Guitarists – a question

Why do right handed people strum with their right hand and their left for the fret board? Surely the right hand will be more dexterous and therefore the better hand to form the chords with?

(And vice versa of course).

You need to rename this topic “Jimmi Hendrix was right handed”. HTH

Okay, so the majority then – I have no idea if everyone does it.

I would guess it’s because strumming a guitar is a recent phenomenon. Prior to plectrums, guitars (and lutes) were plucked with the fingers and that requires considerable dexterity too.

Also, consider wind instruments. There is no “dominant” hand. Often a combination of fingers on both hands is needed to produce one note. I’m guessing the brain can learn anything it feels like if it needs to.

‘You need to rename this topic “Jimmi Hendrix was right handed”. HTH ‘

I thought he was ambidextrous?

I don’t type better with my left or right hand.

I don’t play piano better with my left or right hand.

guitars (and lutes) were plucked with the fingers and that requires considerable dexterity too.

That makes sense. But also how about the right hand, being stronger could give more volume? Gut strings aren’t particularly loud, thats why the Americans started making acoustics with steel strings.

i am lefthanded and play right handed, but it’s probably because there wasn’t a lefthanded guitar laying around when i first learned. i cannot play a right handed drum kit though.

there are quite a few lefthanded players that play right handed, gary moore was one

there are quite a few lefthanded players that play right handed, gary moore was one

And Macca is the opposite, IIRC.

to be honest it’s a training thing, no one can play a guitar anyhow when they first start, so whether they start with left or right hand is only a couple of weeks extra until they train themselves to do it the “wrong” way.

to be honest it’s a training thing, no one can play a guitar anyhow when they first start, so whether they start with left or right hand is only a couple of weeks extra until they train themselves to do it the “wrong” way.

But that doesn’t explain why the convention is fret with the left and pluck/strum with the right. I think all the early pictures of lutist/guitarists etc. show people playing it that way round. Why not the other way?

And its the same with all stringed instuments eg. violins etc are bowed with the right hand.

This is going to give me sleepless nights… 🙂

Although non-guitarists are always amazed by the fretboard histrionics of some electric guitarists the strength and precision is more important in the hand that strikes the strings.

When you start off, fretting is the more difficult task, so yes, initially it would make more sense to use your dominant hand. However, once you get more advanced, the fretting hand will pretty much just do what it needs to and it’s the picking side of things that becomes the most demanding.

the strength and precision is more important in the hand that strikes the strings.

This

But that doesn’t explain why the convention is fret with the left and pluck/strum with the right. I think all the early pictures of lutist/guitarists etc. show people playing it that way round. Why not the other way?

And its the same with all stringed instuments eg. violins etc are bowed with the right hand.

As I said, the picking/plucking requires great precision, especially when you get into dynamics, colours, etc. The same applies to the violin. It’s the right arm that creates and fashions the tone. It’s not just dragging the bow over the strings.

the strength and precision is more important in the hand that strikes the strings.

And timing I’d guess?

For me, long before I’d ever picked up a guitar I’d ‘air guitared’ like any kid. I did that naturally left-handed. Holding a guitar right-handed just feels wrong.

Not that it makes any practical difference, I could use my feet for the difference it’d make to my ability.

lobby_dosser – Member
‘You need to rename this topic “Jimmi Hendrix was right handed”. HTH ‘

I thought he was ambidextrous? I think you;re right, although he was naturally left-handed and used to play upsidedown right-handed guitars. Eric Clapton bought him a proper left-handed on on the night he died, so IIRC he never played it.

Surely the right hand will be more dexterous and therefore the better hand to form the chords with?

I think the thing the left hand lacks is subtletey of movement. The fretting fingers just go to predetermined learned spots, whereas if you are picking with your fingers (or even if using a plectrum to do anything other than strum) you need more subtle movement to get the tone and expression you want.

