. It was another department store guitar but I didn't mind. The only problem was that they didn't get an amp to go with it. They didn't know that it needed an amp. I switched the strings around again so that I could play left handed guitar. I had a couple of friends who had guitar amps, so I would ride my bicycle to their house with my electric guitar in hand and use theirs. I loved the sound that the amps made but learned very little more than I already knew because I spent so much time playing with the effects and distortion on the amp.

I stopped playing the guitar and was learning clarinet in school. I later went on to alto sax. I played baritone sax for a short time. I didn't have a hard time learning these instruments because both hands are used equally to some extent.

I didn't play the guitar at all during high school but did play the alto sax in the high school band. In the mean time my younger brother was learning the guitar. A few years after high school my brother bought a Sigma acoustic guitar and a couple of vintage electric guitars. He let me play them but they were right handed guitars. We had several song books with chord diagrams and I taught myself how to make the chords upside down. It worked out great. I could play a right handed guitar without changing the strings around. After I knew that this was the way that I was going to play from now on I bought myself a right handed Takamine guitar and an electronic guitar tuner. I was actually playing real songs in the right key. I was playing a lot of Neil Young, Jimmy Buffett etc., easy three chord songs. I taught myself all of the major chords. I didn't really have any trouble with them being lefty upside down. In fact, they seemed easier than when the strings were switched. I learned a little harp, got a harp rack like Dylan and started playing troubadour at parties. I could sing, strum chords and blow the harp, but I wanted more.

I met a friend who I hadn't seen in a few years who learned that I was playing the guitar. He told me that he also played. He was into bluegrass music, something that I knew nothing about. He invited me over to his house to "pick" with him and that's when things began to change. He taught me guitar rhythm parts to a few fiddle tunes while he played lead. He called the lead part "flat picking". I wanted to learn how to flat pick. I started listening to Doc Watson, Clarence White, Norman Blake and any other flat picking record that I could find. I started going to bluegrass festivals and learning one on one from veteran guitar pickers. I brought a tape recorder and recorded people playing the lead guitar parts slow, then go home and learn it myself. I taught myself how to read guitar tabulator and bought several music books to learn more. Soon I was figuring out songs by ear without the books.

I'm not the only left handed upside down guitar player in the world. I've heard of many, some famous people who play in this manner. There may be hundreds or thousands. I don't know. I do know that I get quite a few responses from this blog from people who either play or want to learn how to play the left handed guitar on a right handed instrument. I am willing to help if I can including giving audio left handed guitar lessons.

I began writing my own music six years ago and have a completed CD of original music which can be purchased by clicking the button on the side bar, or you can go to my web site Folk Music By Ben Willis to download the CD or any number of single tracks. If you have any questions or comments please leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Left Handed Guitar Lessons Using A Right Handed Guitar

2009-01-28T18:24:00.010-05:00

When I was learning how to play the left handed guitar back in the 80's, there weren't a lot of left handed guitar players, so I learned how to play left handed with a right handed guitar. In other words, I taught myself how to play the guitar upside down. Here is what I did. I would go to a bluegrass festival with a tape recorder in hand. If you have never been to a bluegrass festival, here is how they work. They usually last for 2-3 days, held at a campground or on someones property with accomodations for camping. They have a midway that includes vendors selling food, drinks, and musical instruments and related items much like a county fair. It includes a stage show under a circus type tent where you can watch the stars play until around midnight. In the mean time, people would play live music around their campsites where anyone was invited to join in. The jam sessions really got big after the stage show was over because no one wanted to go to bed, and some of the stars would troll the campsites and join in.
Mornings were the best time for me to learn the guitar because I could usually catch a guitar player alone drinking coffee and just fooling around on the instrument. I would approach them with my tape recorder and ask them to play a certain song very slow to the recorder. I would then sit with this person for an hour or so and learn face to face how to play the song. After the festival was over and I was at home, I had the tape to remind me of how the song was played. These were my left handed guitar lessons. It worked well.

I have offered personal left handed guitar lessons on previous posts, but this is a formal offer. I am offering personal guitar lessons much like the way that I learned to play the left handed guitar. I learned from right handed guitar players but you can learn from a left handed upside down guitar player as well. You don't have to be left handed to learn from me, but if you are right handed, tell me so I can adjust accordingly. There are several sites for a right handed guitarist to learn how to play guitar online.

Here is how it works. You e-mail me at bwillis@benwillismusic.com or bwillismusic@gmail.com, tell me what you want to learn and I will respond. Once we agree on what the left handed guitar lesson will be about, weather beginning, or you just want to learn a certain song, I will record a half hour audio guitar lesson and send it to you via e-mail. I will charge $15 per half hour. That is a cheaper rate than most music teachers charge. A half hour left handed guitar lesson would be enough for you to practice for a week. Payment will be made through the "Donate" button on the side bar.

This is the closest that I can come to face to face instruction, but it works just like the bluegrass festivals worked for me. Try one guitar lesson and I will guarantee your first $15 with a refund if you don't learn something.

Remember that these guitar lessons are personal, I will call you by name during the lesson and communicate with you through e-mail or by phone. Nothing is canned.

Left handed Guitar Barre Chords

2008-12-25T16:05:00.001-05:00

Once you have the concept of making left handed guitar basic chords down and feel farely comfortable with it, you may want to move on and learn how to make these same chords in a different way on other parts of the guitar neck. They are known as barre chords. Don't be intimidated by how you see others using barre chords because they seem to be playing all over the neck while you are used to keeping your right hand at a safe position around the bottom three frets. Some of these higher up the neck chords may even be easier for you because you don't have to stretch and manipulate your fingers as much as you would at the bottom of the fret board. So let's get started.
Scroll down and find the picture and diagram of the barre A chord. The first thing that you should teach yourself and become accustomed to is laying your index finger across the entire width of the fret board so that you can press all six strings clearly and unmuffled. That means that you must use the entire bottom of your index finger. Practice strumming the strings and going up and down the neck using only that one finger. You will notice that it is rather difficult to make all of the strings ring clear. Once you start adding your other fingers to the chord it gets easier and you will notice that your right hand has more strength and versatility. Lets make the chord. Place your index finger across the fret board at the fifth fret we'll call this the base fret. Place your middle finger on the G string at the sixth fret. Place your third finger on the seventh fret of the D string. Place your pinkie on the seventh fret of the A string. OK now what about the low E string? We are out of fingers. You should already be pressing the low E and high E with your index finger laying across the fret board. Practice the barre chord and compare the sound with the basic chord at the bottom of the neck. They should sound the same.
Notice in the picture that the B7 chord is played the exact same way as the A, only that the base fret is the seventh fret. I just noticed that I don't have pictures for the F and G barre chords. I'll have to post those before I go any further but you should have plenty to practice with until then.
My offer still stands for paid left handed guitar lessons via e-mail if you feel that you need it. These are audio (not video) lessons. E-mail me if interested.

Sound Tempest Review

2008-12-19T12:15:00.007-05:00

Just an aside from the trials and tribulations of being a left handed guitar player, I've decided to write a review about a web site that is owned by an Internet friend of mine, Andrew. Andrew and his fiance' Jillian are both award winning world and electronic musicians and songwriters. I am not being paid for this nor am I receiving any benefit. I am writing this because I want to. Andrew and Jillian aren't even aware of this post as I write.
The site is called Sound Tempest, sub titled: "Reporting, analysis and opinions on the latest trends and developments in the music industry". The site may seem to be for the more developed musician at first glance, but any beginner can benefit from the articles because they all pertain to the latest trends and goings on in the music industry.
It is essential as independent musicians to keep up with the latest news in the industry as more and more "Indy's" are recording their own material and selling downloads on the Internet. I am no exception. I have come to depend on digital sales.
For the musician who is just starting out and testing the waters, be aware that the waters are full of sharks. His article "How To Detect (and avoid) Music Scams" is very insightful and a must read. If you can navigate the Internet, than chances are that you can effectively use software and hardware on your computer so that you can set up a home recording studio. His article, "Home vs. Pro Recording" gives you an overview of both types of recording. This is very essential if you plan to do any kind of recording to sell your music.
For the composer and songwriter read "How To Make Money From Music Licensing" and "How To Collaborate". Both articles are worth the read. Be sure to check out the link to Zircon Studios. We can all do ourselves a favor by reading Andrews articles. His research and conclusions are things that the novice musician never had access to a few years ago, and that gives us a chance to compete with the music moguls who have held a grip on the industry. The bottom line is, and has always been to give the music loving public good music to listen to.
I promise to get back to left handed guitar stuff in my next post.

