Hey all, Im a left hander, on a right hand guitar

[Amorphis]

I have the Yamaha eg303 electric, and I have been playing it for 5 months left handed, its right handed set up. I dont have money to make it left handed set up, are there any chords or tabs i can learn to play my guitar better? i can play the begining of Metallica fade to black, system of a down toxicity, small part of nothing else matters from metallica, enter sandman, i dont know any letters for chords, the only chord i do know is a bar choord, which i can play pretty well. Any advice? :)

[The Fury]

Do you mean that your playing it upside down, with the fattest string closest to the floor? If you learn to play this way round I imagine it will take a lot of getting used to if you ever decide to string your guitar the way most convential guitars are strung(thinnest string closest to the floor).
I'm not saying it can't be done, but I've only ever heard of one other person doing this-the guitarist from the Super Furry Animals. You may not know them, the're a Welsh band.

You could use normal tab that you find on the internet but you would have to reverse it and you may find some chords allmost impossible to play.

Example:

el------------------------(thinnest string)
Bl---------------------
Gl--------------------------
Dl--------0-----3--------
Al---3--------------------
El----------------------(thickest string)

This is how it would be for you:

El------------------------(thickest)
Al---3---------------------
Dl-------0------3--------
Gl--------------------
Bl--------------------
el----------------------(thinnest)

Normal internet tablature is written as the first example.(That is the view of the strings when playing)

I don't want to discorage you from playing, I just think it will be a lot harder for you to learn.

Still check out all the lessons here at cyberfret because the thoery will be the same(scales etc..) just remember that all the tabs, chord charts and scale charts will be reversed.

[cyberfret]

You are playing a right handed guitar flipped around so that you are fretting your chords with your right hand.....so that the thickest lowest sounding string is closest to the floor..... I don't know how to say this strongly enough.....but do not do that!! You really just put an extreme limitation on what you can play.

My first advice would be to flip it back around and just learn to play it correctly the way that it is strung.....right handed.

Here is something to read that will give you my opinion about making the decision to play right handed or left handed.
http://www.cyberfret.com/q-and-a/11/index.htm

If you absolutely positively can not play right handed.....spend the money and have the guitar switched over so that it is strung left handed. It will probably cost around $40(US). If you just can not come up with the cash, play right handed. But the longer you just chose to play backwards, the harder it is going to be to switch. Now you might be able to do your own thing....have your own style, and that is fine. But if you want play tunes from other artist....like Metallica. It will be nearly impossible since that is not the way the they have their guitars strung.

--Shawn

[Amorphis]

Hey guess what! I went to my music store, took my 8 year old clarinet ^^ as well as my yamaha eg303 electric, traded both in for a squire left handed electric! Ok now that I can play regular, are the tabs, chords, scales, etc. the same as the right handed ones? Is there a difference now that when I play left the thickest string is facing upwards and the thinnest string facing downwards..

[Problem Child]

Ok now that I can play regular, are the tabs, chords, scales, etc. the same as the right handed ones?
No, I think they're all mirrored.
Is there a difference now that when I play left the thickest string is facing upwards and the thinnest string facing downwards..
Hmm, yea, I'd say that there is a HUGE difference. You'll have to relearn all chords you have ever learned. It's all hmm... up side down for you now.

[Amorphis]

Im confused :/

[jaytee]

hmmm....lets see
i think what problem child meant be "mirrored" is this:

if a right handed person looks at say a chord diagram, they see the nut at the top, low E on the left (fattest string) and in my mind i rotate that picture so the nut is on the left and as if im looking thru the paper from the backside so it looks like my guitar as i hold it. fattest string on top skinniest on bottom.
but if a left handed person looks at the chord diagram, they must rotate it to copy the way their guitar looks as they hold it, meaning, nut on the *right* and fattest string on top, like you are looking at the paper directly from the front with the writing against the strings while you hold it.

does that make sense? i dont know. but what you need to do is look at your picture and decide which string represents the low E and which side the nut is on, then keep it relative to the way you see your guitar as you hold it. draw out a chord diagram and label it so you can match it up and see what i mean.

(by the way, probably everything you will find will be written for a right handed player, so youll have to learn to accomodate for this. it would have been easier to learn to play right handed i think, but, i could be wrong since ive never tried any other way!)

with the chords you have learned...you fret the same string as you did before, but since, lets say, you learned an "A" chord using the skinnier strings at the top (234), you now must relearn it because the skinnier strings are now towards the bottom. its still strings 2,3,and4. its not that the chord formation has changed, its that your finger positions have. but the chords are still the "same" strings "same" frets *relative to the nut*, as long as you know which string is which and always counted your frets as you move away from the nut.

i hope that makes sense. it makes sense in my head but its hard to explain without making a confusing mess out of it.

good luck. i think if you look at your chord diagrams and try to match them up to your neck, youll realize what i mean and be ok. not a huge disaster *YET*, but one you are on your way to fixing.

--jt

[Krieselman13]

Originally posted by cyberfret
You are playing a right handed guitar flipped around so that you are fretting your chords with your right hand.....so that the thickest lowest sounding string is closest to the floor..... I don't know how to say this strongly enough.....but do not do that!! You really just put an extreme limitation on what you can play.

My first advice would be to flip it back around and just learn to play it correctly the way that it is strung.....right handed.

Here is something to read that will give you my opinion about making the decision to play right handed or left handed.
http://www.cyberfret.com/q-and-a/11/index.htm

If you absolutely positively can not play right handed.....spend the money and have the guitar switched over so that it is strung left handed. It will probably cost around $40(US). If you just can not come up with the cash, play right handed. But the longer you just chose to play backwards, the harder it is going to be to switch. Now you might be able to do your own thing....have your own style, and that is fine. But if you want play tunes from other artist....like Metallica. It will be nearly impossible since that is not the way the they have their guitars strung.

--Shawn

Shawn, that is the most f**ked up thing I have heard people say. Even to me! You will never be half as good as you will if you play if left habded.

Its good that you got that left handed guitar. But you should have paid the little extra and gotten an Ibanez. Ibanez guitars are good for Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Well,

LATERS