Right handers should mimic while lefthanders should mirror

I received an email from a left handed guitarist wanting lesson materials specifically for left hand players. While this is great the reality is 99.9999% all books and learning material are written for the right handed guitarist. I then suggested to the following;

I understand how you feel as I have taught quite a few left handed students over the years and developed techniques for teaching them using right hand materials. The problem I found was exactly as you say they were trying to mimic rather than mirror. At first it felt like a step backwards but once they learned to mirror suddenly everything became a lot easier. Jimi Hendrix actually became the most amazing guitarist through this very technique. He was able to watch guitarists on stage and quickly learn what they were playing through mirroring. In recent years scientists have discovered our brains actually have what are called mirror neurons. This means when we watch another person our brains fire in sympathy as if we were doing the actions of the person we are observing. With some actions we switch this around so we mimic and in other actions we mirror. You have developed the mimic approach as any right hand guitarist would but by switching to mirroring you will in effect learn much faster. It is worth the effort to switch because you are left handed. Right handers should mimic for best results and left handers mirror unless of course you are watching a left handed guitarist.

I hope that helps and who knows you might become the next Hendrix or Paul McCartney.