|
|
Joined:
July 2007
Posts: 423
Location: UK | My boy Joey's mate Fionntan has just got an electric guitar causing him to now have extra interest in his very talented mothers guitar playing who he had previously taken forgranted. ( Think what sealed it was playing Wild Thing top volume at 9.30 am when i went to pick him up from a sleep over from his mates unmusical house )
Anyways Joey is naturally left handed ( writes with left hand , ) and goes to pick it up left handedly , however i have shown him chords as a right hander and he seems to manage this and appears ambiwotsit . Left handers is this ok and maybe an advantage or should i give him the choice or try him with a left handed guitar ??? Thanking you for your advice |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Convert the boy.
Lefty's are evil... I offer the following documentation...
In many European languages, including English, the word for "right" (in a directional sense) also means "correct" or "proper". Throughout history, being left-handed is considered negative - the Latin word sinistra (from which the English word "sinister" was derived, along with various Romance language derivatives) meant "left" as well as "unlucky". There are many negative connotations associated with the phrase "left-handed": clumsy, awkward, unlucky, insincere, sinister, malicious, and so on. The French word gauche means both "left" and "awkward" or "clumsy", whereas the French word droite, "right," is akin to droit, "straight," "law," and "right" as in "human rights." The name "Dexter" derives from the Latin for "right". As these are all very old words, they would tend to support theories indicating that the predominance of right-handedness is an extremely old phenomenon.
The Inuit believed that every left-handed person was a sorcerer.[citation needed] A Japanese man could divorce his wife if he discovered that she was left-handed.
In Taiwan, left-handed people were strongly encouraged to switch to being right-handed (or at least, switch to writing with the right hand). In general, it is considered more difficult to write legible Chinese characters with the left hand than it is to write Latin letters, though difficulty is subjective and depends on the person in question. Because writing when moving one's hand away from its side of the body can cause smudging if the outward side of the hand is allowed to drag across the writing, it is considered easier to write the Latin alphabet with the right hand than with the left. Conversely, right-to-left alphabets such as the Arabic and Hebrew are considered easier to write with the left hand in general.
It has been hypothesized that some sun worshipers have grown to associate their left sides with evil, since people facing north would see the sun set on their left. The evidence for this is very weak, however, as the opposite conclusion can be drawn when one considers a person facing south (the opposite direction). It has been suggested that there may be a preference for northern hemisphere dwellers to face the North Star when making direction judgments. This may, however, be related to the fact that more landmass, and therefore, more people, exist in the northern hemisphere than the southern hemisphere.
In Christianity, frequent references reinforce the positive aspects of "right" and "right hand" (side). In particular, the Bible indicates that Jesus sits at the right hand of God, or indeed is the right hand of God. Thus, faith may guide followers toward right-side preference. Christianity has had far-reaching effects on many societies throughout history, potentially strengthening the spread of right-side preference. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2007
Posts: 423
Location: UK | I suspect drugs alcohol and boredom have played a part in your responce Mr Whitehead , may i join you ?? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I could make room on the couch- if I clear off the bong, the bottles and sit upright.... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Don't fall over Jeff. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Whoa Jeff, that's an answer!
Seriously, though, I started playing as a lefty, but within a week switched to playing righty, as the guitars were set up for righties and I didn't know about changing the strings and the angle of the bridge, fixing the nut and my sister who showed me my first chord shapes was a righty ... so that was it. I think it's probably more difficult to switch, probably about 6 months delay, but once you get the brain cells going in the righty direction it works out.
It would have taken me about 6 months, I suppose to find a lefty guitar (I new nothing when I started) so it was wash.
Since he has you for an advisor, start him as a lefty. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | 
 |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2007
Posts: 423
Location: UK | welcome to my world |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15671
Location: SoCal | I'm left handed and play right. Jeff's right. I am evil.
Teach him to play right handed. More guitar choices and it puts his best hand on the fingerboard. The notion of playing right handed or left handed is silly as when you start, it doesn't make any difference which hand goes where.... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . I'm left handed and play right . ."
Masturbation doesn't "count".
Did'you get the pic I e-mailed?? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . Fionntan . ." ????
Teach him t'play "righty"
He's gonna' have a hard time getting through life as it IS . . . |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I was gonna ask if he wore a ruffled collar, but thought better of it. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15671
Location: SoCal | Jeff, I'm gonna slap you with my left hand......
Clifford, masturbation always counts... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | ". . I was gonna ask if he wore a ruffled collar, but thought better of it. . ."
