Learn Guitar Software

[Shari Alvine]

Iactually started off playing on an electric guitar before I picked up an acoustic many months later. I had already made good progress on my electric, and soon realised that all you needed to do in order to get a good sound on the acoustic was to make a couple of adjustments. First, I needed to press down slightly harder on the strings, and second, since the neck on my acoustic was slightly wider, I needed to make a small adjustment with my left hand fingering. However, I did notice that the way you hold it is the same, the technique is the same and all of the chords I learned on electric could be easily transferred to acoustic. I am now extremely proficient on both instruments, so learning electric first does not hinder your ability to be able to play an acoustic guitar if you choose to do so. Of course, if you are inspired by other guitarists who play acoustic guitar and this is the path you want to go down, then by all means go and get yourself an acoustic. However, if the reason for you wanting to take up guitar is that you are inspired by electric guitarists, then the best purchase for you will be an electric.

In my opinion, you should only purchase a classical guitar if you want to take classical guitar lessons. Although the strings are easier to press down on, the necks on most classical guitars are much wider, and require a certain left hand discipline in order to get the best out of the instrument. Of course, if your goal is to become a proficient classical or flamenco guitarist, then by all means go ahead and purchase a classical guitar and find a great teacher who specialises in this style. However, if your vision for your guitar journey is play your favourite songs that you hear on the radio, then purchasing a classical guitar will not be the best option for you. Instead, it would be much better for you to pick up either an electric or acoustic as your first instrument.

So which type of guitar should you learn on? Is it better to learn on acoustic or electric guitar? The correct answer to this question is of course, whichever one inspires you to keep playing the most. As mentioned above, if you want to emulate electric guitar greats such as Slash, David Gilmour and Brian May, then you will definitely find more inspiration from picking up and plugging in an electric guitar. However, if you are inspired by the more singer songwriter approach of artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bob Dylan or Taylor Swift, then perhaps you will be more inclined to begin your guitar journey on an acoustic guitar instead of an electric.

Learning right handed has the obvious advantage that right handed guitars seem to be much more available. Everyone has a right handed guitar, so it would be easier for him to just pick up a friends guitar at a jam. Also, it would be possible for me to play it to show him the ropes.

I am left handed, but play guitar right handed with no problems. My 10 year old son does some things left handed and some things right handed (including playing guitar). I think as long as he's not trying to "un-learn" how to play left handed he shouldn't have any issues.

Some left-handers play a right-handed guitar, but hold it with the neck to the right, so the bass string is nearest the floor. They learn the chord shapes up-side-down. As you've already observed, this is handy for picking up someone else's guitar and jamming.

To avoid spending money on a lefty guitar, you could try him out on a right-handed guitar restrung with the strings the other way around. If it turns out to be more than a temporary experiment, you'd want to have the guitar set up for that configuration (adjustments to the nut and the bridge), and of course if there's a scratch plate or a cutaway, those would be in the wrong place -- and when that becomes an irritation, it's time to invest in a left-handed guitar.

I've been playing for 20 years, am left handed, and learned right-handed. In my opinion, this made it easier for me to learn, as my dominant hand was doing the "more complicated" stuff for a long time. The strumming is largely simple motions unless you're looking at playing really sweet fingerstyle (which you shouldn't have a problem with anyhoe if you're picking up piano).

I claim this, since the right hand (whether on the hi-hat or ride) in drums plays an identical role to the right hand (strumming) a guitar. Many drum beats require straight 8th/16th notes on the hi-hat (ride), and - at least for acoustic guitar - downstrokes on the guitar are typically straight 8th/16th notes as well. (And accented sticking would be analogous to strum patterns...)

Some of my favorite guitarists -- Mark Knopfler and Duane Allman come to mind first -- are left-handed people who play right-handed. And at least one guitarist I know of -- Eric Gales -- is a right-handed guitarist who plays left-handed. Name a way you can play a guitar and I can name a guitarist who made brilliant music like that.

