Lefty in a predominantly Right-handed World - Help appreciated.

[Emrsnp]

I'm a COMPLETE Newbie on playing any sort of instrument. I selected the Mandolin for it's unique voice and sound. I recently bought a used Left-handed Mandolin w/ a pick-up to grow along-side with.

(By the way, I tried using a right-handed mandolin for 2 weeks. I don't think it's for me. I feel like I'm mashing through the strings while fretting and feel like my right fingers/wrist/forearm are super stiff). I feel more comfortable/relaxed when I use a lefty Mandolin. The chords sound better too, when I use Left vs. right).

1. Any references/books I should use in particular (for Lefties)?
2. I'm getting lost in the sea of chords and which one to use?
3. I want to have a good technique as a solid foundation. Any thoughts on what I should do? Online resources?
4. Any considerations I should know about for being a lefty?

My goal is to grow along side my instrument, and have fun with it. I don't intend to play in front of anyone. Just me. Just because I'm playing for myself that doesn't mean I want to be 'awful' at it either.

[George R. Lane]

Here is the Cafe's own chord chart for lefties. Hope it helps.

https://www.mandolincafe.com/cgi-bin/chords/ch-left.pl

[bratsche]

Search is your friend. Welcome to MandolinCafe!

bratsche

[Emrsnp]

Thanks. Does it matter which variation I use? When is 1 variation better than the other?

[Emrsnp]

"bratsche" /Viola? Not sure I understand what that means. (As I said, I'm a complete noob).
Is there a link between Violas and Mandolin w/ regards to Lefties?

[bratsche]

No, it's just my handle - I'm a violist (and right-handed). As such, I tend to play Mandola mostly - same tuning. Bratsche is the German word for viola.

bratsche

[choctaw61]

Welcome to the café, Emrsnp!check out brad lairds web page.He's a member here.Mandolessons,Baron is also a member here.lots of free stuff at both sites. Check out peg head nation,Don julin's" Mandolin heals the world.Don't forget to join the newbies group here also. So much info here. Can't list it all. I'm also a lefty that plays lefty.Nothing wrong with that.Get ready and enjoy the ride.

[Emrsnp]

welcome to the café, emrsnp!check out brad lairds web page.he's a member here.mandolessons,baron is also a member here.lots of free stuff at both sites. Check out peg head nation,don julin's" mandolin heals the world.don't forget to join the newbies group here also. So much info here. Can't list it all. I'm also a lefty that plays lefty.nothing wrong with that.get ready and enjoy the ride.

thanks!

[sblock]

Well, I'm a (strong) lefty who plays the mandolin righty, and the 5-string banjo, too. There are a whole bunch of us out there, in fact; we probably constitute the majority of all left-handed mandolinists! And the most famous lefty who plays the mandolin right-handed is none other than --- drum roll! -- the great Chris Thile. I rest my case.

If you're just starting out with a fretboard instrument, then you should very seriously consider forcing yourself to learn to play right-handed from the start. And don't complain that you can't, or that you don't "feel comfortable" that way. Get over it. That's only true at the very beginning, I'd argue. The fact of the matter is that you need to be adept with BOTH HANDS to play an instrument well! Realize that there are no "left-handed" pianos or organs. And darn few left-handed violins, violas, or cellos, either. But there are plenty of keyboard and string virtuosos who are left-handed. It is simply not true that you cannot learn to be just as good right-handed as left-handed, particularly if you're just starting out, and this has nothing to do with the degree of hand dominance, or an early (and transient!) sense of discomfort. Stick with it, I say.

There are several obvious advantages conferred by playing righty. First and foremost, you won't require a custom instrument, and the universe of mandolins, both new and used, that becomes potentially available to you is hugely bigger. There are no Loar-signed Gibsons from the 1920's that were made left-handed, to my knowledge. The vast majority of the best mandolins are all right-handed. And the best deals for purchasing both new and used instruments are usually for the right-handed instruments, as well. Second, there's less chance of bumping into the player next to you, on stage or in a jam, or in an orchestra situation (which is why there are almost no left-handed violins or other strings). Third, it's a whole lot easier to "read" the hands of another player who's playing the same way, as you learn in playing situations by watching others. Finally, unless you play an A model, you won't need to worry about a custom case, either.

Please consider it, anyway.

[choctaw61]

There u have it. Always just a matter of time.one will jump in.So it is My ways right always yours is wrong lol.Very good reasons to play right handed.If U choose to. If not play lefty.I do but I been wrong all my life.Oh well carry on.

[sblock]

There u have it. Always just a matter of time.one will jump in.So it is My ways right always yours is wrong lol.Very good reasons to play right handed.If U choose to. If not play lefty.I do but I been wrong all my life.Oh well carry on.

OMG. Choctaw61, you're misrepresenting this discussion badly, and that's not fair. NO ONE said -- and no one implied -- that "my way is always right and yours is wrong." NO ONE said you were "wrong" to play lefty, or that you've somehow been "wrong all your life" for left-handed choices. That's a preposterous conclusion! Where did you get that from? Certainly not from anything that I wrote. In no way did I put down anyone for playing left-handed, or for being left-handed. I happen to be left-handed myself, for goodness' sake. So why take umbrage, and respond sarcastically?

For example, I throw a ball left handed. I also write left-handed. But I play mandolin and banjo right-handed. I would not describe myself as ambidextrous, however. But you need both hands to play a mandolin, and they are both important. There is no such thing as an intrinsically left- or right-handed role for each hand. And left-handed folks like Chris Thile are not handicapped by playing a mandolin right-handed!

I was simply responding to a newbie, and offering my personal advice to someone whose mandolin habits are still, as yet, unformed. Once you've already learned to play a mandolin one way, it's pretty darned hard to switch around to the other. But if you're just starting out, then you really do have a choice! So NOW would be the time to make that important decision, and not later. And my advice would be to do it right-handed. I gave a number of excellent reasons for this choice in my first response, and I stand behind every one of them.

