See? It can be done and quite well, I might add.
Just be glad you're not an ERB player. No love for that hardly anywhere.
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Lefties why didn't you start playing a righty?
- Thread starter KenToby
- Start date
See? It can be done and quite well, I might add.
Just be glad you're not an ERB player. No love for that hardly anywhere.
What evidence have you got that complex muscle activity has anything to do with handedness?
Your opinion is not the truth. And I think that is what is ticking every off in this thread.
Now, explain this, how come that when I was first being taught to hold a spoon by myself, I would stubbornly switch it to the left hand. My Mom recalls the episodes quite vividly, when they tried and tried to make me hold the spoon with the right hand and I would switch to left. . . and this is when I was, what, two? (I don't remember at what age babies learn to hold a spoon and start feeding themselves.)
Same thing when it came time to learn to write. I just went for the left hand. Nobody gave me a choice, I had no sense of what being left- or right-handed was.
As far as I can tell, my brain has always been hard-wired to be lefty, a natural predisposion.
It just seems that you don't want to understand or respect that many others think and feel that being lefty or righty IS a natural predisposition, and NOT a learn or chosen skill/disposition.
Any brain doctors in the house?
This is entirely true. When someone firt handed me a guitar I flipped it over, not because I knew it was the lefty way but because it didnt feel right (lol) the other way.
The only problem with "the truth" in this case is that it's not 100% universal. Writing involves ONE hand. Guitar and bass involves BOTH hands performing 2 different tasks that can obviously be learned eith either hand.
I know a righty personally who had some tendon damage to his left pinkie and ring finger and he was able to successfully relearn on a left handed guitar. He wasn't particularly happy about it, but he was determined enough to do it.
If someone is willing to buy me a boutique lefty built to my usual specs, I'd be willing to learn how to play it.
Without getting too technical, here is some more "sound" info on the subject, other than only our opinions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness
It seems that this subject is widely full of theories, more than facts. Read both and form your own opinion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness
It seems that this subject is widely full of theories, more than facts. Read both and form your own opinion.
He still is affected, though - you can tell with his handwriting, and even the way he holds a pencil.
Another lefty whose development experiences are in-line with mine!
This thread is turning into the classic nature vs. nurture argument, it seems.
Wow, I can smell the determination from here. As stated before, I sense too much "I can't" with some of you guys. I'm not talking about those of of you who gave it an honest try.
Vision did it and is a great bassist. I'm nothing special and I managed to do it as was my righty turned lefty friend. If I believed everything people told me I can't do, I would have never run 3 miles in 15 minutes flat, which a few people told me an asthmatic can't do. Can't? Done!
Yeah, I keep waiting for someone to make the analogy with other types of, uh, "orientation". Not that there's anything wrong with that, LOL.
I could learn to play using my feet or my teeth but it's much easier to play left-handed.
You repressed lefties who are playing righty have my sympathies or empathies or whatever...
BTW, judging from this thread there's a lot of you. If more of you would just buy the right
bass (which is of course lefty) there'd be more of them and maybe for less of a premium. Ya know, since instrument selection reigns supreme for you.
You repressed lefties who are playing righty have my sympathies or empathies or whatever...
BTW, judging from this thread there's a lot of you. If more of you would just buy the right
bass (which is of course lefty) there'd be more of them and maybe for less of a premium. Ya know, since instrument selection reigns supreme for you.
I'm with you, spade, on the notion that it's certainly not an impossible task to play a right-handed bass as a lefty. A large number of lefty TBers I've talked to here play right-handed basses. I used to play an acoustic guitar right-handed when I was a kid, even though videos of me as a toddler indicate natural left-handedness. My father wanted me to learn to play it right-handed, because he thought playing lefty was wrong.
I was never great at it, though - it always felt awkward to me, although it was less so as I became used to the guitar. I stopped playing when I was about 12 or so, and didn't pick up another instrument until I was 18.
When I did choose to play the bass, I walked into a few stores and gave right-handed and left-handed basses an equal shot. The lefty instrument always felt more natural, and I ended up with a left-handed beginner bass.
I could have certainly learned a right-handed bass, but I feel that I've progressed much further, much faster, by going with what felt right to me. I don't have any regrets, and I don't have any problems with selection, either.
With all of that being said... playing a left-handed instrument has done wonders for improving the coordination, speed, and dexterity of my right hand, and that's always a plus.
I was never great at it, though - it always felt awkward to me, although it was less so as I became used to the guitar. I stopped playing when I was about 12 or so, and didn't pick up another instrument until I was 18.
When I did choose to play the bass, I walked into a few stores and gave right-handed and left-handed basses an equal shot. The lefty instrument always felt more natural, and I ended up with a left-handed beginner bass.
I could have certainly learned a right-handed bass, but I feel that I've progressed much further, much faster, by going with what felt right to me. I don't have any regrets, and I don't have any problems with selection, either.
With all of that being said... playing a left-handed instrument has done wonders for improving the coordination, speed, and dexterity of my right hand, and that's always a plus.
Yeah, I keep waiting for someone to make the analogy with other types of, uh, "orientation". Not that there's anything wrong with that, LOL.
I thought about it for a moment, but then I realized that this thread is so close to being closed, I'd rather not seal the coffin.
But where can you find left handed strings?
You mean my strings aren't left-handed?!?
D'Addario lied to me! Why, D'Addy, why?
I agree that I could have learned to play right-handed. My dad is a lefty who played righty, and it was his experiences that helped me decide to play lefty, even though at that point I couldn't play anything anyway. But, once I made my choice, that was it. My teacher never tried to tell me to switch to right-handed; he taught me notes and scales and whatever else it was I learned all those years ago, but he accepted my judgement on whether or not to play a lefty bass, which to me seems the proper attitude to take as a teacher.
I read ya loud n' clear. I guess since I started out as a guitarist, there were certain trems that my favorite artists were using (Floyd Rose Pro and Steinberger Transtrem) that are only available on right handed instruments. Fortunately, a lot of bass gadgets are fairly ambidestrious.
A lot of it had to deal with the no-return policies in town. I had no idea if I'd even like guitar.
I'll admit I'm one of the few pharmacists I know who uses a lefty pill counting tray.
I failed at learning right handed.
I started out on guitar too. Fortunately, all I wanted was a Strat (my dad's a Fender freak), and when I walked in the store there were 2 to choose from. That was back in '84, and I know the guy who got the other one (he still has his). When I was asked to play bass in my band, I opted to go cheap (to see if I liked it) and I played a flipped Hondo for a few months until I walked in a pawn shop that had the same Hondo in a lefty, and traded them straight up.
