Rockin’ in a Right-Handed World!
Introduction
One of the best things about playing the electric guitar is that it is a hobby that you can enjoy for your entire life. Whether you are a young boy just starting out or an adult who never tried it in the past. Considering the increase of the global population the last decades, more people are interested in starting their guitar journey. Some of them are Left-Handed (in a right-handed world).
Little Harry wants to learn how to play the Guitar!
10 years before this article, a friendly mother approached me and introduced me to her 8-year old son, Harry, and asked him on the spot “Hey Harry, how about having guitar lessons with this gentleman?”…..Little Harry, back then around 120 cm height and me 193 cm, looked and “examined” me strictly from shoes to hair and then he smiled and replied to his mother “Yeah why not?”. But….little Harry is left handed, so the question was obvious…”Which guitar he has to use? A Left Handed or a Right Handed one?”. Due to the lack of choices of left handed guitars in the country back then, I could propose the Jimi Hendrix solution, which means a right handed guitar with inverter order of strings. However, I have requested 1 day to research it, considering that I am right handed so I wanted to understand the case as much as I could.
The Human Brain
The cerebral hemispheres (right and left) are anatomically distinct formations of the central nervous system in one of which is divided from front to back into four lobes: the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital, in each of in which there are centres responsible for various functions, both motor and sensory. In each person, one of the two hemispheres is the dominant hemisphere, that is, the one that "works more" than the other. But because the phenomenon of chiasmus is observed of the nerve fibres that start or end in the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres (that is, the nerve fibres innervating the right hemisphere of the body mostly start or end in the left hemisphere and vice versa) it is understandable that the dominant hemisphere in a right-handed person is the left while in a left-handed person the right.
The conclusion that Dr Andreas Karakatsanis closed his article for Left Handed Guitarists (https://www.tar.gr/peri_aristeroxeirwn_toy_andrea_karakatsani_kallitexniatrika-article-423.html?category_id=88) is that the dominant hemisphere, i.e. whether one is left-handed or right-handed does not affect the motor function as such and therefore there is no obvious reason why right-handed and left-handed players should hold the guitar differently. Further choice is purely a matter of pedagogical or personal decision.
Guitar Orientation for left-handed
Back then left handed guitars were not instantly available in the country and an online order had to be placed, which meant around 3-4 weeks (back then) of delay until the 1st note. The delay due to the process of ordering it could be critical and could make little Harry and his mother choose another activity. After 1 day and researching the case, based on the above article, my answer was obvious and instead of going to the “safe” choice of the left handed guitar, I proposed the right handed one.
Little Harry was excited and started rocking from day one! After 4 years of progress, 3 Certificates of RockSchool UK with Merit and lots of fun, Harry had to leave for good to his home country. Dr Karakatsanis’ article was right…..hmmm correct I mean! Later on, I learned that many left handed guitarists made a career by using right handed instruments, like Michael Angelo Batio!
Conclusion
In this article, we have shared my experience teaching a left-handed student using a right-handed guitar. Based on the above date, I recommend not hesitating to propose a right-handed guitar to a beginner player. More guitarists in the world will make it better! Base your decision in science and not in limiting beliefs!
Special Guest Author
Vas is the owner of Sunburst Guitar School, an awesome school to get online live guitar lessons for Rock, Blues & Heavy Metal Guitar styles. His mission is to make you have fun learning the guitar. After playing and practising for over 30 years and teaching abroad for over 10 years, one of the highlights was when Jack Thammarat invited him on stage during his guitar clinic in Doha, Qatar. Take the first step, book your free guitar lesson NOW at Sunburst Guitar School and discover how many amazing feelings you can have with this instrument!