". . b'I don't WANNA be a pirate!! . ." |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I switched from being a goofy foot when I bought my first snoboard because that was the way it was set up, though I can bat both ways ... Moody may have a point about their being more options, but I still think that he'll learn quicker if he's a lefty though. Paul McCartny's done OK.
Poor Kid, how'd he get stuck with a name like that. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by moody, p.i.:
Jeff, I'm gonna slap you with my left hand...... I was referring to Fionntan, Paul
-but, if the collar fits.... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Why torture a child..?..there are FINE LeftHanded guitars on the market, both my sons are LeftHanded, both have a L/H guitar,...and they play `em...on occasion..like when the world-web takes a nose-dive..
Vic |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2007
Posts: 423
Location: UK | Jeeeez , how the heck does this happen :eek: , its like ovation massacre , when i got my new guitar ...dead cats ... my boys left handed and has a mate of Irish descent and its masturbation fest , ....."Fintan" its celtic ..... its a butch Irish name you wacked out Americanos
Anyways "Clifford ", i rest my case  |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15671
Location: SoCal | Why teach a kid to play left handed? What difference does it make except that he'll never be able to buy a new Ovation LX.
Please tell me the advantage of teaching a left handed kid to play left handed? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2007
Posts: 423
Location: UK | Thanks to the left handers for advice xx |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | btw; "Clifford" is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and they haven't yet quite found ALL of the body parts of the LAST person who tried to link me with the cartoon dog . . . |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | Originally posted by cliff:
btw; "Clifford" is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and they haven't yet quite found ALL of the body parts of the LAST person who tried to link me with the cartoon dog . . . they're at KFC. parts is parts.
does "KFC" stand for "kibbles from clifford"? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 863
Location: Central Florida | Speaking as a lefty, if the kid CAN learn to play right handed, I'd encourage him to do so. It'll allow him limitless choices when it comes to buying guitars, and makes open jam sessions a lot more fun and easy. But, if he's like me, my first guitar teacher tried to get me to play righty in the worst way, but as hard as I tried it just never felt "right" (no pun intended), even though I eat, write and throw a ball with my right hand. Go figure... :rolleyes: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 161
Location: Atlanta GA | Andrea, I am speaking as a left hander that plays left handed. IF your son can learn to play right handed then that would be best for some or most of the reasons listed above. If nothing else it opens himself up to a incredably wider range of guitars to play with. Also it will allow him to pick-up any guitar at a friends house and play. Most instruction materials are for right handers. I sit here on this board and read of all the new (or old) guitars the members are playing and trading and selling and passing around for test rides and feel completely frustrated that I can't participate in the discussions because I will never be able to try these guitars without special ordering and purchasing each one just to try it out. Having said that, if he wants to play it lefty, that's a lot better than not playing at all. As for Jeff W's rant above, society has always wanted to subdivide itself for the purpose increasing one's self worth by demeaning others included in a minority. The subdivision I live in is divided by those who have three sides of brick on their house and those who just have one side brick on their house. It's embedded in the DNA somehow. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by Andrea:
Jeeeez , how the heck does this happen :eek: , its like ovation massacre , when i got my new guitar ...dead cats ... my boys left handed and has a mate of Irish descent and its masturbation fest , ....."Fintan" its celtic ..... its a butch Irish name you wacked out Americanos
Anyways "Clifford ", i rest my case
May I add that, though I don't see much resemblance between Clifford and the "Big Red Dog", I have seen Cliff's ears go back and his tongue hang-out like that upon being offered a glass slide of Patron... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | and he does get a little red in the face once-in-a-while... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 1071
Location: Carle Place, NY | This question comes up often. My son Andrew is lefty and plays righty. Some very famous accomplished guitarists are lefty but play righty, like Paul Simon, Steve Morse and Paul Moody ;) .
I always like to point out that there's no such thing as a lefty violin or cello.
If someone is starting out new on guitar they should learn to play righty irrespective of which is their dominant hand. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2006
Posts: 5575
Location: big island | hendrix was a lefty who played...hmmm...well...lefty |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4832
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Now, how about a left-handed piano? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | You'd have to rearrange the furniture... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | LeftHanded Piano
http://www.lefthandedpiano.co.uk/about.html |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Lefthand violins
http://www.violinslover.com/lefthandedviolins.php |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I've saw a guy play a left handed mandolin, but strung as if it were for a righty.
I also tried to learn to play upside down, and that lasted about two days before I just succummed and became a righty. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | LeftHand MotorCar...Rolls Royce Phantom IV
http://www.rrab.com/rph4.htm
Vic
...and then there are those who downright traffic on the left.. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 4832
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Pass the Dutchie on the left hand side |
|
| |
Left handed question