Left Handed Guitar E-Mails

2008-10-23T11:08:00.010-04:00

Here are some more e-mails that I've recieved about playing left handed guitar upside down. There are plenty of people out there who prefer to play this way. If you are one of them, you are not alone and maybe these Q&A's can help.

From Michael,
Dear Sir--I recently bought my daughter an acoustic guitar for a right-handed person. This is the first time she has touched a guitar and is very excited about learning. Being left-handed what would you suggest in the beginning? Thank you,

My Answer:
The first thing to do is to buy an electronic guitar tuner. They can be as
cheap as $10. Learn how to use it so you can teach her how. If the guitar
isn't properly tuned she will have a hard time learning to play. On the
side bar of my web page, I have left handed guitar chord and barre chord pictures played by a left handed person using a right handed guitar. You can
print them out if you want. These are only basic chords ABCDEFG. The
diagrams show which finger goes on each string of the chord. Look at the
numbers below the diagram. Have her practice the seven basic chords by
strumming up and down on the strings with a light gauge guitar pick.
Practice 30 minutes a day. If she practices too much she will get bored or
frustrated. The tips of her fingers will get sore at first but that will
go away.
When she is comfortable with strumming and changing chords she can learn
her first song. What kind of music does she like? Most girls her age like
Shania Twain, Hanna Montana, Reba McIntyre etc. Find an "easy to play"
songbook with guitar chords at the music store that has a song in it that
she knows really well. It can be by her favorite artist. She has an
advantage because she already knows how the song is supposed to go. She
should already know the basic chords , and if there are any different
chords in the book it will have a diagram to learn by. Have her practice
singing the song and playing the chords at the same time. I guarantee that
once she learns her first song she will want to learn more. Hope this
helps, Ben

From Jaz:
I am a left handed guitar player myself. I play with a right handed guitar. Ive been playing for about 5 years. I just need some advice. Ive never once picked up a left handed guitar. I'm really looking into buying a new one soon. But I don't really know if I should either keep playing the way I do, or to try something new and get a left handed guitar. I DO want to try the left handed guitar. But is it really worth it? I mean, I'm so used to playing the right handed guitar just fine. I just need an opinion.

My Answer:
I tried playing a left handed guitar, but found it hard to make some
chords like F. I don't know if your trading your old guitar in, or buying
an extra guitar. Try changing the strings around on your current guitar
just to see how it feels. I wouldn't leave them that way if it is
acoustic. Or you could try to find an inexpensive leftie guitar. Go to a
music store and try out a leftie guitar and see if it feels comfortablefirst.
If you have been playing left handed upside down all this time, it may be
like learning all over again to play a leftie guitar. Ben

From Caroline:
I just signed up for group guitar lessons through a community college. I have a cheap guitar that I bought at costco and had restrung for left handed. I'm not so sure now that I read your article that it will work but we'll see....

My Answer:
Hi Caroline, Yes it should work. I only meant that you shouldn't buy an
expensive right handed guitar to restring because it could damage the
internal bracing and other parts that the warranty would not cover.
If you decide that you want to play left handed all the time , then I
would move up to a more expensive "built for left handed" guitar.
You did the right thing by using a cheaper guitar to experiment with. Ben

From Katyana:
Hi, I am learning the guitar, again, but having to do it left handed, only strung right handed, upside down. I have tried finding lesson books, on how to do the chords, but having a difficult time. Can you help or suggest where I look? Thanks,

My Answer:
I have basic chord diagrams on my site. Look on the side bar. Those are
for left handed strung right handed upside down. The only difference
between those chords and regular right handed chords are the fingers that
you use to press each string. Look at the number under the chord. That
tells you which finger to use.
If you would like audio lessons, make a donation of at least $10 by
clicking the "donation" button and I will record you one basic beginners
lesson to start and send it to you via e-mail.
I haven't really started recording lessons yet until I get enough requests
for it so let me know what you want to hear in an audio lesson and I will
customize it for you. Ben

From Michael:
Just ordered a left-handed electric guitar.
I have absolutely no sense of pitch or anything like that, but the only person I have to entertain is myself. I played trombone in junior high, but I am pretty sure I was really bad.
I always thought the bass strings were on the bottom, but that's probably because the few times I have held a guitars, they were probably right-handed ones that I turned around.
Anyway, I am thinking of stringing it upside down. Basically, it would look like a left handed guitar, but play like a right-handed guitar turned around.

My Answer:
That's fine, but you will have to have the nut and bridge changed around on the guitar so you can reverse the strings. I have even suggested that people do what you're doing with the electric guitar, that way, the knobs are on the bottom, the chord doesn't get in your way and the tuners are in the right direction. Check out mt article, "Left Handed Guitar Players Who Play A Right Handed Guitar" and the video of bluesman Albert King. He did the same thing with his "Flying V" guitar. Ben

From Predrag:
I appreciate you taking time to write all that about playing upside down. However, I have a lot trouble playing some chords that way. I only play for like 3 weeks, of which the first two weeks I tried playing right handed. Last 7 days I'm learning to play left handed since it turns out it is the only natural for me, and everything I learned in previous weeks while I was playing right handed I could apply in reverse for playing left handed upside down except - G major. Even C major was tought at first, but now I'm not having trouble any more and I see it becoming more easier by each day. But I'm having tough time with G major chord - I see very little progress, if any at all. I'm following your instructions and pictures for fretting.
The problem with G major is, it's either the middle finger (2nd) touching B string while trying to press the third fret of high E string, or the other two fingers (1st and 3rd) not pressing low E and A strings enough...it's seems like it requires incredible flexibility!!!
Any advice?

My Answer:
Thanks for writing Predrag. It sounds like you're getting a little frustrated but that's normal. You want to learn as quick as possible. I was like that too. My hardest chord was F. If you conquered the C, the G should smooth out soon enough. Flexibility and dexterity may be the answer. I just noticed myself playing a G and noticed that my fingertips were flatly on the strings. Not the side or bottom but the tip. It will take lots of practice but is not impossible. You may also try trimming your nails as close as possible. You are having the same problem as anyone else has left or right handed. It is very common, so don't give up. Even if you accidently press the third fret of the B string while making a G chord, it won't sound out of tune because it is a G note anyway. Try it purposly and listen to the chord. It sounds fine but isn't a true G chord. Ben

From Alan:
Hi. I'm a lefty and I just bought a right-handed guitar (I'm a newbie). I'm wondering if I should learn right-handed - but I'd prefer to play like you.
So it's very possible to play all the notes of a right handed guitar upside down? Is there a book or something I can get for this method? I want to play Flamenco but I don't know if that's possible with this style either.

