should I teach her left or right handed??

[INtrotter]

My 6 year old daughter is a lefty like my wife and my mum.. Thank got the other three kids are rightys!!
Anyway she is wanting to play bass like me and my son. I grew up playing classical and was always taught you never see a left handed string player. While I understand that of classical I see many lefty bass players..
Since she is just now starting, should we encourage playing as a lefty or have her play right handed????

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by INtrotter

My 6 year old daughter is a lefty like my wife and my mum.. Thank got the other three kids are rightys!!
Anyway she is wanting to play bass like me and my son. I grew up playing classical and was always taught you never see a left handed string player. While I understand that of classical I see many lefty bass players..
Since she is just now starting, should we encourage playing as a lefty or have her play right handed????

i'm left handed but play right.....you should be able to tell by how comfortable the fretting hand fingers seem when trying to fret a few notes.....try both....

[INtrotter]

This is kind of what we have been doing.. letting her hold a play with a bass. She likes to hold it like a lefty.. funny thing is at 6 she is so little and her holding my bass is so funny....

[RJMiller]

I am left handed and play right. Playing bass is an acquired skill.

For plain finger style or picking, which hand has the more complicated task - the picking or the fretting?

Many bass players are "self taught" or have learned from a "self taught" player - which is why, I believe, you see left handed players. Apparently a left hander can learn to play "right handed"? - unless all classical players are right handed.

Nothing "wrong" with playing left handed, but choice of basses is much more limited.

It is a "right handed" world.

"Thank got the other three kids are rightys!!" Hmmm...

RJM

[Phalex]

Her left hand is where the dexterity is. Seems like that should be a natural advantage for fretting to me.

Then again, what the hell do I know. Give her a scale size instrument and see which way she holds it.......

[I<34080]

the only real advantage of playing right over left is the amount of basses you'll have to choose form in the future.

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by I<34080

the only real advantage of playing right over left is the amount of basses you'll have to choose form in the future.

and that is a *huge* advantage, at least according to the lefties I've met!

[walker rosewood]

as a classical guitarist and a bass player, I feel that both hands require an equal amount of dexterity. You need a strong fretting hand with a good reach, especially for bass. You also need a very nimble right hand to play well. I think bass players often limit themselves by playing with just two fingers or a pick, and neglecting the rest of the hand. So from that perspective it shouldn't matter.

That said, the only left handed models you tend to see are bottom of the barrel cheapos that aren't worth playing, or uber expensive, custom order, etc. Teach her to play righty.

Also consider that she may have interest in other instruments down the line. Having started bass lefty might give her a disadvantage. Strings, keyboards, winds, percussion...seems like guitar/bass guitar are the only instruments that have a left handed version.

One last option...make her ambidextrous! After years of developing strength in my left hand and not wanting to break a nail (classical guitarist, remember), I've learned to do many things with my left hand. It's a nice skill set to have.

[bherman]

ANother lefty who plays righty here. Both of my sons are lefties that also play guitar/bass righty. I would think that it would be a pain to have to always go for lefty instruments.....

[sricks3]

If she can comfortably learn to play right-handed, she'll probably thank you for it later. Purely speaking, there's no advantage to either, and both hands need a fair amount of dexterity, just in different ways. Realistically, however, playing left-handed will do nothing but limit her choice of basses in the future.

[rms2]

I'm another lefty who plays right handed. Guess who else is -Gary Willis. I think that as a lefty you gain a certain ambidexterity due to the predominantly right handed world we live in that becomes an advantage in many things. I can do many things nearly as well with my right hand as with my left. And it sure is nice to be able to choose from so many great instruments. I can see the problem with trying to play lefty in an orchestra too. You'd have to be on the end or else you would always be knocking elbows and bow hands with your section mates.

[crijan]

Teach her lefty so she can be Paul in an all-female Beatles tribute one day.

[adderas]

I'd try and persuade her to play right handed, purely because it would make it so much easier for her to go nuts on GAS

[chadhargis]

Being right handed, I've never understood the need for left handed equipment that requires both hands. Golf clubs, basses, guitars, etc. If you use both hands, then there is no benefit to doing it backwards.

I'm quite sure if I'd been given an left handed bass when I started playing, I'd have no problem playing it if that's what I learned to play.

Wonder why you don't see left handed pianos or keyboards?

[fdeck]

If she can learn right-handed, it will be a major blessing if and when she decides that she wants to try other instruments with strings. Maybe she'll want to join the school orchestra, for instance, or take up the violin later.

[M0ses]

Righty who plays lefty here. Screwed up, I know.

Definitely want to have her start out on righty. If she can learn it that way, great for her! But not everyone can, and if she just can't progress at the rate she should/could be, switch her over.


