Question for left-handed ukers

I'm going to start teaching my daughter and her friend the uke. The daughter is a lefty while her friend is a righty. I'm thinking it might be easier to have them both play righty. Daughter does have a natural tendency to pick up the uke as a lefty even though she doesn't really play it. Do you think it would be a problem starting her as a righty?

Ronnie Aloha said:

I'm going to start teaching my daughter and her friend the uke. The daughter is a lefty while her friend is a righty. I'm thinking it might be easier to have them both play righty. Daughter does have a natural tendency to pick up the uke as a lefty even though she doesn't really play it. Do you think it would be a problem starting her as a righty?

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As a lefty, my advice would be to try to get her to play right handed. I wish someone would have pushed me in that direction when I got my first ukulele (I was 8!) and reversed the strings. If playing righty is too difficult for her, certainly let her go lefty. Converting ukuleles to left handed is easy, if she ever wants to take up guitar, THEN it starts getting EXPENSIVE and frustrating (walk into any high end store and look at all the instruments that you CAN'T play).

Jimmy

Thanks Jimmy. I was kind of hoping playing right would be OK. Its like golf, much easier to find right clubs.

I would never advocate pushing her if she really finds it difficult to adjust to and it feels unnatural. That being said, if she can play righty, her life will be much easier. I have a friend who plays lefty and reverses all the strings, but she used to tell me that chord diagrams were really hard for her because she had to transpose them in her head.

It isn't unheard of...just think of all the baseball players who throw right and bat either left or switch hit from both sides. It is an acquired skill anyway, and you can probably teach your body to use your non dominant hand if you start that way from the beginning. Good luck to you and the girls!

Wow, if she picks it up, what a stable of ukes she will have to choose from -- dad's Pineapple Sunday or Sceptre or Kamaka, etc.

Then there's those of us playing right handed instruments left handed.
I find the chord diagrams plenty easy the way they are. What is a challenge is trying to work out finger placement looking at someone else playing.

Oh, and playing E is not as difficult for me, so there's one in the plus column.

great thread! I have a lefty that I was wondering how to deal with too, my niece. I'll have to think about it some more. It's been kind of holding me back from teaching her because I am unsure of what to do.

As a lefty myself, I say let her play lefty - it's really not that big a deal. It will probably be easier for her to learn that way, so she won't get frustrated and quit when it seems unnatural to be playing right handed.

I am a lefty as well and play right handed. I have recently started playing and have adapted fine. I suggest you let her try playing right handed and monitor her progress. If you that she is struggling, especially compared to her friend, have her switch.

- Jack

I'll tell you this, being a lefty keeps my UAS slightly in check. Admiring those videos from NAMM, and seeing things I'd want but aren't for me (blackbird carbon uke, riptides).
I'll just have to console myself with other ukes.

I'd also say you should try teaching her to play like a righty. Do they make left-handed pianos or left-handed clarinets? Not that I know of.

It takes two hands to play uke and both are equally important. Starting out, lefty may have a slight advantage on the fretboard, righty may have a slight advantage on the strumming/picking end. But that evens out as you learn to play.

No, I have friends who are left handed but learned guitar right handed. Different instrument, same idea.