Lefties: What do you gain?

[aikakone]

I realize this might be a can of worms, but it's also honest curiosity from someone who happens to be a rightie with a high level of left hand function. (Example: I use chopsticks left-handed because it reminds me of traditional grip on snare drum.)

I am curious what left-handed people gain in technique by playing on a "leftie" instrument. Is there something that you can do better by making your dominant hand your picking/plucking/striking hand? Why is it better or easier for you when in the beginning of learning an instrument it's all a new function anyway?

I also wonder (yes, more cans full of more worms) why or how "leftie" instruments came about as it seems a popular music thing and not in classical music. You don't find pianists asking for their pianos to be restrung or a saxophone player deciding to put the right hand on top in order to play "leftie" sax. It's not even a conceivable notion.

So I am admitting right up front that I don't "get" it, but I'd really like to know. Help appreciated.

[standupright]

this should be interesting.....looking forward to responses also.

[bassninja7]

"Is there something that you can do better by making your dominant hand your picking/plucking/striking hand?"

ask yourself the same question.

and for the record, see sig.

[JoelEoM]

i'll join in saying that i dont get it either. im a leftie, but do almost everything right, including playing bass. people are always surprised when they find out that i'm left handed, and seem to have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept. i suppose playing left handed, from my perspective, is just a result of not being able to think outside the box, and just do what other people tell you to. the way i see it, it makes sense for a right-hander to play left-hand guitar, and vice-versa, because your fretting hand does a bit more work. thats just me though.

[moatilliatta]

is there a reason, besides availability, you chose to play a right-handed bass when YOU started? it just seems that dominant hand plucking/strumming and other hand doing neck-work has been the way stringed instruments have been built for centuries and until fairly recently lefties just had to deal with it; i assume there's some advantage to it. but i'm just another righty playing righty instruments so i don't know, haha...

[bassninja7]

" because your fretting hand does a bit more work"

+1

[JoelEoM]

Originally Posted by moatilliatta

is there a reason, besides availability, you chose to play a right-handed bass when YOU started?

like i said, it makes sense to me that way. i think righties playing right are the ones who have it backwards. pretty much the only thing i actually do left-handed is write. you're partly right about availability, but i viewed that as a bonus, and it wasnt a deciding factor when i learned to play


i now see that was probably meant for the OP, but it still applies.

[aikakone]

As a rightie, I would think that would actually be easier to do the fingering with my right hand instead of the way I currently play. But since there are certain ways that are considered "how things are done" that's why I ask. I play bass in a righty way because that's the standard. I also play oboe, too, but would never consider switching hands to put my right hand on top and my left hand below. There's just a certain way that oboe is played.

So... I guess I've always wondered why stringed instruments are played the way they are (it doesn't really make sense), but also since there is a "standard" why deviate from it.

I know...random curiosities not well worded, but I appreciate that you're all not jumping on me for asking.

[JTE]

As a former teacher (I'm a right BTW) I always advised students to play what we call "right-handed". Why?

A. You avoid the ubiquitious 20% surcharge for being a lefty. How many basses are available left-handed? And how many used ones?
B. When you start playing, EVERYTHING is awkward, so using that as an excuse isn't valid.
C. You have the ability to pick up any bass sitting around. That can be very valuable for learning stuff from others.

There was an article in Guitar Player Magazine decades ago (before Bass Player existed, let alone the "net, TB, etc.). discussing this very topic. And there's actually quite a few left-handed famous guitarists who play righty. Glen Campbell and George Van Eps are two I recall off the top of my head (and I've heard that either Satch or Vai are, but I've not seen anything from them so I won't vouch for the accuracy of that) who are GREAT guitarists. And both said that playing righty was one of the smartest things they've ever done.

Besides, there aren't many left handed violinist, cellists, etc. playing orchestral music. And I've never heard of a left-handed piano, sax, trumpet, or glockenspeil

[Slax]

I'm a lefty, and the only thing I do right handed is play bass. I didn't even know left handed basses existed when I first started. So I just picked up the cheapest one I could. I think it might have helped me get more comfortable quicker with my fretting hand... where my plucking hand seemed to take more time. (I used a pick for the first 4 or so years of playing because I couldn't get my fingers "up to snuff".) That was probably do to my own neglect on the technique though.

