Lefties and Righties alike!

[peewee]

There's also the Dick Dale solution, just flip the thing over and learn to play with the string order reversed. Who knows, you might end up with a whole new sound like he did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CnurLcxRY&feature=related

On the other hand, I think a leftie instrument strung the normal way might have an overlooked advantage:
if a right hander is showing you a lick, you can stand in front of them and mirror their moves rather than having to mentally flop the fingerings.

 

[Bob-in-Alberta]

My two cents worth: I'm a left handed man that plays the uke (not very well yet, but plays) right handed. Why? I took guitar lessons for a short period of time about forty years ago and my guitar teacher thought that it would be easier to learn right handed instead of left. His reasoning was that: 1. Most guitars are already strung for right handed people 2. He was right handed as were most other people so it would be easier to learn if I did it the more conventional way and (here is the one that made the most sense to me) 3. Everyone has a dominant hand. My being left handed just meant that I would be more adept at the fingering part and would have to work on the picking part more. That made sense to me. When I was shopping for my ukulele last fall I picked it up for the first time in a right handed fashion and had my wife (who is also left handed) give me a strange look as she tried to figure out how to hold the one that she was looking at. The habit had obviously stuck for four decades with no enforcement. As a southpaw in a right handed world we're all used to adapting everyday.

 

[heymak]

Part of my problem too, was that I had been playing air guitar lefthanded all my life. Hard to switch now...

Except now I play air ukulele instead.

 

[Kimokeo]

What an awesome story! That must feel great to help and inspire young musicians--good for you!!!!

Not just "young" musicians. I'm recently retired, and have wanted to learn to play the uke for quite a while. I'm 61 yrs. old, and left-handed in everything I do. At my age, I will not change now. I just want to learn enough to be able to strum along with some songs, and play a few "easy" ones myself. I'm not looking to entertain anyone but myself! Thanks for your story. I feel better about being a left-handed beginner.

 

[Pukulele Pete]

What will you do if he decides he wants to play the piano ?