The Steel Guitar Forum

edited

I am also a Lefty playing "righty." I can't imagine doing it any other way. I learned steel with bar in the left-hand, picks on the right, and anything else would make me uncomfortable. I'm a right-brained person, living in a right-handed world and I'm used to it.

Hi , yeah I know what you are saying, Im personally not thinking of changing to a left hand steel but Ive always been a bit of a "lets give it a go" guy, like I wonder if I can run a charity half marathon backwards.
I will most likely spend a day on my friends L/H steel just to see if it is possible but not take that particular endeavor any further.

I'm a Lefty.
I play guitar "righty"
I play PSG "righty"
never knew there were so many "south paws" steelin' away !
I never thought about "left or right",
just considered the hands to be a joint effort !
I do, at times, look at things awkwardly, until I re-arrange them to the left.
Rick

I'd like some input from you guys that play left handed guitars. Beyond their limited production and limited resale value/market... why would anyone want to learn this way?

Why does a father (teaching his 5 year old son how to play baseball) allow him to throw with his left hand when it's definately a sport advantageous to righties..

Why did my parents allow me to write with my left hand when they knew perfectly well I'd be washing ink off my hand all thru grammar school..

Why are there lefties in a right handed world to begin with?

Why? Because we're lefties.. southpaws.. It's
our natural way .. the way God intended us to be.
Why would I want to go "against the grain" on something as difficult as learning pedal steel?

As a lefty who plays a lefthanded steel all I can say is: I'm perfectly happy the way I am. I bought a D10 Williams ten years ago (no additional charge) and it's all the steel I need.

And as far as Mr.Green being the standard for lefties learning to play righty all i have to say is..

Just imagine how good he would be if he decided early on to play his "natural" way.. lol

BGrado wrote:Why does a father (teaching his 5 year old son how to play baseball) allow him to throw with his left hand when it's definately a sport advantageous to righties..

"Advantageous to righties?" Not since the '60's...

BGrado wrote:Why did my parents allow me to right with my left hand

What did they let you spell with?

(Sorry, I just couldn't resist... just pickin' at ya...)

I'm left handed as well. I pick with my right hand. It never occurred to me to pick left handed. Like Mike said originally, the instrument demands use of both hands anyway, and the left hand controlling the bar (with a left handed person) may be a gift or an advantage. I tend to do intricate stuff with my left hand, and heavier stuff with my right. I cannot shoot a gun or throw a ball well with my left hand. Heck, I don't know, maybe I'm a "both hander."

What did they let you spell with?

so much for grammar check. lol

"Advantageous to righties?" Not since the '60's...

For a kid in little league? I sure would have liked a shot at an infield position other than first base.

There was a time, probably most of the readers of this forum spent their formative years at the end of this dark age when lefties were force to be righties. I sometimes see people with deplorable penmanship and wonder if they are a suppressed lefty.

I found that being a lefty has some great advantages.

No one touches your guitars.

When I use to box I faked like I was a righty and switch up on my opponent. Worked wonders until everyone knew who you were.

The only disadvantage I have is being right eyed dominant, probably from early marksman training, but this proved to be an advantage as I never had to worry about hot 223 brass burning my cheek.

I am getting a right handed guitar for the studio so students don't have to set up and tear down and I am going to experiment and see if I can learn to play right handed.

Is there anyone out there that can play right handed and left handed?

m.

Mikey, and other Forumites,
We have an awesome steel player here in OZ by the name of Tomi Grasso who has and plays a south-handed Emmons D10. Him and Allan Tomkins, of Tomkins Guitars here in OZ, changed this thing over from right to left-handed. Tomi also has another guitar that is right handed...the guy plays both of 'em very well. I sat down once behind his left-handed Emmons, and I'll be darned if I could even play a decent-sounding chord. Then this fellow sits down, lays down a sweet-sounding, shortened version of Sleepwalk, then switched to the C-6 neck and tore into Orange Blossom Special, and blew everybody away!!. I was amazed at his ability to do all this stuff left handed. Then, he sat down behind another guitar (not his own) that was right handed, and I'll be horn-swoggled, the guy plays the same thing on this guitar that he'd played on his left-handed Emmons, and with almost the same quality!! Mister Grasso, you're amazing!! Who sez that the members of this Forum ain't multi-talented!!! My input!!! I play volleyball and hit left-handed...does that count??? LOL
Mike Kirkley
Sydney, Australia

