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| being left handed has many disadvantages - Beginner Questions - Ukulele - Ukulele - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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Luke Approved
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hello! anyway being new to the ukulele (although been playing the guitar) i was looking for a portable fun instrument and i found it but!!!...being left handed i am going to have to restring the instrument and now could any1 give me a link/crash course in restringing the instrument your help could really......HELP!
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Tonya Approved 
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Luke--Are you asking what type/length of strings to buy (then we'd have to know the size of your ukulele), what tuning to use (re-entrant or otherwise, also a type of string issue) or physically how to put the strings on?
____________________ http://ukuleletonya.com |
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UkeForever Approved 
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You restring using the same strings in the opposite order. You may have to file the nut open on the second string, as I have noticed some uke nuts just barely fit that deep C string in the third slot. That said, I am left-handed, and have never been able to understand the left-handed mythology that carries over to musicianship. I know some will disagree and attest to some "success story" in restringing. First, musicians use both hands. On a fretted "right handed" instrument, the left hand must form complex shapes and scale runs. A strummer barely uses the right hand. In my mind, the standard way IS truly left-handed. On the piano, my right hand is stronger for some reason than my left. I attribute that directly to the fact that melody, lead, chord shaping, is mostly done by the right hand. On all instruments, it really seems like good playing--virtuoso playing--involves coordination of BOTH hands in equally complex parts. So, in my mind, it boils down to the way you practice. Your first experiences with the instrument will eventually cement, just like (bad or good) technique, and playing style. The disadvantage to playing leftie is that nobody else can play your instrument, and you can't play theirs. There is something about the common language of music that makes the "picking up any instrument" aspect really persuasive. The traditionalist in me says we should share things like similar stringings and techniques. I have seen a decent musician ruined when he became convinced to switch to left hand. Music is learning by repetition, and there is no magic pill for practice. All instruments will seem awkward and sluggish at first, but in time, and with hours of repetition, muscles will remember what they're supposed to do. Right or left. My suggestion: Play right. Play correctly. (That's likely to get a response.) Even if you play guitar leftie, you can still learn uke in the standard fashion. Last edited on Thu Feb 17th, 2005 08:54 pm by UkeForever ____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs 
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Pauline Leland Approved 
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Luke, I understand that some lefties are just barely so, and playing lefty or righty makes little difference. I am a righty, strongly so. My left had can type, can carry grocery bags, and can fret chords. That's about it. I'd be very unhappy if I had to switch and play with my non-dominent hand. If playing with your non-dominent hand is the better way to do things, there are centuries of artists who did it wrong. I think more than traditon is at work here. So, if you are closer to ambidexterous, then follow UF's advice on not restringing and avoid some problems. If you are strongly lefty, follow UF's advice on how to restring and avoid a different set of problems. Best luck either way; I think you will love the ukulele. Pauline
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1four5 Approved 
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This subject is VERY relevent to me!!! I am a through and through lefty southpaw. Very very STRONG lefty. I was too far into learning guitar, before I even knew you could get one strung any differently. I play "righty" and love it. There are some advantages, and some disadvantages. First of all, my strong left hand makes the chords. That's always been my strong point, finding them, nailing them, slides, hammers, bends, stretches have all come very easy. My right hand sucks. I am the worlds worst strummer, it's alway and still does feel VERY clumbsy. I'm hopeless with a pick in my hand. However...the up side to this is that I got frustrated early, almost gave up strumming completely for months...and found that my right hand somehow took naturally to fingerpicking (don't kow if it's just me or a resessive hand trait in general). The pay-off is that now it's a year later and I can finger pick like crazy, and am starting to get a handle on moderate strumming. Since my left hand took so easily to chording, and my right hand naturally to fingerpicking, I was able to start having fun and sounding cool pretty quick. I've heard some beginners who could strum like crazy, but chord co-ordination slowed them down. I'm a beginner who's never had a problem fretting what I want, and having fun right away. The strumming will come with time and practice. I'll also vouch for playing eachother's instruments...I jam with friends a lot, and we are constantly checking out eachother's guitars and ukes. I think I would be missing out on a lot of fun if I would be limited to just my one specially strung instrument. I also LOVE to go to the music store and play all the instruments there. I just reread your post, and see that you already play lefty guitar...so what I wrote already may not apply to you (Remember Jimi Hendrix was a lefty!)...one thing to make sure of, is that the uke you restring doesn't have a compensated saddle (slanted or differently beveled per string) or your intonation will be a mess.
