Jon Hamilton Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 Hi everyone, I’m just looking at starting out on electric guitar. I can’t get much advice from music stores (due to COVID) so I’m hoping someone on the forum might be able to help. 1) I have been looking at the Yamaha 212VQM as a starter guitar (seems to get good reviews, has good looks and it’s in my budget range) but I’m not sure if I should go LH or RH. Online assessments seem to show me as roughly 50% LH and 50% RH. Any views on which one to buy bearing in mind that I don’t have the option of trying both in a store at the moment ? 2) Where I live, using an amp in the house wouldn’t be an option. Even a practice amp might be too obtrusive. Any suggestions of ways of being able to practise/play silently or quietly would be appreciated. Obviously I don’t want to spend money on kit where I would be disappointed with the sound quality as this wouldn’t encourage me to stick with the practicing. Many thanks, Stay safe Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Hamilton Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 P.S. forgot to say in my post that I write left handed, that’s why I took the assessment. thanks again, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt P Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) hello, and welcome to the forum! i've had a quick search and cannot find the particular guitar you posted in a left hand configuration, there has always been a much smaller range of guitars available in left hand so that might sway your decision. i would suggest that it might be worth buying something a bit cheaper (possibly secondhand) as your first instrument, the Yamaha Pacifica guitars are very well respected for good reason, i've played a few and they were all much better than the price tag would suggest, the 112 is incredibly abundant on the used market and the prices are very good (i've heard of them going for under 50 quid in some cases!) For practicing i would suggest one of the many multi-effects units and a pair of good headphones, look for units by Zoom, Korg (the pandora range), Vox and Boss, these will also give you the chance to try out effects and many will have settings to ape the tones and sounds of famous guitarists. the more affordable units will have headphone outs and some will have aux inputs for plugging in an mp3 player or similar so you can play along. Matt Edited January 31, 2021 by Matt P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnyman Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 I’ll echo what Matt has said. If you’re not sure if you’re a lefty or a righty then it’s probably worth going used and cheap for your first guitar (and to give yourself the widest choice later down the line, go right-handed if you can!). Yamaha Pacifica, Vintage, Squier, Epiphone, LTD - there are lots of good makes around at decent prices. If you spot something you fancy, feel free to post on here for a second opinion. I also write left-handed but I do everything else right-handed so maybe a more telling assessment is; which hand do you catch or throw a ball with? Which way would you swing a golf club or cricket bat? At the risk of getting personal, which is your “wiping hand”? You may be truly ambidextrous - but those questions will probably tell you which is your dominant side. And I’ll second the choice of a Zoom multi-fx unit with headphone output. Or you could look at a small practice amp with a headphone output - that allows you the option of “rocking out” on the rare occasion you’ve got the house to yourself. I use a small Fender Mustang amp which has a bunch of effects built in and almost always use it with headphones. There’s a lot of choices out there so, again, if you find something you like the look of, feel free to solicit advice on here. There’s generally no shortage of opinion Good luck with the search and setting out on the journey! I started learning in my fifties and it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 My father was a total 'lefty', and passed it down to one of my younger brothers. Lefty in all things, Geoff nevertheless picked up my guitars, and so played 'righty', and very well indeed. I'm a 'righty', but play my drums 'lefty'. Go figure. Try a mate's guitar and see how it inspires you. There are, though, plenty enough 'lefty' guitars in the World; they're not as rare as all that. Less choice, maybe, but choice still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftybassman392 Posted January 31, 2021 Share Posted January 31, 2021 (edited) Hi there Jon, and welcome. Just a few words on the subject of handedness if I may (hoping it doesn't sound too preachy as it's not meant to)... First up, it's not an either/or. Most people can do things to a certain level with their 'wrong' hand at need. Total one-handedness is actually rare. You probably know this already, but all the same... That said, most people have a preference one way over the other. It can vary very widely as Douglas has indicated above, with people routinely doing different tasks with different hands being fairly common. Again though, proper ambidexterity (the ability to do all things equally well with either hand) is pretty rare. As has been said above, try both ways and let that be your guide. If there