Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Any other left handed players?

So this is a weird issue that I've been really thinking about lately. I'm as left handed as you can get. I don't do a thing with my right hand, for the most part.

I've been noticing that some more complicated melodies have been giving me a lot of trouble, just because my right hand just can't seem to keep up. I've been working on a few David Nevue pieces, and quick runs really give me a hard time. I can knock out bass lines no problem, but I'm starting to hit a wall with my right hand.

I had this same issue when I played guitar. I just could not play faster solos. I could "play" them on the fret board no problem, but my right hand just couldn't move the pick fast enough to keep up.

Anyone else have an issue like this? I eventually got a left-handed guitar to fix the issue, obviously I don't have that luxury with piano

Well, there's always this solution: Left-Handed Piano.

Or, you could specialize in left-hand repertoire: Piano Music for One Hand

Seriously, I suspect everyone struggles with hand dominance (right or left) at one time or another. I think the only solution is practice. My brother, a classically trained pianist, is left-handed in most things, and my impression is that he worked a bit harder at right-hand training during his studies but didn't find the problem too hard to manage in the end. Hanon or even scales can be used for developing hand equality. If you are studying classical literature, Bach is pretty good at exercising both hands without the traditional "melody in RH/harmony in LH" structure. And there are etudes that focus on one hand or the other.

im left handed but wouldn't say severely so. i play guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, all conventional/right handed also. Cause & effect wise, i wouldn't know if doing so contributes to a lesser dominance or not? Piano-wise, my right hand is definately nothing to brag about. Picking out a melody on a mandolin or guitar has it's speed limitations as well.

playing fast melodic lines - especially more difficult melodies - most often won't come to you immediately. Though fortunately, with slow, methodical practice, they can if you're patient enough and put in the work. If, after a few days of slow practice (while memorizing) you still don't find yourself making any progress, then it's likely a technical and/or fingering issue that should you re-post about with more specific details - assuming the piece(s) in question aren't just simply too far out of your current ability

I'm ambidextrous, which does really help with this aspect of piano playing, but I think with slow, dedicated practice, you can learn to do things very well with your right hand. Maybe not as well as someone who's right handed, but very well.

I am left handed also and we all play stronger with the hand we write with, but what you need to do is to practice melody arrangements with your right hand only. Work on various songs start with slower pieces and then find some pieces that have fast rhythms required in the right hand and play these right hand only and eventually along to a metronome in which you gradually increase the speed. This way you will strengthen up your right hand so it becomes as strong as your left.

Hang in there and be comforted by the fact that there have been many, many great left-handed pianists:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/co...es/archive/2009/01/left-handed_pia.shtml

I would think that except for the few who, like Sam, are ambidextrous, most pianists experience some variation of relative RH or LH weakness. As a right-handed person, I started piano with the same problem in reverse, compounded by already being able to read the treble staff (from playing recorder) and being totally UNable to read the bass. My LH has gotten a lot better with practice, especially since I've been learning some of the easier Bach pieces - Minuet in GM BVW 116 (# 4, I think) from AM's Notebook is full of alternating RH/LH arpeggios. My biggest LH challenge now is dynamic control - controlling loudness/softness, etc. Otherwise, I can play melodies as well with my LH as with my RH. Which is also still far from perfect much of the time. But I think with time, your RH will catch up with your left.

I'm left handed and there is good and bad. Firstly I practice Hannon a lot to stregthen my right hand as the right hand parts can be more demanding a times. Plus it creates a better balance between both hands. The good part I think is it's far easier for me to lighten my left hand and not drown out the melody. Also being left handed means I can focus my attention far more on my right hand. I think we are disadvantaged a bit in the begining but it evens itself out later on.

You've only been playing a year and you skipped over the basics/intermediates and went straight into repertoire. Give your body time to catch up. You are hitting these blocks because your technique isn't perfected yet.

It takes time and practice. Just relax and do the best you can. Work on things you CAN manage with no problem in order to overcome this.

And remember, speed is rarely important when learning. Speed comes after technique and after even more time.