(Playing Guitar For Beginners)
Technique
Regardless of which hand is dominate, guitar players use both hands when playing - they just use each hand differently. If you are right-handed, you strum or pick the strings with your right hand and form chords on the neck with your left hand and vice versa for lefties. The hand you favor will be your strumming hand because more strength is needed for strumming, especially for faster songs.
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| Playing Guitar For Beginners - Play guitar by left hand |
The cosmetics of right-handed guitars are the same as left-handed guitars -- just opposite. For the lefty, the guitar's neck (the long skinny part of the guitar) will run to the right side. For a right-handed player, the guitar's neck will run to the left side.
What's Correct?
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| Playing Guitar For Beginners - Play guitar by right hand |
If the guitar's an acoustic, the pick guard (the piece of plastic material next to the sound hole and alongside the strings) should be below the sound hole. If it's an electric with a cutaway, the cutaway will be on the bottom of the guitar, closest to your feet. Occasionally, a left-handed guitar player will play a right-handed guitar upside down. Bluesman Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater plays this way.
Beginning to Play
When deciding how to play the guitar, try both right-handed and left-handed and go with what feels natural. Most of the time, players favor their dominate hand. According to GuitarNoise.com, left-handed guitar players have hurdles to overcome, including having fewer choices when buying guitars, adapting to right-handed guitar teachers and looking different than their peers.
Famous Guitarists
The list of right-handed guitar players is long, but here're a few: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dave Grohl, Jimmy Page, Slash, Joe Perry and Eddie Van Halen. Left-handed guitar players have included: Kurt Cobain, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Babyface and David Cook.