My Answer:
Thanks Alan, there is not a published method that I know of other than the few tips that I offer. I'm not saying that you should play upside down, I just offer tips to people who choose to. Try playing right handed first and see how it feels. If you feel like you won't be able to adjust then try playing upside down. It will feel more natural that way because you are left handed. It's not impossible to do. I do have pictures and diagrams that show which fingers I use to make basic chords so that may help. I learned the chords from right handed books by transposing how I would make the chords left handed.
As far as Flamenco, you may have an advantage by playing upside down because of the precision and coordination required in the picking hand and fingers which would be your left hand. I also "finger pick" which is similar. Start with the pictures and diagrams on my site. Notice the numbers at the bottom. Those are the fingers and positions required to make the chords. Practice strumming the chords first. The single notes will come later. Take it one step at a time and don't get in a hurry. Ben

Left Handed Guitar Gifts, Or Gifts For Any Left Handed Musician

2008-10-07T08:20:00.015-04:00

With Christmas near I guess that it's time to start thinking about gifts for the left handed guitar player, or anyone left handed for that matter if they are musically inclined. If you have a left handed child, it should be easy. You can borrow a right handed guitar, or maybe rent one for a short time to see how they adapt to it. See if they can hold it right handed. If they don't adapt very easily they may need a left handed guitar, or they could flip it over and play upside down.
This also applies to adults who want to learn the guitar.
Most musical instruments are made for the right handed person including band instruments like reeds and brass. The Saxophone is made so that you have to hold your left hand over the top keys and your right hand over the bottom keys. Same with the Clarinet and flute. With the trumpet you work the valves with your right hand, with the Trombone you work the slide with your right hand. From my own experience, band instruments are easier to adapt to for the left handed musician. I played the Clarinet and Sax in school and never had a problem. Some music stores rent band instruments and some schools even loan them,
I'm not sure about drummer gifts. I don't believe that they make a left handed drum set. I would guess that a left handed drummer would just arrange the drums the way that they like them. Ringo Starr is left handed.
Getting back to the left handed guitar player, if he or she plays a right handed guitar upside down you may consider buying them a pick guard to go on the other side of the sound hole and have a strap button installed so that the guitar strap doesn't slip off easily. Of course this wouldn't be a surprise gift unless you bought it new. You would have to get their permission to have the guitar altered.
There are other gifts that you can buy for the left handed guitar player that aren't so unique. There are many different acoustic guitar accessories out there. Consider getting them a dozen sets of strings or maybe a new electronic tuner or some guitar polish.
Being a left handed guitar player, I don't know much about keyboards to make a comment but I do know that if I wanted to learn that I wouldn't have much of a problem if any. You could also consider looking at used musical instruments.
I will get back to explaining chords and finger positions for the left handed guitar player playing a right handed guitar upside down next time.

Chords And Finger Positions For Playing Upside Down

2008-09-23T13:17:00.004-04:00

In my last post I started describing how I make basic chords for playing left handed guitar upside down. Actually we're playing a right handed guitar upside down left handed. I ended my last post with the D chord so I will continue with the E chord.
The E is a three finger chord. We press the A,D and G strings and leave the other strings open. On the second fret of the A string, press down with the third finger of your right hand. On the second fret of the D string, press down with the second finger of your right hand. On the first fret of the G string, press down with your index finger.
The F chord may take some practice but I have found out that in the long run, it is easier to make this chord this way for me. It will also help in learning to make Barre chords which I will get into later. Lay your index finger across all six strings on the first fret(It may help to look at the picture and diagram below). With your index finger pressed firmly, press your fourth(pinkie) finger on the third fret of the A string. Press your third finger on the third fret of the D string. Press your second finger on the second fret of the G string.
The G chord is probably the most common chord used and isn't too hard to make. Press the third fret of the low E string with the third finger. Press the second fret of the A string with the index finger. Press the third fret of the high E string with the middle finger.
I've covered most of the basic chords. This should be enough to give you a head start and begin learning on your own. If you would like personal left handed guitar audio lessons, send me an e-mail and we will talk about price.

Left Handed Guitar Chords And Finger Positions II

2008-09-07T20:29:00.005-04:00

In my first post on chords and finger positions I didn't go into any detail and left a few left handed guitar players confused. I will describe how I make some basic chords and you can compare them with the pictures that I have on the side bar. These are not left handed guitar lessons, but only my interpretation of how I play the guitar left handed. If this post can help you get started and learn more on your own, than I've done my job. I do offer personal Audio(not video) lessons for a price. You can e-mail me if you are interested.
Let's start with the A chord. You can make this chord one of two ways by either using your first three fingers or just your index finger. I do it both ways, but mostly using three fingers. Here are the strings EADGBE. The A chord is pressed on the second fret of the DG and B strings. When I make a three finger A chord, I press my index finger on the 2nd fret of the B string. My middle finger goes on the 2nd fret of the G string, and my third(ring) finger goes on the 2nd fret of the D string. The one finger method may be more difficult for a beginner because you risk muffling the other strings. You simply press the DBG strings on the 2nd fret with the upper part of your index finger. You want the chord to sound full, so try not to muffle the other strings. Make the chord and strum up starting from the A string with your left hand.
I don't have a picture or diagram of the B chord up yet but will get into that one later. Let's do a C chord. I like to strum all six strings so the picture that I have of a C chord isn't actually a real C because I added a fourth note to it. The picture shows a "pinkie" on the 3rd fret of the low E string. I do that because it blends in with the rest of the chord and sounds very melodic. You can use it if you want but I'll explain the rest of the chord. We will be pressing the A,D and B strings. Use your third(ring) finger and press the 3rd fret of the A string. Press the 2nd fret of the D string with your middle finger, and press the 1st fret of the B string with your index finger. Strum the guitar with your left hand, try not to muffle the strings. If you can do it well enough, try pressing the 3rd fret of the low E string with your "pinkie" while you are making the chord.
For The D chord we will be pressing the G,B and high E strings. Press the 2nd fret of the G string with your middle finger. Press the 3rd fret of the B string with your third(ring) finger. Press the 2nd fret of the high E string with your index finger. Strum up from the A string with your left hand.
I will get into some other chords later on but this should give you enough to practice with. I will also get more into left handed guitar techniques and coordination of left handed strumming.

Left Handed Guitar Chords vs. Right Handed Upside-Down Chords

2008-09-01T12:23:00.006-04:00

I was checking out some sites that link back to Left Handed Guitar Player, and came across a left handed message board. Someone was looking for a web site that features chords and/or tabulator for the left handed guitar player. One of the posters left a link to this site and asked if this helps. Of course some know-it-all responded by saying that this site is pretty much useless. He said something to the effect that the chord diagrams that I have on the side bar are ineffective and wrong. In particular the C chord. He said that it was wrong because it is actually a C/G chord. He said that the photos don't match the diagrams, and that the diagrams are right handed diagrams.
Here's the deal. The pictures and diagrams do match because I am playing a right handed guitar, I also play the right handed Bass guitar and mandolin this way, thus right handed diagrams. The only difference is in knowing which fingers to use to make the chords. They are printed beneath the diagram. This site is not about playing a left handed guitar, but rather playing a right handed guitar left handed-upside down. I may have failed to name the strings on the diagram, but if you know anything about it, the nut of the guitar is always shown at the top of the picture and you can figure out that the far left string is the low E and the far right string is the high E. The diagram matches the picture.
When I first posted these pictures and diagrams I said that this the way that I make these chords. So what if it is a C/G. That's the way that I play a C and it sounds like a C. They are not etched in stone and there is not a published syllabus for learning to play a guitar left-handed upside down that I know of. What I print are only suggestions that you can take or leave. If you choose to play the guitar in this manner, it might be easier to use my suggestions. If you came here looking for left handed guitar lessons then yes this site may be "useless" to you but not everyone. I get lots of e-mail thanking me for this resource and I very much appreciate it.
People want to learn the guitar because they want to be able to make music. How they get there is up to them, not some snob with an opinion about what is right and wrong. Many people have defied the odds when told that they were doing something wrong. I named a few in a previous article so I'm not going to beat a dead horse.
I did make an offer in my last post to send audio lessons via e-mail to anyone interested in learning to play a right handed guitar left handed up-side down. If interested, please e-mail me.

