Oddest playing style ever?

[babebambi]

Originally Posted by bassteban

There are a couple of players who orient their bass neck-down(at a roughly-45-degree angle, not vertical) & reach up from under the body w/their plucking hand. It's very strange- couldn't find a pic, can't recall any names.

This is onehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHTSV...e_gdata_player

[NortyFiner]

Originally Posted by babebambi

This is oneQuintin Berry and The UgliStick at NAMM - YouTube

Quintin Berry? Name strikes me that he might be a member here...

[NortyFiner]

Originally Posted by onosson

Is that Jimi rockin' a bass? Guitarist looks like Johnny Winter. When was this?

[Matthew_84]

A bit of a extra info on Jimi... He did restring it to normal.

When he was learning as a child, at home, he shared one room with his father for a couple of years, and his alcoholic and often abusive father would beat him for playing lefty because it wasn't "normal". Jimi restrung it for lefty use and played it like this when his dad wasn't home, but when his dad came home, he flipped it over to play righty and fool his dad, thus playing it like the picture in the OP with the low E on the bottom. His love of guitar was so strong that he'd play like this for hours if he had to, and he apparently became quite good at it... So really, he played both ways... When he was young anyway.

[Savage_Dreams]

Sonny T from Prince's New Power Generation:



I'm sure its because as a beginner it was hard to get a lefty bass, but even with a lefty bass he still strings it like a righty.

[C.Linton]

The bass player for Steve Miller back in the day used to play his P-bass like this and was teriffic at it. Very funky.

[dave64o]

My instructor plays that way. His older brothers played guitar and were righty so when he started playing he played their guitars upside down rather than his parents buying another guitar for him. He still plays that way, except that he buys lefty basses and strings them upside down.

[braud357]

Waymon Tisdale, Keith Horne --

[Mykk]

Makes sense to me... high notes on the highest string. To get lower notes you must physically go lower.

[more coffee]

Jimi's regular guitars were strung with the low E on top, but he was also able to pick up other people's righty guitars and basses, flip them over, and play that way as well.

Originally Posted by SBsoundguy

How on earth did he play chords?

Lefty here. Playing chords on a flipped righty guitar isn't any more difficult than playing "regular" guitar chords, once you remap the chord fingerings in your mind.

[michael_atw]

Originally Posted by KingLucCole

Nothing new, though it isn't a very common approach. I tried it once myself, thinking it would open up doors for new slap lines (i.e. slapping the high-pitched strings and popping the lower ones), though I thought it sounded pretty stupid when I did it.

+1

As a lefty, I figure I could have easily done it. Unorthodox but not necessarily restricting.

[billgwx]

Originally Posted by KingLucCole

Nothing new, though it isn't a very common approach. I tried it once myself, thinking it would open up doors for new slap lines (i.e. slapping the high-pitched strings and popping the lower ones), though I thought it sounded pretty stupid when I did it.

This is exactly why I switched from flipping righties upside down to a true lefty instrument 9 years in. I wanted fingers to be in the right position for slapping/popping, not that I play in that style much anymore. The switch proved to be less of a hassle than I thought it would be, and can still pick up a righty bass and play it upside down.

[billgwx]

Originally Posted by more coffee

Jimi's regular guitars were strung with the low E on top, but he was also able to pick up other people's righty guitars and basses, flip them over, and play that way as well.



Lefty here. Playing chords on a flipped righty guitar isn't any more difficult than playing "regular" guitar chords, once you remap the chord fingerings in your mind.

Long time recovered "righty upside down" lefty here playing true left handed instruments for 24 years after 9 years the other way around: some chords were easier, but I had lots of trouble playing an open G major, and can't even imagine how I'd pull off most slash chords without some pretty contorted fingering...

[lowfreq33]

Originally Posted by bassteban

There are a couple of players who orient their bass neck-down(at a roughly-45-degree angle, not vertical) & reach up from under the body w/their plucking hand. It's very strange- couldn't find a pic, can't recall any names.

Quentin Berry.

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by KingLucCole

Nothing new, though it isn't a very common approach. I tried it once myself, thinking it would open up doors for new slap lines (i.e. slapping the high-pitched strings and popping the lower ones), though I thought it sounded pretty stupid when I did it.

Not long ago I was working on slap with my instructor, who plays lefties strung righty. Watching him slap and pop, I saw he does both with his thumb. So I asked him if he ever used the same motions I would, slapping with my thumb and popping with my fingers, because I thought that would be a pretty cool sound that could drive people crazy trying to copy. He had never thought about doing that before because he always played to make it sound like "everyone else" plays.

[evanatch]

I think this might have been posted in this thread before, but this is definitely the oddest playing style ever:
Spector NAMM 2012 - Quintin Berry - YouTube

[aussiebasshero]

Originally Posted by Mykk

Makes sense to me... high notes on the highest string. To get lower notes you must physically go lower.

This is how I feel too, although I also play right-handed guitars upside down. I do feel a little constricted playing some frets on the G string, though.

[Easy8]

Originally Posted by NortyFiner

Is that Jimi rockin' a bass? Guitarist looks like Johnny Winter. When was this?

Jimi's playing Tommy Shannon's bass (Tommy still has it). The bass was strung right handed so Jimi is playing it upside down. That photo was taken at an after hours jam at Steve Paul's club, The Scene, in NYC, probably 1968 - 69.

[BobaFret]

+100 on QB. That's the first thing that came to mind for me.

[amimbari]

YAWN......

inverted strings is old news for me as well:

or a flipped righty?

and I have many vids of me playing E on top and E on bottom, but live gigs I play E on bottom because I'm more used to it.

the best one was since I play inverted strings, our guitarplayer broke a string, didnt have a spare set at practice so I handed him my LEFTY and had our other guitarplayer take a quick pic

.