Roughly one guitarist in ten is left-handed, and every one of them faces the same decision before playing a single note: play left-handed, play right-handed anyway, or convert a right-handed guitar. This guide lays out what each option actually costs you, so you can decide once and stop second-guessing it.
1 The Decision Nobody Explains Properly
Guitar is not a one-handed instrument, which is why the advice you get is so contradictory. Both hands do difficult, different jobs:
What Each Hand Actually Does
Fine motor control, independent finger placement, stretches and barres
Timing, dynamics, rhythm — where the feel of your playing lives
On a right-handed guitar, the left hand frets and the right hand picks. So a left-handed player who learns right-handed gets their dominant hand on the fretboard, which is not obviously wrong. That is exactly why the question is genuinely open rather than settled.
The honest answer: there is no universally correct choice. What follows is what each option costs, not a verdict.
2 Option A — Play Left-Handed
You buy a guitar built as a mirror image: the body cutaway, nut slots, bridge saddles and controls are all reversed.
| Upside | Downside |
|---|---|
| Strumming and picking feel natural from day one | Far fewer models available |
| Everything is properly set up, not improvised | Usually costs more than the right-handed equivalent |
| You can learn directly from left-handed material | You cannot pick up a friend’s guitar |
| Feels correct if strumming rhythm is your instinct | Chord diagrams need mentally mirroring |
The availability problem is real and worth planning for. Major manufacturers offer left-handed versions of their popular models, but the selection thins fast once you move beyond the best sellers, and second-hand stock is scarce. Beginner bundles in particular are often right-handed only.
3 Option B — Learn Right-Handed
Plenty of left-handed players learn on a standard guitar and never look back. This is not a compromise so much as a different trade.
What you gain: every guitar in every shop is playable, every lesson video matches your hands exactly, every chord diagram reads correctly with no mirroring, and resale is straightforward. Your dominant hand also gets the fretting work, which some players find helps with barres and stretches.
What you give up: your rhythm hand is your weaker one at the start. Strumming timing and dynamics can feel clumsy for the first few months.
The critical detail: this only works if you decide at the beginning. Switching after a year of muscle memory means starting over. If you are undecided, try both in a shop before committing — hold each one and strum. Many players report an immediate, unmistakable preference.
4 Option C — Convert a Right-Handed Guitar
Flipping a right-handed guitar over and restringing it in reverse order is the traditional workaround. It works, but it is not free, and the details matter more than people expect.
What needs changing
| Part | Problem when flipped | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Nut | Slots are cut for specific string gauges; thin slots cannot hold the low E | Replace with a new nut, cut in reverse |
| Bridge / saddle | Acoustic saddles are angled to compensate intonation; flipping reverses that angle | Reshape or replace the saddle |
| Electric saddles | Individually set for the original string order | Re-intonate each saddle |
| Strap button | Ends up in the wrong place | Add a second button |
| Controls / jack | Now sit under the strumming arm | Live with it, or rout the body |
The nut and saddle are not optional if you want the guitar to play in tune. A conversion done properly by a luthier can cost a meaningful fraction of the guitar’s value, which often makes buying a left-handed instrument the cheaper route after all.
The cutaway problem
On a flipped guitar the body cutaway ends up on the wrong side, so upper-fret access gets worse rather than better. On a symmetrical body this barely matters; on a single-cutaway shape it matters a lot.
5 Flipping Without Restringing
There is a fourth path, and it is genuinely strange: turn the guitar over and leave the strings exactly as they are. The low E now sits at the bottom and the high E at the top — the whole string order is inverted.
Chord shapes have to be relearned from scratch, and bends now pull toward the floor instead of the ceiling, which changes the sound of the playing in ways that are hard to imitate any other way. Albert King and Dick Dale both played this way, and the distinctive quality of their bending is a direct result.
For a beginner this is the hardest possible starting point, because no diagram, lesson or tab will match what you are doing. It is worth knowing about, not worth choosing.
6 Reading Chord Diagrams as a Lefty
Standard chord diagrams are drawn for a right-handed player. If you play left-handed, the diagram is a mirror of your fretboard.
The strings run in the opposite order: on a right-handed diagram the low E is the leftmost vertical line, and on your neck it is the rightmost. Fret numbers and finger numbers do not change — only the horizontal order flips.
Two practical approaches:
- Mirror mentally. Read the diagram right-to-left instead of left-to-right. Awkward for a week, automatic after that.
- Mirror physically. Hold the diagram up to a mirror, or flip the image on screen. Useful while the shapes are still new.
Our guide to reading chord diagrams explains what each symbol means; the only adjustment for you is the string order.
7 Left-Handed Players Worth Knowing About
Each of these solved the problem differently, which is the point:
| Player | Approach |
|---|---|
| Jimi Hendrix | Played right-handed guitars flipped over and restrung in reverse |
| Paul McCartney | Left-handed instruments, including a famously left-handed bass |
| Tony Iommi | Purpose-built left-handed guitars |
| Kurt Cobain | Left-handed models, often hard to source at the time |
| Albert King | Flipped without restringing — inverted string order |
| Dick Dale | Also flipped without restringing, early in his career |
There is no single approach that produced better players. Every one of these routes has produced great ones.
8 Frequently Asked Questions
Should a left-handed person learn guitar right-handed?
Many do, successfully, and it removes every availability and resale problem. But it is not automatically better. Try holding both ways before you buy; if one feels obviously wrong, trust that.
Are left-handed guitars more expensive?
Usually somewhat, and the selection is much smaller. Manufacturers build fewer of them, so the discounting and second-hand supply that keeps right-handed prices down largely does not exist.
Can I just restring my right-handed guitar backwards?
You can, but not without work. The nut slots and the bridge saddle are cut for the original string order, so a proper conversion needs both replaced or reshaped. Restringing alone will play out of tune.
Do left-handed players learn slower?
No. The difficulty is logistical — finding instruments and mirroring diagrams — not musical.
Is it too late to switch?
If you have months of muscle memory, switching means restarting. Better to commit to the way you already play and put that effort into practice instead.
Do left-handed guitars sound different?
No. A properly built left-handed guitar is an exact mirror, and it sounds like its right-handed twin.
9 Where to Go Next
Whichever option you pick, the actual playing is identical from here:
- How to read guitar chords — mirror the string order if you play lefty
- Guitar chords chart — the shapes to start with
- Open chords — the first shapes worth learning