For those that bemoan Gibson QC....

mgaw

@dangriffiths if its any consolation, back in times of olde, you would have been paid extra due to your shovelling left handed abilities

UnclePsychosis

roberty said:

Paul7926 said:

Being a southpaw I've made the decision to learn to play right handed.  I figured if I couldn't play anyway I had the choice still and the limited availability and price hike of left handed guitars annoyed me.

I'm the same. Couldn't bear the thought of being a left handed guitarist in a world full of right handed guitars

-I've never understood why left handed guitars are a thing. Left handed violins, pianos, cellos etc don't exist as anything other than extremely rare oddities so I've never understood why guitarists have adopted it as a concept. You need to use both hands anyway so does it matter which way round they are? 

That said, I'd genuinely like to know if left handers are sufficiently represented within the ranks of professional musicians or whether there is a possibility that the fixed handedness of most instruments is a possible barrier or not. Maybe it's the guitarists who have it correct?

p90fool

UnclePsychosis said:

roberty said:

Paul7926 said:

Being a southpaw I've made the decision to learn to play right handed.  I figured if I couldn't play anyway I had the choice still and the limited availability and price hike of left handed guitars annoyed me.

I'm the same. Couldn't bear the thought of being a left handed guitarist in a world full of right handed guitars

-I've never understood why left handed guitars are a thing. Left handed violins, pianos, cellos etc don't exist as anything other than extremely rare oddities so I've never understood why guitarists have adopted it as a concept. You need to use both hands anyway so does it matter which way round they are? 

That said, I'd genuinely like to know if left handers are sufficiently represented within the ranks of professional musicians or whether there is a possibility that the fixed handedness of most instruments is a possible barrier or not. Maybe it's the guitarists who have it correct?

I would hazard a guess that most left handed people play guitar right handed. 

I'm a lefty playing righty myself, and there's an extensive list of famous players who are the same, including Gary Moore and Mark Knopfler. 

DB1

A lefty playing right handed here as well. I've never thought of it as anything but normal to play 'right handed' as, to me, the most dexterous digits are on my left hand and they play the most intricate bits.

Paul7926

DB1 said:

A lefty playing right handed here as well. I've never thought of it as anything but normal to play 'right handed' as, to me, the most dexterous digits are on my left hand and they play the most intricate bits.

Interestingly I think my tutor forgets that I'm left handed.  He always seems quite impressed that as a total noob I can use and control my left pinky finger to reach stretches or fret notes and mildly confused at my lack of fine control when trying to strum only particular strings or accurately string skip on melody parts. 

darthed1981

Philly_Q said:

dangriffiths said:

Yeh they usually just flip the images - same on Andertons too

Lazy.  If I was a left-handed customer I think that would piss me off quite a lot.

But at Andertons they also give you a voucher for a discount off a Vertex pedal.

OilCityPickups

Paul7926 said:

Being a southpaw I've made the decision to learn to play right handed.  I figured if I couldn't play anyway I had the choice still and the limited availability and price hike of left handed guitars annoyed me.

I did that too ... I was born left handed ... but was forced to write right handed at school ... when I picked up a guitar I made the choice to play right handed.

roberty

UnclePsychosis said:

roberty said:

Paul7926 said:

Being a southpaw I've made the decision to learn to play right handed.  I figured if I couldn't play anyway I had the choice still and the limited availability and price hike of left handed guitars annoyed me.

I'm the same. Couldn't bear the thought of being a left handed guitarist in a world full of right handed guitars

-I've never understood why left handed guitars are a thing. Left handed violins, pianos, cellos etc don't exist as anything other than extremely rare oddities so I've never understood why guitarists have adopted it as a concept. You need to use both hands anyway so does it matter which way round they are? 

That said, I'd genuinely like to know if left handers are sufficiently represented within the ranks of professional musicians or whether there is a possibility that the fixed handedness of most instruments is a possible barrier or not. Maybe it's the guitarists who have it correct?

Traditionally it's the strong hand that plucks the strings, as this hand is a lot busier on classical/flamenco styles.  It makes sense that the strong hand should keep time etc as a lot of this has to be done unconsciously

You don't get left handed violins because you'd be twatting the player next to you in the orchestra pit in the face

UnclePsychosis

roberty said:

UnclePsychosis said:

roberty said:

Paul7926 said:

Being a southpaw I've made the decision to learn to play right handed.  I figured if I couldn't play anyway I had the choice still and the limited availability and price hike of left handed guitars annoyed me.

I'm the same. Couldn't bear the thought of being a left handed guitarist in a world full of right handed guitars

-I've never understood why left handed guitars are a thing. Left handed violins, pianos, cellos etc don't exist as anything other than extremely rare oddities so I've never understood why guitarists have adopted it as a concept. You need to use both hands anyway so does it matter which way round they are? 

That said, I'd genuinely like to know if left handers are sufficiently represented within the ranks of professional musicians or whether there is a possibility that the fixed handedness of most instruments is a possible barrier or not. Maybe it's the guitarists who have it correct?

