Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Lefty or righty

#1

@BanjoBen I am a lefty and started playing as a righty for mandolin. When it comes to strumming, my right hand/wrist is spazzy and has tension whereas my left is controlled and free feeling doing the same movement. Will that smooth out over time or would it be best to switch to lefty?

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#2

I have known several people that were lefty that chose to play righty and they did fine in time. I am not sure there is an absolute correct answer for you though. How long have you been playing?

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#3

As a former right-handed person, I find it much easier to play right-handed than with my left hand. :joy::joy::joy: I’m not sure how that was supposed to help, but figured I’d throw it out there!:joy::joy:

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#4

As a natural lefty who plays lefty I can tell you that there are a lot more right handed instruments out there than left handed ones.

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#5

All I can say is… Whaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!?! :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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#6

Welcome to the forum, @drc! Generally, we’re pretty normal folks around here, but there are some out there that are… well, let’s just say that it takes all kinds to make the world go around!!! Right, @Zachary?!

(Zachary is a friend of mine, so I’m qualified to give him a hard time! :laughing:)

Seriously , though, @drc, we’re glad to have you here!

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#7

I don’t have personal experience in this, but my advice is to stay the path with righty instruments. Like @Mike_R says, how long have you been playing?

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#8

@Searnold I’m a lefty that plays right-handed. I play banjo, not mandolin, but if I can do it, anybody can.

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#9

Thank you all for the replies. I apologize for the delay, my dishwasher and washing machine went on the fritz…I’ve been playing banjo and mandolin for about 4 years? I don’t notice it with banjo, just with strumming on mandolin.

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#10

I can imagine that strumming with your opposite hand would feel weird for sure. I’ve never broken my arm and been forced to use my off-hand for tasks, so I can’t speak from experience of adaptation. All I can say is that I know many lefties that play instruments right handed and they seem to think it’s the way to go.

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