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Lefties why didn't you start playing a righty?

#461
steveg4330 said:
. My older sister had a guitar and I just started playing on it.. I was about 14 yrs old ...

....Since I do everything else Left handed,r ...
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Here is the oldest picture of me playing. It was a guitar I got Christmas morning (hint, look closely at the fake fireplace and see the Beatle bobble heads to guess the date) The little guy next to me is my brother who is right handed and eventually when he started playing bass, played right handed. But i guess this is a case of monkey see, monkey do.


Andy
 

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#462
I remember the first time I picked up a guitar. Without having any prior experience I automatically flipped it upside down. I think its more about being comfortable playing then trying to fit in to a "righty world" and being able to buy more instruments because of their availability. I think if i I would have tried to learn righty, the learning process would have been alot slower and taken alot more conditioning in my hands. In any case ... I still wish I was right handed every day of my bass playing life :smug:
 
#466
I can understand that everyone is different so why not "left" and "right" handed basses. But, if you think about it, the real dexterity requirement for bass (or guitar) is with the fretting hand. So actually the standard "right" hand bass is really a left handed instrument since it requires more dexterity from the left hand. So maybe the real question should be why don't right handed people prefer "left" handed basses?
 
#467
BassicJohn said:
I can understand that everyone is different so why not "left" and "right" handed basses. But, if you think about it, the real dexterity requirement for bass (or guitar) is with the fretting hand. So actually the standard "right" hand bass is really a left handed instrument since it requires more dexterity from the left hand. So maybe the real question should be why don't right handed people prefer "left" handed basses?
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Heh... this was mentioned before. My original counter-argument still stands.

Many people underestimate the dexterity requirements for the plucking hand, as well as the dynamic advantages of using your dominant hand for plucking. For example, volume, response, attack, rapid playing, etc. are largely controlled by the plucking hand. Either hand could be trained to glide across a fretboard (although hammering, bending, etc. will take some time to adjust to), but the responsibilities of the plucking hand are usually taken for granted.

The main reason for such underestimation is simply because it's your dominant hand - you're not going to notice what's required until you try placing your non-dominant hand in the same position. :D
 
#468
BassicJohn said:
I can understand that everyone is different so why not "left" and "right" handed basses. But, if you think about it, the real dexterity requirement for bass (or guitar) is with the fretting hand. So actually the standard "right" hand bass is really a left handed instrument since it requires more dexterity from the left hand. So maybe the real question should be why don't right handed people prefer "left" handed basses?
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That's a good point, although I'll still argue that bass and guitar feels so awkward in either direction when you're starting out. When I was starting out, both directions felt so alien that it was a crap shoot. Had left handed instruments been prevalent, I would have gone with it, but that's far from the case.
 
#470
i just read this entire thread, and despite never having posted before... i feel compelled to respond.

i am left-handed. however, my first instrument was a right-handed cheapo copy sg guitar. i was 4 when my grandmother gave it to me, and the first thing i did [or so i'm told..] is flip that mofo the way it's "supposed to go" with my right hand playing the notes. :D

i throw a ball right-handed. eat lefty. scissors either/or. play the bass notes of a piano with my right hand. kick righty. prefer electric pencil sharperners because the right-handed ones make me angry inside.

i'd say it's about 50/50 which way i do anything.

fast foward about a decade, and i had learned guitar, and bass, lefty, righty, and upside down and backwards. BOTH WAYS.

why? because i can.

however, i prefer the correctly strung lefty above and beyond anything. why? because i FEEL the groove more when i play lefty. i own guitars/basses and play both ways. but when push comes to shove and i want to record something, i always always always use a left-handed bass. why? because it sounds better. when i listen to the playback of me playing right-handed... it lacks that certain something that all of us look for when laying down a track.

i prefer lefty not because i think it's any better [or worse] than playing righty. i prefer it because to me... i SOUND better when i'm playing lefty. my vibrato sucks right-handed, as an example.

i've played right-handed since about two months after i played lefty, i've given both equal time. and for neither love nor money has playing BASS felt natural right-handed.

now, 20 years into it... i can say that i am a proud left-hand path-er, and i give kudos to anyone that plays whichever way feels naturally to them.

also, as an aside. one of my closest friends plays in a variety of punky bands in new york. lefty.

she's right handed.

i called her and asked her why she plays lefty when she is right-handed.

her response? "it feels weird playing the other way. i tried it, but i just couldn't get into it."

how could she betray her right-handed bretheren that way? :rollno:
 
#472
SuzyCreamcheese said:
Oh your god (I'm atheist) what did you guys do? Let this thread die...
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As an agnostic, I feel compelled to tell you that religion and zombies have little in common with each other. :D

Believe me, we tried everything from wooden stakes and silver bullets to Richard Simmons workout videos to Teletubbies reruns.

I don't think we can kill it - it's the walking dead! :ninja:
 
#475
KenToby said:
Many beginners often ask weather a particular bass is available in a left handed model. My responce has always been, what difference does it make since you have never plaued before and therefore have not developed a preference for either a left or right instrument.

My question is why do they offer a "Left handed" bass??
There are no left handed keyboards or violins os horns, etc.

I don't understand why anyone with no bass playing experience would go into bass playing looking for a left handed instrument.

Any Ideas??

Thanks,
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I feel sorry for your ignorance so I'm going to help out you here.

  • Don't come on a forum to insult people's natural instincts
  • Don't come on a forum to insult people who answer your questions
  • Don't come on a forum to insult people who disagree with you
  • Don't come on a forum to be immature and argue for the sake of arguing
  • Don't come on a forum, ask a question, and only accept your own answer
  • Don't come on a forum and preach about a topic in which you have no experience, knowledge, or evidence to justify, validate, or back-up what you are saying


Now, you may surf the internets safely and politely! ;)
 
#479
Oh right so you have to be dead for a while ... and then come back to life and look really angry. Got it.
So Jesus is not a zombie because he was only dead for 2 days(?) and he was friendly.

(EDIT: For all the people who are getting angry for us zombie-hijacking this thread but it was screwed from the first post)
 

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