Lefties why didn't you start playing a righty?

[Jazzdogg]

I am right-handed. However, I learned to play upright bass forty years ago on my Pop's left-handed upright, despite the fact that my electric bass was right-handed. I think my brain learned to treat upright and electric as two completely different instruments as a consequence. When I finally got a right-handed upright of my own, I had to re-learn the instrument completely, even though I still stood on the same side of the instrument, and still plucked and bowed with my right hand..

I recently inherited Pop's left-handed bass. I can still play it (barely), but noticed that, after playing it for an hour the other night, my brain/hands were confused when I sat down to type.

I cannot imagine fingering/fretting with my right hand and plucking/bowing with my left any more than I can imagine Pop standing on the starboard side of an upright to play, even if it were strung left-handed.

However, were I to (God forbid) sustain an injury that forced me to switch hands, I think I might be able to force myself - rather than give up any chance of playing bass again.

 

[lefty007]

At birth no ones brain is "wired" to know that a bass head stock should be on the left or right side of their body. This is a learned playing position... period. Even though there are plenty of left handed people playing in world class orchestra pits, you will find NO "Left handed" string players in any world class symphonies anywhere on the planet.
Should there be "Left handed basses"? Absolutly, of course!!!!! Because we may write, throw and eat with our left hands doesn't automaticlly dictate the direction our bass head stock should point right however.

Thanks,

KT

You seem to have more answers than questions.

There are no lefty violinist in "most" orchestras because "most" teachers are old-fashion and orthodox and push the student to learn right-handed.

I'm not a scientist or research doctor. All I know is that nobody made me learn to play left-handed. My brain naturally made me do things left-handed, including playing instruments.

 

[SurrenderMonkey]

I'm a lefty and play right handed. That's because my father screwed up and bought me a cheapo right handed bass. I sometimes still feel discomfort and awkwardness when slapping with the right hand. I feel I would get more accuracy and power slapping with my left hand. Similarly, I don't feel great playing with a pick, but finger style is fine.

for a lefty playing right handed,

perks : Being able to swap/buy/sell instruments easily. Sky is the limit.
cons : Not quite natural. Even now, it sometimes doesn't feel quite there. Also, not looking as cool, and 'special'!

imo, more pros than cons playing right-handed instruments. But I would have loved starting left-handed, despite the problem of availability and resale. Just me being stubborn.

 

[west*coast*bass]

Please identify just ONE world class symphonic "left instrument" violinist... just one.

...I bet Phil could have learned to play right handed if he had no choice

As I stated in my last post, I know of not one left handed classical player...so, because I don't know any then they don't exist, is this what you are saying?

And you are right, Phil Collins probably could have learned to play right handed but just like the bassists that you are teaching, they do have a choice. Why don't you just teach them music and let them be comfortable whether they are planning on playing lefty or righty?

 

[Rodent]

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??

Because they have become accustomed to using left-handed scissors, a left-handed mouse configuration on their computer, and other things designed in an opposite-hand configuration.

A left-handed model makes perfect sense for anyone (righty or lefty) who prefers to play that way. One size does not fit all

all the best,

R

 

[DeanT]

Jimmy Hendrix played on a right handed strat but played it like upside down cause he was a lefty. Some just find it more comfortable that way.

Jimi Hendrix played his Strat upside down because he didn't think it was necessary to spend the extra cash Fender charged for a left-hand model. It was his way of "sticking it to the man."

But I digress....

 

[ehque]

Um, to all you "its hard wired" people, who are righties...

Im a lefty. In basic caveman applications, like the hammer, the pencil, and the badminton racket, it goes to my left hand. Makes sense, cos all i need is a firm grip and minimal dexterity.

I play righty. Keyboards, drums, guitars, and basses. I can't slap, which many lefty-playing-righties cant seem to do as well, but i have a mean hammer on. Ive tried playing upside down and i can't. Scissors, right as well. Left if they aren't the contoured ones.

I shoot ambidextrous. Some of my old air rifles were only righty. Also because the M-16 would discharge hot rounds near my face if i shot it lefty without the deflector - and sometimes i was lazy to put it on. Archery, also depends on the bow.

I think for all those things which require quite a bit of manual dexterity from both hands, it really is a blank slate. I can imagine there to be some sort of ingrained handedness when trying to hit someone with a stick, but to tell me that guitar-handedness is ingrained...

Its a far stretch for me.

 

[spade2you]

I play righty. Keyboards, drums, guitars, and basses. I can't slap, which many lefty-playing-righties cant seem to do as well, but i have a mean hammer on. Ive tried playing upside down and i can't. Scissors, right as well. Left if they aren't the contoured ones.

I'm sure there are some lefties who can slap when playing right handed basses. I'm half-decent, though I'll be the first to admit that I never focus a whole lot on my slap/pop technique. I'd think I could be a good slap player if I spent more time on it. Most of my focus is 2 handed tapping on my fretted basses and intonation on the fretless basses.

 

[routasydän]

To me atleast it sounds crazy to compare writing and playing bass in this case and i tell you why. If you're lefty you pick up the pen and write with your left hand of course, like i did with my right hand. Now the thing with bass (or guitar etc) is that you anyways need your both hands and anyways your "weaker" hand will feel uncomfortable or hard to control. Atleast when i started with guitar, i really had problems with the fretboard hand for example when playing chords.

So why does it feel more natural then to pick the strings with your better hand in the first place, if we assume that we don't know anything about how to hold the instrument when we start(which i think is impossible nowadays)? I don't know, maybe it is easier to start when you get atleast some reasonable sound out of the instrument (open strings) and you can immediately start practicing some easy open string trainings and so on. But after you would learn to pick with your kind of weaker hand, would it make any difference? Only reason i'm glad i play rightys(and i'm righty) is that there are better selection of them. I don't know any particular other reason for right handed to play righty and the opposite. Of course i don't know if there are any research done to find out if it makes difference in this kind of things where you need your both hands anyway. This will be interesting.

