A very new guitar learner has asked me. How should she hold the guitar as she is left-handed, but feels she should play like a right-handed player? I feel I need to be very careful answering this question as once she starts playing that will be it, is there any advice on this subject. 
Hi Hec. This question has been asked many times on the forum. Do a search on “left handed” and you’ll find loads of opinions/answers.
1 Like
thanks, Gordon 
I think the best thing to do is to come up with a list of pros and cons and then they need to decide. Certainly the world of guitar is heavily in favour of the right handed player - the obvious problem being the number of times they’ll see a guitar they like and realise that there’s no leftie version. That said, if the roles were reversed, I find playing guitar hard enough with my natural orientation, I don’t know how much harder I’d have found it if I was handed a leftie guitar on day one, this will vary from person to person
1 Like
I agree and after taking Gordon’s advice and reading some of the comments, most are saying exactly what you are saying, Mathew however I feel a young new player needs to be giving the right advice if possible and may even need help in making the final decision, mmmm 
IMHO the answer is already included in this question. As far as I know Mark Knopfler is also left handed man, but he plays guitar as if he were right handed.
3 Likes
I’m left handed, but holding a guitar with my right was naturally instinctive and I never gave it a second thought.
Whilst I would suggest she learns with what she feels to be her most dominant hand, most left handers tend to have a good degree of ambidextrousness anyway as the world is pretty much designed for the righties. In which case it may be possible for her to learn either way when starting out.
2 Likes
Thank you, Pete, in fact, thanks to everyone it all makes sense but it also helps me in making my choices on advising so thanks again, especially those lefties
My advice is to let the dominant hand do the rhythm part of the job: the strumming.
What hand does she use to hit a pan with a spoon to create a rhythm?
What hand does she uses to throw a ball?
Beginners often THINK it is logical to make their dominant hand do the fretting but it will be harder in the long run to develop the automatic processes for singing and playing, building melodies on chord patterns and keeping time when throwing in lead and chordal embellisment.
I’m a lefty and i have answered this question on this board for as long as there is a “JustinGuitar forum” or “Community” 
| On the other hand, I’m nobody’s mother and there are people here who disagree with me. I do agree that there is a very thin line in the demographic that is “purely ambidextrous” and a slightly larger portion is mixed. you could see me as “mixed” too but that’s only because they forced me to learn to write with my right hand while I was using both hands simultanuously. Writing isn’t subject to tight rhythm though.
I offer a free brief call with this person to tell her about some tests she can do to determine a dominant hand and go over the pro’s and cons. You can have her contact me on lieven ==at== justinguitar ** dot ** com (written in a silly way to avoid spam bots
)
Thank you so much Lieven, I will be seeing her for the first time on Wednesday so I will ask these questions and move on from there thank you Hec
1 Like
I’ve got lefty friends who play right handed guitars and are very happy with it. I’ve also got left friends who can only play left handed guitars. 
If you are left handed and feel like you can play right handed at the start its much easier to try and learn that way, gives you the best options in acquiring guitars later.
Obviously if you struggle with that ( more than any learner struggles anyhow) then its probably a good idea to switch
I’m a lefty and play lefty, but that’s because of shoulder problems which prevent me playing righty.
If she can hold and play a right handed guitar, I’d go for that all day long. I tried playing right handed many years ago, and had no problems at all with the whole learning thing - only those which affect everyone regardless of left or right.
Having the dominant hand do the fiddly stuff on the neck was easier for me than using my right - but to be fair the nerves in my right hand don’t work so well!
Playing a righty means there is a monstrously better choice of guitars including really good used bargains. Lefty guitars account for probably 2% of guitars (rough calculation based on Anderton’s Stock a couple of days back).
…One thing to think of though is just how much GAS she is likely to suffer from. If there is likely to be legs and arms sold to pay for GAS, then advise a lefty - that way she won’t have so much to choose from 
2 Likes
I am lefty playing right and am satisfied with the rational behind my choice.
However, it was a rational and not likely the best option for my ease of learning.
I think @LievenDV is absolutely right that there is a price to pay if your dominant hand is not the strumming/rhythm hand. That matches my experience. It has increased my struggle. But, there is nothing wrong with that. A learner should go in with eyes as wide open as possible.
It is telling that your friend feels she should play righty that may be important, as long as it is based in what feels comfortable, not what she “should” do.
Maybe toss her an air guitar and see which way she grabs it. (I definitely grab is righty…
)
3 Likes
Late to the party, but as a lefty, I figured I’d chime in. I write, throw balls and frisbees, and play tennis and ping-pong left-handed. I golf, bowl, and play guitar right-handed. With the guitar, right-handed just felt natural to me. I’m eternally thankful for that. It seems interesting that when holding a tennis racket and ping-pong paddle, I feel comfortable holding the handle in my left hand. Maybe the guitar neck is an extension of that feeling…
I did play the organ as a youngster, and that probably made me comfortable with finger manipulation of both hands. Maybe that was also influential?
I would give righty on the guitar a very solid try. I can’t imagineg how much more difficult it would be to learn lefty.
1 Like
Thanks, Kevin after sitting and talking to this new learner they said the same as you so it is right-handed guitar playing, They are so comfy this must be a repeating subject as the years roll on its a fascinating subject really when you think about it, cheers Hec
Even later to the party here – I write and play guitar lefty, but do some other things right handed (throwing, most sports) or ambidextrously (eating utensils). I agree from an equipment standpoint, it would be soooo much easier to be a righty, but I can’t so much as strum an air guitar the right-handed way, so learning to play right handed wasn’t a good option for me. I agree with the previous comment of throwing her an air guitar and seeing how she grabs it. It’s difficult enough learning using my dominant hand, forget about doing it wrong-handed.
1 Like