Any left handers out there? A friend just bought a uke and then mentioned that they were left handed and asked me if they just re-tune. Well I don’t know. Any tips? Also is there a left handed uke chord book/website anywhere? Any info gratefully received. Cheers.
Alice.

Unless your friend already plays a stringed instrument it might be worth persevering with learning to play right handed, a lot of lefties do. If not, it’s pretty straightforward on most ukes to switch the strings but watch out for the new Mahalos or any other uke with a compensated saddle.

I would have to disagree with Colin a little. As a lefty myself, who started out playing right-handed, I struggled for a year before switching the strings. Once I had I surpassed my previous level within a few months. There is a reason that right-handed stringed instruments are made the way they are: They are easier for right-handers to play.
If your friend wants to enjoy the same benefits I would strongly recommend restringing their instrument. Just reverse the order and tuning of the strings. As Colin says, it isn’t hard. Most ukuleles are symmetrical in design, and even if he has a Mahalo or similar with a compensated bridge, restringing it won’t cause noticeable problems for a beginner as the higher frets where you might start to notice intonation issues will not be used much. Besides, it should be possible to remove and replace the bridge if he really wanted to do a thorough job.

Thanks both! I’ll pass this on to my lefty friend.

You might want to pass this link on too:-
http://www.ukulelecosmos.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.p…

Im curious abut this. I am left handed but it wouldn’t occur to me to play any other way. My logic says that my left hand does the hard work by forming the chord patterns. However I realise this doesn’t make sense. What is the advantage to right handers to play the instrument? Presumably you get better quality strumming???

It basically comes down to what is the natural way for people to play. If a left handed person who had never played before picked up an instrument, they would most likely be holding it with their right hand as the fret-hand. This, and my own personal experience leads me to believe that learning the instrument that way round would be more intuitive and therefore easier for the player.
The way I look at it is that you would never suggest that a right handed person play left handed, so why suggest that a left handed person learn to play right handed?