 

[KenToby]

Finally a voice of reason who understands what I'm saying.

Thanks for actually reading and comprehending my posts.

KT

Um, to all you "its hard wired" people, who are righties...

Im a lefty. In basic caveman applications, like the hammer, the pencil, and the badminton racket, it goes to my left hand. Makes sense, cos all i need is a firm grip and minimal dexterity.

I play righty. Keyboards, drums, guitars, and basses. I can't slap, which many lefty-playing-righties cant seem to do as well, but i have a mean hammer on. Ive tried playing upside down and i can't. Scissors, right as well. Left if they aren't the contoured ones.

I shoot ambidextrous. Some of my old air rifles were only righty. Also because the M-16 would discharge hot rounds near my face if i shot it lefty without the deflector - and sometimes i was lazy to put it on. Archery, also depends on the bow.

I think for all those things which require quite a bit of manual dexterity from both hands, it really is a blank slate. I can imagine there to be some sort of ingrained handedness when trying to hit someone with a stick, but to tell me that guitar-handedness is ingrained...

Its a far stretch for me.

 

[Edword]

Everyone's different. For some, changing to right-handed is no problem, for others it's out of the question. The reason there are left handed basses is that there is a market for them.

 

[west*coast*bass]

Finally a voice of reason who understands what I'm saying.

Thanks for actually reading and comprehending my posts.

KT

Yeah, nice that one person has finally seen your logic.

Congratulations, you may rest easy knowing that you can start to single handedly rid the world of left handed bassists.

 

[KenToby]

I never mentioned eliminating left handed basses, being communist or what ever else I've been acused of here.

Play left, stay left. Play right, stay right. Never ever played - choose right for a far greater instrument selection. Don't continue to build a mountain out of a mole hill; It's not that complex.

KT

Yeah, nice that one person has finally seen your logic.

Congratulations, you may rest easy knowing that you can start to single handedly rid the world of left handed bassists.

 

[DEEPENDMUSIC]

French Horns are left handed instruments.

 

[Vandelay]

Sorry to burst your bubble, dude, but there IS a predisposition.

I'm a lefty who took up the guitar as a teenager. It was the first instrument I ever played. I spent a year trying HARD to learn to play righty. I took lessons, I worked at it, but it was a real struggle. I could play it, sure, but only very slowly. My fretting fingers had poor flexibility, and my picking fingers had poor accuracy. It just took me too long to switch from one chord to another.

After a year, I reversed my strings to make it lefty, and it only took me about a week to re-learn everything that I heard learned in that full year as a righty. I haven't looked back since.

 

[funkalicious101]

on a simmilar note, whats with mens AND womens underwear?

shouldnt everyone just wear the same thing?

 

[thumpbass1]

Is there a new wave of right handed fascism coming? I will
oppose it passionately and I'm a right hander myself.
We humans as individual creatures develop different abilities
and we choose what works best for us and that includes
which hand we use for our tools with.
I'm amazed at what a freind of mine who is left handed has
had to put up with as a very talented guitar player. He throws
folks a curve ball because he plays left handed and then
switches to right handed playing for some of the finest slide
guitar playing I've had the pleasure of hearing. His style is
uniquely his own and I applaud his talent.
He quit listening to the 'right hand only' zealots long ago
and he did get some nonsense from his early teachers. He
quit going to them and he found guitar teachers who didn't
have a one size fits all mentality. If you play lefty I say
go for it and ignore us uptight right handers.

 

[west*coast*bass]

I never mentioned eliminating left handed basses, being communist or what ever else I've been acused of here.

Play left, stay left. Play right, stay right. Never ever played - choose right for a far greater instrument selection. Don't continue to build a mountain out of a mole hill; It's not that complex.

KT

Ken, I read all of your posts...

You are correct, it's not complex. You just can't accept, even from those lefties that have posted here, that there is a predisposition to be either right or left and to feel uncomfortable when forced to change.

I have truly enjoyed this thread and going back and forth with you on this topic. I wish you well.

 

[One Drop]

I used to work at a ski shop. When a newbie wanted to rent a snowboard, we'd test them for left or right foot dominance by asking them to stand facing you, and then pulling them abruptly forward. Invariably the person puts their dominant foot forward to stop themselves falling.

If I were to insist a right footed person try a goofy (lefty) setup, it would take them longer to learn the basics, and they probably would never be entirely comfortable with the configuration.

I know of some who started out on the wrong foot, and even after a year or so were able and grateful to make the switch, so quick was their progress and so natural the feeling eas in the new, 'correct' position.

I'm one of those lefties who throws and plays right handed, but I have some serious hand eye coordination issues that are maybe a result of me not using my left hand for these things to begin with, I don't know.

I do understand your point, but you should realize that for some it's not an issue, being disposed through practice or naturally to be ambidextrous, but for others it would engender extreme ackwardness and perhaps hold them back from fulfilling their potential.

Sometimes you need to feel something to understand it, and I believe your insistence that we are a clean slate in this matter lacks some empathy.

 

[Batman]

'I appreciate the side track history lesson however my point is that starting with a clean slate, we can all be easily taught to play either way L or R; there is no predisposition.'

Actually, that's just plain wrong. I'm left-handed, and I have an identical twin and a younger brother to boot. It's natural for me to do things left-handed, but why then do both of my brothers and father swing a golf club left-handed? They use a pen with their right hands, throw a baseball with their right hands, etc. Hockey stick, golf club - left-handed.

You're oversimplifying a complex inherited trait, and failing to understand the prescence of a prefrence for the use of a certain hand is mystifying, to say the least.

Batman