doesn't seem to be much difference then you might as well go Righty. If it feels very different then you'll know fairly quickly even as a beginner. (You could still go Righty in this latter situation of course, but you need to be prepared for the likelihood that it'll be hard work - as in 'harder than if you'd gone Lefty'.) One more thing: there are couple of myths about handedness on a guitar that you need to be aware of: 1. "It's all a bit strange at first so you might as well play Righty." In my years as a guitar tutor with the RGT I once had a protracted and heated argument with - of all people - a senior and well-respected member of the Registry over this through the pages of our professional journal. Yes it is all a bit strange at first, but that doesn't necessarily make it an equal challenge. 2. "Left handed players have a stronger left hand, and since the fretting hand does most of the work you should really be playing Righty anyway." I've heard this one on a number of musicians' forums (including, sad to say, Guitatchat's sister site, Basschat). In the first place, it isn't the case that the fretting hand does all the hard work. All the fretting fingers need to do is be in the right place at the right time: the subtleties and nuances of note production are carried out by the strong hand. In the second place, even if it were true, then by that logic all right-handed players should be playing Lefty! Hope this helps. ETA: In case this seems a little OTT given what you've said up top, around 90% of the population is predominantly right-handed, so the fact that you've mentioned left-handedness at all indicates that it's an unusual thing to be considering. Hence the speil. Edited February 1, 2021 by leftybassman392 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Hamilton Posted February 1, 2021 Author Share Posted February 1, 2021 Hi guys, Many thanks for your thoughts and replies. Some good food for thought there. I might hold off final decisions until the music shops re open (hopefully not too much longer now) so that I can at least handle some right and left hand guitars. thanks again, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted February 1, 2021 Share Posted February 1, 2021 Go by feel. Gary Moore was a sinistral who played right handed... I heard he was pretty decent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardMarlowe Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 On 31/01/2021 at 17:55, leftybassman392 said: Hi there Jon, and welcome. Just a few words on the subject of handedness if I may (hoping it doesn't sound too preachy as it's not meant to)... First up, it's not an either/or. Most people can do things to a certain level with their 'wrong' hand at need. Total one-handedness is actually rare. You probably know this already, but all the same... That said, most people have a preference one way over the other. It can vary very widely as Douglas has indicated above, with people routinely doing different tasks with different hands being fairly common. Again though, proper ambidexterity (the ability to do all things equally well with either hand) is pretty rare. As has been said above, try both ways and let that be your guide. If there doesn't seem to be much difference then you might as well go Righty. If it feels very different then you'll know fairly quickly even as a beginner. (You could still go Righty in this latter situation of course, but you need to be prepared for the likelihood that it'll be hard work - as in 'harder than if you'd gone Lefty'.) One more thing: there are couple of myths about handedness on a guitar that you need to be aware of: 1. "It's all a bit strange at first so you might as well play Righty." In my years as a guitar tutor with the RGT I once had a protracted and heated argument with - of all people - a senior and well-respected member of the Registry over this through the pages of our professional journal. Yes it is all a bit strange at first, but that doesn't necessarily make it an equal challenge. 2. "Left handed players have a stronger left hand, and since the fretting hand does most of the work you should really be playing Righty anyway." I've heard this one on a number of musicians' forums (including, sad to say, Guitatchat's sister site, Basschat). In the first place, it isn't the case that the fretting hand does all the hard work. All the fretting fingers need to do is be in the right place at the right time: the subtleties and nuances of note production are carried out by the strong hand. In the second place, even if it were true, then by that logic all right-handed players should be playing Lefty! Hope this helps. ETA: In case this seems a little OTT given what you've said up top, around 90% of the population is predominantly right-handed, so the fact that you've mentioned left-handedness at all indicates that it's an unusual thing to be considering. Hence the speil. THANK-YOU. IT's unbelievable how many lefty kids are held back or drop guitar quickly because some idiot - invariably right-handed - repeats these myths. The more people out there prepared to call the out, the better. Better a more limited choice of guitars than a guitar that you don't enjoy playing, and is always awkward in feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
