Finally switched to Lefty and not looking back

Introduce Yourself
#1

Hello Pickers!

Member for 1.5 years here. Y’all can call me Vic. I’ve owned 3 or 4 guitars in the 30+ years I’ve been “playing.” I use quotes because I never got to the level where I was happy with my progress. I’ve studied bluegrass tunes for years, but was never able to get up the speed to play with others.

Enter CTC. I did the speed tests to determine my picking technique, revisited my grip, arm position, etc. in BOTH hands and realize that I got better scores while picking with my left hand. I got a hold of a lefty guitar and have been working for the past few months in getting my speed and accuracy up, and now I feel like I’m making progress. It was a rough transition at first to be sure. But working with a picking hand that “just works” has opened up a new love for the instrument.

Incidentally, I write with my left hand but have been practicing to write cursive with my right hand. My right hand cursive looks better than my left hand now. I say all this because I’m not sure what it all means! But it’s an interesting experiment.

Anyhow, my son has inherited my right hand guitars.

Thanks for all your work Troy and Co. After 35 years I finally feel like I’m doing something right…err “left.”

5 Likes
#2

I’ve always wanted to do this as a left handed “writer”. But it would probably take two or three years to get close to my current ability. IDK if the speed is worth it.
What hand do you feel more connected to?

1 Like
#3

Thanks for the response, Whammy! I feel more connected with my left hand. I feel like gripping the pen all these years has made the pick more stable. Throwing a ball or a dart is also done with the left. It’s not even the speed that is the lure for me; it’s that both hands are capable of synching with each other more fluidly. I’m surprised at how quickly the right hand picks up what the left used to do. It’s just a matter of stretching the RH fingers to new positions, strength building and muscle memory; they know where they want to go, I just have to train them to get there.
Personally, I feel the switch was worth it. I’m not performing anyway, so I have time to shed. On another note: I still prefer right hand guitar when doing finger-style picking.
Anyway, thanks for reaching out. Glad to be here.

1 Like
#4

I did the same. Took me a couple of years to get up to speed (no pun intended). Now I am much better than I was in 20 years of right handed playing. Just wish I’d done it sooner.

1 Like
#5

It’s a cool experiment for sure! Though I should point out that you don’t need to abandon your “right handed guitarist” completely: the things you can do in that setup are still there.

So you are basically 2 players in one now :slight_smile:

1 Like
#6

This has come up before in this forum. I had my first guitar lesson when I was like 12 years old and sat down holding the guitar like a lefty because I am left-handed and my teacher just said “you’re holding that backwards flip it around“ so I did. After playing for about two years he sees me writing and he goes “oh you’re left-handed? Why do you hold the guitar like a righty?“ And I told him “because that’s how you told me to hold it.“ So now I’ve been playing 40 years like a righty and I - Believe it or not - still to this day feel like I would be a much better picker if I would switch to playing lefty. After seeing your post today, I think I am going to get a left-handed guitar and try it.

1 Like
#7

I write with my left hand too, but play guitar righthanded. I remember asking a music store clerk whether I should learn to play lefthanded or righthanded. He told me to learn righthanded since there is a larger range of righthanded guitars. It worked out well for me, though.

2 Likes
#8

Tackling crosspicking on Wildwood Flower today and surpassing my previous plateau. Right hand fingers now need to catch up with LH. Using strictly wrist movement, double escape motion, pad side thumb grip. Watched the Molly Tuttle interview several times. I love how fluid she is. Trying her pick angle but not sure if it’s working for me. Cheers everyone, and happy picking!

1 Like
#9

I do feel comfortable doing fingerstyle righthanded. I guess because there’s not much wrist motion there.