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Lefties why didn't you start playing a righty?

#381
Like many here, I'm a lefty who plays righty. I did it this way because I inherited my first bass and it was right handed. That said, I do see advaantages and disadvantage to this. My fretting hand may be more dexterious than my plucking/slapping/picking hand is. As a result of this I have less difficulty moving around the neck. However, because I am not right-hand dominant I do believe that I am slower picking or slapping than I would be if I played left handed. I think after years of playing I have overcome this deficit, and I have developed some unique left hand techniques that most righties will never use as a result of it.

I can't imagine playing left handed now(And I have tried at many music stores). Once you have adapted to this it is hard to go back.

PS. Thank god for those water fountains with the bars all the way accross instaed of those old buttons on the wrong side.
 
#382
I'm a lefty playing righty because I simply didn't know any better once I got started. Now, given the complaints and issues associated with being a left-handed player, I'm glad I don't play lefty. Why pay extra for a bass because a builder/manufacturer flipped a template the other way? Just doesn't seem "right", if you'll pardon the pun.

Thank goodness some do not charge extra for lefty instruments.

Bo
 
#383
Do you know why toilets have the flusher on the left hand side (when facing the toilet)? It's because the old pull-chain toilets were set up for the majority right-handed people to be able to easily pull. When the lever system first came out many old toilets were retrofitted and the placement stuck. If you think about it it'd be easier to have the flush lever over on the right so you could reach over with your right hand and flush.

Just thought I'd throw that in.
 
#384
opivy3056 said:
the orchestra teacher in the 3rd grade corrected me.....so i learned cello right handed.
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yea maybe u guys are forgetting that there is no such thing as "lefty" violin, cello, upright bass, etc...some proof that it really makes little difference. im sure right handers and left handers on the same instrument are better equiped for different things, but they are still both able to play the same things...but hey, whatever feels right i guess.
 
#385
Dan Molina said:
He's gonna be kicking himself in the ass when he wants to buy a better bass.
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Dude, what part of this don't you understand? Being left handed isn't a choice -it's genetic- and the degrees of left handedness varies between person to person. It's not as simple as "how you start learning".

Seriously, right handed people just don't get it.

In fact, if you're right handed -you really have no right telling left handed people what they should be doing, because you have no idea what it's like to be a left handed person living in a right handed world. Especially when there are ignorant dunderheads walking around thinking being left handed is a choice.
 
#387
When I was very young doing my homework and my mother caught me writing with my left hand, she would point to the big scissors hanging on the wall and threaten to cut my fingers off. She's from the old country. To this day I still write with my right.

Same story with bass. A standard bass was the first thing given to me. I guess I was too cheap to buy the correct side. I've been playing the same way ever since.
 
#388
uethanian said:
yea maybe u guys are forgetting that there is no such thing as "lefty" violin, cello, upright bass, etc...some proof that it really makes little difference. im sure right handers and left handers on the same instrument are better equiped for different things, but they are still both able to play the same things...but hey, whatever feels right i guess.
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There actually are a good number of people who play orchestral instruments left handed. They're generally symetrical anyways, so they can just convert the bridge/nut and setup to work left-handed. And remember that back in the times when those instruments started being made, being left-handed was seriously frowned down upon and people were forced out of it.

One guy even had a left handed grand piano made for him, and claims that he can play it better, since his dominant (left) hand is then on the melody side.

Some people might argue that right or left handed instruments don't matter when you start out playing, but I would disagree with that. To some extent, people naturally gravitate towards one or the other just because it will feel more natural. Just like anything else involving left or right. When I started snowboarding, I always felt much more comfortable having my left foot forward. I'm left handed (only because I write left handed), but I've always thrown a ball with my right hand. I can only really catch with my right hand as well. Hold a fork with my left hand though...

Anyways, when I first started playing bass I tried a couple left handed ones (figured they were for left-handed people like me I guess :p ) and they just felt completely awkward. So I bought a right handed bass instead. I later had a completely non-musical friend pick up my bass and start playing it upside down, not realizing it was 'supposed' to go the other way.

So...you don't have to be skilled at something to know whether one way feels better than the other ;)
 
#391
Charm Bracelet said:
Dude, what part of this don't you understand? Being left handed isn't a choice -it's genetic- and the degrees of left handedness varies between person to person. It's not as simple as "how you start learning".

Seriously, right handed people just don't get it.

In fact, if you're right handed -you really have no right telling left handed people what they should be doing, because you have no idea what it's like to be a left handed person living in a right handed world. Especially when there are ignorant dunderheads walking around thinking being left handed is a choice.
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I'm left handed and left eye dominant. I do pretty much everything with my left side except for playing bass, guitar, and drums. I'm convinced it's all a matter of how you started learning to play either way you hold/play an instrument is alien to you, plain and simple.
 
#393
Dan Molina said:
I'm convinced it's all a matter of how you started learning to play either way you hold/play an instrument is alien to you, plain and simple.
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The instrument is alien to you, but it will still feel different one way or the other. Maybe it was different for you, but when I started playing I definitely remember feeling more comfortable with a right-handed bass sitting in my lap. Same for when I started snowboarding, or when I started throwing/catching a ball. One way felt good, and the other way definitely didn't. And believe me, I tried hard to do some things the other way around, didn't work too well :p

Writing left-handed sucks, for a number of reasons... :(
 
#394
Lokire said:
The instrument is alien to you, but it will still feel different one way or the other. Maybe it was different for you, but when I started playing I definitely remember feeling more comfortable with a right-handed bass sitting in my lap. Same for when I started snowboarding, or when I started throwing/catching a ball. One way felt good, and the other way definitely didn't. And believe me, I tried hard to do some things the other way around, didn't work too well :p

Writing left-handed sucks, for a number of reasons... :(
Click to expand...

Yeah it does especially when writing on paper with no line. It always dives downward.
 
#398
My then-guitar teacher told me to learn lefty or I wouldn't be able to play properly, I sure as hell wish I hadn't listened to him.

By the way, I also know at least two people who are right-handed but play lefty because it felt better to them when they picked up the instrument. One of them also did it because he was a massive Paul McCartney fan.
 
#399
I wonder if it ever occured to all the left handed people who say that they "learned righty and glad they did" -that perhaps they were ALWAYS a left handed person who could play righty and are falsely attributing their ability to having a choice in the matter?

If I see another person say left handedness is something you "learn" -I'm gonna puke.
 
#400
and play right handed cos it meant cheaper guitars and basses :p

Also i don't think it matters as either way you've got to learn to control your 'weak' hand so i figured i don't have to worry about the frets just plucking!

Have to say though, playing with fingers can be a bit tiring but other than that it seems natural to me to play right cos when i play guitar i can get chord shapes easily and i only have to strum with my right hand.

I think leftys playing right handed are actually playing the most sensible way ;)
 

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