Being left-handed playing right handed Bass

DJ88 · #1 12-15-2005, 05:54 PM

I have been playing for about 2 months now. I am left handed really, but after looking around and discovering I would have little selection of a bass unless ordered and still not so much. So I bought my first bass and it was a right hander. I was so eager to play, I rushed to it and bought a right hander. I tried playing it upside down to see how it would be, gave up because it made me feel (and look) stupid. I have played all but about...a week I will say...right handed. I tried since then to flip it to evaluate hand strength or anything like that, and it doesn't fit.
So my question for anyone who knows is: am I shorting myself by continuing to play right handed? Even when I am starting to gain speed and it feels and has felt natural for some time? I am unsure to any effects of it.
Thanks for any advice!!

Oreomeister365 · #2 12-15-2005, 06:18 PM

stay riight handed.

Me, being a left hander, has had potential bass after potential bass option completely shot down because "we dont make left handers"

oh who cares if we make the COOLEST LOOKING MODEL OUT THERE, IF YOU'RE LEFT HANDED YOU CAN GO TO HELL!!

DJ88 · #3 12-15-2005, 06:23 PM

thanks for the response.

dhadleyray · #4 12-15-2005, 06:54 PM

I played a right handed bass for about 3 years, then I took lessons right handed. The reason was the teacher said he couldn't teach me that way. I have now been playing right handed for almost 30 years. Stay righty...

Pattitucci is also a lefty if I remember correctly.

JimmyM · #5 12-15-2005, 10:52 PM

I would say play however you want, but be prepared to pay anywhere from 20 to 50 percent more for a bass or flip right handed basses to left. It's not easy to be a lefty guitarist or bassist but if it works better for you, you'd be doing yourself a disservice not to try it.

Or better yet, be ambidextrous and you can do cool trick bass work.

Stanley Design · #6 12-15-2005, 11:20 PM

I'm left handed and have played guitar and bass right handed for 5 years now, I wouldn't have it any other way. Right from the start I was most confident with my fretting hand and couldn't imagine playing with my right hand doing fancy fretwork. I'd rather train my bad hand to be able to work over 4 strings than have to work over an entire fretboard. Plus as was already said, buying instruments is a complete hassle for lefty players.

Stanley Design · #7 12-15-2005, 11:21 PM

Oh, not to mention how hard it would be to sell your basses when you want to upgrade to something better.

duke2004 · #8 12-15-2005, 11:22 PM

im left handed and play righty. id say stick with the righty technique although one often sees some sweet used basses out there a lot cheaper because the lefty models are not in demand

JMX · #9 12-15-2005, 11:28 PM

What he said, it's easy to play right-handed as a lefty.

NKVD · #10 12-16-2005, 12:27 AM

im right handed but play lefty

Low E Louie · #11 12-16-2005, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NKVD

im right handed but play lefty

Nah.. Really?

I am left handed too and play right handed basses. But I am not extremely left handed, I am somewhere in the middle so it doesn't really matter for me. My right hand is slower than my left hand but I hope it gets faster with practise.

Woodchuck · #12 12-16-2005, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Low E Louie

I am left handed too and play right handed basses. But I am not extremely left handed, I am somewhere in the middle so it doesn't really matter for me. My right hand is slower than my left hand but I hope it gets faster with practise.

OMG! That's also my situation to a T!

PaulMacCnj · #13 12-16-2005, 04:01 AM

An old friend of mine is left-handed and he plays that way (right is the fretting hand). But, he played right handed guitars and, sometimes, bass. He played very well. The cool part was that he could swap guitars with other right-handed players.

Paul Mac

blujax01 · #14 12-18-2005, 08:04 PM

I'm a left hander who has played drums right handed for several decades. When I decided to learn bass, it was a no brainer. Your left hand is faster, more nimble, and stronger. And you have the advantage of being a lefty in a right handed world so you have had to become more adept with your right hand already. Forced ambidexterity, so to speak.
We leftys have the best of both worlds.

iamlowsound · #15 12-18-2005, 08:50 PM

i am almost 100% ambidextrious (the only thing that i can't do with my left hand is write good, but i can't do that with my right hand eather). i got a righty because thats all the store had. tho i want to learn to play left so i can do cool tricks at shows

lowsound

Spector5 · #16 12-19-2005, 02:46 PM

I say if you can do both do it because you will have something that our right handers don't have. you can speak 2 languages I can only play right handed but to be able to do both hands thats real good.

**bobbybass85** · #17 12-19-2005, 08:05 PM

I'm a lefty and have taught myself how to play, i think playing right handed is easier because it makes the good hand to the tricky fretting and the dumb hand do the picking

Commreman · #18 12-21-2005, 04:58 AM

I'm ambidexturous (but mostly lefty) and have been playing righty for 30 years. It's no problem whatsoever.

JJBACOOMBA · #19 12-21-2005, 10:28 AM

I play left handed strung righty. I am right handed. I just learned that way and nobody told me anything at the time.If I started over again I think I would be a righty playing righty. I cant play licks and styles similiar to Marcus Miller although I can teach you to do it. I cant play very many chords either. But I can stay in the pocket and groove my ass off. If you play lefty with the strings strung for a lefty you shouldnt have any problems playing any style of bass lines.Practice, Practice , Practice. Left hand or right hand, doesnt matter, its all up to you how which direction you want to go with it.You cant be good unless you actually do it until its al natural for you. And even then theres still alot to cover.
Good Luck!!

pafriend · #20 12-21-2005, 11:41 PM

Put simply, do what you are most comfortable with, which in your case sounds like playing right-handed. I wish I was so lucky, I can't play right-handed at all.

Lefties are interesting because the environment and experiences influence just how "lefty" you are. For example in school the few left-handed scissors available were always these useless dull things, so I always used right-handed scissors which requires you to apply the pressure backwards. In my teens my grandmother bought me a fancy pair of scissors made in Germany, by a left-handed guy on left-handed machinery. Beautiful, but I couldn't use them, my brain was too used to using righties.

Must be nice being able to walk into a music store and actually be able to *play* the nicest instrument there....