Guitar Masters: a little help please

[AllenPOPO]

Hello kvr people...ive been playing the bass guitar for a little while and guitar for less, but i really am making that change to REALLY practice and get better, as to be able to use more live guitar in my recording. the biggest problem is my hand orientation. Left. great if your ancient egyptian, bad if your here in the US looking to learn to play...


ive already orientated myself to "right-handed" playing...i know this maybe counter intuitive as im clearly a dominant left, but i tried playing lefty and it feels so weird now(played righty bass for over a year) i think i should just keep moving forward....All im really looking for is some good excercises that will help strngthen my picking and strumming abilities, that may also help me learn some scales at the same time...my right hand needs tons of work i know, but im optimistic if i can get a couple of bread and butter excercises to strengthen it, my playing will improve considerably....


so with that, any body have any good excercises that can whip my strumming hand into shape??? hopefully they won't be boring, as i would like to spend a good bit working on my hand to get it stronger and more precise...thanks

Allen

[glurgle]

don't have any specific exercises to point you to, but here's some practicing tips that are applicable to any practice situation. The most important thing is being in the right frame of mind when practicing. The more attention you devote to your pick/finger technique and how it affects your tone the better. Mindless repetition of something you can easily play perfectly doesn't really improve you. Mindless repetition of poor technique will seriously hinder you by reinforcing bad habits. If you're running into difficulty with a certain passage *STOP* and do it very slowly, pay attention to the movements required.

Don't worry about the right/left thing if you're already comfortable.

[xtp]

I am left handed and learnt to play right handed about 20 years ago. Yes it is counter intuitve, but it can be done. I struggled with strumming for about 2 years before I got a feel for it.

All I did was listen to my fav songs of the time and went about trying to reproduce them with lots of practice.

At the time I was learning I listened to a lot of (acoustic guitar) Irish Folk and they use a fast continuous strum style which is good for stamina... And my fav pop band was (electric) Black Sabbath so i learned how to strum 2 strings as most of his early music is based around the 5th interval instead of a triad.

[Barf]

I'm also lefthanded, been playing bass righthanded for 18 years so like someone said before, dont worry about it
Btw anyone ever seen a lefthanded piano?
I mostly learned by playing along endlessly with favorite records and reading every book I could get from the library for learning the scales

[Amberience]

I started out playing left handed after I smashed a £200 semi-acoustic that I bought at a trade show, up a brick wall from frustration.

[kaufi]

I play (E-)guit for more than 10 years and started playing piano 3months ago. What i have recognized is, that when i play music by scores, my body is learning more than just playing how i feel (ooohhh sorry for my english, I hope you know what i mean)! start with some simple songs like "Smoke one the water" or "smooth criminal" (bass scores). if this is to simple, i belive the "red hot chilli peppers" have more havy bass parts.

i like the guit, because it's so a "easy" instrument, the piano is killing all my nerves, I wish i started former to learn the "MasterInstrument"

[AllenPOPO]

thanks for all the insight people Im glad that there is hope for playing this way

Any group of songs to learn alot? I really like to play chord changes with guitar...it brings out a sensation to "sing" if you know what i mean...im down for anything

[P.T.]

For exercises, you can make up some.

Play a scale. Now do down/up pick on each note of the scale. Now do up/down on each note of the scale. Try triplets on each note.

String skipping. Down pick a note on the 6th string, then up-pick a note on the 4th string, then down on the 2nd string.

Get your hands used to doing all sorts of different things.

[Chuck E. Jesus]

just keep playing....learn some beatles tunes...try and play in time the best you can, make it "sound" good ie not sloppy, seems lots of guitar dudes miss this...

[duncanparsons]

Btw anyone ever seen a lefthanded piano?

Now there's a VSTi waiting to happen!

DSP

[Chuck E. Jesus]

Btw anyone ever seen a lefthanded piano?

Now there's a VSTi waiting to happen!

DSP

[spaceman]

practise with a metronome.. if you have this sort of control over it, let it speed up gently over a long period and keep practising to it's rhythm

also.. warm up and stretch your fingers and arm muscles

-roll your fingers in and out of a fist like shape for a good 25 times
-grab the top of your fingers, arm streched and pull them back gently (keeping them stretched) keep them there for 10 seconds or so.. do this with your fingers pointing up and pointing down
-roll your hands several times around to warm up your wrist
-do a one-handed tab on the board (index figer + one other finger) going up and down your fret board. Repeat for each finger

give your arm a rest between each exercise

do the metronome guided practice after this warm up

[robogone]

Not sure that the left/right thing really matters or is counter intuitive. I write with my left hand, and can play right-handed instruments, but have no problem with a left-handed guitar or drum kit. I think it's all down to practice, regardless of handedness.

[PaulG]

Hey, a lefty is actually better suited playing a righty guitar since all the dexterity is required in the LH a LOT more than the RH.

I've been teaching for 20+ years - ues to teach taht rock speed-burner stuff in the 80's. I've got a lot that I could send you but it's too long for a post here.

PM me and I'll give you some tips and exercises. If I could abridge them enough maybe I'll post them or just host them somewhere for all to see, too.

[northland]

Hi everybody. I'm also lefthanded and play righthanded. I used the infamous "stylus pick" for practicing one summer and it improved my alternate picking a lot. The stylus is "only" for practicing. It teaches muscle memory. Then I lost it...