It's always interesting to me that this even comes up. Just because right handed players outnumber lefties doesn't make playing right-handed the "official" way to play. Just look at all of the lefty guitar players out in the world. And a quick look at almost any guitar manufacturer's website will show you a whole lot of left handed guitars available: Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, etc.. But most people here on the forum seem to not understand that some people - myself included - have always played guitar left-handed, and that it's just easier for us to pick with the same hand we've always picked with. If, however, I was left-handed but had never played guitar before I took up PSG, then I would agree: I would just do it right-handed.

There's no right or wrong here. There are just right-handed and left-handed PSG players and that should be the end of it. I'm not trying to force my left-handedness (is that a word?) on anyone... except my teacher, John McClung. And while it totally confuses him to watch me play, he accepts it with a smile.

pp

BGrado wrote:

What did they let you spell with?

so much for grammar check. lol

"Advantageous to righties?" Not since the '60's...

For a kid in little league? I sure would have liked a shot at an infield position other than first base.

I love first base, it was my main position (being a lefty) along with a fair amount of time in the outfield...and the left handed hitter has a definite advantage in baseball, since he faces right handed pitchers the vast majority of the time. And even though fielding a position is fun, what people seem to love most about playing the game of baseball is getting that bat in their hand and taking a swat at the old horsehide.

Back to the steel guitar - I first started taking lessons on the lap steel in the 1960's when I was 10 years old - and I don't recall being given a choice at the time as to which hand does which, so it has always felt natural for me for the barring hand on steel, and later the fretting hand on regular guitar, to be my more coordinated hand, or my left hand.

I couldn't imagine at this point turning the thing around and barring and fretting with my right hand, yet I can imagine being able to pick or strum with my left hand.

So to take steel up from scratch, it seems really awkward to me that the vast majority of players are right handed, but they bar with their less coordinated hand, the left hand.

Matthew Prouty wrote:... I sometimes see people with deplorable penmanship and wonder if they are a suppressed lefty...

As a left handed person with deplorable penmanship I resent the implication that deplorable penmanship is reserved for righthanded people.

I think the most important thing, is for people to play PSG the best they can with whichever hand works the best for them.

The original point, was that it takes a great deal of dexterity in both hands to play steel guitar, so why not just use the readily available right hand guitars. That's a great point which I agree with, but then again, if someone is most comfortable picking with their left hand, then go for it. Nothing wrong with that.

I've also been through the discrimination against left handers too. I've had people try to make me write right handed, and that didn't work. I once had to use a right handed desk in high school, while there was a left handed model, vacant, two rows over. Binders were also right handed. I've been down-graded on papers I wrote because I wrote them with the binder holes on the right (wrong side of the paper). Such is life.

how about the change of limbs, for "pedal pushin'" ?
when I had a "righty" D10, I sometimes used my right foot for C6 neck. (i.e. pedal 5&7 combo, & boo-wah). It was extremely awkward for me.
Does this make me "left footed" also?

rick

Thanks Mr. Mike Kirkley, much appreciate your kind words ! Coming from your it’s a great compliment ! By the way , I will be back at Canterbury Country next week – 12th March . Come down, will have a drink , ok ! Thank you again so much !

Cheers…………
Tomi………Love and Peace to you all !

i have been reading this subject here about lefty players and just dont see why so many comments why people should play right handed. what is the big difference. left handed steels are not that hard to find today. when i was younger and played baseball in school i was a left handed pitcher but i had to bat right handed how come ant body know the answer to that probly not. so i dont think it really matters what way you play long as you can get the job done. and as far as haveing to pay extra for lefty steel i didnt have too. some body told me about roy thomas when i was looking to get a steel. roy has made me 2 lefthanded steels no extra charge for being left handed. why do other companys want extra for left handed. in fact i have had a lotta fun with people playing left handed it amazes them cause i play right handed teles backwards all my life. playing some chet stuff upside down with thumb and finger pick really gets them. so bottom line play what ever way you can and enjoy it.

