left handed bass when you're right handed

Jiro · #1 10-22-2005, 08:30 PM

I just picked up my bass today and just for fun spun it around and tried to play it left handed(im right handed)... it was very eerie... I got instant deja vu like ive done this before... My muscles were not used to playing this way everything was inverted hahahaha... And it was deja vu cause it felt like i was learning bass all over again(skill wise)... My right hand gripped the neck and i had to really force my wrist down and thumb back on the neck and my finger spread just sucked compared to my left my... i found it extremely difficult to play 1-2-3-4(TAB) on any string doing index, middle, ring, and pinky... after 1 hour i was still having trouble with it... but my left hand that was doing the picking was getting better... and it seemed like it had more potential than my right hand in plucking since i was used to use all four fingers on my left on bass which is usually for fingering on the fretboard it was alot easier to pick at the strings with all my fingers.... but ya... still could not play a simple song such as 7 nation army with this kind of position... well couldnt play well...

THen i switched back to play in the regular right handed bass players position and i was back to normal playing my usually stuff...

I believe if i learn both ways... my playing will become better with my picking hand since then it would be used to being fully utilized then i can do like that crazy fast stuff.... YA its just a theory now..

Unchain · #2 10-22-2005, 11:17 PM

Might I say, 7 Nation Army has no bass, hahaha. Anyway, doing anything opposite of your preference sucks. It's always hard.

QU!CK · #3 10-26-2005, 02:59 PM

I'm right haded and play left handed

I think I must've started life as a lefty and then started writing with my right hand at some point. Why do I think this? Because I do EVERYTHING as though I were left handed. Play bass, drums, guitar and feel naturally inclinded to lead with my left hand....weird huh?

-J

steve66 · #4 11-01-2005, 10:48 AM

I am left handed and play a righty bass. Left hand felt strange. When I play drums I can lead with either hand.

WillBuckingham · #5 11-01-2005, 11:23 AM

The first time I picked up a bass (it was an upright in my first lesson in middle school) I picked up left handed and started playing. My teacher asked if I was left-handed, and when I said "no" he switched me around.

JJBACOOMBA · #6 11-01-2005, 12:16 PM

I am right handed and play left handed, strung for a righty. It is limiting but I can still get as groovalicious as I wanna.

NJL · #7 11-01-2005, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJBACOOMBA

I am right handed and play left handed, strung for a righty. It is limiting but I can still get as groovalicious as I wanna.

You're getting a PM!

I'm lefty in San Antonio, too!

LavendarSunrise · #8 11-02-2005, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jiro

I just picked up my bass today and just for fun spun it around and tried to play it left handed(im right handed)... it was very eerie... I got instant deja vu like ive done this before... My muscles were not used to playing this way everything was inverted hahahaha... And it was deja vu cause it felt like i was learning bass all over again(skill wise)... My right hand gripped the neck and i had to really force my wrist down and thumb back on the neck and my finger spread just sucked compared to my left my... i found it extremely difficult to play 1-2-3-4(TAB) on any string doing index, middle, ring, and pinky... after 1 hour i was still having trouble with it... but my left hand that was doing the picking was getting better... and it seemed like it had more potential than my right hand in plucking since i was used to use all four fingers on my left on bass which is usually for fingering on the fretboard it was alot easier to pick at the strings with all my fingers.... but ya... still could not play a simple song such as 7 nation army with this kind of position... well couldnt play well...

THen i switched back to play in the regular right handed bass players position and i was back to normal playing my usually stuff...

I believe if i learn both ways... my playing will become better with my picking hand since then it would be used to being fully utilized then i can do like that crazy fast stuff.... YA its just a theory now..

I've had this same experience. However, I think that Left-handed picking comes more natural to me because I am really supposed to be a lefty. I learned to play right handed because I only had access to right handed instruments when I was in highschool.

Bassic83 · #9 11-02-2005, 05:02 PM

Weird thing, being a lefty and doing things right-handed. I play right-handed, never could play lefty. But I write, eat, and sometimes fight lefty, can swing a bat either way, but my accuracy is better righty. I hammer righty, throw righty, shoot righty, play hockey righty, and generally am right-hand-dominant. I'm kinda ambidextrous. When I was a kid, I'd paint my model airplanes with my left hand until I came to really detailed stuff, then I'd switch up and do the tiny work righty.

Oh,yeah, one more thing- it freaks people out to see me on stage playing righty, then when I write my number down for them, I write lefty!