Lefties - Do you read left-handed notation?

Malice

I saw something in another forum recently where a user was looking for notation to be reversed for lefties. This is not something I've ever come across. Does it actually exist and do (m)any of you left-handed players use it?

For clarification, I assume this is what the person meant:
A standard E chord in normal notation


would become something like this:

-=al=-

Doesn't bother me either way, I havn't seen it vertically in ages!

I'm used to it horizontal whichever end up



infact i'd say its easier to read it the right way

Gaspode

I've never seen it done that way, so I think it would just confuse me at this point.

riffmongous

I've seen left handed scale books for sale alright but I can't understand them after a few years of reading rh. Its a nice idea, but its really just limited to beginners, and when most internet tabs are written right handed you'll just be limiting yourself in the long run.

Although they could probably put a reversal option into the likes of GuitarPro and Powertab, it wouldn't be very hard.

RC88

funny, i never knew those existed, i've been in music shop across munster and i have never seen em on any shelf or even being advertised
all the same it seems kinda pointless, one form of tab seems enough, someone had the idea to take tab, print it in reverse and call it left handed tab, sounds like a money grabber 2 me
can't see it catching my eye, but whatever's your cup of tea i suppose?

-=al=-

theres a few left handed chords books etc so left handed people can read, its a bit naff really

all the same to me

riffmongous

I had a go at using a left handed chord and scale finder on the net today, and I think it does make more sense to me. This is just the first one I got off the net http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_chords_left.php?ch=C&mm=m9&v=1

I am more used to reading chords and scales in either tab or sheet form though, I don't usually use shapes

Malice

riffmongous wrote: »

I am more used to reading chords and scales in either tab or sheet form though, I don't usually use shapes

Interesting! Using the E chord again as an example are you saying that this:

[PHP]

---

|
--0----|
--2----|
--2----|
--1----|

---

|

---

|[/PHP]

is more readable for you than this:

[PHP]

---

|

---

|
--1----|
--2----|
--2----|
--0----|

---

|
[/PHP]

-=al=-

2nd way is 100% easier for me to read and visualise

Instead of mirroring the tab of the 1st tab its just easier to read it bottom tab since its like looking down at the neck or something... as a left handed player, I'm glad the righty tab way is king

riffmongous

Malice wrote: »

Interesting! Using the E chord again as an example are you saying that this:

At this stage after 4 years of reading tab the bottom example is actually how I would prefer to read it, because as the poster above says, if you have your guitar under your nose, it looks like you are looking down at the fretboard.
But, I naturally write tab the other way, looking over my notes from lessons, its a mixture of regular tab and things like

E

---

A--3-5

---

D

---

2-3-5-

which causes me a lot of grief, particularly if I'm writing tab out for someone else.

These are what really gets me though:



I will always read these upside down, every single time. And once I get past that and start looking at it properly, mentally I struggle to make any sense of them.

I still have the same upside down problem with 'left handed scales', but once I get past that, they makes perfect sense to me, I can easily visualize my fingers moving out the pattern which is more or less the point of shapes
http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/guitar_scales_left.php?scch=A&scchnam=Pentatonic+Minor&get2=Get (it won't let me select the image)


and when it comes to chord shapes, a standard major bar chord would look like this:

|1|_|_|_|
|1|_|_|_|
|1|2|_|_|
|1|_|4|_|
|1|_|3|_|
|1|_|_|_|

where as this makes the most sense to me (not upside down)
|_|_|_|1|
|_|_|_|1|
|_|_|2|1|
|_|4|_|1|
|_|3|_|1|
|_|_|_|1|

In conclusion, I think a few years of inconsistent learning and application have left me very confused But those are how I would like my learning materials, regular tab, left handed-scales and mirrored chords. I am undecided about whether to have them upside down or not, I instinctively want them that way, but tab and chords read easier not upside down