Also, your fretting fingers are moving quite close to each other – when strumming, you often have to strum 4 or 5 of the strings so your incoming pick needs to hit the 5th string of 6 at speed and from several inches away – without you looking. It is mandatory to not look at the guitar whilst playing.

Not sure it matters all that much though. I used to play brass instruments in school, most of which are fingered with the right hand. I switched to the French Horn which uses the left, and I don’t think I really noticed I was using the other hand. I was far too busy concentrating on transposing everything 🙂

Although non-guitarists are always amazed by the fretboard histrionics of some electric guitarists the strength and precision is more important in the hand that strikes the strings.

One doesn’t work without the other. If the left hand technique is poor, it matters little what the right is doing. Some players have a ‘right hand ‘ style – lots of picking, intricate picking, volume; some are more ‘left hand – slides, pulls/hammers, intonation. Some players, like Django, for example, are exceptional with both hands. Regardless of style, though, if one hand isn’t doing what the other needs it to do, then it’s always going to sound a bit ropey.

if one hand isn’t doing what the other needs it to do, then it’s always going to sound a bit ropey.

Yes.. ask me how I know.. 😉

somewhatslightlydazed – Member
But that doesn’t explain why the convention is fret with the left and pluck/strum with the right. I think all the early pictures of lutist/guitarists etc. show people playing it that way round. Why not the other way?

Comfort, it just sits nicer.

Plus there’s probably a misconception that the most important part of the guitar is the strumming hand (to the unintiated). Ask anyone to do air guitar and they’ll make a motion with their right hand and do very little with the left. So, they aren’t particularly thinking what the other hand is doing beyond playing a few chords.(both are equally important.)

Because strumming is a rapid up and down movement, very similar to another rapid up and down movement most teenage boys practice when alone. They do that with their right hands as well so maybe it’s a rhythm thing??

Cougar – Moderator
there are quite a few lefthanded players that play right handed, gary moore was one
And Macca is the opposite, IIRC.

I think that he’s just left handed and plays that way.

I think that he’s just left handed and plays that way.

The story I read was that he is right-handed and struggled for ages to learn to play, tried lefty one day on a whim and was a natural.

I read that forever ago and have no idea where though, it could’ve been in Look-In for all I know so may be a completely fictional tale.

I’m left handed and a guitarist. I can’t play right handed; I tried when I was learning, and it didn’t work in any way, shape or form. It felt (still feels) completely un-natural. Before I learned to play, as a kid I’d play air-guitar with tennis rackets, left handed. It’s not a learned thing, it’s not a taught thing. If it was convention, everyone would simply play them one way, but lateral dominance is a fickle mistress. Curiously, our Chipps is also a lefty, but plays right handed. Which gives him much greater access to nicer guitars at better prices, damn his eyes.

This is interesting: It should be noted that many left-handers claim that traditional stringed instruments do not discriminate against left-handers at all, because the left hand (which performs the fingering, chords, etc) actually has the more difficult job, requiring most the dexterity. A 2011 German study of pianists yielded the rather surprising result that, in both right-handed and left-handed players, it was the right hand (which generally plays the melody) that showed a higher degree of motor control. Interestingly, the French Horn is one of the ferw instruments designed to be played with the left-hand, although this does not appear to disadvantage right-handed players.

From here

For what it’s worth I don’t believe it’s a specifically left or specifically right handed issue anyway – I think the fundamental problem in playing something left or right handed is integration. There is a LEADING hand and a FOLLOWING hand. In terms of guitarring, my left hand (the picking one) leads, and the fretting one follows, regardless of the motor control required. The handedness issue comes with integrating the movement from each side.

The handedness issue comes with integrating the movement from each side.

Then why’s it so hard to write with your off-hand when the other’s doing nothing?

Sorry – the handedness issue in this context, I should have said. But I thought that was obvious given the preceding paragraph 🙂

Although, molgrips, it’s interesting to note that it’s easier to write backwards* with your non-dominant hand than it is to write forwards with it 🙂

*please note I didn’t say easy!

.taht yrt ll’I

Nope, not easier at all.

