changing to left handed playing

[xnmrph]

hello

after 30 years playing right handed, i suffered a serious and permanent injury in my left arm, and playing had become difficcult and painful. after some months, i feel i have to try playing left handed.

all my basses are right handed, obviously, and i like them all, after a half life playing them. i don't want to spend money before i try to play left handed and check if i can addapt to this new way.

most simple way, i think, would be to play without changing strings of strings, that is, thickest strings down...

it could help me a lot any advice you could give me about that...manuals, tricks, technique, videos...could it be more easier to relearn changing strings placement? that case, i suposse i have to change nut al least....

Any help would be appreciated. excuse my poor english, i hope you can understand me.

[darkhorse9]

It may not always work to just flip the strings. You may have to adjust the nut and maybe even the bridge as well.

Or you could just get a Hofner violin and learn lots of Beatle songs

Of course if all you want to do is try out left handed playing, I guess you could flip the strings and just deal with it. If it works, then make the investment.

I play in a Beatle band and they asked me to try and play left handed if I could


I couldn't.

My problem is I tend to be a tab player and visualize the bass parts by position on the fretboard. It was necessary to do that in order to be able to sing as well. If you understand theory it actually might be a bit easier because you'll look at the fretboard differently.

It's tough to do. Good Luck

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by xnmrph

hello

after 30 years playing right handed, i suffered a serious and permanent injury in my left arm, and playing had become difficcult and painful. after some months, i feel i have to try playing left handed.

all my basses are right handed, obviously, and i like them all, after a half life playing them. i don't want to spend money before i try to play left handed and check if i can addapt to this new way.

most simple way, i think, would be to play without changing strings of strings, that is, thickest strings down...

it could help me a lot any advice you could give me about that...manuals, tricks, technique, videos...could it be more easier to relearn changing strings placement? that case, i suposse i have to change nut al least....

Any help would be appreciated. excuse my poor english, i hope you can understand me.

Sorry to hear about the problem. one question though, how involved are the lines you are playing?

[Stingray5]

i'm a lefty and have been playing almost as long as you.

Being in the minority there have been many times where I've picked up a righty bass just for shtts and giggles and tried to play. It never felt natural from the get go and it still doesn't to this day, but I feel like if I HAD to do it (such as yourself) it might be doable. I'm not sure I could ever be the same calibur player, but perhaps passable.

I would definitely recommend restringing though. It's going to be enough to learn playing opposite handed, so don't add to the challenge by also trying to learn to play upside down! When I sling on a righty bass, as odd as it feels, the strings are still 'where they're supposed to be' in that respect.

Reminds me of a couple of other guys I've seen in the past - the guy with no arms who plays with his feet and I also saw a band on some show a few years back where he'd lost his right arm, so he continued on as a bassist by playing basslines on a keyboard instead, and sounded awesome!

I wish you the best of luck and admire your decision to continue to be a bassist despite such a major setback.

[xnmrph]

I could continue playing right handed, but I feel limited and after some time playing it hurts, so it's not funny....I use a looper when i need to rest my arm for a while, then a play over the loop some simples riffs with effects.....If you are not experienced, maybe you will not suspect....
we play rock in an improvised basis, we are very based on 70's psychedelic and kraut rock, so I could simplify my lines.....I have been triyng to play left handed, and the big problem is my right fingering over the neck....awful. Well, let's see if I can progress with some practice, that's why I opened this thread, looking for some techniques/tricks for loosing my right hand in his new mission... I feel that flipping strings or not it's less important than unblocking my right hand over the neck...
thanks for your advices and wishes and keep on playing...