Age Old Question - R. Handed or L. Handed Uke?

phydaux

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I have to make a confession to the forum - I am a sinister man. As opposed to dexter. That is to say, I am left-handed.

When I was younger I tried to learn the guitar. After mulling it over, I decided to learn the guitar right handed. That way, I presumed, I would be able to lend my guitar to other people, or borrow someone else's guitar and play it.

After a year or so I got generally proficient with my left hand on the fret board, but I noticed that my right hand struggled with anything other than strums. Finger-picking or flat-picking scales & arpeggios any faster than 40 BPM was a disaster.

One day I decided to switch, and restrung my guitar lefty. I immediately noticed an improvement with finger-picking & flat-picking. But when I tried to make my right hand finger chords, my hand simply didn't know what to do, and my head swam when I tried to figure out what the left-handed chord shapes should be.

The experiment lasted about two weeks. I restrung my guitar, confined to struggle to improve, and eventually slid it under my bed where it remained for many years.

Now I'm kicking around the idea of picking up a baritone uke, and I can't decide if I should get a righty or a lefty.

What does the prevailing wisdom of the forum say?
 
I think it all comes down to how much you work at it. In high school in the 1960s I took up guitar as did many of my friends influenced by the Beatles. One friend was a lefty and decided to teach himself on an upside down righty guitar playing lefty, not strung for lefty. He had to "see" the finger positions upside down. He got very good because he worked at it.

My suggestion is no matter which way you choose, you have to work at it diligently.


This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 6 acoustic bass ukes, 12 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 41)

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I'm left handed who plays right handed. Probably because of the nuns who taught violin in elementary school during the '50's. If you can handle right handed, I'd go that way. Strumming, no matter which hand, is usually the hardest thing to get down. My brother is a true lefty, he couldn't play right handed no matter how hard he tried. Some of us lefty's are somewhat ambidextrous. As Mike mentioned, no matter which hand you decide to play in, a person has to work diligently.
 
Our group has had in the past, one 'lefty' who strung his uke 'upside down' to play that way, and we had another 'lefty' who played a normally strung (ie right handed) uke the same way as the majority.Whatever is most comfortable for you will do the trick!
 
I am somewhat ambidextrous, though considered a southpaw because I write and eat with my left hand. So playing right-handed felt correct to me.

Finger picking is very hard for me. My hand just doesn't want to do what my brain tells it to without doing it slowly, over and over and over... again. With lots of mistakes along the way.

I found that learning some picking patterns first help my hand to get used to plucking strings and locate where they are without looking. Now, I am using the "Stay-at-Home" to try to learn fingerstyle. It ain't easy, but my fingers are used to picking individual strings, and that is a good thing. Now if I could only get my finger to always go to the E string and my other hand to play the correct fret on the E string at the same time, boy would I be good! (I'm better than I was last week. And even yesterday. A month ago I was hopeless.)

It's all repetition and muscle memory. Your brain will adapt as will your hands.
 
I'm left handed but play guitar and ukulele right handed. I began as a young child on violin and piano and both hands seemed equally important so I didn't even consider one hand being more dominant. After playing violin for a few years I took up the guitar and it seemed natural to put my left hand on the guitar fingerboard. Plus, left hand technique is more complicated so it makes more sense to use the stronger and more dexterous hand to run, leap and arpeggiate. The result of a lifetime of playing is I'm pretty ambidextrous and can, for example draw and trace masks in PhotoShop equally well with both hands. But, yeah, each individual is unique and you have to make the choice that works best for you. I have a friend whom switched back and forth from left to right several times and, after some struggle, seemed to play about the same. He did it in tennis too!
 
...I have a friend whom switched back and forth from left to right several times and, after some struggle, seemed to play about the same. He did it in tennis too!

There used to be a pro tennis player who never hit backhand. Instead, he always hit forehand with either his right or his left hand.

I use a mouse with my right hand and a stylus with my left. Either hand with a paintbrush (both canvas and houses). But for fine detail drawing/painting I always use my left. Which seams to translate to fretting pretty well.

Do what feels right. It'll come to you.
 
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