Most left-handed mandolinists started out on a left-handed guitar, and therefore have typically formed a set of ingrained habits; these folks have great trouble switching. And so they don't (Paul McCartney is an example, but then he's not exactly a mandolin virtuoso like Thile), and therefore wind up playing a left-handed mandolin. But if you're just starting out on a fretted instrument, and it happens to be the mandolin, then my advice would still be to start off on mandolin right-handed -- not left-handed. There are undeniable dividends down the road if you do.

[Mandobart]

I'm also left handed and grew up learning how to use scissors, spiral notebooks, power tools, firearms and instruments designed for righties.

My first instrument was violin. You simply can't have a section of fiddles with 11% of them poking the eyes or knees of the others with their bows. This did not really pose an issue for me - nothing about playing violin was particularly "natural" feeling. Learning lefty would have been just as foreign as learning righty. So to base your dexter/sinister preference on two weeks with a completely foreign object in your hands is possibly not an accurate long-term assessment. Its not like throwing, golfing, shooting, archery, etc which also depend on eye dominance.

But, I'm not you. If you choose to play lefty that's fine. Do you mean complete lefty, mirror image mando lefty or Jimi Hendrix lefty (just flip a righty over). If you go lefty, my advice would be go big (mirror image). If you go like Jimi it may be harder to learn by watching or getting lessons from others.

[oldwave maker]

When pal Gretchen won the Sam Compton fiddle at Winfield in '92, I asked him about making a lefty fiddle for myself, he said to learn right and went down the long list of left handed virtuosos playing fiddle righty from Paganini to Pearlman. Still can't play either way, but happy to make you a doubleneck mando to experiment with!

[choctaw61]

Lol. Thank U sblock.well put!

[michaelcj]

My first instrument was guitar in the 50's and there was precious little available made left-handed.... so I just played the same as "everyone else".... As I picked up other instruments over the decades [mandolin, banjo, and now fiddle] I've stuck with that.....

There are a very few issues that have been a struggle for my right hand [mostly having to do with real speed in 6/8 time] but even those are more an issue of lack of disciplined practice than deficit.

On the Other Hand ....... Fingerboard issues are nonexistent.

Works for Thile and Barrenburg and others quite well...... so I have no excuses or complaints and it certainly makes for having all the choices I can afford [or justify] in acquiring instruments open to me.

[agirlandheryarn]

I'm a lefty, and I play right-handed. I had a choice in the beginning since I was brand new to a fretted instrument. I chose to play right-handed because of all the beautiful mandolin choices out there. I like choice, and I don't want to pay more for a left-handed instrument. Yep, it feels weird at first, but soon right-handed feels comfortable. At one time I couldn't write with either hand. I chose left to write, and now that feels good. �� Whatever choice you make is the right one for you!

**Note: I'd probably be a superstar now if I had played left-handed..... at least that's what I tell myself.��

[Jeff Mando]

I'm left-handed, but thankfully was discouraged as a child from learning left-handed. If you have no experience playing, do yourself a BIG favor and learn right-handed. No need to make it any harder on yourself. And, when it is time to get a better mandolin, you will have many more choices available -- a huge consideration.

OTOH, if you had been playing guitar left-handed for years and decided to learn mandolin, I'd say sure, buy a leftie. But that is not the case here.

[mandocrucian]

You might find this of interest: Playing Violin and Fiddle Left Handed by Ryan Thomson (aka Captain Fiddle).

[farmerjones]

I wouldn't be doing my Caf'e duty without sighting, while few, they do make left handed pianos.
I'm somewhat left dominant. I play five different conventional string instruments plus piano.
It's almost a non-issue attaining left handed string instruments these days. I say play whatever you wish.

I will also add, if one feels it would be an improvement in one's life to be less hand dominant, a lefty playing righty, or for that matter, a righty playing lefty, would greatly serve to this end.

[sblock]

Yes, a very few left-handed pianos have been built over the years as novelty instruments, but just on custom commissions. Pianist Christopher Seed commissioned the first one -- and supposedly the ONLY one at the time -- back in 1999 because he thought the left-hand side of his body was "more expressive". Most music critics think this is a complete load of bunk, and just an attempt to hype publicity for Seed's career. Kawai announced their intended production of a left-handed piano in 2013, but there do not seem to have been any takers, and this item is apparently no longer offered in their catalog. So NO, left-handed pianos are not really "a thing" any more.

You need both hands to play a piano. You need both hands to play a mandolin, too! Scientific tests of the minute timing differences between notes (while playing fast scales) in left- and right-handed piano players have not established any significant differences. So yes, you can play a "right-handed" instrument perfectly well if you're left-hand dominant.

[CES]

My daughter is a solid lefty. Throws and writes lefty, brushes teeth lefty, etc. when she wanted to learn guitar and eventually mandolin, she learned righty, because that's what we had. She's had no issues, but is also young with a pliable nervous system

[Toycona]

Hi,

As a lefty, I play right handed. It's not a big deal. Your right hand will learn rhythm, and your dominant hand will learn intricate chord shapes. I kind of think we have an advantage that way.

Good luck!!!

[bbcee]

Really good point, Toycona - we use our best hand for the finger splitters.

I'm still a pretty strong lefty - we have to learn to adapt somewhat to the right-handed world of course - but guitar, and now mando, were never an issue. They were right-handed from the start for me. Funny.

[noah finn]

Im another lefty that plays mandolin, guitar and banjo right handed.

Playing right handed allowed me access to wider range of instruments.

[Tom Sanderson]

I am also a Lefty. I play right handed mandolin and fiddle.