This post is about the left-handed ukulele and everything you need to know about it!
To put it simply: A left-handed ukulele is a normal ukulele with the strings in the opposite order.
Don’t worry! First of all, you should try playing a regular right-handed Ukulele. If you feel comfortable with it, you don’t need to change strings. We say this because the world is designed for right-handed people, and not for us lefties.
Beginners who want to learn a little will find life easier with a right-handed Ukulele.
This because most of the instructions and resources are for right-handed people, sadly. You will see that most of the things you read or watch online about learning, including YouTube videos, are for right-handed people. So, we suggest you try to use a right-handed one for this reason.
However, if you look around, you can also find a lot of information about how to tune a ukulele for left-handed people, left-handed chords for Ukulele, and so on. It is also possible to buy a left-handed Ukulele.
You just have to search for it and you will find many options.
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Playing the Ukulele
You might struggle with the strumming of a right-handed ukulele at first, but don’t lose hope. With some practice, you will master it soon enough.
Some of the left-handed people have a stronger preference for using their left hand than others. Therefore, they want to have a ukulele that suits them and their way of playing. There could be several reasons for this, such as:
- They want to express their identity as left-handed people and show that they are proud of it.
- They find it too difficult or uncomfortable to play a right-handed ukulele.
- They have high ambitions to become very good players, and they think that a right-handed ukulele would limit their potential.
Reverse the strings
However, if you are going to reverse the strings, remember that you will have to translate (mirror) almost all images, chord diagrams, and so on to the opposite orientation. Left-handed people are usually very smart, so this might not be a big problem for you.
Luckily, you can find left-handed Ukulele chord charts (GCEA) on the internet. You can print them out as they are very useful. Or you can buy a book with Left-Handed Ukulele Chords if you prefer.
Naturally, you can also experiment with changing the strings to left-handed ones after trying to play the Ukulele for right-handed people. This way, you can compare how it feels to play both ways. If you find that playing with left-handed strings suits you better, stick with it. If you don’t notice a significant difference, you might want to switch back to the original strings.
How to change strings on a left-handed ukulele
To learn how to change the strings, you can watch the video below, but you have to do it in reverse order for left-handed players. Don’t forget that. Moreover, you can also check out the video at the end of the article about Ukulele String Names.
Left Handed Songbooks
Here you have a link to free songbooks for left handed people.
Please note:
Basic Ukulele is an independent website that does not have any sponsors. The only way we earn some money to keep the website running is by getting clicks on Google ads in our posts. We hope you don’t mind them and use them if you find them helpful. We appreciate every click you make on our ads and express our gratitude for your support. Thank you!
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Finally, Basic Ukulele was founded in 2015 with the aim of making it easier for anyone who wants to learn or find out more about this wonderful instrument.