I have just picked up the violin after 12 years and I am a lefty. So my question is: Is there any left handed lesson books out there or video (DVD or VHS) tapes out there? Any help would be appreciated.
netta

It doesn`t matter what your dominant hand is, you always hold the instrument in your left hand and the bow in your right.

There is no difference, in fact you have an advantage, as your sronger hand does the more difficult stuff. So the way everyonre else plays it is fine for you, and you would find it harder the other way round.

Actually, there is such thing as a Left-handed violin. It`s like a guitar, the strings are just reversed.

There was an incredible left-handed violinist in my orchestra named Neil Greene, he may have information online.

Yes, I do have a left-handed violin. Its just that i haven`t palyed for about 8 years and I`m really bad at finger placement for the notes. When I played before, I used sticky tabs cut in circles for the notes and put them in the correct spot. I was just looking for some easy tunes to practice on. Thanks everyone for your comments

Eh? but how does having the strings the wrong way round make it easier for left handed people?

Yes there are a few books written specifically for left-handed violinists. I know of only one that is currently in print: "Playing Violin and Fiddle Left-handed" by Ryan Thomson.
There is an advanced etude book by the left-handed violinist and pedagogue Terje Moe Hansen, "A Modern Approach to Violin Virtuosity" (his book is intended for every violinist left and right-handed).
I would suggest that you do not need to find books specifically geared for left-handed players. As most literature is written from a right-hander`s perspective you will need to "convert" the instructions/examples in your mind at some point. So, the earlier you can make the mental jump, the easier it will be for you. This type of metal exercise is a process that a right-handed player generally never learns. However, it does have a positive affect on learning the fingerboard/hand positions. Start with some of the simpler methods/etudes by Whistler and Dancla. For repertoire, look for music that you can sight-read without too much difficulty. Also, watch other violinists (both professional and amateur). Apply what you find is useful to your own playing.
Most importantly, do not let anyone tell you that your are playing the instrument "backwards." Right-handed fixations in musical instruments is really only a fairly recent occurrence in the scope of western music. Things evolve. Currently, there are many of us that play in orchestras, teach, and work as performing soloists.
Recent history (19th century to present) will show that some great performers and teachers were left-handed violinists. In fact, even a Stradivari violin has served duty as a "left handed violin."

When it comes to a left handed violin, are the left handed violins made opposite to right handed ones. Like from the insides there is a little wooden shaft from the inside next to the f-hole that holds the G and D strings and the sound post on the other side that holds the E and A strings. Is that opposite also, I guess it has to be?

Yes, they would be a complete "mirror image" of a right-handed instrument.
However, conversions on lower priced instruments are possible(from right-handed to left-handed--switching the bass bar, pegs, nut, bridge, strings, and soundpost) , as the graduations of the top and planing of the fingerboard tend to be rather symmetrical, as opposed to better quality instruments, where graduations of both top and fingerboard are made precisely for either left hand or right hand instruments. There are several manufactures that make low and middle-priced left-handed instruments as part of their regular production (and will make higher grade instruments to order--same for right-handed instruments). Also, several higher quality producers will make left-handed instruments to order without charging an additional fee.
A couple of violin makers that regularly offer/make left-handed instruments are Mahr (specializes in modern, baroque and classical string instruments as well as viol family instruments). Gliga will make any of their instruments (modern string family) in left-hand models.

It is always advisable to have a factory instrument set-up properly by a local luthier/violin maker, as the mass produced instruments are usually shipped without much work put into the set-up. In the trade it is assumed by a manufacturer that the shop they ship to will do this. It is most important to have a factory-direct instrument looked at by a qualified luthier/violin maker to see if the set-up needs to be improved (may require planning the neck and replacing the bridge and strings, & etc.).
If you are on a budget and need a beginner`s instrument, several Chinese manufacturers make left-handed violins as part of regular production. I would suggest that the lowest priced instruments would provide reasonable performance for the first year or two of learning, but should be upgraded the moment the student/teacher feels that the instrument does not feel/handle well or cannot support tonal properties needed to ensure progress.

I`m left-handed but I can`t see how it`s easier to play using a left-handed violin, I`ve always just used a normal one, wouldn`t that look a bit wierd in an orchestra? Well, anyway, you learn something new everyday, I never knew there were left-handed violins! Good luck with your playing!

Thanks for all the Feedback!! It does look alittle weird in concerts, but because left-handed violinists, we unsually sit on the ends because of the bow strokes. Unless you are First Chair, then you just sit alittle more out of line... Just hold up a right-handed violin in the mirror and there is your instant left-handed violin!! I found a few books to help on placement and also a great video too. It has helped without having a teacher. Once again thanks for all the Feedback.

I am a left handed guitar teacher

i am weary of listening to right handed teachers going on about how left handers should learn right handed.
it`s asking a student to limit their greatest possible acheivement to between 60-80% of what is otherwise attainable using a left handed instrument.

the ignorance needs to stop.
40 years ago, left handers had it beaten out of them in schools and were forced to write right handed

this is the same thing.

i hope to take up vioin soon
why should i throw away so many years of fingering dexterity on my right hand and rythmic and textural note playing on my left hand gained in left handed guitar playing?????

the 19th century is long gone
moving on is long overdue
manufacturers have been making affordable left handed guitars for decades
they wouldnt make them if they couldnt sell them

violin manufacturers dont make left handed instruments for one simple reason

teachers do not entertain the concept of left handed students

that`s why left handed violin creation is limited to conversions and custom jobs

both of these are largely out of reach of a young beginner in terms of pricing and accessing a suitable instrument.

if budget manufacturers made them, and teachers advocated them, the violin world would be a happier place i can assure you.

thank you i am left handed and i am 50 years old. all my life when i wanted to learn i couldn`t because my world is reversed. i am tired of feeling i am the idiot or there is something wrong with me. i am just as talented as anyone else. i am leaving the mirror watch out world...

I don`t think it`s a case of anyone thinking left handers are idiots or anything. i know a left hander who studied violin at conservatoire level. But you don`t see flutes and clarinets made for left handers, or pianos, and at the end of the day a violinist, unless only interested in folk music, is going to be playing with others in an orchestra. In orchestras, everyone bows the same way, whether the leader`s bowing suits them or not.

Liz

excuse me sorry things are changing and everyone used to bow in the same direction for the sake of appearances, but now people are realizing we have difference and they should be acknowledged and understood. if you are left handed you should understand how many things very simple things are challenges to the left handed person. with the challenge also comes the out rage that why should we have to cope and adapte to unnaturall movements all because we are not even considered. no the world is changing thank god. i never thought i was an idiot i did feel however that others thought me an idiot because my natural movements looked as awkward to them as having to do things the right handed way felt to me. if you aren`t lefthanded then go one day useing your left as you would your right and at the end of that day see if you don`t feel violated by being forced to move unaturally