Myth: A commonly-held but false belief, a common misconception.
There are various false ideas floating about in our society on the subject of learning to play guitar that have to do with the question of whether to learn to play left handed or right handed. These ideas stem from ignorant right handed guitarists, lazy guitar teachers, or money-motivated sales staff at musical instrument shops who are on kickbacks from some particular guitar brand, and sometimes even from bitter and twisted left-handed guitarists themselves who somehow feel "cursed." However, the latter only comes about because of the former.
The unfortunate consequence of these false data is that they influence parents and children in their choices of playing or learning guitar.
Let's get one thing very straight. These common misconceptions I am about to present you herein are falsehoods.
A falsehood is dispelled simply by providing the Truth.
MYTH ONE. "A guitar is like a piano. There is only one way to play it."
This is one of the biggest, outmoded, ignorant, and totally incorrect statements applied to playing guitar left handed. Yes, a piano is only one way: the low notes go to the left and the high notes go to the right. But even then, depending on whether you play Classical or Modern piano, what you do with your right and left hand are quite different. So in a way, a piano is not played "one way" either! And definitely no - a guitar is not played one way. The way people play guitar today versus 100 years ago is very different. In modern music, it is not about being just a "strummer" like it only was not even 60 years ago. Guitar playing has evolved and still evolving.
MYTH TWO. "It is harder to learn to play guitar left-handed in a world dominated by right-handed teachers and right handed instruction books."
This is a doozer. In fact, learning guitar left handed is easier from a right-handed teacher than a left-handed teacher because everything the teacher shows you is a mirror image of what you are doing and easier to follow! Right handed guitarists learning from a right handed guitar teacher have to do a mental juggling act to switch around what they being shown to what they have to do. That is an extra step a left-handed learner does not have to take! And books? There are books for left-handed instruction. They exist and they are not hard to get. There aren't as many but that is a good thing. Less possibilities of confusion. Right handed guitar instruction materials are so abundant that there is an oversaturation of material which can make you giddy when trying to make sense of it all.
MYTH THREE. "You can't get many left-handed guitars." Or "It's hard to find a left handed guitar."
This is not entirely untrue. But in 2006 a long came an Australian company called Gaskell Guitars that made left handed guitars and basses exclusively, and is the only company in the world that does.
Several major guitar brands have stopped making lefthanded guitars: Gibson, Paul Reed Smith, Rickenbacker. They stopped due to "lack of demand." That is another myth.
MYTH FOUR. "There is not much demand for left handed guitars"
This is the biggest myth of all. I have proven that wrong, by simple experience. This idea is definitely a commercially motivated right handed guitar manufacturer's point of view. Lefty guitarists are 1:200 to right handed guitarists. Although there are much less left handed guitarists in the world there are still many. They are all over the world - young and old. This is a fact that right handed guitar companies will never be aware of because they operate on turnover and their turnover consists of right handed guitars mainly.
If you are a left-handed guitarist reading this, and you have this concern, realize this: there are plenty of people like you in the world. You do not need to feel bad about being a left handed guitarist.
And parents take note: let your son or daughter play the way they feel is comfortable for them. Do not change that because some lazy teacher or kick-back motivated shop salesman tries to tell you otherwise.
There is a lot of garbage still thrown around on this subject. Realize they are self-serving myths and don't fall prey to that!
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