But I would certainly try right-handed before you go left-handed, to see if you could pick that up, because the choices of instruments are just that much greater. If you want a right-handed Strat, you have lots of choices. If you want a left-handed Fender Strat, you have the choice of white, black or sunburst.

Also, consider an orchestra. You think all the people in the strings section are right-handed? But they all play right-handed, because ... if they didn't, they'd always poke each other with the bows.

But, ultimately, for me, I tried to learn lefty, only about 25 years ago, and my left hand always wanted to turn out and my right hand wanted to turn in. Playing lefty just felt wrong. Playing righty might just be wrong for your stepson, like playing lefty is for me.

The answer is definitely yes. The preference for using one hand to another is generally tempered by other activities of skill in these modern times. It is now more common than ever to find left-handed individuals being able to perform right-handed activities, as you say your step-son can play right handed drums.

I myself was a right-handed guitar (Hendrix) beginner when I was 10 years old and I forced myself to play guitar on the left - my dominant hand (right) thus becoming the strumming hand. This was not natural for about 3 months but again, the through practice and conditioning, like all skills, this can be acquired.

The reason I will put forward for the dominant hand being the strumming hand is due to rhythm and your possession or control of it. Ambidexterity (which is rare in guitarists) is where a player has cross-dominance of either hand. This means that you essentially do not have a MUSCULAR PREFERENCE. But most of us do not have cross-dominance - but prefer a side. In fact, humans as a species tend to be more right-handed. Some studies indicate that this right-handedness has something to do with the right hand's (and the brain's) ability to interpret and perform rhythmic patterns.

I'm not a neuroscientist, but it's interesting to note that the DOMINANT hand has been observed to be able to carry a constant and "faster" beat. ie. 16ths notes as opposed to 1/4 th notes: similar to a drum pattern for a standard drummer where the high-hat is tapped by the right hand and the "slower" beat is kept by the left.

So, the guitar without the fretting, is essentially a rhythm instrument. The strumming hand needs to perform a skilled task of keeping time and being dextrous to also be able to accent individual notes/strings. This is similar to the drummer analogy above. This preference is innate and "natural" - similar to tapping your hands against your hips, one keeps a fast beat the other keeps a slow beat but both in time - which hand do you prefer for the faster/slower? This simple test should be a good indicator of which end your guitar will go.

Most people focus solely on the fretting hand as being the driving factor in determining guitar "sides". I think this is really a judgement of comfort between the jobs that the two hands need to perform: If there is a natural order to strike the strings instead of intricate finger-work you will quickly see this and that should determine whether you are left/right handed.

I would definitely recommend learning left-handed. I initially began playing musical instruments (violin) at an extremely early age, before I or my parents knew I was left-handed. The teacher said "get a right-handed violin because left-handed violins are rare and typically far more expensive". I learned how to play righty, but I was always behind my peers which was frustrating but, in hindsight, was the result of having a more difficult time learning. I still play right-handed, and learned guitar right-handed, and overcame the obstacle, but, in my eyes, any way to remove obstacles in learning a new (and often frustrating) instrument further ensure your maintained level of interest and enjoyment.

IME, whether you're "left-handed" or "right-handed" at anything is a coin toss. I'm right-handed in almost everything I do, but I shoot left in hockey. It's the oddest thing, cause I bat and golf right-handed (opposite hand position).

I would put the guitar in his hands and ask if it feels comfortable. If it does not, then flip the guitar over. If that feels more "natural" to him, then he's a Southpaw plain and simple, and he has three choices in a right-handed world; learn to play right-handed anyway (despite it feeling "odd"; he will gain some feeling of familiarity with practice), learn to play ambidextrously (so he can play a right or left-handed guitar), or learn to play "upside-down" (quite a few notable Southpaws learned the guitar/bass by flipping a right-hander over so the high E is on top of the guitar, and mirroring all the chord and scale patterns).

My older brother who is left handed learned left handed guitar. I would suggest that you do the same. Do not allow us right handed folks to corrupt you and make you think that you must adapt to our right handed ways! Embrace the left hand and get a left handed guitar.

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