I'm left handed but...

damo2576 · #1 08-12-2004, 04:45 PM

..I play the guitar right handed. Is this normal? Anyone else?

I write with my left hand, am stronger and play raquets sports with my left hand. However I play cricket, golf, snooker etc the right handed way?

My left hand, fingers etc are much more coordinated than my right so its good that that my fretting hand. No way I could fret with my right hand considering I should be.

Strange.

Bernie Connors · #2 08-12-2004, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by damo2576

..I play the guitar right handed. Is this normal? Anyone else?

I write with my left hand, am stronger and play raquets sports with my left hand. However I play cricket, golf, snooker etc the right handed way?

My left hand, fingers etc are much more coordinated than my right so its good that that my fretting hand. No way I could fret with my right hand considering I should be.

Strange.

Well, Keith Horne is right handed and plays left handed, so you're in good company.

Lots of baseball players bat with their non-dominate arms as well.

Jazzin' · #3 08-12-2004, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by damo2576

..I play the guitar right handed. Is this normal? Anyone else?

I write with my left hand, am stronger and play raquets sports with my left hand. However I play cricket, golf, snooker etc the right handed way?

My left hand, fingers etc are much more coordinated than my right so its good that that my fretting hand. No way I could fret with my right hand considering I should be.

Strange.

Same like me. Lots of people are like us.

damo2576 · #4 08-13-2004, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazzin'

Same like me. Lots of people are like us.

oh. i thought i was special.

maurilio · #5 08-13-2004, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by damo2576

oh. i thought i was special.

So did I

Mo'

nailuj1987 · #6 08-13-2004, 09:22 AM

Hey I'm in the same boat a u dude. i did some thinking bout whether or not to play it left handed and whether or not i would play it better lefty... i still don't have an answer... gotta try it sometime... guess it would have felt just as strange left or right when i first started out.

Christopher · #7 08-13-2004, 09:58 AM

Patitucci's a lefty who plays righty.

Nick Gann · #8 08-13-2004, 10:02 AM

I'm a lefty that plays righty. It is actually fairly common.

And I am special... my mommy tells me every day.

BlacksHole · #9 08-13-2004, 12:50 PM

I'm another.

jgbass · #10 08-13-2004, 02:06 PM

Another Lefty who plays bass (electric and upright) right handed. I was thinking the other day that it just makes more sense to play right handed and why would a right handed person want to play right handed.??? I still remember many years ago picking up my first guitar and it just feeling natural to play right handed. Have more strength and control for fingering fret and fingerboards in left hand.

motorhall · #11 08-13-2004, 02:13 PM

Not bass but guitar: Steve Morse

Bassic83 · #12 08-13-2004, 02:25 PM

I started playing piano at two, I'm a lefty. I play bass right-handed though. It just makes more sense to me. I can play the bass with my left hand and play keys with my right hand, so it works out for my band. It also gives you a whole lot more models of bass to choose from.

Ozzyman · #13 08-13-2004, 03:41 PM

I encourage beginning lefties to play righty. You get more choices of basses that way

Bassic83 · #14 08-13-2004, 04:38 PM

Sounds familiar!

damo2576 · #15 08-13-2004, 05:28 PM

its weird why right handed people play "right handed" basses. surely you want your most dextrous hand to be the fretting hand?

us leftys on right handed basses must have some kind of latent advantage or something!

lemur821 · #16 08-13-2004, 07:37 PM

Quote:

its weird why right handed people play "right handed" basses.

surely you want your most dextrous hand to be the fretting hand?

Actually, you don't. Fretting is a relatively imprecise task. There's a wide margin of error; if you're off a few millimeters in any direction, you've still got the note solidly fretted. You can hit other strings a lot of the time, with no bad results. When you pluck, being off a little can make you graze other strings, or make you get caught on the string you're plucking. If you're off too much, you'll miss the string entirely! This is more of a problem when you're playing with a pick or your fingernails. Also, many people find that they have better rhythm in their dominant hand.

geoffkhan · #17 08-13-2004, 08:10 PM

I'm a lefty at everything besides bass. In fact, I play bass right-handed precisely because that way my left hand can do the tricky fretwork.

BlacksHole · #18 08-16-2004, 07:24 AM

While I believe that us leftys who play rh have an advantage in tricky fretting maneuvers, Righties playing rh have an advantage in the rhythm since most of us feel the rhythm better in our dominant hand. Granted, we can lead our rhythm with our fretting hand for many basslines but slapping definitely favors using a bass designated for your handedness. It's all a wash in the end though, you really need to develop both hands even though what you develop is different. I never really understood taking your dominant hand and limiting it to a pick though, that just seems to be too confining to me.

**WillPlay4Food** · #19 08-16-2004, 08:37 AM

I'm a lefty playing right-hand bass. I too think that having the most coordinated hand on the fretboard is an advantage, but as always, I could be Brad Johnson.

I played violin as a kid, AFAIK there are no lefty violins. Also, during junior high I played the sax, and you need both hands to be coordinated so both lefties and righties are at a disadvantage when they first start playing.

I think it's all in training. If you had never played before and someone handed you a lefty bass (regardless of what your dominant hand is) and you wanted to play, you'd play the lefty bass, because it's there.

davepack · #20 08-16-2004, 09:55 AM

I used to play with a guitarist that was left-handed, played a right handed guitar, kept it strung right-handed, but HELD it left handed!!! So all the strings were reversed for him!! I had to stand on my head and look in a mirror to figure out what the heck he was playing!! He was actually one of the best guitarists I've played with...he could play satch, vai, and Dream Theater stuff perfect!