Playing Left Handed Guitar With Other Musicians

2008-08-23T12:15:00.003-04:00

I used to play left handed guitar quite a bit with other musicians. Though I have always played a right handed guitar that I flipped over, the other musicians never had a problem comprehending what I was doing once they got used to watching me play.
I played a lot of bluegrass music when I was younger so that meant playing several jam sessions with various instruments. I even played rhythm to a penny whistle once.
Musicians notice immediately that I am playing a right handed guitar left handed and are usually amused at watching me play left handed. It is sort of a novelty, but once they catch on, I am told that the chords that I am making actually look similar to right handed chords.
I don't play with other musicians anymore but probably will again in the future. I record my own music and send it out over the Internet. Everything I do now days is overdubbed. I play all of the instruments on my songs. I also play left handed bass guitar and left handed mandolin. They are right handed instruments, and I play them upside down just like I do the guitar.
I didn't need a left handed guitar teacher to learn how to play. What ever I didn't pick up on my own, I learned from right handed players. It's not that hard to interpret what someone else is playing and I never considered it anymore difficult than a right handed guitar player learning to play. People think that it's a handicap and it's not.
Here is the point. If you are considering learning to play a right handed guitar left handed upside down, don't be intimidated because it's not that hard to do. The chords are easier to make for me, but you may have to concentrate on an upstroke with your left hand when playing rhythm guitar with other musicians. Some people will enjoy having you in their band because of the novelty. Audiences notice this and are amazed. If you can play some good lead licks, they are that much more amazed and will tell their friends.
I am considering recording some left handed guitar lessons that I will e-mail to anyone who is interested. They won't be free because my time is worth something, but the price will be reasonable. If you are interested in taking some recorded left handed guitar lessons send me an e-mail at bwillis@benwillismusic.com. If I get enough requests, I'll start recording.

Left Handed Guitar Player Playing Right Handed Guitar

2008-08-11T11:08:00.004-04:00

I've read some articles recently on the Internet that explain how to convert a right handed guitar into a left handed guitar. They explain the problems that you would have with the nut, bridge, and saddle. This is all fine and dandy if you are converting an electric solid body guitar, but it is a gamble with a hollow body electric and/or acoustic. I covered this in my article Should I Play A Right Handed Guitar Left Handed? You can try it if you want, but I would use a very cheap guitar to try it on.
Like I said in the article, I asked a Luthier from a very well established guitar manufacturer who explained that when converting to a left handed guitar, "The bracing, bridges, and tone bar are set up for right handed players". The bracing and tone bar are inside of the guitar. When a string is tuned, it adds tension to the guitar. Each string adds a different degree of tension and the bracing and tone bar are in a position to compensate for the different degrees of tension. When the strings are reversed, the degrees and position of tension are changed, hence his quote, "The bracing, bridges and tone bar are set up for right handed players". It could cause cracking or warping of the internal parts. The bracing and tone bar add structural reinforcement to the guitar.
I had a cheap $20 guitar when I was a kid and I switched the strings around to play left handed and didn't notice any adverse affects, but I could barely tune it at that time much less know if I broke something.
The point is that if you are left handed playing a right handed guitar, it is better to be safe than sorry. Either learn how to play it right handed or learn how to flip it over and play upside down, especially if it is an expensive acoustic. Please leave a comment and visit my web site.

That Guitar Wasn't Made To Be Played Left Handed

2008-06-04T12:41:00.006-04:00

No one has ever told me that. Most people think that it is amazing to see someone play a right handed guitar left handed upside down. Don't let the title of this article fool you. I wrote an earlier article about being left handed and having to use right handed products. I am not a left handed complainer because I have used these things all of my life and adapted accordingly. As a child, I didn't even know the difference so it is a moot point to complain and demand equal treatment.
When I was younger, I worked as a carpenters helper which meant toting wood and using a power saw. It was a right handed power saw of course. That was my first experience with using a dangerous power tool in an awkward manner. If I tried to cut a piece of wood with the power saw holding it in my right hand that would be fine, as far as safety goes. But my right arm and hand are not so coordinated so I end up cutting crooked lines. The saw is also quite heavy and hard to position correctly with my weaker arm. I switched hands and began sawing left handed which the carpenters didn't like, so fire me Mr. Carpenter. At least the wood is being cut straight now. That is a very dangerous way to hold a power saw and I was well aware of that. Almost all power saws have a safety button positioned on the left side of the trigger guard, so if you are holding the saw with your right hand all you have to do to engage the trigger is to mash the safety button with your right finger tips or thumb. No problem. When you hold the saw with your left hand, you have to either reach over and push the button with your right hand leaving no free hand to hold the piece of wood or do as I did and learn to position the palm of your left hand to the side of the trigger guard and mash the button with the palm of your hand. I got to be pretty good at this. Again, adapting to a right handed world. I didn't even mention the sliding saw blade guard that automatically retracts when you are sawing right handed, but a leftie has to "get it started" with their right hand while sawing with their left.
My point is this. As with the power saw, the right handed guitar wasn't made to be played by a left handed guitar player. Either by switching the strings around (which could damage the guitar) or flipping it over and playing it upside down. Just as I had learned to operate a right handed power saw I learned to play a right handed guitar left handed. So left handed people can learn to adapt in a right handed world. Please leave a comment and visit my web site.

Questions And Comments

2008-05-20T11:47:00.007-04:00

These are e-mails that I have received that weren't in the comments section concerning left handed guitar players.

Ashleigh wrote, Hi my name is Ashleigh I was looking online and I thought I was the only person playing lefty on a right handed guitar...it was really surprising that there are other people..but I'm 15. I've been playing for 5 years and about 3 hours a day for the last 2 years and wow I'm kind of excited
there's other people. I was wondering maybe if you have any tips on solos
for someone like myself, the guitar teachers in this area suck, and
others refuse to teach me unless I flip my guitar back around.

My reply, Hi Ashleigh, If you've been playing like that for 5 years I see no reason to flip the guitar over. It's how you play in the long run that matters,
so if your comfortable playing upside down I would continue playing that
way. Off hand I can think of a few famous people who play that way.
Elizabeth Cotton played upside down, you can look her up on YouTube,
country singer Dan Seals and I think (not sure) Billy Ray Cyrus (Hannah
Montana's dad) plays upside down. R&B legend Albert King played upside
down, so you're in good company. Solos aren't too hard to learn. I was
lucky and had people teach me a little but if you don't have a teacher,
the best way is to find a song on CD or tape that you want to learn and if
you have a way that you can play it at a slow speed so you can figure out
the notes, that would be a good way. A good way to learn to improvise is to
learn how to "Barre" major chords so that you can pick out the notes
within the chord to make a solo. I will write an article on Barre chords
soon to show you what I mean. Don't let stuffy teachers get you down,
because the way that you play makes you special and you will get a lot of
attention from an audience. People will admire you for going against the
grain. Hope this helped a little.

Ben A. wrote, Hey, I found your website and found it very useful in deciding which way I (a 100% lefty) should learn to play a guitar. I didn't see much mentioned about stroke direction. I suppose that needs to be reversed for a lefty on a righty acoustic guitar? Any difficulties or advise?

My reply, Hey Ben, It depends on the style of music your playing and if you will be playing lead guitar or rhythm. Also the type if pick you use (light
gauge, med or stiff). When I play rhythm I use a hard pick and use
upstrokes as well as hitting bass notes. A soft pick would sound too
scrubby unless that's the sound you prefer. Yes you will have to learn to
upstroke somewhat but I wouldn't dwell on mastering it because people
usually can't tell the difference anyway. If you play lead it doesn't
matter because you are mostly playing single notes so there is no handicap
there (see video of Albert King). The most difficulty you might have will
be "finger picking" if that's what you want to learn because the bass
strings are on the bottom. A right handed player simply uses their thumb
for the bass strings but you can't. It took me years to finally settle on
a "finger picking" method which works well with a lot of practice, and
that is to hold a pick with my thumb and index finger to play the high
strings and pick the bass strings with my middle finger. I keep the nail
on my middle finger a little long to hit the strings with. Hope this
helps.

