Beginner guitar - what to buy?

Lemon_Drop

Hi all.
Just reading the post here, and I was thinking about trying to learn the guitar for ages, but kept putting it off.

Some of they people was saying that a Yamaha 310 is a great guitar for someone about to start, without spending a fortune.

I have been looking at Adverts, and online also, cant seem to get one left handed. It seems like Yamaha don't make them.

So could anyone recommend a good beginner left handed guitar along the lines of the Yamaha.

Sorry to the OP for cutting across hes thread.

Kettleson

@Lemon Drop. Theres a few on adverts.ie. Might even be better than the 310.

In Blanchardstown, Cork, Galway. etc all between €50-€100.

Go on line at Adverts.ie and ask the sellers a question. make? condition? neck ok? any repair or damage? whats the action like? (ie: how close are the strings to the neck), age, includes case/gig bag or not? etc

Then google the model and see how much they go for usually....as long as you do the basic checks you cant go too far wrong. Factor in cost for collection/courier.

Put in an offer, not necessarily asking price. You might get a bargain.

PM me if needed.

Ravelleman

I moved this to a new thread as it is easier to follow this way.

You have already run into one of the big problems left-handed guitar players face - the lack of options when buying guitars.

As a left-handed person, who plays right-handed, I give my fellow lefties the same advice every time: if you think you can, and before you learn to play it absolutely is possible for most people, just try to learn to play right-handed. You'll save yourself a lot of inconvenience and disappointment when buying guitars or even when looking to try out your mates' ones. Your brain is surprisingly flexible in this regard. Some people argue that they cannot do this under any circumstances, and while I do believe this to be true in a small amount of cases, from my own experience I believe that it is the better option by far.

Normally I'm inclined to indulge my minority status but when it comes to guitars I don't think it's worth the pain. This may not be the case for you but if you have any doubt about it it's worth exploring. You might find holding a guitar the right-handed way alien to you but if you've never played before much of this feeling is made up by the fact that holding guitars is alien to you anyway.

With that said, I wish you well in your endeavour, in whichever direction it faces. It is a very rewarding hobby.

sheff the ref

Don't know about left handedness, but I have been just advised this evening to get a Yamaha FG700MS Guitar as a beginner who intends to use it a bit. Tried it this evening and has a lovely sound from it. Seems to be available online for around €240 give or take but finding a shop to actually go in and buy it seems easier said than done

Lemon_Drop

Thank you Ravelleman for sorting and moving my post.
And also to Kettleson, for the advice and the option to PM you if i get stuck.

Maybe because I never played a note, going the right handed route is the way to go.

Just a question to Ravelleman, Did you start from scratch playing right handed?

I think using a right handed guitar it will be a lot easier to hold down chords and find chords faster, because I will be using my stronger hand.
But my strumming will be all over the place.

Still I know it will take a lot of time and practice to learn anything , even if I learn a little bit every week I will get there in the end.

@ sheff the ref
Thank you for the reply,
I will google the guitar and check Youtube also.
I did not have a final price on how much to spend really.

I was looking at the fact it was a new hobby, and something to do.
If i was playing golf . Between buying Clubs also green fees, or membership it would add up to a lot over a year.

Just that I did not want to buy something that was crap, and I would not know if it was me or the guitar was bad.

sheff the ref

The guy who advised me spent around 1500 euro on a guitar but eventually sold it and went back to the Yamaha that I mentioned above because he felt it ticked all his personal boxes in a better way and felt that the 1500 guitar wasnt anything special in comparison.

Lemon_Drop wrote: »

Thank you Ravelleman for sorting and moving my post.
And also to Kettleson, for the advice and the option to PM you if i get stuck.

Maybe because I never played a note, going the right handed route is the way to go.

Just a question to Ravelleman, Did you start from scratch playing right handed?

I think using a right handed guitar it will be a lot easier to hold down chords and find chords faster, because I will be using my stronger hand.
But my strumming will be all over the place.

Still I know it will take a lot of time and practice to learn anything , even if I learn a little bit every week I will get there in the end.

@ sheff the ref
Thank you for the reply,
I will google the guitar and check Youtube also.
I did not have a final price on how much to spend really.

I was looking at the fact it was a new hobby, and something to do.
If i was playing golf . Between buying Clubs also green fees, or membership it would add up to a lot over a year.

Just that I did not want to buy something that was crap, and I would not know if it was me or the guitar was bad.

Ravelleman

Lemon_Drop wrote: »

Thank you Ravelleman for sorting and moving my post.

No problem.

Lemon_Drop wrote: »

Just a question to Ravelleman, Did you start from scratch playing right handed?

I think using a right handed guitar it will be a lot easier to hold down chords and find chords faster, because I will be using my stronger hand.
But my strumming will be all over the place.

I started from scratch and now holding a guitar left-handed feels completely alien to me. I am completely unable to play that way.

To be honest, both hands do different things, which are equally important. If you finger pick (using the fingers of your strumming hand to pluck the strings without a plectrum) you need to develop dexterity and muscle memory in the same way that you need to do it with your fretting hand when you change chords and move around the fretboard. I find both skills difficult, albeit in completely different ways. You may at some stage become better with one hand and the techniques it uses eventually but this can happen even to very high-level players who play right-handed when right-handed themselves or vice versa.

If you don't think it's going to bother you, go right-handed and don't look back. A very small minority will find it impossible to adapt but I do think that it's worth trying as you really will have so many more options, which, it is also worth noting, will invariably be cheaper. This is all based on my experience but I have never felt in any way limited by my decision.

