I’ve been wondering lately why we play the more dextrously demanding tasks (fretting) with our non-dominant hand? Wouldn’t it be easier to use the hand that is already accustomed to delicate tasks like writing, etc.? Or am I missing something here?
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I’m not sure how far along you are in your guitar journey, but, the strumming hand has, IMHO, the greater need for fine motor skills than the fretting hand.
Picking the correct string(s), creating percussive hits, muting (full and partial), plus the additional finger independence required for fingerstyle, takes alot more dexterity than most beginner players realize.
I thought this way as well, until I started practicing these fretting-hand skills more as I progressed past Grade 3.
I’m a mostly-left handed person who plays guitar right-handed. Holding the guitar right-handed always felt “proper” to me, and I figured that the hand I write with (left-hand) on the fretboard would make things so much easier. What I have found is that selectively picking strings while strumming, limiting and changing the strings you contact with every up or down strum, adding percussive hits and palm muting, while strumming a 16th-note pattern requires way more dexterity than simply putting your finger in the right place on the fretboard.
YMMV
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Well I think that it’s a trade off. If you are right handed you fret with your non dominant hand but have control over strumming and finger picking. If you are a left hander playing a right hand guitar, like me, you have the advantage of fretting with your dominant hand but having to find good rhythm strumming with your non dominant hand. Then later on when you start playing finger style you need dexterity in the right hand.
You can’t win really!
@Fast-Eddie explained it much better than me.
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@LievenDV says this question pops up every 4 months or so, but in the new forum, it seems to be a little less common 
In essence, do whatever works best for you 
Here are my thoughts on how we ended up with strumming with the right and fretting with the left:
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Easy and short…,rhythm is king 
Greetings
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This, I am lefty playing righty and needed remedial rhythm training for my right hand. Probably still do…
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My man, amen!
—-Warning, strong opinion ahead
I’m a strong advocate indeed when it comes to giving your dominant hand the rhythm task.
That hands needs to be king, keep it all in line, no doubts in its rule, a firm lead that will even shine more when it’s tasks come as a reflex, on a subconscious level.
The offers in lefty guitars came a long way in the 20y this Community has been blessed to live.
If you think coordination and strength determines the hand to dictate fretting, think again.
Your fretting hand actually has the luxury of taking the time in between the beats. Your dominant rhythm hand is the real athlete. Underappreciated by the initiated, misunderestood by those drooling over long fret stretches and fast scaley soloing. Guess what. No fast soloing without the reliable engine driving that race car!
Call me categoric but if you don’t follow your dominant hand, you’re slowing yourself down for the long run.
Only a few people are balanced L R / ambidextrous and might need serious research to figure out which course to take.
Part of all this comes from my own experience
Part of it comes from the testimonials on this Community
Part of this comes from a defiance against some old stigma’s created by right handed people saying “just learn right handed” 
For me it’s about being honest to your body. It has no judgement or opinion but it has its ways. A balance of acceptance and stubborness goes a long way, as long as you allocate those two in the right places. @roger_holland might concur
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Aw, get off the fence, Lieven! What do you really think? 
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You and @Fast-Eddie nailed it for me. As a lefty playing right, I am still rythym-challenged especially playing at more than a moderate pace. But the music I enjoy mostly doesn’t involve shredding so that’s OK by me. On the other hand (pun unavoidable) I have found that playing fingerstyle with my non-dominant hand feels quite natural. It’s like the gross motor function (fast arm and wrist motion is restricted, but not the finger dexterity needed for fingerstyle.
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After some years playing righty, I would fully agree with @LievenDV . I am pretty sure o would be further ahead and better at playing had I chosen to play lefty.
I am definitely a very lefty not a little lefty, so likely fall into the category of “should have played lefty”. I think that if someone threw me an air guitar, there is a more than 50% chance I would still catch I lefty even after playing guitar righty for 4.5 years now.
I will not switch back, however. Part of what I am trying to do with learning guitar is, in addition to playing music, to improve my brain and develop right hand coordination.
So I accept the additional struggle, but I don’t think I would recommend this path to anyone else. It comes from my own opinions and dedication based in my field as a neurologist and my personal journey with family and patients with dementia.
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You can always switch. A friend of ours is a lefty and tried to learn to play right for over a year(not getting very far). My wife plays left so let her play her guitar before a Jam and with in an hour she was already changing chords fast enough to play simple songs.
It seem your brain can take what you’ve practiced right handed and switch it to your dominant hand very quickly. She now comes to every jam and has improved 100 time faster playing left.
True, but I am not interested in switching. It would defeat part of my purpose. I am convinced I can learn this way! It may be slow, but I will do it.
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That’s interesting. One of the reasons I took up guitar is to exercise my coordination along with mentally challenging exercises as I believe it can help slowing potential effets if dementia in old age - not that I have any signs of dementia now (yet).
I’m alsoaleft hander playing right handed.
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Haha! Yep, here we go…
Just play a standard guitar regardless if you are right-handed or left-handed. It’s an instrument that is played with both hands. The choices for standard guitars are much wider, non-standard guitars (what others call left-handed) have fewer options available. If you’re starting from ground zero you are better off with a standard guitar.
EDIT: Most courseware and youtube lessons are with standard guitars.
I find this topic interesting as I am right side dominant but write left handed. Also I’m not ambidextrous. While there are several famous left handed guitar players that play right handed, i.e. Jimi Hendrix, I believe Mark Knopfler is the only person that is similar to myself. I’m not sure if it’s helpful, a hindrance or neither.
I think of the fretting hand as the “mechanic” and the strumming hand as the artist. The nuances of the strumming hand: hard, soft, boom-chuck, some strings, all string, is what turns a drone of chords into music.
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