Arman wrote, I'm a southpaw and very interested to play the guitar. If I learn to play the guitar your style (upside down), do I need to strum the strings
from bottom to top as well, which also means that I need to restring a
left handed electric guitar? I'm sure that playing a right handed
electric guitar would be less comfortable since that the knob will get
on the way. Thanks for your time.

My reply, Yes the knob and cord will be in the way with an electric guitar but you can learn to ignore it. The upstroke will depend on what kind of music you
play and whether you will play lead guitar or not. You can start out with
back and fourth strokes until you are comfortable. The style of picking
you use will develop as you learn and gain experience. Hope this helps.

Matt wrote, I'm 20 and have been listening to music for as long as I can remember. I've decided enough dreaming I'm going to learn to play the guitar. However like you I am left handed and am using my brothers right handed guitar to learn. I really want to learn to play upside down. I'm just looking for tips, suggestions, what I should practice. Any info you have would be greatly appreciated.

My reply, Hi Matt, I learned before the Internet but here's what I did. I bought a songbook of songs that I was very familiar with. I was a Neil Young fan so I got a Neil young book with the lyrics and chords of his music. Find a
song that you want to learn and practice making the chords. Once you can
make chord changes relatively easy start singing along. After you learn
your first song you will be inspired to learn more. Nowadays you can find
any song you want on the Internet for free. There is a website called
chordie.com that has diagrams to almost any song you want.
The most important thing before learning is to learn how to tune the
guitar properly. An out of tune guitar does not help and could lead to
frustration. You can find a cheap electronic tuner at Guitar Center for 10
bucks. Remember that when looking at chord diagrams you have to
interpolate it backwards because they are made for right handed people. I
cover this in my blog so find it if you haven't read it yet. Hope this
helps.

Joe wrote, I came across your website and have a question; I am a lefty player who also uses an upside down right handed guitar. I am in the market for a new guitar, and am looking for an acoustic electric that has a cutaway for lefty, but is strung for a righty and has the electronic controls where I can get at them. Considering bridge configurations, I am completely at a loss short of having someone build me a custom. Is there anything out there that would work for me that also has some quality?

My reply, Hey Joe, You got me on that one. I've always played acoustic so I'm not familiar with the electrics out there. The only thing that I can think of
is to get a left handed guitar and change the nut and bridge around so you
can string it right handed. Like what Hendrix did with a right handed
guitar only you're doing it with a left handed guitar. If it's a solid
body than there will be no problem with internal bracing.

Brittany wrote, I wanted to leave a comment on your blog so bad, but I'm to lame and lazy to make a Google acct, so I was stoked when I found your email address on the last entry on the page! I'm a lefty and I just bought a RIGHT-HANDED guitar yesterday (kinda late since "learning guitar" was one of my new years resolutions, but whatevs) after I saw some pics of a lefty just playing away, upside down on a righty guitar.....then I found a comment about it on one of the lefty sites I visit and I was so excited I decided to just get a righty guitar......mainly for the major reason you stated on your blog, what if you don't have your lefty guitar handy but you wanna play....? I'm so inspired and excited to start teaching myself to play....I'm fairly musically-inclined and taught myself to play piano by ear..... Anyways, any tips, tricks or general would be greatly appreciated!

My reply, Thanks for taking the time to send an e-mail Brittany. I just fixed the comment form so anyone can leave a comment now.
I can tell that you are eager to learn now that you know that you don't
have to "follow the rules" of convention. It still awe's people to watch
me play a right handed guitar upside down even if they know I'm left
handed. I just can't play a left handed guitar very well, but how many
times will someone ask you to play, and then hand you a left handed
guitar? It's never happened to me.
Take your learning slow and don't try to overdo it. That can lead to
frustration. If you finger tips get sore, set it down for a couple of days
and let them heal. They will only get tougher and things will get easier.
If practicing becomes a chore then limit it to 30 minutes per day. If it
seems that you are in a rut and not learning or progressing, stay with it
because you really are getting better, you just can't tell. That's my
experience.

Please e-mail me at bwillismusic@gmail.com and visit my web site at benwillismusic.com

Left Handed Guitar Lessons

2008-04-29T17:53:00.007-04:00

There are ads all over the Internet offering left handed guitar lessons. I have never checked them out personally because I am not a left handed guitar player per se, I am a right handed guitar player who happens to play left handed. I hope that isn't too confusing but if you read this blog on a regular basis then you know what I'm talking about.
I took guitar lessons once. They didn't last very long. I was in my mid-twenties and was already playing on a regular basis and wanted to take advanced lessons to improve myself. I got this guy's name from the local music store and called him up. After asking him if he wouldn't mind teaching a left handed upside down guitar picker, he became excited about the challenge and agreed. The guy was really good and found it not so difficult to teach a leftie like myself.
To make a long story short, in the few lessons that I took I learned the basics of finger picking and began teaching myself from there. Like I said at the beginning, there are plenty of ads on the Internet for left handed guitar lessons, but it hasn't always been that way. I'm talking about straight up left handed guitar and not like the way that I play. It seems like most guitar teachers will not or cannot teach a leftie how to play. I was a guitar teacher at one time and taught guitar for right handed people with no problem whatsoever. Most of my students were children. Can a right handed person teach a left handed person how to eat with a fork? To tie their shoes? It is all relative. It boils down to the teacher being so used to the status quo that they are convinced that their way is the only way. The teacher is not the one paying for the lessons and you shouldn't conform to make his or her job easier. You wouldn't let a waiter tell you what you're going to eat. The bottom line is that if you think that you need to take lessons to play a left handed guitar or in an extreme case like mine, pay someone to teach you how to play a right handed guitar upside down then it may be an up hill battle to find a teacher who is willing to try. Never let them charge you more because you are left handed because I know for a fact that it is no more difficult to teach a left handed person than a right handed person.
Please visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

Chord Diagrams For The Left Handed Guitar Player Playing A Right Handed Guitar

2008-04-21T19:44:00.008-04:00

In case you haven't noticed I put some left handed chord diagrams underneath the guitar chord pictures on the side bar. Keep in mind that these are only some of the basic chords if you are a beginning guitar player. They are guitar chords for left handed guitar players playing a right handed guitar and not your usual guitar chords for left handed players. They look like right handed chords because we are using a right handed guitar but the big difference is in which fingers I use to make these chords.
Remember also that this is the way that I make the chords so you can experiment with them to find a comfortable way to do it yourself , and if my method works for you then I'm that much more pleased. Notice that at the bottom of each chord it shows which finger I use for each fret with the thumb being the fifth finger.

Left Handed Upside Down Isn't Right For Some Lefties

2008-04-17T10:53:00.011-04:00

In the past month or so. I've been doing searches of other left handed web sites to exchange links, get to know people and maybe find other articles and opinions about playing a right handed guitar left handed. I would eventually like to get perspectives of other musical instruments besides the guitar, but the guitar will remain the basis of this site.
When I tell other web site owners about the method that I use to play the guitar, most are enthusiastic and supportive about it but a few have been downright puritanical and almost outraged that I have the nerve to support and encourage playing a musical instrument in such an unorthodox manner. I usually get a line like, "although I admire how you personally beat the odds I cannot condone the encouragement of playing the guitar in such an orthodox manner when there are guitars made for the left handed musician". These are left handed musicians saying this.
I don't have a problem with this. It is only their opinion. Neither do I have a problem with a lefty choosing to play a left handed guitar. I played the violin right handed when I was a kid and still do. I do have a problem with fellow lefties who seem so supportive but refuse to acknowledge that there are other alternatives than simply buying a more expensive made for lefty instrument. Here's a scenario, you show up at a party where someone is playing the guitar (right handed of course) and they ask you to play a tune. You don't have your left handed guitar with you so the only guitar that you can use is the right handed guitar. Unless you restring it on the spot or play it upside down you can't play. I wouldn't have this problem because I can play it upside down.
I think that the few lefties who feel the way that I described are musical purists who can't fathom someone learning how to play an instrument that doesn't use a prescribed method of learning. In other words, no one has ever written a curriculum, music book, or instructional method for the way that I play. There are no acknowledged experts in this style. People have done some amazing out of the main stream things with instruments like the guy (his name slips my mind) who sets the guitar on his lap and plays it like a hammered dulcimer using his fingers as hammers. I saw a guy with one arm playing an electric guitar strumming the frets with his pinkie as he made chords with his other fingers. I wouldn't discourage someone with two arms from playing this way if they wanted. Most people learn how to play by some prescribed method because it has proven to work and that's good. Then again there are some of us who would prefer to do things our own way and we can also have successful results in the end. Just watch the videos of Albert King and "Libba" Cotton on my Notable People Who Play Right Handed Guitar Left Handed post and see.
Please post your comments and visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

Left Handed Or Just Lazy?