____________________ These are the good times! |
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HowlinHobbit Approved 
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1four5 wrote:(Remember Jimi Hendrix was a lefty!) I can't remember if Jimi re-strung or not but I know that it's not necessary. Simply learn the chords "backwards". Flip the instrument over without re-stringing and learn the chords that way. Lots of folks do that with guitar I don't see why it shouldn't work with ukulele. Then you can play any ukulele and anyone (except those lefties that re-string) can play yours. Howlin' Hobbit (http://www.howlinhobbit.com) Got Uke? Snake Suspenderz (http://www.snakesuspenderz.com) Hot jass, Hokum and Novelty music... with a bite!
____________________ Howlin' Hobbit Got Uke? MySpace ezFolk UkeLand |
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that_pete_guy Approved 
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I just needed to chime in as another leftie who plays rightie. I learned to play guitar as a rightie so as not to look like a Jimi Hendrix wannabee...I also Golf rightie (had to as I received a hand-me-down set of rightie clubs) although I do Putt leftie. I'm also beginning to get concerned about the similarities between we "members" of the "mutual admiration society"...all lefties...At least 2 of us big Tom Waits and Warren Zevon fans...some kind of Bizarro world going on here  Pete
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Suomipoika Approved 
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So its a right hander here to keep balance... I have been twice in a situation (actually just now) almost to lose some fingers of left hand. (Maybe dangerous hobbies?) But as to keep something going on, I try to take chords with my right hand and strum with left. It is the most frustrating prosess to copy those easy, actually automatic fingeries to right hand! I can imagine the feeling, if somebody has got a good time with any ways to play, should change his style and begin again from "crawling". Sepi
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Luke Approved
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well the thing is it is very difficult to start all over again and the problem is im a hardcore south paw and i odnt thik it would be possible for me to play like a right handed person because it feels soo awkward i tried playing a right handed acoustic guitar and that was difficult secondly playing chords upsidedpwn is a very frustrating and tedious process whihc takes alot of time it also makes chord changes awkward (due to having todo awkward fingerings) the whole process fo learnig rightie is like starting comletlet from scratch i towuld take a very long time and i dont know if im prepared to do everything i learned again
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Richard Hefner Administrator 
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The title of this thread is "being left-handed has many disadvantages." When it comes to playing the guitar or similar instruments, I think the biggest disadvantage for left-handers is thinking they have to do everything backwards! I'm also a lefty all the way. When I first started playing my first inclination was to try to play backwards because I'm left-handed and I do everything backwards. Luckily I managed to completely screw up the guitar that I tried to modify by switching the strings backwards so it was completely unplayable. Not having any other options at the time I got my hands on a normal guitar and learned to play it normally... the same way almost everybody else does it whether they're left-handed or right-handed. You have to use both hands so it really doesn't matter a lot. Luke, it could very well be too much of a change for you now to switch back after playing guitar backwards for a long time. I can see where that would take a lot of work, but I would encourage any left-hander who is just starting out to just play normally. There are a few exceptions such as Jimi Hendrix or Paul McCartney who have played backwards and have done fine, but think of how many left-handers just play normally. In this thread alone so far there are 4 others who have responded are also left-handed but play play the instrument the way it was designed to be played. There's no need to modify anything just because one hand is dominant over the other. Richard "Lefty" Hefner  (notice the left hand tipping of the hat)
____________________ Richard Hefner Webmaster, ezFolk.com MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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HowlinHobbit Approved
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Richard Hefner wrote:In this thread alone so far there are 4 others who have responded are also left-handed but play play the instrument the way it was designed to be played. There's no need to modify anything just because one hand is dominant over the other. Five. I forgot to mention that I'm a southpaw. I basically turned myself ambidextrous since I learned so much -- music, magic (i.e. prestidigitation), etc. -- from books and nearly all how-to books are written from the right handed point of view. About the only concession I make to my left-handedness nowadays is when I wear a watch I wear it on my right wrist. Howlin' Hobbit (http://www.howlinhobbit.com) Got Uke? Snake Suspenderz (http://www.snakesuspenderz.com) Hot jass, Hokum and Novelty music... with a bite!
____________________ Howlin' Hobbit Got Uke? MySpace ezFolk UkeLand |
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banjo brad Super Moderator 
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Wow! I was just browsing through some back issues of Acoustic Guitar, and ran across a question and answer that said that Jimi Hendrix DID restring a right-handed guitar, so the chord positions look correct when you watch him play.  Keep on pickin'Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > Beginner Questions - Ukulele > being left handed has many disadvantages | |