[Infernal Affair]

I sometimes wonder what would happen if I switched to left handed basses (I'm left handed), since I definitely can't play fast and accurate very easily compared to the average righty and I know I have more muscle control on my left hand for that type of task. But I've been playing righty basses for years and the advantage of being able to use almost every bass outweighs that. It just takes me longer to develop certain parts, but it's easier in other instances.

[onlyclave]

I used to work with a guy who was naturally left handed, but from the time he was very little he was always told to do things right handed. What ended up happening to him was the size of the muscle group would indicate if he did things right or left. He played bass right handed, swung a baseball bat right handed and played tennis right handed. However he played ping-pong lefty, wrote with his left and and ate with his left hand. Where it got weird was when he played racquetball he was completely ambidextrous.

And he had a killer mullet.

[amimbari]

Originally Posted by aikakone

So... I guess I've always wondered why stringed instruments are played the way they are (it doesn't really make sense), but also since there is a "standard" why deviate from it.

you did bring up a very good point about standards:


for me and my fellow players who are lefthanded and had no cash to "start" playing a 1000.00 lefty bass compared to a 100.00 righty bass 20 years ago, I chose to flip em over and play with the G on top and learned that way, and just moved the strap button off the horn. I always thought it was more logical to go from a low-to-high note by moving UP the neck and UP the strings, and eventually learned to play lefty both ways. The prices of lefty basses are cheap now, but after the years spent on the guitar/bass with the highstring on top there was no going back...I have 8 righty basses and only one strung lefty which I rarely use.


to me...notes are notes, chords are chords, everything has a pattern, those things are universal....

would I recommend others doing it with all the REAL lefty basses out here now-a-days???

NOPE!!!!


#1 big factor is when I go and sell them off, I have a lot more people who can buy them.

[bassninja7]

^i was hoping you would chime in(:

[artdrtr]

Lefties on left-hand instruments do the exact same thing right hand people do on right-hand instruments:

If your Right-Handed -- you FRET with the LEFT (WEAK), and PLUCK with the RIGHT (DOMINANT)


If your Left-Handed -- you FRET with your RIGHT (WEAK), and PLUCK with your LEFT (DOMINANT)

I guess we BOTH don't think "outside-the-box"...

Now, why do Lefties choose to play left handed? I can only speak for myself and say I did it for the same reason right hand people choose to play right-handed -- IT JUST FELT RIGHT (no pun intended)

Do I wish I had started out playing right handed? No.

Do I wish they made more left handed instruments? Obviously yes, but my wallet and wife say otherwise...

[amimbari]

Originally Posted by bassninja7

^i was hoping you would chime in(:

lol, you could buy my black TBX-Bird but a lefty cant

[bassninja7]

Originally Posted by amimbari

lol, you could buy my black TBX-Bird but a lefty cant

i am a lefty remember!!

[BigOldHarry]

This reminds me of coaching kids in little league - nudging right handed kids to throw left handed because everyeone knows that a southpaw is MUCH more valuable than a right handed thrower...

And I had some left handed students who played the bass "right handed" - they told me it just made sense to them, largely for the reasons mentioned above, but mostly because lefty instruments are a PITA to buy!

I tried to learn to play lefty when I was at about the 1 year mark - I thought it would be novel, you know - be able to play from both sides. I suggest any bassist with a spare axe laying around restring it backwards and give it a whirl - it will mess your head UP!

[Rickett Customs]

When I fist picked up bass and guitar, strung right played left for a little under a year.

I never really found that obtaining a lefty instrument was that hard, although my first was a righty "flipped", after that, all lefty's.
I have had both a right handed teacher (first) and a left handed teacher after that, I was never ever confused with the orientation, in fact, the righty teacher was just like looking into a mirror, except I was uglier.

But that's just me.

[amimbari]

Originally Posted by bassninja7

i am a lefty remember!!

????? I know but your tbird is a righthanders bird, and so is my TBX ----

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

I suggest any bassist with a spare axe laying around restring it backwards and give it a whirl - it will mess your head UP!

<< it does in the beginning, thats the beauty of it.. all your patterns are now backwards however, once you get the weirdness part out of your brain, it's just another way to play the same pattern....