Thread: Guitar lesson Questions

Hey Howie, I didn't know you were a lefty too!!

Here's my philosophy: Everyone is born right-handed...only the greatest can overcome it.

Originally posted by lucidnina
Here's my philosophy: Everyone is born right-handed...only the greatest can overcome it.

Only the greatest can embrace both!

Two is better than one, so with that in mind, I'm working on becoming ambidextrous.

Originally posted by lucidnina
Hey Howie, I didn't know you were a lefty too!!

Here's my philosophy: Everyone is born right-handed...only the greatest can overcome it.

That is a good one
They actually used to make left handers write with their right hand among other tasks -back in the day.
Left hand - right hemishere. More inclined to be artistic.?!

Good point Aphius!!!! or points

Dble post bla bla .
I just remebered the other saying.
If a right hander uses the left hemisphere and a left hander uses the right hemisphere then the left hander can only be right!

Most people use their dominant hand as the strumming hand, right hand for righties and left for lefties. The dominant hand/arm is stronger and it's easier to strum and have more control. especially to start as you could just do chords with your weak hand on the neck and eventually you get more control over your fret hand fingers.

Of course I don't think it matters much if you never played a stringed instrument before, when my bro started playing guitar he played right handed strumming even though he is left handed.

Originally posted by Aphius+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Aphius)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-lucidnina

Here's my philosophy: Everyone is born right-handed...only the greatest can overcome it.

Only the greatest can embrace both!

Two is better than one, so with that in mind, I'm working on becoming ambidextrous. [/b]

True.

I am somewhat ambidextrous...I can write decently with my right hand. I play soccer with both feet...I bat right-handed...I hold the guitar like a righty, I shoot pool like a righty, I use the mouse with my right hand and I do...um...other things...right-handed.

Kind of off the subject of guitar lessons but I would be curious to know what effect left, right or ambidextrous people have has far as an advantage to lucid dream.

The neurons connecting the two halves of the brain are called commissures. So you would think an ambidextrous person would either have more of them. Or more efficiant ones.

Originally posted by lucidinia
I am somewhat ambidextrous...I can write decently with my right hand. I play soccer with both feet...I bat right-handed...I hold the guitar like a righty, I shoot pool like a righty, I use the mouse with my right hand and I do...um...other things...right-handed. Very Happy

Emoticon = Very Happy. Hahaha.That is funny.
"Other things". Yes. bastketball

I've always wanted to play guitar both lefty and righty but playing it lefty is still beyond me. I almost bought a left handed guitar once just to practice on it but the left hemisphere of my brain convinced me it would be an extravagant expense... stupid left brain anyway!

Originally posted by Mickeys_Elbow
I've always wanted to play guitar both lefty and righty but playing it lefty is still beyond me. I almost bought a left handed guitar once just to practice on it but the left hemisphere of my brain convinced me it would be an extravagant expense... stupid left brain anyway!

Wow. I would be happy with either at this point.
I also was told left handed guitars are not only more expensive but also harder to come by.

Some guitars have and adjustable bridge and can be tuned to either hand, but many (usually accoustics) have set bridges and cannot be. Left handed guitars are definately not as common but I've never known them to be too hard to come by. But then again I've never really been in a position to need to look, hehe. I suppose the rarer the make of the guitar, the harder it would be to find in a lefty model.

lefty guitars are definitely harder to find than righty ones. for the most part, in my experience it seems they're about the same in cost. i'm a lefty that began playing righty on purpose- the advantage to playing righty being that you can pick up ANYONE'S guitar and play, rather than always have to have your own (no pun intended) handy.

also, if you held the guitar so that the face of the guitar was parallel with the floor, and sighted along the back of the neck from the join with the body to the headstock, you will see that most guitars do not have an even curve from one side to the other; rather the curve is oblong (egg shaped) and thicker on one side than the other. this is to more comfortably accomodate the natural curve of the right hand on righty guitars and the left hand on lefty ones. while this tends to affect playability somewhat, in actuality, the bigger your hands, the easier it is to play most guitars; jimi hendrix flipped a standard "righty" strat over and strung it upside down and it seemed to work ok for him incidentally, if you have small hands, the easiest guitars to learn on are those with a smaller scale length and overall smaller neck dimensions- especially SGs and Les Pauls.

in most newer electric guitars, the poles of the pickups (the electromagnetically polarized metal cylinders aligned perpendicularly to the strings, often covered with a plastic cover or alternately exposed in many cases) are likely tuned to the frequencies generated by the string their field is manipulated by- in other words, you're using the part of the pickup that's actually meant to pick up the lowest tones to pick up the highest ones, and vice-versa. this can be alleviated in many cases by simply flipping the pickups 180 degrees in their cavities- but again, some people like the sound they get by simply stringing the guitar upside down, pickups be damned.

i for one don't believe any of that left-brain right-brain crap corellating creativity and handedness. small-motor physical coordination is not reliant on creativity, they're just different animals. naturally-right-handed guitarists aren't more creative than left-handed ones are, EVERYONE that plays music is accessing more than one part of their brain anyway. music is also the most analytical art form, in that the structures of rhythm, melody, harmony and dissonance are all inherently mathematical in nature.

whatever hand you decide to use, in the end, both hands are working. either hand's function can be as complex as you want it to be (think flamenco or other fingerpicking styles). lefties that play righty might have a small advantage up front in the fingering of chords with their left hand, but using your "good" hand on the bridge end of the strings also carries its own advantages. in the end, both hands have to work together to make anything worth hearing

that's just my $.02 but i've been playing for 21 years now, and everyone i know that plays would agree with what i'm saying. do what seems the most comfortable and stick with it!

