A little help here please?

[xLoveElectriCx]

Hi, I am a new member to this forum, and to the world of bass guitar but I am willing to learn how to play. I am tired of sitting around in my house when I can't skate due to the weather or whatever else gets in the way. I am deciding if I should buy my friends bass guitar, an Ibanez, with a 20 watt amp for 120 dollars. I'm not really looking to buy a great bass guitar because I'm a beginner and I don't know how to play, so if anyone can help me on this and offer some insight I'd be grateful. I have some questions on my mind that I would appreciate some answers for:

1. His bass guitar is a right handed bass. I am a lefty. Since I don't know how to play guitar or bass, period, would I be able to learn how to play with his right handed bass? Or is it mandatory for leftys to play with left handed basses?

2. Is an Ibanez with a 20 watt amp good for beginners? I am not looking for something spectacular for my money, I just want to know if 120 dollars is worth the items listed above.

3. A bass guitar is bigger than a guitar, so does a persons height, stature, or arm length matter? Would I have problems playing if I am small?

 

[Minger]

Leftie may be a worse idea in the end, because there are less basses for them...and I'm not sure about this, but you may be paying a little more.

a 20 watt amp is only good for practicing (and pretty much alone at that)...But for $120 I guess its a pretty decent deal because a bass that plays is worth at least $80 and...yea.

how you decide if you want a rightie or leftie bass is all up to you.

 

[xLoveElectriCx]

So if I wanted to learn how to play righty bass, it wouldn't be any harder than learning how to play lefty bass just because I'm a lefty? Because then I'll learn how to play righty because there are more selections for righty players...

 

[NJL]

i'm a lefty that plays lefty.....

if you are a beginner, play righty, if you can.

the only reason i play lefty is because a have limited rotation in my left arm/wrist and don't have a choice.

welcome!

 

[LowEndLobster]

The thing is there's really no such thing as a righty or lefty bass if you have no guitar or bass experience. You don't know how to really play one. If you start playing one, it doesn't matter if it's lefty or righty, you'll eventually become proficient. The tough part is learning the other one.

 

[ogyen]

If you don't play at all yet then I'd definitely recommend learning right handed. I know a guy who's a lefty and he has a really hard time finding instruments, he always has to special order basses and he pays at least an extra 10%.

 

[xLoveElectriCx]

Thank you guys so much! I'm just going to buy his bass and learn how to play righty. I'm a lefty, but technically it shouldn't matter because I don't know how to play lefty or righty, I don't know how to play at all. Hopefully it will work out good for me.

Thank you for your replies!

 

[Lockout]

I'll just quote myself from previous thread similar to this one, since I'm feeling lazy.

If you've never learned to play either bass or guitar... I'd suggest that you try both right-handed basses and left-handed basses, and see which way feels more comfortable for you.

I'm left-handed, but I play bass/guitar right-handed... And I guess I'm glad I learned this way, since the selection of left-handed basses available (especially locally) seems much more limited.