2008-04-12T13:44:00.005-04:00

Just thought that I would talk about an experience that I had last week as a left handed guitar player playing a right handed guitar and maybe some of you other lefties can identify with it. I'm not whining, I'm just curious. The whole point of this site is to adapt to a so-called handicap and not whine about it.
I recorded a new song that I had written two years ago and learned a valuable lesson from it. The first thing I did was to lay down the rhythm guitar, bass and drum tracks which I had very little problem doing. The problem came when I was ready to record the lead guitar part. This is an acoustic guitar lead by the way. I previously worked out the lead and thought that I wouldn't need much practice before recording. After about thirty takes I decided that I wasn't ready to record this lead. I kept rehearsing until the tips of my fingers were so sore that I couldn't firmly hold the chords which added another problem of excess string noise and muffling. I had to stop playing altogether for a couple of days while my fingers healed but eventually got the lead lick on "tape" to the point that it was acceptable.
After thinking about this I started wondering if the fact that I play a right handed guitar left handed and upside down contributed to the problem or if it was just poor planning. The song that I recorded is in the key of B minor. I had a capo on the second fret and played the lead out of an A minor position. Most of the lead part is played around the A minor and D minor chord positions, which for the way that I play would mean that heavy emphasis is put on the D, G, B and high E strings. That would mean that I will do most of the "picking" toward the top of the sound hole of the guitar instead of the bottom like a right handed player would do. With my picking hand in that position it would be very easy to accidentally muffle the strings with the palm or side of your hand. Couple that with sore fingers on my right hand and you have a recipe for disaster.
Like I said I eventually got it down after letting my fingers heal and re-practicing the lick until I was confident that it wouldn't take so much time to record. If anyone has had a similar problem please leave a comment. I'd like to hear about it.
You can hear the result of the song that gave me such a problem by visiting my web site. I am offering free streams for a short time. It is called "Standing In The Dark".
I've been busy trying to find sponsors for this site so we can expand and offer services to the left handed musician. I will publish updates whenever possible. If you would like to contribute information or articles that would benefit the left handed musician of any instrument let me know.
How to play a right handed guitar left handed is still my top priority but I want to offer resources for other instruments too.

Famous Left Handed Guitar Players

2008-03-12T16:54:00.013-04:00

What do Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Dan Seals, Bill Staines and Elizabeth Cotton all have in common? They are all famous left handed guitar players. What sets Albert King, Dan Seals, Bill Staines and Elizabeth cotton apart from the others? They play or played a right handed guitar left handed without switching the strings around.
While McCartney and Hendrix are more famous lefty handed guitar players as well as guitar legends, McCartney either plays a left handed guitar or switches the strings around on a right handed guitar. Jimi Hendrix always played right handed guitars with the strings strung for a lefty. Albert King played a left handed Flying V and strung it for a right handed player thus playing with the high E string on top making it a backwards left handed guitar. Confusing.
Dan Seals used to be England Dan of England Dan and John Ford Coley and later became a solo country artist. Bill Staines is a folk Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist and Elizabeth Cotton wrote the song "Freight Train" and lived to be a ripe old age.
Below are two videos. One of Albert King and one of Elizabeth Cotton playing left handed. Please leave a comment and visit my web site at benwillismusic.com.

Left Handed Guitar Chord And Barre Chord Pictures

2008-02-11T12:44:00.002-05:00

Like I said in an earlier post, I read an article about playing the guitar left handed where the author said that you shouldn't try to play a right handed guitar upside down because certain chords are impossible to make. I stated that that was a bunch of bull and now I am ready to back up my claim.
I have provided pictures of myself making "impossible" chords with my right hand.
Some of these chords are actually easier to make than when playing a left handed guitar. The basic G chord (see photo) is very simple and looks like an obscene gesture. I get funny looks with that one. With the Barre G the strings are completely pressed down on the third fret with the index finger and an E type chord is pressed with the remaining three fingers. I use the first three fingers for a basic A chord but you can also press these three strings with only the index finger if it is more comfortable. I have tried to make a basic F chord on a left handed guitar and found it difficult but when I make the chord upside down on a right handed guitar it is much easier.
I have only provided pictures of the basic chords and a few Barre chords that are used quite often, so if you are learning to play a right handed guitar left handed I hope they will help. If you have any questions or comments please e-mail me at bwillismusic@gmail.com or visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

Questions And Comments About How To Play A Right Handed Guitar Left Handed

2008-01-25T15:25:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to post some questions and comments that I have received about playing a right handed guitar left handed and would like to share them with you.

Rebecca wrote:
I was happy to find you on the web. My 6 year old nephew wants nothing more than an electric guitar for X-mas. Specifically a red guitar with a black strap. The kid is talented in many ways, and as his aunt who only sees him once a year, I like to spoil him. As I shop, I have found lots of kids guitars that I think would be good for his age. However, they are all for right-handed players. Do you know where I can find a lefty-children's guitar?

My reply:
Hi Rebecca and thanks for writing. If you read my articles than you will know that as I am left handed I play a right handed guitar in an unorthodox way. The whole point is that a left-handed person does not have to conform to a right-handed world. It sounds like you are looking for a guitar that was made specifically for a left-handed child. That is only one problem. The other will be finding a teacher who will teach someone left-handed. Like I say in my article I taught myself, but I can't see a 6 year old doing that. I have taught 6 year olds, and find it a difficult task. I don't see a problem with getting him a guitar at that young of an age but he must be taught that it is not a toy. You can take a chance and get him a right-handed guitar and maybe he will learn to play it upside down like I do. If you are looking for a left handed guitar, then Google the term "left handed guitars". They are out there. One other piece of advice is to buy him an electronic tuner with the guitar. They can be as cheap as $10. If he learns how to tune the guitar correctly than he is on his way. You wouldn't believe how many people lose interest only because the guitar is never tuned right. Hope this helps.

Miranda wrote:
Thanks Ben! I am primarily a lefty drummer. I have made several previous attempts to play guitar (right handed) without much success, became easily frustrated, and quit.... Early last year, I was looking around the guitar shop while waiting for my son to finish his bass lesson, and I spied a nice lefty acoustic, and decided I would give it another try. Once again, I found myself giving up in frustration. This time, I took it back to the guitar shop and traded it in for a nice classical righty guitar, and I began playing it upside down. I was interrupted for a few months due to moving, but I'm now back at it, and finding it enjoyable this time. It's nice to find your info on the web - very helpful and inspiring. I have this and your website bookmarked now and will be checking back frequently looking for updates :-)

My reply:
Thanks Miranda, Good move on the classical. The wide fret board will allow you to make chords without muffling the strings and the nylon strings will be easy on the fingers. I would suggest that you find a book with chords to a song that you already know well in your head. Practice making chords and singing at the same time. Once you have that song down you will be inspired to learn more. Also make sure that the guitar is properly tuned to standard tuning. An electronic tuner can cost as little as $10. Best of luck.

