[geeks] Any left handed guitar players out there?

[gsm at mendelson.com]

On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 05:56:35PM -0400, hike wrote:
>It shouldn't make a difference.  And it should not be a limitation.  Lots of
>left-handed guitar players--Jimi Hendrix comes to mind.  (Jimi Hendrix used
>a restrung right-handed guitar at least part of the time.)

Thanks,

What I am being told by people who don't play the guitar and right handed
guitarists is that it does not matter. A professional guitarist (right
handed) I asked said that any guitar store can move the post for the strap
and re-string a right handed guitar.

Left hand guitarists I have asked and read comments by said that it did matter
and it would be easier for him to learn and would in the end sound better.

If it was a choice between a restrung right handed guitar and no guitar at
all, then a right handed guitar would be a better choice. Used right handed
guitars are plentyful and cheap (in comparison), left handed ones are rarer
and therefore more expensive.

In my son's case, he asked for a guitar recently and then almost magically a
left handed guitar showed up for sale on a local list. It is an Epiphone
PR 350SLH which is not a cheap guitar. 

Everyone I asked said it was a good guitar and my son asked a classmate and
was told the same thing. He's tall (5'10") and has long arms, so a 3/4
size "student guitar" which are common and cheap on the used market
would not have been any good. 

Lots of kids get student guitars and quit after a few weeks and then 
they get sold off later.

According to my friend who the proffessional guitarist, every guitar,
or at least every model has it's own action and sound. A serious player
may have several because they want different sounds at different times,
and someone like Hendrix would have many. 


>It would be easier if the instructor is across from/in front of him rather
>than beside him.

Wonderful, thanks.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson N3OWJ/4X1GM
To help restaurants, as part of the "stimulus package", everyone must order 
dessert. As part of the socialized health plan, you are forbidden to eat it. :-)