Left-handed guitarists

In many languages ‘left’ means something wrong, weak or bad. So in many cultures the left-handedness has regarded as ‘wrong’. Therefore it is difficult to say how many lefties do we really have. But using different tools that are designed for right-handed people may be tough for lefties. The same goes for musical instruments. Wikipedia has a few sentences about it:

/…Left-handed adaptations have even bridged the world of music. Left-handed guitars are manufactured as an alternative to using a flipped around right-handed guitar. There have even been inverted pianos where the deepest notes correspond to the rightmost keys instead of the leftmost. Inverted trumpets are made, too. Although the trumpet’s valves are normally designed to be operated with the right hand, the prevailing belief is that left-handed trumpeters are not at a significant disadvantage. The French horn, for example, is played with the left hand, yet most horn players are right-handed…/ See the original.

Not all left-handers play on a left-handed guitar. Some just flip the strings on a normal guitar or even play with bass strings down and trebles facing up. Most famous left-handed guitarists are Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Curt Cobain and Tony Iommi but there are many more. Some lefties play the normal right-handed guitar in a right-handed way.

Parents, who’s kids are just taking up the guitar, often discuss the topic with the guitar teachers. They want to know which way should their child play. Some argue that playing the left-handed way can be unpractical. You cannot borrow others’ guitars and the choice in music store may be poor. I always say then: if a left-handed person plays the left-handed instrument then nothing can go wrong. They can develop their talents that they have. But if they start the other way then often we never know, does it cause any extra complications to the pupil. Some of them have to change their way of playing later in life and some quit. And the older they grow the more they doubt: how would have I played the other way?

But nobody is entirely left- or right-handed so it is not black and white. What are your experiences?