I did a search and found this thread interesting . I am currently playing right handed as far as the hands,neck, and using the knees and pedals like a Lefty guitar. It is extremely difficult to reverse what my feet and legs are doing when playing. I hope to get used to it with time and this is the last thing I am going to try before I just give it up. I play for enjoyment but due to some pinched nerves my left foot does not have enough feeling to use the pedals properly. I first tried the Day setup and still did not have the control I needed. I then moved the pedals all the way to the right of the guitar. It seems to be working but it is strange to say the least .

There's a left handed steel player named Monte Good who plays steel and guitar left handed. He was in John Michael Montgomery's band for awhile and he plays a left handed Derby.

Brett

I'm a lefty that learned to play right handed guitar because that was all there was back then. Baseball? I never saw a left handed glove until I was in Jr. High. I've never regretted becoming a righty except for writing because my left hand was always covered with ink. All we had in school back then were ink wells on the right side of the desk. The best thing that happened when I was in school was the invention of the ball point pen! Even the Fountain Pen was messy. Jay Y.

Just a reply about baseball and left handed first basemen. That seems to be a thing of the past. I watch a lot of baseball and I am seeing more and more right handed first basemen. Probably more than half now are right handed.

EDIT: Just for kicks, I went onto all the Major League Baseball sites, checking only the 25 man active rosters, and checked out the left handed first baseman theory. Results:

Total 1st basemen: 42
Total Right Handers: 28
Total Left Handers: 14

all of us leftys are geniouses- haven't you heard ? just kidding ! I think I sell an economy genesis lefty for same price www.genesissteelguitars.com

Jim Cohen wrote:This question does not even arise for pianists. Think about it. Nobody plays a "left handed piano". Nobody needs to. They train both hands simultaneously to play "the piano". Why should guitar, steel guitar, or anything else be any different? One might exist somewhere, but I've sure never heard of a left handed trumpet, saxophone, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, or a zillion other instruments. What is it with guitarists?

It wasn't always so. Here's a whole band of lefty marimba players in 1940, with a left handed bassist too!
Reg Kehoe and his Marimba Queens

This question does not even arise for pianists. Think about it. Nobody plays a "left handed piano". Nobody needs to. They train both hands simultaneously to play "the piano".

Well, I'm a lefty playing guitar & steel righty, never even had a reason to complain. Well, I do, but when I found out that uber-picker Steve Morse was the same, I needed a better complaint about why I muff licks. However, I've always had trouble with piano, way more so than a guitar, or even drums. Though, McCoy Tyner, Bill Evans, Errol Garner were lefties... I think I need a new excuse.

Being a life-long lefty and owning 15 guitars including one of Mr. Roy Thomas' pedal steels; the pursuit of left handedness and obtaining instruments to accomodate this has turned into quite an ambition for me.

I've read the various accounts of lefties playing right handed steels and all of the proper admonishments from the techinal purists our there. The bottom line is that hand dexterity is a personal issue. For me, it's not going to work unless I play it lefty. I tried to play steel righty and it just doesn't feel right. And that's about all you can say. Can I play as well as Rusty Young or John Hughey? Not even close. Can I entertain myself and have fun doing it- every time.

I should have bought my steel when I was 18 and really wanted to learn to play one. I waited another 35 years to do so. The instrument is a real kick and has taught me a lot about music. Mr. Thomas was a real stickler for making sure that I was happy with what I was buying- and he makes no bones about building them lefty. The man is a real icon in my book.

Besides, playing left handed always got the girls. Not so much anymore mind you because my wife sees that it doesn't- but we're still worth a question or two like, "Does it hurt to play that way?" Only the ears.