Left Handed Orchestral DB players.

Sharkabilly · #1 12-19-2008, 06:11 PM

Is this unheard of?

bassdoubler · #2 12-19-2008, 06:18 PM

no. I actually knew a dude who played bass backwards. Like, had his strings flipped and stood on the other side of the bass. However, most lefty's are just taught to play DB righty....I also know a bunch of lefties who have done this and they rule.

TomGale · #3 12-19-2008, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sharkabilly

Is this unheard of?

Yep. Who will you share a stand with?? Up bows can be dangerous..

TG
ASODB.com

Andrew McGregor · #4 12-19-2008, 11:24 PM

Orchestral string players pretty much universally train with standard right handed instruments... so it's not totally unheard of, but it is extremely rare. It's also seriously inconvenient for everyone else... it's quite difficult to get an orchestra on some stages at the best of times, so wasting the space to get a left-handed player some bow room is a problem.

I do know lots of left-handed string players though... they just play right-handed, and so far as I understand there's no real issue with that.

Sharkabilly · #5 12-19-2008, 11:29 PM

I play mostly jazz and not to much classical, didn't think it was common but wasn't sure.

I have a left handed Upton.

anonymous12251111 · #6 12-19-2008, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomGale

Yep. Who will you share a stand with?? Up bows can be dangerous..

TG
ASODB.com

Sharkabilly,

You gotta do what you gotta do. If you for some reason just can't get used to a "right" handed double bass then I guess you have no alternative then to use a left handed one. If you're a great player then it's not going to matter what people think. I hate overly dogmatic approaches...Nothing about the double bass is standard, and nothing about it is correct or incorrect. We have two bow holds, many tunings and many shapes and sizes of instruments so if anyone ever tells you there is a "right" and "wrong" way to play then they're just ignorant.

Best of luck to you.

Cory Palmer · #7 12-20-2008, 12:32 AM

I've never seen someone play lefthanded in an orchestra. It would be really out of place. For soloing or jazz it doesn't matter but in a section everyone needs to be able to line up. Playing lefty would mean that your bow would always be backwards from everyone else in the orchestra and you would stick out too much.

anonymous12251111 · #8 12-20-2008, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cory Palmer

I've never seen someone play lefthanded in an orchestra. It would be really out of place. For soloing or jazz it doesn't matter but in a section everyone needs to be able to line up. Playing lefty would mean that your bow would always be backwards from everyone else in the orchestra and you would stick out too much.

I'd personally rather sit next to a lefty then sit next to someone that plays constantly out of tune or out of rhythm. If you've got the chops then it really isn't going to matter. I think the reason we haven't seen lefties in orchestras is because generally there aren't even a lot of lefties and it's frowned upon. Hopefully it will change in the future.

Bottom line, you need to to try and play "normal" double bass. Find a teacher and discuss this with him/her. If you just can't do it, then play lefty and play to the very best of your ability. But trying the "standard" approach would benefit you more in the long run.

Andrew McGregor · #9 12-20-2008, 02:23 PM

I think the key thing is this: neither hand is doing anything even remotely like an 'ordinary' activity, and both hands need both dexterity and strength. All of that only comes from training... so while it may feel unnatural to start with, it's only going to be mildly worse than a right-hander beginning on a standard instrument, and the feeling will pass within a few weeks.

Of course, if you already play, that's a big deal because re-training is harder than the initial training. I know picking up a left-handed BG does my head in something terrible...

foilracer · #10 12-20-2008, 03:41 PM

so, what about piano payers?...are there any left handed
piano players out there...what do they do?

Sharkabilly · #11 12-20-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foilracer

so, what about piano payers?...are there any left handed
piano players out there...what do they do?

I'd say thats not really in the same ballpark. I tried right handed strictly for three months before ordering my leftie. Just wasn't working out. I'm a jazz player so I wasn't to worried about the orchestral handicap. I was just curious because I have been bowing alot now for intonation practice.

bejoyous · #12 12-20-2008, 08:09 PM

I've had a left-handed jazz student who went on to U of Toronto. It was a bit strange teaching him as I couldn't grab his bass and demonstrate. It got easier if I thought of teaching him as if I was in front of a mirror. The maker of my instrument, Peter Chandler, built a bass from scratch for him.

In the Stratford Civic Orchestra, I had a left-handed player, Fil Stasiak, beside me. We all had our own stands so we didn't have to get too close. There was a couple of times on an accented downbow, the screws of our bows almost collided. Wee sat a little further apart after that.

I didn't mind it a bit that he was playing left-handed. I found it much more important to have a player who plays in tune and can alter and shape things the way I recommend than to have someone play right-handed and not play well.

