Lets just cut straight to chase: being a left-handed guitarist can be a huge pain in the arse from the get-go. Finding a good entry-level left handed guitar (acoustic or electric) is hard enough be that from the pains of the extremely limited selection in music and guitar shops to the ire of having to trust online stores purchases for guitars (rarely rated as well) that you never even feel until after you bought them and its shipped to your door. I say this because that's exactly what I had to go through just GETTING my guitar as a lefty. Time and time again I was told to just learn the guitar right handed and save myself the time and frustration. However, no matter what, it just felt 'right' to play left and so I continued to search for materials applicable to us South Paws.
Enter the Left Handed Guitar: the Complete Method. What this book is: a simplistic and basic ENTRY level guitar instruction book setup with the left-handed guitarist in mind. Note I said 'in mind' not 'for'. You get exposure to simple theory and chords that will give you a good starting point to continue on from. And coming from nothing, that's better because at least it is something.
What it is NOT: a GO-TO for how to play the guitar left handed through out your musical development. Having known nothing about music, let alone the guitar, prior to this book it was a huge pain and hurdle to have to 'translate' chords for left-handed implementation. In fact, it got so frustrating that I gave up after a few weeks back in 2006. It was frustrating having to 'read through' the guitar neck when I didn't even know what a left-handed version was supposed to look like, let alone sound (yes, I know it should all sound the same but having the physical ability to confirm you're placing your fingers correctly is a HUGE comfort and motivator). This book allowed me to progress and at the very least have a reassurance of how things should look on the guitar neck as seen from a lefty amateur.
For those reviews saying you will have to 're-learn' the guitar or forget what you learned after completing the book, I would disagree. I will agree 100% that regardless of what product you use as a South Paw you will have to cater to the right-handed music world. You will have to learn to chords or rather how to shape them correctly by 'looking through' the guitar neck and essentially playing the inverse of a righty. That's the continual bane of being lefty. And I do not believe there is any book that will ever be created that can avoid this. But to say you have to re-learn, that is a bit of stretch. It lays out the fundamentals and then basically says, ok, this is the best of what we can show you since you are a stubborn SOB for staying left-handed, so the rest is up to you. If you want to be a lefty guitarist, I am of the opinion, the odds are already stacked against you starting out and it is only perseverance and a strong desire to play that will allow you to succeed. So naturally, you accept this and thus see this book for what it is: some basics to start playing and get over an initial hurdle or two.
If you're looking for fundamentals and basic theory, note locations, and simple licks for lefty's, this is a solid buy. You will have to keep learning from other sources as you progress, but starting out, I would recommend this to any south paw if for the most basic reason that its better than most of the other (if any) of the left handed instruction guides out there. I still refer to the book for some of the layouts and styles (esp the scales) when I get lazy and confused, but beyond that, I have been able to adjust to the right-handed 'norm'.
Worthwhile for a fundamentals book but not essentially a classic or essential buy.
3/5Get more detail about Left-Handed Guitar.
No comments:
Post a Comment