Left-Handed or Right-Handed?

[r6mile]

What are you and what kind of bass do you play?

[Bard2dbone]

I was originally left handed, but my first grade teacher beat me with a ruler if I used my dominant hand, so now I mostly do everything right handed.

But I think of myself as equally clumsy with both, so I'm ambi-sinistrous and play a right handed bass.

[MikeyFingers]

I'm righty, I play a righty.

[d8g3jdh]

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

I was originally left handed, but my first grade teacher beat me with a ruler if I used my dominant hand, so now I mostly do everything right handed.

Uh...why did she beat you? Religious thing?

[Sonic_Death]

Originally Posted by Scott Zoltok

Uh...why did she beat you? Religious thing?

Maybe it's the whole 'right hand of god' sort of thing?

Anycrap. I'm a natural born lefty playing a right handed bass. I actually originally tried a left handed bass, but I was naturally better with a right handed bass, so I stuck with it.

[Jazzin']

I'm left-handed but I learned bass the right-handed way and recommend it for any lefties out there.

[Alistair R]

Right handed, right handed.

[dls59]

I'm left-handed but play righty.

[Minger]

Right - Right.

[canopener]

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

I was originally left handed, but my first grade teacher beat me with a ruler if I used my dominant hand, so now I mostly do everything right handed.

But I think of myself as equally clumsy with both, so I'm ambi-sinistrous and play a right handed bass.

I can vividly remember my kindergarten teacher yanking my pencil out of my left hand and putting it in my right hand (the 1985 equivalent of smacking my hands with a ruler) in the middle of a writing exercise. It was sloppy as hell, and was also noted as such by my teacher. I don't remember who convinced me to switch back to my left hand, but my days as a righty didn't last long.

I play bass lefty, as well.

[Atoz]

Ambidextrous, playing righty.

Half of what I do naturally is righty (e.g. throw, eat, write, play bass), the other half lefty (e.g. kick, tie my shoes/tie, fire a rifle/handgun, shoot a basketball, box). However, with the exceptions of hitting a golf ball and playing a bass, I can pretty much interchange lefty and righty with anything; it's just a matter of convenience to do it one way over the other.

Interesting aside: When I was about 8, I remember picking up a guitar at a friend's house and starting to strum it lefty. My friend told me: "You're playing it upside down," and that ended my days as a lefty guitarist. I've never gone back and tried to see if I could learn to play a bass lefty... Cool gimmick, but it's not worth the bother to me.

[Marcus Willett]

This is a common misconception. There is no "right handed" way to play the bass anymore than there is a "right handed" way to play trumpet, or saxophone or piano or flute. The "correct" way (and all those instruments have the "correct" way to play it, regardless of whether or not you are right-handed) is to pluck with the right hand and fret with the left hand. The only reason it is an issue at all is because you can flip the instrument over.

Notice; if you play piano, you don't buy a "left handed" piano. There is no such thing...there is the piano, and that's how you play it. The same is true for strings; but because it is possible to flip the instruments, the idea has evolved that there are "left handed" versions. This is an artificial situation...they exist, but only because people who are left-handed and want to learn guitar/bass, seek it out. How many left-handed saxophones do you see? Zero. Because there is no such thing...you play the instrument a certain way regardless of whether you are a righty or a lefty...it's immaterial. It's the same with strings, but folks don't like that so an artificial situation has been created.

Don't misunderstand...this has nothing to do with your handed-ness. If you're a righty or a lefty, I couldn't care less. And neither does the piano.

[Peter Squire]

left - left

and i agree that a lefty should be encouraged to learn to play with a right handed instrument. main reason is that there is a much much much better choice of instruments out there and they don't slug you a left-handed disability levy to buy one.