Heh 🙂
I certainly find it easier, and I recall (I took a psychology degree many years ago) being told that it was generally easier because you’re mirroring what your dominant hand is doing. I’ve tried to find stuff about it online quickly to no avail, but this[/url] is pretty interesting anyway – to me at least.

Sorry for the off-topic thread hijack, everyone. I’ll go away again now 🙂

Mark Knopfler is a lefty who learnt RH.
It’s just that RH guitars are more common.
Why?
Dunno. If you play upright bass you pluck with your strongest hand. Then it went horizontal?

Then why’s it so hard to write with your off-hand when the other’s doing nothing?

Writing’s hard, fundamentally. It’s easy to forget when you’ve had nigh on 40 years practice with one hand and none with the other. Write now with your wrong hand and tell me it’s any worse than your primary school text books.

.taht yrt ll’I

Nope, not easier at all.

??uo?? ?? ?u?op ??,no?

I think you;re right, although he was naturally left-handed and used to play upsidedown right-handed guitars. Eric Clapton bought him a proper left-handed on on the night he died, so IIRC he never played it.

I vaguely remember watching a late night documentry on Hendrix and I’m sure they were saying he wrote with his right hand and his dad bought him a right hand guitar. Hendrix would play it upside down and his dad would make him play it right handed. It claimed that he could pick up a normally strung RH guitar and play it RH or LH with the strings upside down. He preferred a RH guitar strung for a lefty. I don’t know if he could play that RH though.

I may have been dreaming this as it was in the wee small hours.

While I have never picked up a guitar, similar questions arise in sports. For instance, a naturally right handed person may well bat left handed as classical technique is to be top hand dominant (which is the right hand for a left handed batsman) – golf is similar. However, in sport I imagine one’s dominant eye can also have an influence. I am a right mess, I write left handed but do all sports (including tennis and other racquet sports) right handed. Conditioning also is pretty important, everyone plays hockey right handed as you have to.

EDIT: When initially taught to write right handed I wrote backwards to reinforce barney (and lobby dosser)’s point, I can still write reasonably well by modern standards with my right hand.

I think the thing the left hand lacks is subtletey of movement. The fretting fingers just go to predetermined learned spots, whereas if you are picking with your fingers (or even if using a plectrum to do anything other than strum) you need more subtle movement to get the tone and expression you want.

There’s a huge amount of subtlety of movement in the fretting hand – if there isn’t then you aren’t very good!

I think the only reason you get left and right handed guitars is because it’s so easy to reverse a classical guitar and it’s all spun along from that. And as they’re more often solo instruments then being the wrong way around doesn’t matter in an ensemble. However I don’t believe there is any good reason to learn to play “left handed” unless you like having a worse selection of instruments to choose from.

I used to play guitar, and being right-handed, automatically played right-handed, and for me it’s completely counter-intuitive to play otherwise.
However, I’ve also used rifles and bows, and I automatically shoot both left-handed, and find it virtually impossible to do otherwise.
My right hand is my dominant hand, but my left eye is dominant.

similar questions arise in sports.

I’m wholly left-handed (left eyed, left footed). The only thing I’ve ever done naturally right-handed is play pool / snooker.

After years of sucking I figured, maybe it’s an eye dominance thing; I’l looking across the cue rather than straight down it. So I forced myself to re-learn left-handed.

Now, I’m equally shite either way round.

Oh,

I shoot a bow right-handed. Like others have said with guitars, I was still naturally lefty but available equipment forced my hand (so to speak) and I learned right-handed. Now a lefty bow feels wrong, because of learned behaviour, but I wonder if the eye dominance thing is messing me up here too.

When learning to shoot, eye dominance is more important than hand; that’s what you test for when teaching a learner. I was taught that as a workaround, to draw and aim with both eyes open, then just before loosing close my left eye to make a final lateral aim. It seems to work.

Hm, maybe I should try that with pool.

I’m right everything except I automatically get on a skateboard goofy. This is really odd apparently.