Traditionally it's the strong hand that plucks the strings, as this hand is a lot busier on classical/flamenco styles.  It makes sense that the strong hand should keep time etc as a lot of this has to be done unconsciously

You don't get left handed violins because you'd be twatting the player next to you in the orchestra pit in the face

---well, yes, I know that. 

But the point is that left handed violinists presumably are still able to play the "right handed" violin. To get to a good standard on any instrument both hands have to move unconsciously---I think its an interesting question as to how "necessary" left handed instruments are. (Maybe they're very necessary: maybe they're not). 

Genuinely interesting questions: Anyone know what the percentage of left handed professional violinists is as compared to left handed people in the general populace? Does handedness restrict classical musicians? 

Philly_Q

darthed1981 said:

Philly_Q said:

dangriffiths said:

Yeh they usually just flip the images - same on Andertons too

Lazy.  If I was a left-handed customer I think that would piss me off quite a lot.

But at Andertons they also give you a voucher for a discount off a Vertex pedal.

I thought they were called Xetrev pedals..... fucking hell, I spent ages trying to find those.

ICBM

TheGuitarWeasel said:

I was born left handed ... but was forced to write right handed at school ...

I didn't think that had been allowed within what I assume is your lifetime.

Bigsby

DB1 said:

A lefty playing right handed here as well. I've never thought of it as anything but normal to play 'right handed' as, to me, the most dexterous digits are on my left hand and they play the most intricate bits.

This was something that puzzled me when I first began to learn the guitar: Why is my dominant hand bashing the strings with  a bit of plastic while the hand I have the least control over is desperately trying to move around the fret board with a degree of precision it's never exhibited before?

Years later, someone told me that guitar handedness springs from finger picking styles, where the dominant hand was doing the more complex work, whilst the other hand moved between chord shapes. That seemed to make a lot of sense, and made me wish I'd started out with a leftie guitar. Now I wish it even more - the shortage of leftie guitars would be a good cure for GAS.

roberty

UnclePsychosis said:i

roberty said:

UnclePsychosis said:

roberty said:

Paul7926 said:

Being a southpaw I've made the decision to learn to play right handed.  I figured if I couldn't play anyway I had the choice still and the limited availability and price hike of left handed guitars annoyed me.

I'm the same. Couldn't bear the thought of being a left handed guitarist in a world full of right handed guitars

-I've never understood why left handed guitars are a thing. Left handed violins, pianos, cellos etc don't exist as anything other than extremely rare oddities so I've never understood why guitarists have adopted it as a concept. You need to use both hands anyway so does it matter which way round they are? 

That said, I'd genuinely like to know if left handers are sufficiently represented within the ranks of professional musicians or whether there is a possibility that the fixed handedness of most instruments is a possible barrier or not. Maybe it's the guitarists who have it correct?

Traditionally it's the strong hand that plucks the strings, as this hand is a lot busier on classical/flamenco styles.  It makes sense that the strong hand should keep time etc as a lot of this has to be done unconsciously

You don't get left handed violins because you'd be twatting the player next to you in the orchestra pit in the face

---well, yes, I know that. 

But the point is that left handed violinists presumably are still able to play the "right handed" violin. To get to a good standard on any instrument both hands have to move unconsciously---I think its an interesting question as to how "necessary" left handed instruments are. (Maybe they're very necessary: maybe they're not). 

Genuinely interesting questions: Anyone know what the percentage of left handed professional violinists is as compared to left handed people in the general populace? Does handedness restrict classical musicians? 

Yes, I expect it's an impediment to some. I guess they would move onto another instrument if it didn't click. Paul McCartney says he struggled with the guitar until someone told him he could flip it upside down. He's right handed, too, if I remember correctly

normula1

No idea how much it cost but left handed pianos do exist
http://www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/christopher-seed.html

clarkefan

Wait, what?? McCartney is actually right-handed??

roberty

clarkefan said:

Wait, what?? McCartney is actually right-handed??

Sounds like a myth actually, originating from the A Day In the Life book, which I've read: https://www.beatlesagain.com/breflib/lefthand.html

I should know better than to trust anything I learnt pre-internet

Philly_Q

UnclePsychosis

ICBM said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

I was born left handed ... but was forced to write right handed at school ...

I didn't think that had been allowed within what I assume is your lifetime.

-my dad (born in 1953) is another natural lefty who was forced to learn to write with his right hand. It seems utterly barbaric with hindsight. 

deano

UnclePsychosis said:

ICBM said:

TheGuitarWeasel said:

I was born left handed ... but was forced to write right handed at school ...

I didn't think that had been allowed within what I assume is your lifetime.

-my dad (born in 1953) is another natural lefty who was forced to learn to write with his right hand. It seems utterly barbaric with hindsight. 

It must have been localised to particular infant teachers because my mum is a lefty and writes lefty to this day. She was born in 1943. She has never mentioned being forced to write right-handed, and I don't think she could.

There are degrees of this sort of thing. Both my mum and my wife are left-handed writers, but both use a right-handed knife-and-fork action, with the knife in the right hand and fork in the left, whereas I know some lefties who switch them around because they can't cut with a knife in the right hand.

Kilgore

Ambidextrous. I can play just as crap either way.