Left handed Guitarist thread

IceCreamMan

Hi

MY intention with this thread is to A) find out all the lefties on this site and B) Place reviews of equipment/books/dvd's etc and C) discuss any possible hassles and solutions us lefties have and D) general sinister banter where us lefties can actually extoll the virtues of being superior after all God only made so many perfect the rest he made right handed.

No one has conclusively proved the cause of left handedness and about 10% of the world's population are left handed. There appears to be some evidence indicating a brain defect (i use the term defect loosely as it should be enhancement not defect) that causes left handedness. Lefty's are overrepresented in sporting codes where hand eye cordination is required as well as in academic circle however it appears lefties are also overrepresented in loony bins and tend to die on average 9 years younger than righties....

Lefty guitarists are numerous (those that play lefty an not righty) including the great hendrix, iommi ,mccartney,cobain, albert king Then you also get the phenomonon of lefties playing with the string upside down as well. i suspect that lefties are probably overrepresented in this area as well but many play right handed.

So without further ado let the thread continue.

IceCreamMan

http://www.kalahari.net/books/Picture-Chord-Encyclopedia-for-Left-Handed-Guitarists/632/27159036.aspx

I use this book a lot to reference chord structures an alternative voicings. Has pictures of over 2600 chords specifically for us lefties.

Well recommended and fairly cheapish if you think about it.

IceCreamMan

http://www.kalahari.net/books/Left-Handed-Guitar/632/18040153.aspx

Book by Tony Stetina. As a lefty you will come across his books often although this one is strictly a beginners book. To be honest i did not use it too much as by the time i bought it i had worked through books intended for right handers but if you starting out this is good book.

IceCreamMan

http://www.gaskellguitars.com/

Gaskell are the only left handed manufacturer in the world. The guy who runs the company has a ZA connection as he used to live here.

I bought the Flying V model from them and the service was top class. Guitar was here within a couple of weeks as they had stock of them. In some cases one places an order then waits for the guitar to actually be made as they have a number of production runs per year. Delivery to ZA is about 1200 rand though which has to be added to the cost of the guitar. During the process the ppl at Gaskell kept me informed. Gaskell make all the popular shapes of guitars so whichever you prefer will be avaialble.

The guitar itsef is awesome , well constructed an plays well. It cost me about 7k to get it landed here incl gig bag. unfortunately no one else makes a lefty V so my choices were kinda limitied. I believe Gaskell themselves have no discontinued the V too.

Great guitar, possibly a tad expensive when factoring in the courier charges which add no value to the guitar itself but one has limited choice.

Sean

I'm a right handed guitarist, but decided to look at this thread anyway ?

Surely you can't be the only regular member who is a lefty? Where are the rest? ???

Tonedef

Maybe if I participate in this thread, my left hand will stop being so useless at the frets.

RobK

For any lefties in Durban who might be looking, I believe I spotted, out of the corner of my eye, a lefty Epiphone LP at GWM today. ?

IceCreamMan

Left handed guitars alert:

2 lovely Tokai LEss pauls at Mcgibbons guitar world...lovely guitars .... ebony an sunbust ..12 clip.

Music Connection has a lot of left handed Fenders/squiers in stock...must be a bout 8 or so ..couple of ibbys an the usual. prices from 2 clip to 20 clip odd.

Must say the stores seem to be stocking more lefty axes.

evolucian

lefties... pffffft...

except for hendrix of course ?

PS: the Troy Stetina series is a very good series to have,... to anyone interested of course

shaunf

I'm left handed but started out playing guitar right handed.

Hammeron

Tony Iommi

blue42

Hi Guys. Please check the classified section. I've advertised a left handed, 50th anniversary, USA Fender Standard Strat should anybody be interested. Nick

Garren

I only found this thread now :-\

But I am well and truly left handed ?

@IceCreamMan
I totally agree, lefties are the best ?

The only problem I face is when a friend has
a rad guitar and I can't really play it properly :'(

Any lefties here ever tried the upside down guitar
thing like hendrix? I've always been too scared
to do it because I may be called a poser or something ?

Garren

Btw, Imho The velvet bulldozer is definitely one of the greatest blues guitarists ever,
let alone lefty guitarist ?

SRXy

I'm a lefty....but I could never afford a lefty when I was learning to play. So I play right-handed.....I suppose that's why I'm such a k*k guitar player? :roflmao:

IceCreamMan

SRXy wrote: I'm a lefty....but I could never afford a lefty when I was learning to play. So I play right-handed.....I suppose that's why I'm such a k*k guitar player? :roflmao:

i have found left handed guitar manufacturers place a premium on lefties from roughly 30-50 pounds model dependent. Not all manufacturers mind you.

HOWEVER

in store i have alsways found that shops in ZA are prepared to offer deeper discounts to offload their left handed guitars as i spose the market aint that big and its a lot of money hanging there wrapped up in merchandise which less than 10 % of customers may want to buy. From research in ZA +- 7% of guitars sold are left handed and the general population is about 10% indicating some lefties become righties when it comes to guitars

IceCreamMan

Just a heads up , MArshall Music have a couple of left hand-d Epiphone LEss Paul Standard models varying in proce from around 3500 to 4500 after discount. These made in Korea models are pretty good by my reckoning so well worth checking out if in that price range and if you dont have a les paul , these are well worth owning at that price. With the slide of the dollar they are effectively 20% undervalued currently.

stu

IceCreamMan, you come across as being insecure about being left handed. Ive noticed that about most left handed people though.
Others, however, just chill and you dont know they are left handed until you see them writing or something.

Dont take this the wrong way. Its just an observation.

Im sure more then 10% of the world is left handed. I would say at least 30% of people I know are left handed.

Im ambidextrous ?

IceCreamMan

stu wrote: IceCreamMan, you come across as being insecure about being left handed. Ive noticed that about most left handed people though.
Others, however, just chill and you dont know they are left handed until you see them writing or something.

Dont take this the wrong way. Its just an observation.

Im sure more then 10% of the world is left handed. I would say at least 30% of people I know are left handed.

Im ambidextrous ?

You have rocked me to the core of my foundation with your observation ..... i am truly humbled that a human being with your observational abilities managed to spot my insecutiries across the chasm which is the internet....you have a bright future in the field.

your pop sample must mean that the facts are wrong around the 10% and in fact its 30%... i will ask the experts to change their analysis immidiately cos stu said it is in fact 30% and we should not let the facts get in the way of stu's observations.

IceCreamMan

As we all know finding someone to work on our guitars is a lil tricky cos the okes are generally right handed ...well after a couple of false starts with other guys i took my beloved strat to Toms in Sandton as i was not happy with its "Agricultural" feel it had after playing many long hours on my Tokai.

Long story short , i got it back today and i fell in love with it all over again. smooth as butter

So lefties , if you need someone to set up yr axe , Grant at TOMS is recommended.

And damn reasonalbe too boot.