Guitar for my kid - any lefty guitarists here?

Man of Honour
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I know many left handers who play right handed and are really good players, the consensus is that if that is how you learn it won't make much difference.
Keyboard players don't get a choice and two of the best session drummers in the country are left handers but play a right handed kit.
Personally if she has never played a guitar before go right handed, is there a friend who can lend you one to see how she goes on?
 
Soldato
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Odd suggestion but if you know someone with a guitar ask if you can borrow it and hand it to her to see which way she naturally holds it.

I'm predominantly right handed but play pool / snooker left handed. Go figure! :o
 
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Son plays right, and we are are all lefties in our family, he is great, been playing since he was almost 9, he's now on grade 2/3. We got a cheap 3/4 acoustic classic from eBay, and it's been great for him so far. He's got a full size one waiting and and electric which is still pretty heavy for him.

I think we paid £7.50 collected for the guitar just after Christmas and looking online they are only £59. :)
 
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Soldato
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As a leftie my philosophy has always been that the world is right handed and it's up to me to fit in for my benefit, not theirs. So I don't have any specific left handed stuff (though I do curse things like scissors regularly) and I play a normal/right handed guitar. It did take me a long time to learn to play 'well', but I blame that on no lessons, no friends who played to learn off, and no YouTube for most of my life. The internet has revolutionised learning anything, especially if you're embarrassed to admit how useless you are. :)

Anyway, I think the argument for a left handed guitar has always been a bit weird. IMO it's the left hand that's doing the hardest job, but even if the right's doing a lot too (for fingerpicking/classical) both hands are having to do a lot in the 'rub your tummy and pat your head' sense, so...

So maybe the way I'd think of it is that if she starts left handed she has a learning lifetime of folk trying to show her things 'the wrong way round'. If she starts right handed she has a potentially steeper learning curve, but a generally simpler life afterwards. But I guess you could also say that if there is a bonus for a left hander with a left handed guitar, the easier it is at the start, the more likely she is to progress and persevere with the left handed disadvantages.

Toss a coin maybe? :)
 
Soldato
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My Dad is left handed and plays left handed.

Maybe try a few in a shop see which feels more comfortable being the best option. Wouldn't force right handed though. Once gets to grips with chords etc then regardless needs to start learning to read music or tableture to make things easier.
 
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I was born a lefty but my dad (who is a lefty) made me be a righty when I was young cos it is a right handed world. Although that has changed a lot.

I don’t think there is much to it tbh. Take her to a guitar store and see what one she is more comfortable with?

It may also be easier for her to learn as a lefty and copy a righty as it’s a mirror, thin anecdote but that’s why Phil Mickleson plays golf left handed despite being right handed, he found it easier to watch his dad and copy, might be similar for guitar?
 
Soldato
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Gear4Music do a 30 day money back guarantee...if it's an option you could order a left handed and right handed guitar then send one of them back

or you could get the cheapest acoustic guitar you can find (£10 on gumtree or something) and just let her try it to see what feels best..the body of an acoustic guitar like you linked to is symmetrical so would be easy to try it both ways just as a test
 
Soldato
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I used to play. The single biggest issue with being a lefty regardless of classical/acoustic/electric is a massively smaller number of quality instruments you can buy, although at the entry-level there's sufficient choice and tbh the majority of people that play guitar only ever play low to mid-range instruments anyway. Playing right-handed always felt off to me, even as a total beginner so I learnt lefty but at this point I was 16 or something and set in my ways a bit more than a 9 year old might be.

Biggest thing with a guitar is that it's set-up (and can be set up due to build quality) correctly so that it's not an effort to play. The bottom of the barrel instruments usually aren't great here but you don't have to spend much more to get something better. I don't know much about classical guitars, only a bit about regular acoustic ones and the most about electric but I imagine it applies across them all.
 
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If you can wait it out hold off until you get get to a guitar shop so she can sit down and try them, look at them and feel them, a guitar that doesn't feel right or doesn't look right means she wont want to play it.

Also unless you have reason or she strictly wants acoustic let her try out some electric guitars, much easier to play for a new player.

This doesn't mean it has to be an expensive guitar but at lower price points there is a big difference between each model.

As for Lefty, if she has no experience I would highly recommend getting her to try holding it right handed, if she sticks to it the choice is much much bigger going forward.
 
Soldato
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Many left handed models of guitars out there. Hey Hendrix was left handed.

If it weren't for lockdown I'd have said head to Guildford and go to Andertons Music. Tin Pan Alley aka Denmark Street in London is not what it used to be.

I'm assuming you are a Londoner!

I purchased my last guitar at Andertons and had so much fun in the store, they are great, try drums, keyboards, bass etc.... Whilst you wait for your axe.

Left handed or right it doesn't matter, just learn to rock!

Also, Joe Satriani the best, living, guitarist alive today. Taught so many and still produces tracks that mesmerizes many.

Blame the vodka for any spelling or grammatical errors.

Edit: Just read others, you can "force" to learn right handed but don't conform, this is what rock is about, Rebel.
 
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Soldato
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That really won't be much good.
I would honestly wait until shops are open so she can sit with one and put her fingers on the strings.

It's quite funny when I see your name, one of the best bass players I've worked with is called Dec Brennen :)

Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it from a musician. I'd like to take her to a proper shop but it might not be passible before her birthday, end of April.

R.E the name, I signed up to a charity bike ride on (I forget which charity tbh) from Cork to Kilkenny, but they got everything wrong and I ended up with a bib saying d_brennen. I was stone last but they held up the riders for a photo op and I ended up riding trough the town in front. Made the local rag too :p That's been my online alias since
 
Soldato
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If you can wait it out hold off until you get get to a guitar shop so she can sit down and try them, look at them and feel them, a guitar that doesn't feel right or doesn't look right means she wont want to play it.

Also unless you have reason or she strictly wants acoustic let her try out some electric guitars, much easier to play for a new player.

This doesn't mean it has to be an expensive guitar but at lower price points there is a big difference between each model.

As for Lefty, if she has no experience I would highly recommend getting her to try holding it right handed, if she sticks to it the choice is much much bigger going forward.

This is the problem, she wants to learn but I don't want to start her up wrong. Some things I've read say it doesn't matter as that's how you learned it, I cant help on this one :p
 
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