That being said, while I write only with my left hand, I am the type of person who is happy to use a computer mouse with my right because that's the world we live in. I know that this isn't common to all lefties. My mother, for example, would never use her right hand for a mouse.

martinedwards

Gary Moore and Mark Knopfler are both left handed and both play(ed) guitar right handed.

if you CAN, it'll make life SOOO much easier to learn to play righty.

as a guitar maker I always liked to road test a guitar before I handed it over, so I learned a load of chords and licks upside down so I could play them on an upside down lefty. It REALLY annoys those folk who say "of course I'd let you play my €5000 guitar but its a lefty....."

Lemon_Drop

Thank you all for replying, and giving me lots of information.

I can't think of anywhere else that you ask a question about playing a guitar and having people give advise so freely.

When I posted a few days ago, I never though another left handed person who was in my position before, would answer.

And then followed by a guitar maker.

Then the people that recommended guitars, and also the offer of a direct PM if i was in trouble.

I would want to be mad not to take your advice and go right handed.

Kettleson

Lemon_Drop wrote: »

Thank you all for replying, and giving me lots of information.

I can't think of anywhere else that you ask a question about playing a guitar and having people give advise so freely.

When I posted a few days ago, I never though another left handed person who was in my position before, would answer.

And then followed by a guitar maker.

Then the people that recommended guitars, and also the offer of a direct PM if i was in trouble.

I would want to be mad not to take your advice and go right handed.

@Lemon Drop. I'm left handed and I would suggest that some people might find the ability to play reverse handed, easier than others.

There are also lots of left handed musicians who play left handed guitars. But yes, the difficulty is the availability of left handed guitars. But if it was me, I'd suggest that you get a left handed guitar.

Perhaps you should go into a guitar shop (that has a left handed guitar in stock), and try playing an easy standard chord (suggest E minor), on both left and right handed guitars and see how you get on.

If you go in at a quiet time any shop should be wiling to let you try that out if you explain what your situation is.

Kettleson

Interesting list of lefties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musicians_who_play_left-handed

Lemon_Drop

Hi Kettleson.

Yea there no harm in going to a music shop ask them to hold a few left handed and right handed guitars.
I will do that, just to see whats more comfortable to hold.
I will go at a quiet time, so as not to deafen anyone.
I'm sure i wont be the first one in the door to ask the same question.

I can really understand why its better to play right handed, the range of guitars is vast, and the ability to pick up any one and play it, is a bonus.

Because I never played before, I think I will be able to play it right handed.

Also I don't what to buy something that crap. Its like everything, I know I will be bad at first, and I expect that. But I would rather to know that I was bad, and not the guitar.

I was looking at Jimi Hendrix on the list and it made me laugh.

Jimi Hendrix was naturally left-handed but his father tried to force him to play right-handed because he believed playing left handed was a sign of the devil.
Haha

I had the same problem also, but it was not from my father. Some nun at primary school had the same idea.

Kettleson

Go for it. Intereresting to read that Paul McCartney started trying to play right handed but was "making no progress" so switched to left handed. But as you say, you will know yourself what's best for you.

southern red

hi all,
I'm in same boat as lemon drop, ( left handed beginner)
A friend of mine (that plays a bit)recommended this fender below, I'm just looking for a second opinion.. Anyone ??

Ps apologies for hijacking your thread lemon drop.

Fender CD-100 CE LH NA
26 ratings
Fender CD-100 CE LH NA

Lemon_Drop

Its ok southern red,

Someone will be along to help you.

I ended going to a music shop in Waterford for a look, and was not really impressed by their layout. Shop was to small for the amount of stock they had, so people were coming in trying not to hit off of anything. I felt uncomfortable trying to avoid hitting guitars that cost a lot of money.

So I left there.

Pity really because it could have been much better.


I ended up in Cork and looked at music shops also. I don't know if its just me, But i get the impression that most people that work in music shops think that their some kind of rock gods or something.

I listened to one guy playing a riff from Led Zeppelin's Rock N' Roll for 10 minutes. At least he must have though he was good anyway.
I talked to him and he was saying how much he loved Jimmy Page, I gave him an acoustic guitar that I was holding and asked him to play Zeppelin's Bron-Yr-Aur.

What can I say, at least he tried. It was amusing. The guitar was a Martin, so he could not blame that.

After trying a lot of guitars, mainly holding them for most of the part, I was never comfortable with the right handed ones really.

I ended up buying a left handed Sigma and really like it.

I'm getting lessons once a week and doing the beginner course on justinguitar.com also, which is very good.

One piece of advice I got from a 12 year old in one of the shops was that if you don't like the look of a guitar, no matter how much is costs or how good it is. You will never want to play it.

I would like to thank all of you who took the time to answer my questions. Your advice and help means a lot.

martinedwards

original question about a Yamaha 310?

got one yesterday off ebay for under £50 delivered.

a new set of strings and its a really pleasant guitar.

I don't think I've ever been disappointed with a Yamaha.

phobia2011

I'm getting lessons once a week and doing the beginner course on justinguitar.com also, which is very good.


+1 for justinguitar, im only just getting started and its really helpful, also what do guitar lessons cost these days?

Lemon_Drop

I'm paying €20 for 45 minutes.

But the lesson lasts well over an hour. I think hes got to get a new watch.

I don't really know what others are paying.

I looked at all the sites online and the justinguitar was the best, also you can do the beginner course any time you want.

Everyone says that its all practice when starting to learn. I'm still not good at changing chords. I'm to slow getting the changes right.

So I do about 20 minutes most days with justin.