Originally posted by infidel+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(infidel)</div>

that's just my $.02 but i've been playing for 21 years now, and everyone i know that plays would agree with what i'm saying. do what seems the most comfortable and stick with it!
[/b]

That was well worth two cents. Or in todays lingo should I say two cent THANKS!!

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i for one don't believe any of that left-brain right-brain crap corellating creativity and handedness. small-motor physical coordination is not reliant on creativity, they're just different animals. naturally-right-handed guitarists aren't more creative than left-handed ones are, EVERYONE that plays music is accessing more than one part of their brain anyway. music is also the most analytical art form, in that the structures of rhythm, melody, harmony and dissonance are all inherently mathematical in nature.

There has to be a scientific explanation of why left & right handers would naturally choose to hold an instrument a certain way. And since the left and right sides of your brain do perform different functions it would seeminly lye in that realm somewhere.
For a left hander he/she would more often than not first choose their left hand for strumming. But you would think they would prefer their greater dextarity of their left hand to play the chords, No? That is why I threw out the idea about rythem. But I don't know.
What I do know is right now I sure can make a lot of noise! Just turn up the disortion.

Yeah I've got no idea why there would be a particular preferance... I'm not sure how much the hemispheres have to do with it - you said before that left handers would maybe be encouraged to be more creative because of their right hemisphere, but I don't think that's a reason. I'm heavily creative (in all modesty) and I play about four instruments, write stories, poems, sing, write essays, cook, paint - just about everything, yet I'm still solidly right-handed. I think it's just what is more comfortable... no idea.

Good luck with the guitar - it's so much fun.

I'm a leftie, but I chose a right handed guitar, mainly cause...my mom's an idiot and that's what she bought me, but I play better than a majority of my right handed friends, so..yea. It felt uncomfortable for about a week or so, but from there on out, it was easy, I can barely play left handed, for me, using a right handed guitar is more rewarding because I can play my friends, ect.

And as far as why the hell I'm left handed...well, I'm not here to philsophize(I think I just made up a new word) cause I suck at it..but there's my two cents.

All hell rainith down on the earth today!

I just learned how to play Ironman on my guitar!

My wife loves

Left-handed people are more creative/artistically inclined because the right hemisphere seems to be where the part of the brain that does that stuff is located. This has been proven in scans.

However what I also understand is that left-handers and ambidextrous people come to be that way through shock as an infant (dropped as a baby etc.), forcing the brain to develop new neural passways. I'm not sure about this 2nd point but it is what I have learned.

Originally posted by Squall
Left-handed people are more creative/artistically inclined because the right hemisphere seems to be where the part of the brain that does that stuff is located. This has been proven in scans.

Not necessarily--this has not been scientifically proven. For example, if one takes a look at many creative geniuses, you will notice a lot are left-handed. But likewise, a great amount are right-handed (I suppose most sites wouldn't mention important right-handed people on a site about lefties).

I couldn't be too sure though, as being left-handed would naturally give the person a tendency to react in a "left" manner (especially when in a right-handed world, where one would need to adapt to items not designed for ones self).

Left-handed people are more creative/artistically inclined because the right hemisphere seems to be where the part of the brain that does that stuff is located. This has been proven in scans.

However what I also understand is that left-handers and ambidextrous people come to be that way through shock as an infant (dropped as a baby etc.), forcing the brain to develop new neural passways. I'm not sure about this 2nd point but it is what I have learned.[/b]

[b]ok, that second part, is defintly not accurate,

People that are right handed, live longer and heal faster - FacT. .. . And I believe, that the 9-1 right-left handed ratio is simply b/c of evolution...but that's just my theory

As for being more creative/artistical, I would agree with Artiistically inclined .. .
but creativeness is a lot more complext then just what sides of your brain are more exercises. . ..

I've been ambidextrous for about a year,

And i am more creative,
but i would say that is just b/c I'm using more of my brain,

Most of the great genuises Einstein, Da Vinci, Etc. . were ambidextrious, Self made,

Ambidextrous people, or people who just use their opposite hand more, violinist...etc...
Have more fibres connecting the two hemispheres of their brain ,
meaning, they have more brain, which is good
haha

I teach guitar, so if anyone ever has any questions !
I'ld be happy to answer
that's wicked that u guys all play,
Some say, play guitar the opposite way of what is comfortable and that will induce more creative thoughts !
who knows ! either way, it's a wicked awesome instrument

well ive been playing about 5-6 years.. i started without lessons.. i learned the basics.. i started lessons after being stuck on the same level for two years... i got nowhere and threw my guitar i nthe corner for a while.. then i got enlightened.. go into REAL music... more music... the music you listen to is really an important part in your playing..if you listen to ie. bands like linkin park, good charlotte etc etc youre propably just gonna stay on that one level, but it depends on yourself if youre satisfied with it... i look at music in a new way now.. and ive picked up a bass, keyboards, i sing and i write more creative/better/far more talented songs that i used to (earlier it was only guitar and some sloppy lyrics. now its ALL of it.. bass,percussion, keyboards, guitar, lyrics, misc. added things)...
it all depends on your mind...