My first thread in a while and its random i know but; if you were right handed and played left handed do you reckon you'd be quicker or not? Is there any famous guitarists that do this? Been wondering for ages because i've tried and its seems so much harder

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Have you never seen the cliché of Michael Angelo Batio or whatever he's called playing the X shaped guitar with both hands at once etc? Check it out for a laugh

But I grasp what you're asking. Muscle memory is vaguely generally symmetrical. You'll notice how your weaker hand imitates the other hands style, but just appears less confident.

I'd say a lot of people play guitars right handed because it's what they're used to, as most people come into first contact with a right handed guitar, and those who never really think about it/can't choose otherwise just stuick with it, I know plenty of left handers that play right handed guitars cos of this.

It all comes down to how and when you practice really, same for any skill. Whatever bits are involved in any mechanic will seemingly grow if the practice is decent enough

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hahah yea michael angelo batio's playing is quite something , i was just wondering whether fretting with your right hand would be quicker if you are right handed seeming that its the 'strongest' hand?

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Hmm,

I think that the picking hand should be your dominate hand. I'm right handed and I play right handed guitar. It felt comfortable right off the bat with using the right hand to pick (even though I was brutal).

It's funny though: When I'm driving and playing finger guitar on the steering wheel, I use my right hand to mimic both the strumming hand and the fretting hand!

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Dan Swano plays a right handed guitar strung like a right handed guitar but left handed. So the low is is at the bottom. That's how he learned how to play. Upwards.

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Just cause it's stronger doesn't mean it's more coordinated, you're fingers haven't strengthened up from excercises, so it's not really a "stronger hand". I heard from MAB that he was actually originally left-handed...

There are some guitar players who are left-handed but play the guitar right-handed. Robert Fripp of King Crimson is an example. Michael Angelo Batio is ambidextrous though, but it's obvious he could not have found out he was like that if he tried playing his axe left-handed. Didn't know that about Swano though, I'm thinking that means he's got to pick upwards on all his power chords. Pretty interesting.

EDIT : Yeah, M.A.B. says so on his official website - "I am left handed so my right or "picking" hand was overall, the weakest part of my playing [when I was starting out]."

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.....what's the point of that?

That's just how he learned and he's quite a good player.

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I consider myself left handed. I write and eat with my left hand, but punch, play games such as cricket, tennis or anything with a bat, use scissors, and play guitar with my right hand. I'm also right footed.

I don't consider myself ambidexterous because I can't do anything with either hand, it's one or the other (is that the definition?). At school I was given a left handed guitar (my first contact with the instrument) because I am left handed, and I couldn't do shit with it. Years later I played a friend's right handed guitar and I could actually play stuff even though I didn't know what I was doing. Just feels more natural with my right. If I use my left today I still flap uselessly at the strings, no coordination at all that way round.

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I'm left-handed, but play guitar right-handed because the first guitar I started playing was my dad's and he's right-handed. My picking is definately definately the weakest part of my playing as a result.

I'm a lefty as well but I've always been more comfortable playing a right handed guitar. It didn't even have anything to do with the fact that there aren't alot of left handed guitars around. When I was a kid I started air guitaring right handed, and that's always been the natural way for me. And I actually find my picking to be a strong point, so I'm thinking it's just a matter of everybody being a little different. And if I try to strum a guitar left handed I feel absolutely crippled.

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That's basically it, everybody is different. My dad's left-handed for writing but that doesn't mean it's his dominant hand for everything. For example, he will throw, eat/drink, and use tools with his right hand. My friend's dominant hand is left but he chose to learn guitar right-handed because he felt it would cause more problems in the long run being a left-handed player in the world of music because everything guitar is 95% of the time based on right-handers.

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I'm a lefty and play lefty guitars. The very first time I picked up a guitar it was aright-hander, and first thing I did instinctively was flip it upside down. Playing the other way (right handed)never felt natural. I started learning with strings reversed on a friend's righthander, so now I can pickup any right hand guitar, flip it and play. My girlfriend started messing around on my guitars, she's right handed, but plays my lefties like I do. She tried flipping them but says it feels more natural lefty style (she's definetely right-handed too)

Only chord diagrams gave me probs, but I got used to mirroring them.
Guitar selection is really the ultimate limiting factor

Well, I'm left-handed but have played right-handed since I started, not a problem.

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I'm right handed but for some reason i play guitar left handed.

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I am naturally left-handed and play my guitar lefty. Dunno... just thought I'd add a point. When I first got hold of an acoustic guitar, I flipped it the wrong way round.

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i'm not gonna bother reading each and every post...but Herman Li is a lefty playing a right hand guitar, and at times, he switches from right to left, or left to right in mid solos.

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