Guitar Nerds Anonymous

I'd have given up and flamed him all over teh netz by now. But i'm a petty little man.

I'd be far too critical and picky.

I think that's the saving grace, I'm very sure it's going to be utterly perfect when it does arrive!

I've decided to jump on two bandwagons.
#1 - the learn something new in lockdown
#2 - to learn something new before I'm 60
So - hopefully if all goes to plan I'll soon have time on my hands to ride my bike and learn the guitar.
So I've looked up the best guitars for left handed beginners. That cuts the list down for sure.
Any advice? I don't like buying the cheapest, it often means almost giving away when moving up or deciding it's now for me. But I also have to get FD approval so don't want to break the bank.
Listening to the sound (and accepting I'm never going to get there) I loved the sound of the Epiphone Hummingbird Pro (but don't think it comes in LH).
Happy to buy second hand from a trusted source
cheers

The Yamaha APX series offers really good value at various price points, IME, though I've never looked for a lefty

Nice guitar, but as you say it doesn’t seem to be available as a lefty.

For similar money, and if you like dreadnought guitars, I’d go for something like an Alvarez:

I had an Alvarez jumbo in the past, and it was an excellent guitar for the money, I sometimes wish I still had it.

Oh and something that I think neatly ties guitars and bikes together is that entry level versions of both can be prone to making life unfairly difficult for the beginner. If you can pick up something nice second hand it definitely helps, rather than battling with the high action and lack of sustain of a cheaper instrument and getting discouraged.

Admittedly the analogy works best for children's bikes, and with acoustic guitars probably only really applies to the sub-£200 category

I'm not left handed, so this could be rubbish advice...

I know two guys who are left handed, both of whom decided to learn to play right handed from the outset just to avoid the hassle and lack of choice (anything you want, as long as it's a black strat) in dealing with left handed guitars.

I imagine you'd also lose the abilty to just pick up any instrument and go for it if you ever end up playing with / around other people.

Serious question, as a beginner are you sure you need to learn left handed? I’m left handed in day to day life but play right handed. My old man is the same.

Having more dexterity (ironic word) in your left hand arguably makes more sense for a lot of “right handed” playing as your right hand is just hitting the strings... until you get into tricky finger style stuff anyway.

You end up needing to develop both hands so it’s not like a one-handed activity where you will naturally go to your dominant hand.

^ one of the guys in my band did this, plays bass and guitar righty but plays drums lefty (is a lefty)

I'd agree with the above tips to learn with a RH guitar. Thinking about it, are there many other instruments that cater for those who are LH? Plus you'd need to transpose guitar tablature and a lot of other learning methods.

New tooobe amp arrived today. 'kinell it's loud. (15W harley benton job)

I'm getting a irregular faint pop/static-y sound, which I've tracked back to my work computer which seems to cause interference when anything is processing (ie. a lot of the time). Are there any good devices or power extension strips that can take care or this for me?

I don't think there are many. In something like an orchestra I bet they don't accomodate left handed instruments just for the sake of the seating arrangement.
It would really mess up if there was a left handed string player in the middle for example - they'd all be hitting each other's bows. Or a left handed flautist who'd need twice as much space

never thought about this but yeah LH guitar totally doesn't seem to make sense when starting from scratch does it?

what regal says.

Interesting about the left/right.
I write and play racket sports left handed, but golf and cricket right handed and catch equally well with either hand. Anything requiring dexterity such as using tools on the bike is left handed.
I may see anyone locally to me from work has a right handed instrument for me to borrow for a couple of weeks. Would I know by then if it feels natural enough?

Wilko !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFLaVOKzQPc

The benefit of learning on a RH guitar is that your left hand will be naturally stronger and so barre chords should be a little easier for you when starting out, which seems to be a stumbling block for a lot of beginners.

Exciting times!!

As mentioned by a few others you may be as well playing RH if you're starting totally from scratch! It'll make purchasing gear an awful lot easier anyway!

If you do decide to go for a left handed guitar I suspect Eastman and Takamine would have a few lovely choices and depending on the budget Taylor guitars are sublime ieven in their lower, more basic models!

What sort of music do you like or want to play and what sort of budget were you thinking?

Also, my personal recommendation for a first acoustic guitar would be to choose one without a cutaway and without any electrics, pickup or onboard preamp. It'll mean your money is going towards the best guitar rather than a bunch of stuff you're not going to actually
use and there is something inherently lovelier about the simplicity of a non-cutaway fully acoustic guitar.

a guitar teacher who is trying to teach himself how to play like a southpaw.

https://www.justinguitar.com/modules/nitsuj-grade-1-practice

It’s probably getting picked up by the guitar pickups (test by moving closer/further away), in which case humbuckers (or moving further away) should solve it. If it’s coming through the amp with nothing connected, try changing power sockets and moving it further away from the PC.
If your computer is a laptop, run it off the battery without a power adaptor.

I write and play racket sports left handed, but golf and cricket right handed and catch equally well with either hand. Anything requiring dexterity such as using tools on the bike is left handed.

I’m almost the same, I write and draw with my left, use a knife/scalpel with my left, racquet stuff left handed, but cricket right handed, and weirdly I throw/catch with my right hand. Tools are random, hammer left screwdriver right. No idea why. But many things I can do with either hand to some extent - I think you just get inadvertently forced to do that sometimes as a lefty, eg with scissors.

Tony Iommi (a left hander) suffered a nasty injury to two fingers on his right hand just as his career was taking off and went through a long period of rehabilitation and learning/adapting to it. Many years later he said if he’d known then what he knows now he would have re-learned to play right handed.

If you live anywhere near N1 you're welcome to borrow one of mine for a few weeks to try out? No idea if you'd 'know' - I'd say unless it feels totally useless/alien trying to get your right hand to strum/pick then it should be fine to keep going that way...

I think you just get inadvertently forced to do that sometimes as a lefty, eg with scissors.

I think we forget how we adapt to using ‘handed’ implements.

Many thanks, that is extremely generous. I’m on the south coast so is not a practical option. I know a few people at work who play so I’ll chat to them.

Meant to say, this website is fantastic for beginners (and not-beginners - as an out of practice old hack I’ve learned loads from it as well) - go to all lessons and just start at the beginning.

My son (9) just started and is following the course - if something like this had been available when I learned I might actually have become a decent player.

yup - me three. and another new guitar upstart from these parts who shall remain nameless has also started learning with yer man.

he has pretty questionable taste in music, mind. i'm NOT playing along to any RHFCP bollocks, i don't care how useful the chord progressions are for practice purposes.