Ambidextrous Bass Player?

[giacomini]

I had a guitard friend back in music college that was left handed and could play guitar both ways, even with the strings upside down, I mean, he could start playing a regular righty and just switch around to the left, and the same thing with a lefty guitar... Crazy dude!

 

[fingertap]

I am very interested in this topic.

Please, continue to update this thread.

My interest has to do with right brain / left brain
in a bicameral mind sense as well as language location (physically) in the geometry of the brain.

I find it extremely easy to play guitar and sing.
With bass (my instrument of choice) I find it nearly impossible to both play and sing.

I know that my specifically observed difficulty may have much more to do with the 'voicing' of bass vs. guitar,
but I am intrigued.

Would you be so kind as to report any noticeable differences with singing and playing with the different handedness?

Please PM me at your leisure if you decide to let this thread die...


~

 

[giacomini]

I am very interested in this topic.

Please, continue to update this thread.

My interest has to do with right brain / left brain
in a bicameral mind sense as well as language location (physically) in the geometry of the brain.

I find it extremely easy to play guitar and sing.
With bass (my instrument of choice) I find it nearly impossible to both play and sing.

I know that my specifically observed difficulty may have much more to do with the 'voicing' of bass vs. guitar,
but I am intrigued.

Would you be so kind as to report any noticeable differences with singing and playing with the different handedness?

Please PM me at your leisure if you decide to let this thread die...


~

I sing and play bass, but I play guitar and keyboard too. To me, it is way easier to play keys/guitar and sing at the same time than it is to do the same on bass. I still struggle a bit when I have to learn a new song on bass/vocal.

I think it's easier to play guitar and sing at the same time because we usually strum to a pattern and it's not a big problem to miss a few hits when you have a difficult rhythm going... Same thing on keyboard. But on bass, miss one note and the whole band goes down with you!

That's how I see it.

 

[Muaguana]

But why would you do this if there is not a problem or a loss of the dominant side abilities?

Imagine this as a bass:


Granted, it's physically impossible to surpass Batio in contrived, gimmicky displays of technical skill at the expense of musicality, but one can dream, can't they?

 

[MrDOS]

I'd love to see this thread continued. I find it fascinating. I am right-handed, the guitar player in my band is left-handed. As a stage gag, I've been planning to flip my right-handed bass around for a tune just to get a crowd reaction. I've been exposed to teachers that recommend making yourself "uncomfortable," in order to grow. For example, brush teeth with the opposite hand, if you usually switch on the light with your right, practice with the left.
On a related note, when I first started playing bass (OMG 31 years ago!), I had difficulty singing backup or even talking while playing. Due to necessity, I now sing lead in most of the songs with the band, and have fun trying to improvise walking lines while singing. There's one tune where I try singing, playing bass and playing a keyboard line at the same time.
How is it progressing, newbassdude?

 

[joelb79]

Check out this lefty playing a righty! This was amazing stuff, ruined my 1/4 note blues.

I've been thinking of stringing my Right handed up like a left handed so I play upside down. The advantage is that fretting the E and A strings are easier since you no longer have to bring your hand full around 4 strings to play them. This is only because i'm getting older and the wrist pain is unbearable at times. Its easier (on my wrists not my brain) to imagine my G and E and play blues walks upside down.

 

[Jim Dep]

Check out this lefty playing a righty! This was amazing stuff, ruined my 1/4 note blues.

I've been thinking of stringing my Right handed up like a left handed so I play upside down. The advantage is that fretting the E and A strings are easier since you no longer have to bring your hand full around 4 strings to play them. This is only because i'm getting older and the wrist pain is unbearable at times. Its easier (on my wrists not my brain) to imagine my G and E and play blues walks upside down.

Larry McCray is great guitar player, IMO. I like the bass player on this gig too.

I'm a lefty, but my brain isn't wired to play right handed. I gave that up a long time ago, but if that's the ONLY way I could keep playing, I think I'd find a way to figure it out. Good luck

 

[joelb79]

Larry McCray is great guitar player, IMO. I like the bass player on this gig too.

I'm a lefty, but my brain isn't wired to play right handed. I gave that up a long time ago, but if that's the ONLY way I could keep playing, I think I'd find a way to figure it out. Good luck

Isn't he though? Everytime I look over and see him in the driver seat I'm floored that he's sitting in with me/us.

 

[lenosgood]

I'd give my right hand to be ambidextrous...

 

[nobodysfool]

I am ambidextrous, but was pushed to be right-handed in first grade. I can do most things with either hand, but didn't pursue writing with my left until I was an adult. I used to be able to play (strum) a 6-string guitar either left or right, but learned to play right-handed. In my early years I was totally ambi, with a slight preference for the left. Now, I write righty, throw righty (although I can throw lefty too, sometimes with better accuracy), but I bat lefty, kick with my left foot, and if I played golf, I would need lefty clubs. I can eat with either hand, with equal dexterity.

One strange thing that I noticed when trying to write lefty was that it was easier to write backwards, with my left hand. My handwriting lefty is nearly identical to my handwriting righty, when you view the lefty writing in a mirror. It seems more natural to make the letters backwards with my left hand.

The bass player who play Paul in 1964 (Beatles Tribute band) is a righty who learned to play lefty for his part in the band. I saw them years ago when they called themselves Revolver, and he played righty then. Now he's lefty, like Paul. He not only plays lefty, but his hand movements and look are very close to Paul's.

I like the old saying that says that left-handed people are the only ones who are in their right mind....

 

[andresrot]

I'm mainly right handed but lefty for some things. I've been playing bass (right handed) for over 15 years and always messed around playing it backwards.
I recently bought a Hofner Icon and decided to practice lefty more frequently - I might be wrong but I think it's a really good mental/coordination exercise!

Just uploaded my first video playing lefty: Necesito (Sui Generis) - Lefty Hofner Bass Guitar - YouTube
More videos playing righty here: andresrot's Channel - YouTube

All the best!

 

[Lee H]

Everyone who is left handed learns to do things right handed. The world is made for right handed people. If you do not think so, use a pair of scissors left handed. I have been called ambidextrous many times, but I do not think it is true. I am left handed, and I adapt to the world... There is no reason right handed people cannot adapt in the same way

BTW,,,I play right handed

 

[Fassa Albrecht]

I can play bass both LH and RH, although strangely I'm left-handed and both my basses at present are righties.

There's no harm to learning to play the opposite way round to your normal way. I found the whole learning experience a fun experience.