Navigating Left-Handed Guitar Playing: Tutorials and Setup Tips
If you're a left-handed guitarist, you might wonder how to find suitable online tutorials and make your guitar play properly. Discover key setup tips and the importance of choosing the right sources for learning.
Left-Handed Guitar Setup for Optimal Performance
If you restrung your classical guitar upside down because you're left-handed, the intonation and string height require adjustment. Unlike with a standard right-handed guitar, classical guitars have specific string action requirements, with lower action on the treble side (about 3mm) and higher action on the bass side (around 4mm). Proper setup is crucial to achieve a comfortable playing experience.
The bridge compensation and nut slots can also pose challenges. Since the strings’ thin and thick ends are flipped, the bridge and nut positions might need to be swapped to align the string pairs correctly. Consulting a professional setup can resolve these issues and make your guitar playable in a left-handed configuration.
Finding the Right Online Tutorials
As a left-handed guitarist, you should not limit your learning sources to just left-handed players. Right-handed guitar tutorials can still be very helpful, especially if you can visually reverse the chord illustrations. Watching these tutorials and practicing the reversed techniques can significantly aid in your learning process.
Right-handed players might not be aware of the differences in playing a left-handed guitar, which can make them less effective as tutors. It's important to recognize that a right-handed player who struggles to adjust to teaching a left-handed player may lack the necessary skill or understanding to be an effective tutor. Learning from a variety of sources, including both left-handed and right-handed players, can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the art of playing guitar.
Advantages of Traditional Guitar Playing for Left-Handed Players
While it might seem counterintuitive, many left-handed guitarists find that playing right-handed can offer some advantages. For instance, if you play a right-handed guitar, you'll use your stronger hand for the more involved task of fingering, while your other hand can focus on strumming. This can be an advantage, especially given that most music notation and chord charts are designed for right-handed players.
For left-handed players, using a right-handed guitar may reduce the need to change your natural hand coordination, and you can leverage your dominant hand for the more complex task of playing chords and scales. This can make the learning process more intuitive and less of a challenge.
Conclusion and Good Luck
Whether you're left-handed and playing a right-handed guitar or have restrung your guitar to be left-handed, you can still find success in your guitar playing journey. With the right setup and a willingness to learn from a variety of sources, you can overcome the challenges and enjoy the satisfaction of playing guitar.