Mike wrote:
I am left handed and find that playing guitar as right handers do is quite normal. The left more coordinated hand handles fretting and the right hand drives the (picks and strums). I think that right handed people should play left handed style guitar. There probably wouldn't be so many mediocre right handed guitar players then either!!!

My reply:
Yes Mike that may be true for you, but consider what style you are playing. In my case I would rather use the more coordinated left hand to finger pick the guitar.

Lucas wrote:
I am left-handed and play guitar right handed. When I started playing at 15, I actually thought that I was playing left-handed because I was using my dominant hand to make chords. I think this helped me out considerably when starting out. I couldn't imagine playing guitar "left-handed."

My reply:
Hi Lucas, Like I said, if your left handed and have no problem playing right handed go ahead and do it. It's just that in my case I find it easier to hold the pick with my left hand. Since I have better coordination in my left hand and arm, I can manipulate my fingers and wrist while all my right hand is doing is working the fingerboard. Thanks for the comment.

Jonathan wrote:
I read your article and found it interesting as I am looking for an additional Bass guitar. I am a Keyboard player for many years. 18 years ago I took a bass guitar and as I am left handed just started playing with the strings upside down. Well after practicing for a long time, I can't understand how those right handed are playing guitar (well the right way), which for me is strange how they struggle to have moves I do naturally and they have to make it the wrong way. These days I am looking for an additional bass and said, OK for the first time lets try a left handed Guitar, meaning that the Plug and the tuning are not going to be in my way as I play and will be on the other side of the strings. But I came to the 22 catch meaning, I cannot buy any of the Fenders as I will have to switch the strings to a right player, that means that the Lower E string will have to be the longest string and I guess it will not sound good. That leaves me with the basses that the strings run on both sides. As I would like to have the Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass, No one will let me try and switch the strings and see if it sounds normal. Any Ideas Outputs, As I would have to go for an Ibanez or Warwick, which are not the favorite Basses I would like to have.

My reply:
I know what you mean. I also play a right handed bass, but only while recording so I am sitting down and barely moving. You didn't say what kind of music you play but you did say that you move around a lot, so I guess an upright bass is out of the question. To change the strings around, you would also have to file the grooves in the nut to fit the thicker strings. You would also have to turn the bridge around. As far as the cord, maybe you could loop it around the back of the guitar and duct tape it to the back to keep it out of your way. I've never tried this so it is only an idea. I think that you will have to deal with the knobs as they are. Look for a picture or video of Paul McCartney playing a bass and see what he does.

Thanks for the e-mails and the posted comments on playing a right handed guitar left handed. Please visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

Why Playing A Right Handed Guitar Left Handed Is More Comfortable

2008-01-11T11:35:00.001-05:00

Why is playing a right handed guitar left handed more comfortable for me? As a left handed guitar player, I have been asked "Wouldn't it be more comfortable if you used your dominant hand to make chords and finger positions"? You would think so but that is not the case for me. I can't speak for other left handed people but I feel more natural using my dominant or left hand and arm to pick the strings because of coordination. I play a combination of "finger pick" and "flat pick" styles which requires more precision from my left hand than from my right hand. The main drawback is that I had to create my own style of finger picking because of the position of the strings. I happen to have more strength in my right arm and so it is perfect for me to make chords and fingerings with my right hand. I know that this is an odd way to play the guitar, It is the same as if a right handed person picked up a left handed guitar and played it backwards and upside down.
Getting back to comfort, the guitar must also feel right in your arms. That was a large factor in my decision to play left handed. If I hold a guitar in the right handed position it feels foreign and unnatural. This sensation can't help you in getting the "feel" of the instrument when first learning to play. I know that most left handed people who play right handed will tell you that they got over that feeling but I just didn't have the patience so I am now where I am at playing upside down. Remember that I am not the only person who is playing a right handed guitar left handed as there have been some very famous left handed guitar players who have, and are playing in this style but I'll discuss that in another article.
I recently read an article about playing the left handed guitar. The author said that when buying a guitar to forget about using a right handed guitar and trying to play it upside down because it is impossible to make certain chords. BULL! I have been playing this way for twenty nine years and I can make any chord that you throw at me. I e-mailed the web site that featured that article and challenged them to print my blog and so far I haven't heard from them. The worst thing that you can do is to tell a left handed person that they can't do something. If something isn't built for you because you're not average than make it work for you yourself. If some "expert" tells you that something is impossible then tell them to take a hike.
I hope anyone that is reading this who is left handed and is contemplating learning to play the guitar but doesn't know weather to buy a left handed guitar or do as I do and play a right handed guitar left handed takes this under advisement, if so please leave a comment or question and I will respond. Remember that if you decide to buy a left handed guitar or learn to play right handed, by all means do it if it feels comfortable. Please visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

Left Handed People Using Right Handed Products

2007-12-20T12:49:00.001-05:00

In my early days of playing a right handed guitar left handed I was a sales rep for a local wholesale co. I drove around all day visiting customers and clients filling orders and selling new products. This was before cell phones. I had to stop several times a day to make business phone calls from a pay phone. Most of these calls required for me to write notes and to go through catalogs as I was talking on the phone. I hold my notebook in my left hand, and I write with my left hand. I also hold the phone up to my left ear. I keep my change in my left pants pocket. So here's the scenario, I need to make a phone call so I pull over to a pay phone. I have to take my books with me so I get out of the car with the books in my left hand. I then need to find a quarter in my pocket to put into the phone so I have to either put the books down or hold them in my right hand to get to my pocket. Okay I have the quarter in my hand. I pick up the receiver and put the money into the phone. I put the phone up to my left ear and get ready to dial. Wait a minute, I find out that I either must dial with my awkward right hand or hold the phone to my ear with my shoulder while I use my left hand to dial so I opt for the shoulder technique. Guess what? the cable between the phone and receiver is now in my face and I can't do anything but move the receiver to my right shoulder. The call is made, now I find out that I need to write something down and look up a price at the same time. By now I have the receiver back up to my left ear while holding it with my right hand crossed over. I have to put the pencil down while I flip through the pages of my book. Total chaos because I don't know how to use a right handed pay phone.
What does this story have to do with being a left handed guitar player? Everything. I can handle a right handed pay phone now because after so much frustration, I developed a system to deal with it. No need to explain it now because pay phones are irrelevant these days and I want to stay on subject. When I first picked up a right handed guitar I had the same problem. Total chaos. I was told that I needed a left handed guitar to learn but I couldn't afford one. They are usually a bit more expensive than a standard right handed guitar because the manufacturer must retool equipment to make them and the hand made ones require different tools and jigs to make the different components. Besides that there is not as much of a demand for left handed instruments so it is probably not economically feasible.
Here is my point. I use right handed tools all of the time from power saws to scissors and have found a way to adapt. Just because they were made in a standard way without the left handed person in mind doesn't mean that they can't be used safely by a left handed person. If you can afford left handed tools by all means buy them but don't complain about right handed products because that isn't exactly a top priority in peoples minds of injustices. They usually just tell you to quit whining. I don't whine because I defy them and use the products however they are made. If you don't believe me visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com and hear me play a right handed guitar left handed.

