Beginners Guitar- Help Needed

[Stroopy121]

Top Smashing Pumpkins fact of the day: teh b0lly is left handed, but plays right handed.

Top Smashing who?

xx

[scottyboy]

Steve Morse is another. I read him say that when starting out he felt he had it easier, but regretted it when he decided to develop a pick-every-note style. I always thought the use of one's "wrong" hand as the fretting hand is a pretty weird thing as it does most of the work; but as Morse suggests I guess it depends how much on how much picking and tapping you're going to do which obviously you don't know when starting out.

[Jaaakkkeee]

FALSE

Hehe.

[HairyScaryMark]

Small scale guitars aren't really requied for someone who is 9 years old. I'd suggest he is at the upper end of the age where a short scale guitar would be appropriate and I've taught students of that age who have managed fine with a full scale guitar. If someone tries to learn on a guitar with really poor action or harsh frets however, I have found this tends to make the initial stages of playing the guitar a lot more difficult.

I've met great players who are left handed, some play left handed, others play right handed. I have absolutely no idea how to assess this.

I've heard of people buying cheap nylon string guitars with the view they are symmetrical and the strings to be changed to be either right or left handed. I'd be be hesitant about this wisdom however, as from my experience teaching, despite my best efforts most people remain incredibly resistant to change strings and virtually require the threat of a government environmental health department intervening due to their 3+ year old greasy rusty mess of strings. I've been handed guitars from students, as well as people I've played in bands with and noticed my hands turn visibly dirty after touching the strings and I once set up a friends guitar and ended up scraping a layer of grease off the fret board.

[Flights]

despite my best efforts most people remain incredibly resistant to change strings and virtually require the threat of a government environmental health department intervening due to their 3+ year old greasy rusty mess of strings. I've been handed guitars from students, as well as people I've played in bands with and noticed my hands turn visibly dirty after touching the strings and I once set up a friends guitar and ended up scraping a layer of grease off the fret board.

I recently helped a family friend move into sheltered housing recently and he had a guitar he claimed he played every day. The filth on it was disgusting. It looked like he had just dug it up out of the garden. He's getting on a bit so I offered to clean it up for him. Turns out that its a old Watkins Raiper 22. A really nice guitar and with a bit of a clean and a new set of strings it looks stunning. I was hoping he would let me keep it but he's apparently done nothing but annoy the other folk in his block with it since I gave it back.