I know our third player, who sat behind us viewing the conductor between us, found it confusing to see a German and French bow going in opposite directions all the time, though!

anonymous12251111 · #13 12-20-2008, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bejoyous

I've had a left-handed jazz student who went on to U of Toronto. It was a bit strange teaching him as I couldn't grab his bass and demonstrate. It got easier if I thought of teaching him as if I was in front of a mirror. The maker of my instrument, Peter Chandler, built a bass from scratch for him.

In the Stratford Civic Orchestra, I had a left-handed player, Fil Stasiak, beside me. We all had our own stands so we didn't have to get too close. There was a couple of times on an accented downbow, the screws of our bows almost collided. Wee sat a little further apart after that.

I didn't mind it a bit that he was playing left-handed. I found it much more important to have a player who plays in tune and can alter and shape things the way I recommend than to have someone play right-handed and not play well.

I know our third player, who sat behind us viewing the conductor between us, found it confusing to see a German and French bow going in opposite directions all the time, though!

I agree with you. What I find the most distracting is someone who hogs a stand or someone who must have it at a specific height even if it's not even remotely useable for the other person. Left handed...not that big of a deal. Are you talking about Damian (jazz student), he had probably one of the only decent Chandler basses I've seen.

bejoyous · #14 12-21-2008, 04:41 AM

Yes, I'm talking about Damian. Say hi for me.

Unfortunately, Peter's work was inconsistent. I think he just eyeballed measurements when he'd make a cut or drilled a hole. Some of his instruments are quite shoddy but some are great. On mine, the glue line on the back plate isn't centered and the purfling groove isn't cut very well. The finish isn't great either but as it ages, it is losing it's orange glare.

Jeff Stokes (bass prof at UWO) has one in his office that sounds awesome. Steve Litman has one and the neck is a bit off-center. Mine took a lot of tweaking to get rid of the phasing wolftones and low volume. Now, it sound great and I really like it.

Dbass926 · #15 12-21-2008, 11:49 AM

Ed Barker (principal of Boston) and Hal Robinson (principal of Philly) are both lefties. Not that I'm anything to write home about, but I am as well. I think that you will find both hands challenged a great deal and you will learn to use them both appropriately over time. If you're starting out fresh, it's probably in your best interest to go with the flow because you'll almost definitely never find a fine bass to match your chops as you progress towards greatness. Perhaps playing a "right-handed" bass will present you with left-hand advantages that you will gain from, or maybe it will force you to adapt and you could end up ambidextrous. I think the disadvantages and the stigma you'll encounter will outweigh any advantage you will gain by putting your bow in your dominant hand.

foilracer · #16 12-21-2008, 12:07 PM

Well said, Dbass

Dogbertday · #17 12-21-2008, 12:11 PM

so would said person have to reverse all their bowings to get uniformity within the section?

robobass · #18 12-21-2008, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew McGregor

Orchestral string players pretty much universally train with standard right handed instruments... so it's not totally unheard of, but it is extremely rare. It's also seriously inconvenient for everyone else... it's quite difficult to get an orchestra on some stages at the best of times, so wasting the space to get a left-handed player some bow room is a problem.

I do know lots of left-handed string players though... they just play right-handed, and so far as I understand there's no real issue with that.

+1 on these points. I might add that a big part of orchestral playing is uniformity. Not just matching articulation, note length, dynamics etc., but the visual effect. This means matching bowstrokes not just in the up/down sense, but everything. Where on the hair you are, bowspeed, etc. Getting into a pro orchestra is damn difficult as it is. Trying to get one to accept you when you play backwards seems downright impossible to me.

Even if you don't have orchestral aspirations, a second thing to consider is the availability of instruments. A valuable part of musical development is playing and owning many instruments over the years. If you learn to play leftie, you're going to be very limited in this regard.

If you haven't gone past the point of no return, go back now!

Frits · #19 01-05-2009, 06:43 AM

Hi everyone

I play left handed double bass in a 15-piece classical ensemble. I have to mention, however, that I am the only double bassist in the ensemble, so no worries there

I play a left handed manufactured double bass (finished in 2002) by a Belgian instrument maker (see pic)

If anyone needs some more advise on left handed double basses, do contact me!

Regards

Frits

Dave Whitla · #20 01-05-2009, 08:49 AM

I have had a couple of students who have insisted on playing reversed instruments. In both cases they are electric bass players who already had reasonable proficiency with their right hand on the fingerboard. Since neither is heading in a classical direction I've gone along with it.

I do think that getting hired as a section player in a large orchestra would be made more difficult if one is playing backwards. It's difficult enough already! You never see it in any other string section, and wind players don't reverse their hands if they are left handed. I think that statistically musicians and other artistic types have a higher percentage of lefties anyway. As someone already mentioned, you need BOTH hands to be highly trained anyway, so my feeling is that which hand you happen to write with isn't really important.