Q I'm starting to play guitar, and I'm left-handed. Should I play lefty to achieve my full potential or stick to a righty guitar?
Stephane Boucher
Hull, Canada
A The first thing to consider when making this decision is individual hand capabilities. I suspect that your left hand is stronger and more versatile than your right. Because of this, your left hand might be more adept at fingerpicking. By the same token, you may find that your left hand is quicker and stronger at chording. But the fact is that guitar playing is a two-handed activity, and no matter what your orientation, both hands are going to be called on for unique and demanding actions.
The next thing to take into account is that most music and instruction books are written with the right-handed player in mind. Virtually all chord charts, tablature, and fretboard diagrams are presented from a right-hand orientation. I have seen one lefty chord book, and it was not very thorough.
Finally you must consider the availability of left-handed guitars. Until relatively recently, guitar companies charged a substantial extra fee for left-handed guitars. Laws are being passed against discriminatory practices of this sort, and rightly so. But laws don't change the fact that when you're out shopping for a fine guitar, the selection of lefties is severely limited. Imagine a store full of Taylor, Breedlove, Santa Cruz, Collings, and Gibson guitars-- as well as all the other wonderful options--and you get to pick from these two in the corner, unless you custom order.
So what are your options? You can accept these limitations and buy a left-handed guitar. Or you can buy the right-handed guitar of your dreams and have a custom nut made . . . and a saddle . . . and have the pickguard moved. . . . Or you can play a right-handed guitar upside-down, with the bass strings on the bottom. This last solution is probably the most troublesome, although it has been used successfully by a few players, notably Elizabeth Cotten and Albert King. But chording upside-down is very confusing, and you'll drive other players crazy. A strum toward the floor will sound treble-to-bass rather than bass-to-treble, which can be a problem if you're trying to match the sound of your favorite guitarist. Fingerpicking is even more drastically affected. Now your thumb is playing melody, and your fingers are playing the bass line.
The third and most commonly recommended option is to play a right-handed guitar. Your life will be so much simpler, and you stand just as much chance of reaching your full potential as you would with a lefty guitar. Remember that music comes from inside of you. It will come out.
One final thought: There is no such thing as a left-handed piano. Piano has just as many hand-orientation considerations as guitar, and everyone approaches it from the same side of the bench.
--Gary Joyner
Q I've been playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar for five years now. I can play John Renbourn's music all right, but I still get frustrated by barre chords. Do most acoustic guitarists shy away from them?
Philippe Bouchard
Montreal, Quebec
A The important question to ask yourself is whether you can afford to avoid barre chords. Your frustration suggests to me that the music you are playing requires them. A good teacher can help you identify your personal obstacles and get you past a block like this. Remember to take your own physical history into account. I've seen students register surprise when they learn that something like a swimming injury or a mild bout of childhood polio has an effect on their current guitar efforts.
I'm startled to hear that you're negotiating tricky music like Renbourn's without having built up barre-chord strength. And I would guess that strength is the problem. More practice is necessary for sure, but efficient practice patterns are a must. Don't expect to develop strength if you're only playing barres as they occur in pieces of music. Take a disciplined approach to conquering them. You'll get the best results if you find a way to make it fun.
Strumming along with songs is an entertaining way to work on barre chords. Make yourself play a barre form for each chord. Most people find the E-shaped barre chords the easiest to master and then move on to A, D, C, and G shapes. Of course, chords are only one aspect of barring. Here's an exercise idea: Choose a fret to barre and then figure out scale patterns you can play with your remaining three fingers above the barre. Think of your index finger as a capo and play simple melodies above it.
The other three fingers of your left hand also need to be able to barre. I'll leave it to you to adapt these ideas to those fingers. Be sure to warm up with single-note exercises before you begin a session of barre workouts. You don't want to strain a muscle and set your progress back.
--Gary Joyner
Q I have noticed that most professional steel-string acoustic players play stock, rather than custom-built, guitars. Why is it that so many nylon-string players have their instruments specially built? Are there no good mass-produced nylon-string guitars on a par with the Martins and Gibsons and Collings of the steel-string world?
Bob Calwell
Rio Rancho, New Mexico
A Almost all of the features of modern steel-string guitars were developed by factory builders during the Great Depression, from body shapes like the dreadnought and the jumbo to visual designs like sunburst finishes and herringbone trim. The majority of luthiers today, from the huge factories in Asia to the smallest one-builder workshops, tend to use the shapes and ornamental features of the prewar tradition. When musicians choose a steel-string guitar--particularly musicians who play a style with strong roots in the '30s, like bluegrass, blues, or country--they tend to choose an instrument that looks, feels, and sounds like a prewar classic. And there is no stigma in the steel-string world against playing an off-the-rack guitar.
In comparison, it is the fashion in the nylon-string world to play a guitar that was made by an individual luthier. This is partially tradition and partially due to the fact that there is no consensus as to which of the dozens of classical guitar designs is the best. Since the days of Antonio Torres in the 1850s, makers of nylon-string guitars have been experimenting with body size, scale length, tonewoods, and, most importantly, top bracing. The steel-string world has for the most part settled on the X-bracing system as the standard, but in the nylon-string world there is a lively debate over what form of top reinforcement sounds the best. Bracing systems range from the Torres-designed fan struts to the carbon fiber/spruce hybrid lattice of Greg Smallman. All of these systems have their adherents, and no one system seems to be markedly superior to any other.
There are, however, high-quality, factory-built nylon-string guitars from venerable makers like Ramirez as well as newcomers like Esteve and Raimundo. But because the more expensive models can cost as much as a hand-built guitar, most players opt for the individually made instruments.
--Michael Simmons
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