I really don't want to get into a handedness-debate, so I'll make it quick:
Handedness exists. There is multitudes of scientific evidence about it. Righties who proclaim otherwise are full of crap. There are definite advantages to playing right handed, and you should try to learn. But it's just not always possible. I tried to play right handed for several months before finally giving up. Within a week of playing lefty, I was twice as good as I ever got before. I challenge righties to start learning left handed, and see if it's really that easy.

[spigmu]

It's not a question of which hand is more coordinated, as in throwing or writing. Just because she is a lefty at the things that we identify as lefty, it doesn't mean she is lefty musically. It has to do with how the roles fall within our body, not where the coordination is. I know plenty of lefties who not only don't play music lefty, it would be totally unnatural to them. They didn't have to learn the other way, they are playing the way they are predisposed to playing.

Think of it like a drummer. For example, I'm a lefty musician. The downbeat is in my left foot and also in my left hand. As it turns out, coordination-wise I'm virtually completely righty. But if I sit on a drum kit the downbeat will not naturally come out of my right foot (where the kick drum normally is). The accents come naturally to my right hand, not the backbeat, which is what naturally goes to a righty (musician's) right hand. You sometimes see drummers like Lenny White, who play on a righty kit (they don't switch it around) but they play with a lefty's roles in their hands, and they learn to make the kick happen with their right foot (usually because it's their stronger foot, as it is with me).

Generally, most lefty's are not lefty musically. It's just a different thing, a different part of the brain, than what governs coordination and strength, or the side you favor.

Here's a test I do to see if someone is a musical lefty or not: play a simple drumbeat on the table that has a simple kick/snare rhythm. I tell people to go boom/pop, boom boom/pop, boom/pop, boom boom/pop and I don't tell them how to play it. And then move it up to boom/pop, baboom boom/pop, boom/pop, baboom boom/pop. Nearly always with righty untrained musicians the boom(kick) will be with the right hand and the pop(snare) will be the left.

Try this with your daughter. I'm interested in what happens. She's more likely to be a natural righty musician than lefty. : )


Hey M0ses! You must have posted while I was thinking what to write! Yup, me too. I am completely righty in all of the standard stuff. (Interestingly, I realized that I use my left eye when using a camera eye piece.) But in stringed instruments, drums, anything musical, it's lefty.

[spaz21387]

I would try both. but right does have advantages since lefty instruments are less common but thats already been stated... Also leftys playing with people that play right handed can cause problems like smacking headstocks togather or worse...

[brotherbassj]

Let her go lefty.......simple test.....see how fast she can alternate finers on both hands.......I am a lefty that plays righty because I really did not have a choice(i'm 40)......ultimately to this day.........my left hand is faster. It should be my plucking or picking hand...........honestly. I am running into a dexterity issue in the studio currently that would be rectified if I was playing lefty...........TEACH HER LEFTY......that's my vote

[M0ses]

Originally Posted by spigmu

It's not a question of which hand is more coordinated, as in throwing or writing. Just because she is a lefty at the things that we identify as lefty, it doesn't mean she is lefty musically. It has to do with how the roles fall within our body, not where the coordination is. I know plenty of lefties who not only don't play music lefty, it would be totally unnatural to them. They didn't have to learn the other way, they are playing the way they are predisposed to playing.

Think of it like a drummer. For example, I'm a lefty musician. The downbeat is in my left foot and also in my left hand. As it turns out, coordination-wise I'm virtually completely righty. But if I sit on a drum kit the downbeat will not naturally come out of my right foot (where the kick drum normally is). The accents come naturally to my right hand, not the backbeat, which is what naturally goes to a righty (musician's) right hand. You sometimes see drummers like Lenny White, who play on a righty kit (they don't switch it around) but they play with a lefty's roles in their hands, and they learn to make the kick happen with their right foot (usually because it's their stronger foot, as it is with me).

Generally, most lefty's are not lefty musically. It's just a different thing, a different part of the brain, than what governs coordination and strength, or the side you favor.

Here's a test I do to see if someone is a musical lefty or not: play a simple drumbeat on the table that has a simple kick/snare rhythm. I tell people to go boom/pop, boom boom/pop, boom/pop, boom boom/pop and I don't tell them how to play it. And then move it up to boom/pop, baboom boom/pop, boom/pop, baboom boom/pop. Nearly always with righty untrained musicians the boom(kick) will be with the right hand and the pop(snare) will be the left.

Try this with your daughter. I'm interested in what happens. She's more likely to be a natural righty musician than lefty. : )


Hey M0ses! You must have posted while I was thinking what to write! Yup, me too. I am completely righty in all of the standard stuff. (Interestingly, I realized that I use my left eye when using a camera eye piece.) But in stringed instruments, drums, anything musical, it's lefty.

+1. I actually drum righty. My left hand is significantly better at the keyboard, though. And I can play tennis with either hand ><