why do some players play their basses upside down?

[JimiLL]

I'm at a bit of a loss here. I get that some people merely learned this way, not having access to a bass that is appropriate for their dominate hands, but u see lots of guys with VERY expensive basses who could easily have had their instruments built left handed for them, but instead play righty instruments upside down, sometimes with the strings arranged upside down as well!

What gives?

 

[msb]

You should hang out with more lefties .

 

[rufus.K]

Samething for reverse headstocks

 

[Thomas Kievit]

1. They have the bass guitar immediately, so they don't have to wait for months.
2. Even if you can custom order it for that price, not all luthiers build lefties.
3. When it comes to the point where strings are upside down : this is called piccolo bass. Check out Jeff Schmidt who plays exclusively this way.

 

[Gorn]

These bass players you speak of who are playing upside down didn't start off on very expensive basses. Why change things now?

 

[Gorn]

And in some ways it makes sense to play backwards. My non-dominant left hand does all the fretting. Maybe it's somehow advantageous for a lefty to do all his fretting with his dominant hand.

 

[Slorra440]

I wonder if it helps with resell ability. Probably easier to unload a righty.

 

[Doctor J]

Possibly said in the mid-sixties:

"That Hendrix guy will never amount to anything unless he falls in line and does exactly the same as everyone else!"

 

[mdogs]

3. When it comes to the point where strings are upside down : this is called piccolo bass. Check out Jeff Schmidt who plays exclusively this way.

Ok, not sure where you get your information, but this is just wrong...

 

[Ulf_Hansson]

Whatever works for Jimmy Haslip...

 

[Thomas Kievit]

Then explain what it is.

Ok, not sure where you get your information, but this is just wrong...

 

[Watchootognbout]

Then explain what it is.

A Piccolo bass has thinner gauge strings tuned an octave higher than a normal bass.
The thickness of the piccolo's low E is about the thickness of a regular D string.
It's low open E string is the equivalent of playing the E on the seventh fret of the A string of a regular four string bass.
Jimmy Haslip plays a "righty"upside-down,but does not play piccolo bass.
Michael Manring plays "righty"Piccolo fretless.
Jeff Scmidt does both.

Piccolo bass string set.

 

[rufus.K]

Let's not forget Stanley Clarke's piccolo awesomeness

 

[Watchootognbout]

I'm at a bit of a loss here. I get that some people merely learned this way, not having access to a bass that is appropriate for their dominate hands, but u see lots of guys with VERY expensive basses who could easily have had their instruments built left handed for them, but instead play righty instruments upside down, sometimes with the strings arranged upside down as well!

What gives?

They are "lefties"
When they first learned they "flipped" a regular bass because a"lefty"bass wasn't available to them.
So over the years they adapt.
Why change?

Now.What's the deal with this guy?

 

[domonic]

They play that way because they are not in there right mind!

 

[paulnb57]

They play that way because they are not in there right mind!

Good answer!

 

[dave64o]

A friend of mine plays lefty but upside down. The reason is simple. His parents bought his older brothers guitars when they were kids and they couldn't afford to buy even more guitars because he was lefty. So, he turned them upside down and played them that way. He's a phenomenal player, but trying to watch his hands to see what he's playing is near impossible for me, even after taking lessons with him for a few years.

I saw a Beatles show in Las Vegas a few years ago and "Paul" was, of course, lefty. But there were some times when "Paul" played piano on some later songs, so one of the guitarists (don't remember if it was "John" or "George") played "Paul"s bass righty which meant that it was strung upside down for him. Not a single wrong note from him in those songs. I never could have done that.

 

[mdogs]

Then explain what it is.

A Piccolo bass has thinner gauge strings tuned an octave higher than a normal bass.
The thickness of the piccolo's low E is about the thickness of a regular D string.
It's low open E string is the equivalent of playing the E on the seventh fret of the A string of a regular four string bass.
Jimmy Haslip plays a "righty"upside-down,but does not play piccolo bass.
Michael Manring plays "righty"Piccolo fretless.
Jeff Scmidt does both.
View attachment 759959Piccolo bass string set.

Got it?!?

 

[neckdive]

And then there's MonoNeon.

 

[Dug2]

Quentin berry, hes said thats the way hes been playin since he was a kid, out of
comfort.