Julian goes electric – an electric guitar that is

Back in September last year I purchased my first guitar and began my life-long dream of learning to play, read and write music. I love my right-handed Seagull S-6 acoustic guitar and can’t say enough good things about the quality, feel and sound. Recently I was in a couple of music stores and my ear could easily detect the superior sound of the Seagull over much more expensive acoustic guitars.

Despite being a full-blooded lefty, I made a valiant effort to learn to play right handed for two primary reasons. First, the ability to share the instrument with Shannon and my right handed children (that would be all of them). I dearly hope all of them will become interested enough to start playing at some point. So far, Max is the only taker and he did that all on his own (keep playing Mate!). Second, I also knew that the selection and price of left handed guitars is really bad.

I struggled through learning chords and notes for 4-5 months and really never got over feeling very awkward. I will say that the awkwardness became harder to feel over time. One day I flipped the guitar over and played it left handed. It was like my experience of using a computer mouse with my left hand after ‘dealing’ with using one right handed. Immediate relief. While I can work a mouse (and a guitar) right handed, the comfort and dexterity I feel with my left hand is far superior. I went an grabbed my old lefty Hondo Stratocaster rip-off from the garage that my dad purchased for me in the early 80′s back in Perth Western Australia. I’d be playing the Hondo but it’s been badly warped from years of improper storage. The lefty Hondo felt amazing and confirmed that I needed to play left handed. It’s not that I didn’t try really hard to determine my ability to play right handed when I first bought my Seagull. The difference is that now I’d been playing for several months and thought I was learning pretty well. The fact that I could flip a guitar upside down, play it with the strings in the wrong order, and IMMEDIATELY play it much better is what got my attention. I did some additional research on testing to determine or measure your ‘handedness.’

I came across a great test that I hadn’t encountered on my initial research. Clap your hands together. Go ahead and do that now before reading any more. OK, now go back to your clapping and as you do, notice if you are moving both hands to clap or if one hand is staying stationary while the other hand does all the clapping. The article I read suggests that if you’re moving both hands you have a pretty balanced handedness and could learn to play an instrument with your non-dominant hand. If you’re in the latter camp you have a strong preference for that hand. I did the clapping test and my left hand did all the work with my right hand completely passive. I had my dad perform the test and he moved both hands. The test confirmed what I’ve always known – I’m a lefty through and through.

Another similarly non-scientific clue came to me on a walk after playing my right handed guitar. As I imagined the song I was learning I realized I was playing ‘air guitar’ as a lefty. I’ve always played air guitar left handed but the fact that my instinct was to do this DESPITE the fact that I was learning and playing a song I’d just been practicing right handed gave me a big clue.

So I started looking for a lefty guitar but not very seriously since it’s not in our budget right now. Dad’s here visiting right now and he offered to get me a lefty guitar so I could learn with the guitar right-side up with all the strings where they should be. Needless to say I jumped at his offer.

I was interested in getting another Seagull S-6 (and will at some point) but I also want a Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul to play electric. These represent the defacto standards in electric guitars that almost all electrics are based on. The Strat being more popular with Blues and rock ‘n roll and the Les Paul being more rock and hard rock (these are over simplifications). No one who plays will go their playing career without owning an acoustic and both of these classic models. I loved trying both the Strat and the Les Paul but from my online and in-store research I determined that I liked the versatility of the Les Paul more (here’s a review of the Les Paul Epiphone Standard Plus model. You can get a cheapie Epiphone Les Paul model based on the Gibson Les Paul for under $200 but the Epiphone model with far superior wood, construction and hardware (The Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Plus Top) retails for over $850 and sells at Guitar Center for $570. Too much! Fortunately eBay came to the rescue and we were able to snatch up a new-in-box model from a music store for a substantial savings.

It arrived last night and the unboxing was really fun! I plugged it in to the amp for the first time last night and I am just blown away by how nice this guitar sounds and plays. I could not be happier with it. It’s amazing to really play a lefty guitar and I have no doubt my rate of playing progress will accelerate now. I can play it with its clean tone without distortion and really hear each note or crank up the distortion for a heavier sound. It’s just great to see how different it can sound and how pretty the notes ring out.

Dad, thank you so much for keeping my dream alive and always encouraging me to explore my creativity. Your values rubbed off on me and I really hope I’ll continue to encourage that same creativity in all my kids. For now I’ll be trying my damnedest to get John in to our fantastic local music program at his Kindergarten (it’s a very sought after and limited space program).

Now I just need to learn how to really play!