If I Had a Hammer (dulcimer) but no left-hand
Adventures with 'other' instruments...
Dusty...I"ve been playing for awhile and have taken Rick Thum's classes 2x. He starts classes with doing exactly what you are doing. Practice will bring your left up to good. The only thing he recommends is exactly what Skip writes about. It is great to learn and practice that way since it will put you in a position where you will find more strength quicker, and later when you have played a while you can play much louder. Scales and arppeggio's are the ways to practice. Do try to vary where you play both. Songs are more fun, but as with mountain dulcimer, there are multiple ways to play the same song depending on the player. Some teachers have a more rigid way of playing the songs than other teachers. I think that with the practice, your left hand will come faster than you expect. As far as I know, Rick's personal practices still include starting with the scales and arpeggios all over the instrument.