Strumming Or Picking Style

2007-11-28T11:41:00.005-05:00

We feel relatively comfortable now playing a right handed guitar left handed and holding the guitar left handed. We can make the major chords, A, B, C, D, E, F and G with the right hand. What about the left hand? How do I hold the pick? What type of strumming technique do I use? There is no particular technique and I have never seen any particular instructional guide for what is right and wrong for this unorthodox way of playing the right handed guitar left handed. I can only tell you what I do and how I developed the technique that I use.
"Flat Picking" is a term used to play mostly single notes combined with chords for a lead acoustic guitar part. If you want to hear examples of "Flat Picking" then listen to any song by Doc Watson. As far as picking the lead, there is no difference in the way you hold the pick left handed and the way a right handed player holds the pick. Between the thumb and the index finger. Problems may arise when the palm of your left hand tend to muffle the strings. To avoid this, position your left hand with the wrist pointing away from the strings. In other words you may have to bend your wrist much like you do when you write left handed. You may come up with your own method but that is how I do it. Another problem may be in the method that you learn the lead part. I have learned by three methods. Tabulature, being taught one on one by someone else, and figuring it out on my own. Tabulature is a good tool for learning scales and exercises. You just have to interpolate what you are reading because again it is written with the right handed player in mind. Left handed tabulature is available but not useful because you are not really playing the guitar left handed in the context that it is written. Believe me, it's not as hard as it sounds. The easiest way to learn a lead lick is to have someone teach you one on one sitting across from you.
"Finger Picking" is when you play multiple strings set to a rhythm that gives the melody a fullness much like a piano where you separate melody and bass notes. Classical guitar music would be a good example. I hold the pick between the thumb and index finger and pick out the bass notes simultaneously with my middle finger. This method works well for me since I have tried everything else to no avail. I even tried the three finger "Scruggs" banjo style but it just sounded like a banjo roll.
"Strumming" rhythm may be a challenge at first for the left handed player because you will have to concentrate on picking using an up stroke instead of a down stroke as a right handed player does. Just remember that when you play a strum you will normally start on the low E string and strum up to the high E. If you have any suggestions for future articles on playing right handed guitar left handed or playing the left handed guitar, please e-mail me at bwillismusic@gmail.com or visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

Chords And Finger Positions

2007-11-14T10:20:00.006-05:00

In my last article we discussed how as a left handed guitar player I came to play a right handed guitar left handed by flipping over the acoustic guitar and playing it backwards. This was done not to be different but out of necessity because I had to borrow someone else's guitar at the time so I couldn't restring it. Now I will discuss how to begin teaching yourself how to make chords regardless of conventional learning techniques.
Find a guitarist's chord manual or chord chart with diagrams. Even though you are playing left handed upside down, the chord fingerings have to be correct, the only difference will be which finger you will use for each guitar fret. A typical chord diagram will show an illustration of six strings and numbered round dots representing where and which finger should be pressed to make a certain chord. Remember that these diagrams are for right handed players so that means that they are intended for the left hand. We will read these diagrams and interpret for the right hand. Look at any chord diagram. It will show six strings and about seven frets. You should already know the names of the strings, E A D G B E. There is a low E and a high E string. As you hold the guitar, the high E string will be on top of the sound hole and the low E on the bottom. The high E string is located at the far right of the diagram, and the low E at the far left. The A string is next to the low E and so on. Pay no attention to the numbers on the round dots because they are irrelevant to the left handed player. A chord structure could use anywhere from one finger to four fingers. Start by learning one or two finger chords. Start learning three finger chords as soon as possible because there are actually very few one or two finger chords and you may get bored. Practice an upstroke with your left hand holding a pick. Experiment with the different fingerings to decide which fingers feel best on which strings. Also practice changing from one chord to another to get the feel of it. I have actually taught right handed people to play the guitar and my number one rule is DO NOT over practice. It leads to frustration and boredom and that is what we want to avoid. Thirty minute sessions per day is plenty of time, but if you are eager and want to work longer feel free to, I only want you to avoid getting frustrated or bored. Your fingertips will get sore but that will go away as you wear callouses on them. I hope that this helps you to get started playing right handed guitar left handed. The whole point is that as a left handed guitar player, there is no need to conform to a right handed world to learn to play music. Please e-mail me with questions or comments at bwillismusic@gmail.com or visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

How To Play A Right Handed Guitar Left Handed - About The Author

2007-11-07T13:09:00.009-05:00

Being a left handed guitar player I have accepted the fact that musical instruments especially the guitar are designed for the right handed player. Everyday tools and conveniences are designed and built with no regard to lefty's such as power saws, water fountains pay phones and even firearms. The list goes on.
When I was around the age of twelve my parents bought me a cheap guitar for Christmas which of course was a right handed guitar. Not wanting to learn to play right handed, I changed the strings around as most left handers do. To no avail I found it hard to make certain chords and thus hindered my learning. I soon gave up the idea and the guitar went into the closet. Years later at around age twenty one I started fooling around with my brothers guitar. Since it didn't belong to me I couldn't change the strings so I started learning to make chords backwards and playing left handed. After I had learned to make a few basic chords and strum them clearly I was determined to go all the way regardless of my so called handicap. I bought my own right handed guitar and was soon learning to play the guitar left handed upside down. I was soon playing my favorite songs. In the early days though I only strummed chords but that was enough to get by. By the time I could play all of the major, minor, sharps and seventh chords I was ready to learn to play some lead. A friend told me that a good place to learn guitar was at a bluegrass festival. I started attending festivals and learning the old songs. I first learned the song "Wild Wood Flower" by the Carter Family. It was a simple three chord song and not too difficult to play the lead melody. Soon after that came old standards like "Home Sweet Home" and "Cripple Creek" also three chord songs and easy to learn a lead melody. I became sort of an oddity as I played around the campsite at festivals and always heard comments like, "Did you know that you're playing that guitar upside down?" Well Duh! It was funny to see people tilt their heads like a puzzled dog as I played. Other musicians would not look at me while they were playing because I would throw them off. They couldn't tell what I was doing. I got a kick out of that. I eventually taught myself to play "Flat pick" and "Finger Pick" style guitar. I also play acoustic slide guitar. In the past few years I began learning how to write songs and started writing my own music. I recorded a CD titled "The Lighter Side Of Poverty". I wrote all of the songs, provide the vocals and play all of the right handed instruments on the CD. This is an on going blog to provide beginning and intermediate leftys guitar tips and techniques to make your learning experience a little easier in a right handed world. Please email me with questions or comments about playing a right handed guitar left handed at: bwillismusic@gmail.com or visit my web site at http://benwillismusic.com

Privacy Policy

2007-11-06T23:22:00.006-05:00

Updated April 2009

This website/blog uses third-party advertising companies to serve ads when visiting this site. These third parties may collect and use information (but not your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, you can visit Google's Advertising and Privacy page.

If you wish to opt out of Advertising companies tracking and tailoring advertisements to your surfing patterns you may do so at Network Advertising Initiative.

Google uses the Doubleclick DART cookie to serve ads across it's Adsense network and you can get further information regarding the DART cookie at Doubleclick as well as opt out options at Google's Privacy Center

I respect your privacy and I am committed to safeguarding your privacy while online at this site lefthandedguitarplayer.blogspot.com. The following discloses how I gather and disseminate information for this Blog.

RSS Feeds

If a user wishes to subscribe to my RSS Feeds (powered by Feedburner), I ask for contact information such as name and email address. Users may opt-out of these communications at any time. Your personal information will never be sold or given to a third party. (You will never be spammed by me - ever)

Log Files and Stats

Like most blogging platforms I use log files, in this case Statcounter. This stores information such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring, exit and visited pages, platform used, date/time stamp, track user’s movement in the whole, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses etc. are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s computer tied to information about the user. This blog doesn't use cookies. However, some of my business partners use cookies on this site (for example - advertisers). I can't access or control these cookies once the advertisers have set them.

Links

This Blog contains links to other sites. Please be aware that I am not responsible for the privacy practices of these other sites. I suggest my users to be aware of this when they leave this blog and to read the privacy statements of each and every site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Blog.

Advertisers

I use outside ad companies to display ads on this blog. These ads may contain cookies and are collected by the advertising companies and I do not have access to this information. I work with the following advertising companies: Google Adsense, ClickBank, and Commission Junction. Please check the advertisers websites for respective privacy policies.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Ben Willis at bwillismusic@gmail.com

Advertise On This Blog

2007-11-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

If you would like to advertise your web site, product, or company on this blog, please contact me at bwillismusic@gmail.com and we can negotiate a price.