As a left handed guitar player I have accepted that musical instruments like the guitar are made for the right handed player. Everyday conveniences are designed with no regard to left handed people like power saws, water fountains and pay phones.
When I was around the age of twelve I got a cheap guitar for Christmas which was a right handed guitar. Not wanting to play right handed , I switched the strings around like most left handed people do. I soon found it hard to make certain chords and it slowed down the learning process. I gave up the idea and the guitar went into the closet. Later at twenty one years old I started playing around with my brothers right handed guitar. I couldn't change the strings because it didn't belong to me so I started learning to play the chords backwards. After learning to strum a few chords I decided to go all the way with it regardless of being left handed. Soon I bought my own right handed guitar and learned to play it upside down. By the time I had learned the major, minor, sharp and seventh chords I was ready to learn to play some lead guitar. I found that a good place to learn guitar was at bluegrass festivals. I began attending festivals and learned a few of the old songs. First I learned to play "Wild Wood Flower" by the Carter Family. It was a three chord song and the melody wasn't too difficult to play. I learned other old standards like "Cripple Creek" and "Home Sweet Home" also three chord songs with easy melodies. As I played around the festival campsites I became somewhat of an oddity. I would hear comments like "Did you know that your playing that guitar upside down?" Yes I knew. I would watch people tilt their heads as they watched me play. Other musicians couldn't look at me as they played because I would throw them off. I enjoyed that. I eventually learned to play "Flat Pick" and "Finger Pick" style. I also play slide guitar. A few years ago I started writing my own music and have since recorded a CD of original material titled "The Lighter Side Of Poverty". I wrote all of the songs, sing the vocals and play all of the right handed instruments. This is an ongoing blog to provide beginning and intermediate left handed musicians with tips and techniques to make learning a little easier in a right handed world. Please email me with questions and comments about playing a right handed guitar left handed at bwillis@benwillismusic.com
About the Author:
Ben Willis is a singer/songwriter/guitar player. You can hear samples of his music at
http://benwillismusic.com
