Are there left handed upright basses?

Yes,
There is a player here in St.Louis who has one. Shops like Upton offer left handed models. That said the issue has always been that Orchestral bassists generally play right handed. I myself am somewhat ambidextrous and playing right handed isn’t as much of an issue on a double bass. Just my take however.

 

I'm left-handed, and have been playing bass right-handed for several decades, starting at 16. It's never been a problem for me.

 

Truth to tell, it's always seemed to me that left handed players would progress faster by using their dominant hand for fretting. Seems to me that playing "right handed" would be the PREFERABLE orientation for left handed players.

 

I wanted to learn a new skill during quarantine so I bought one of the Thompson hybrids: https://www.stringemporium.com/hybrid-upright-bass.htm

It really seems like quite a nice bass for the price, it's well constructed and has a lively response. The only thing not perfect is the finish honestly. I've been drilling scales every day for months and starting to get the hang of it, maybe, but my pizzicato is still kinda weak.

Oh, yeah, and I'm a lefty, the bass is a lefty, they are in fact made left handed at no extra charge, however Steve did tell me I bought the last one in the warehouse so who knows when he will restock them!

I never tried to learn to play a right handed bass, except occasionally flipping a friend's electric upside down. Before I bought my first EB I tried to learn a little right handed guitar and found it super uncomfortable and struggled to make any progress.

 

One of the best ways to improve both your pizzicato and left hand is to get a reasonably priced brazil wood bow and starting to play arco.

 

There are more lefty upright bass players than you think. I have a list of > 30 lefty double bassists worldwide. Here's my lefty double bass players facebook-group: Facebook Groups

 

The only lefty I know personally plays DB right handed and BG left handed. He started out on BG and went to college back when a bass performance major meant DB only. I find it amazing that he can do that. I suspect if handed a right hand BG he could play it fine.

 

As mentioned previously by others, there are plenty of folks playing DB left-handed. There are only two reasons that I can think of that would make playing left handed and impediment. 1. The lack of available basses compared to RH players. 2. I have yet to hear of any high level classical soloist or section players that play LH. There may be quite a few doors that need to be kicked open for LH acceptance in those worlds. Hope I'm wrong about this BTW!

 

I play a lefty upright from Upton. Fantastic bass, but I hope to upgrade with upton soon. I also have an eub from bsx. Lefty eubs are much more common

 

I'm a lefty and have always played both bg and db right-handed. I think it's easier for jam session type of things, both sitting in or when you're the house band bassist and everyone plays your instrument. Also for bass du jour gigs when on the road.

 

Lefty is all fine and good till your bow crashes into the rest of the section...

...lefty playing right handed.

My first classical guitar lesson was right handed (no option.) My first cello lesson was right handed (no option.) My first EB teacher had me take my first lesson on both right and left handed basses. I couldn't tell a difference (they were both awkward) so he suggested learning right handed. Access to instruments was his primary reason.
My feeling is do what you want but don't try to justify or convince me that playing double bass left handed is somehow a cause to be championed. If you ask me directly, I will say learn right handed (period.)
-Jeff

 

Here’s a 5 string lefty Pöllmann at Upton. Reasonably priced at $16000.

 

How many people play left handed trombones? Or left handed pianos? Left handed saxophones? I would argue that an instrument isn’t inherently “handed”, it’s simply how that instrument is designed. You’re having to learn new skills with both hands anyway, why set yourself up for a lack of instrument availability?

Not only that, but many classical musicians and musical directors are very conservative with regards to instrumentation and playing style. What if you wanted to play with a classical group one day? They may not discriminate against you for being left handed directly, but uniformity of appearance (including direction of bow stroke) is so important that they will frequently mark which direction the bow is supposed to go (push vs pull, which would be reversed in a lefty bass). They would probably pick a right handed over a lefty if they were in the same ballpark skill-wise.

 

Just play facing away from the conductor, and kill two birds with one stone.

 

That’s for sure

 

Nah. If something's hard, I just always figured I need to practice more A friend of mine plays left-handed upright, I've tried his instrument a couple times and it's so weird, I feel like I can't do anything on the instrument. He, on the other hand, can just take my right-handed bass and play it the "other way around", with the strings in reverse order.

When I started playing BG, I just figured I'll go with the right-handed instruments as there are more options to choose from. By the time I went into double bass (which was a lot later), I didn't even think about the option..

 

Couldn't you just get that chin rest swapped over?