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why do some players play their basses upside down?

#61
As a born lefty when I picked up the guitar first I only could get a right handed guitar. So I learned chording upside down. Then later in my teens a local band needed a bass player and I volunteered. The guitarist had a spare Kay bass and I bought it for $50. It was also righty strung righty. Nobody ever made a big deal over it. I can buy any bass I want at this stage of my life but like the value of midrange priced basses. So when I get an Ibanez lefty, I have a collection of string nuts I've collected over the years for switching the bass strings back to righty. I'm not going to change at this stage in my life.

Interesting side note to other lefty players. Did you find yourself playing mostly on the right side of the stage for fear of whacking your guitar headstock into the guitar players headstock? As a result of playing on the right side of the stage for so many years my left ear suffers more loss than the right. The reason? The big ride cymbal was always right next to my left ear!
 
#62
My kid's a lefty -- I let him try both ways and he seemed to gravitate towards lefty, so that's how I set up his guitar.
Teaching him, I often ended up playing that guitar upside down (like mirrored Albert King). With a bit of practice, it's not too bad, but I could never play it lefty with my right hand on the fretboard.
 
#67
LowDownHawkeye said:
A few posts danced around this point, but I didn't see any that stated it plainly - how much of it is that, by learning to play a right-handed instrument (regardless of technique), the left-hander will have more choice in the marketplace?
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BS. There's plenty of choice, and more all the time. Many people are simply unable to play 'wrongly' and give up, or never achieve their full potential. You don't get more 'choice' by conforming to the norm. You achieve it by helping provide enough numbers to make it viable. If left-handers were 50% of the population, there would be no discussion about 'choice'. It would be built-in to the system.
 
#69
Yep, being a lefty can indeed be pretty depressing. :-/ I also have the feeling there's less and less lefty instruments available today, which is probably because the market itself is shrinking which makes catering to a minority too risky, even for bigger companies.

I can play righty basses and guitars by flipping them over to some extent, but I can't say that I particularly enjoy it. If I'm at a "just for fun" session and there's no drummer around, I'd rather play drums instead. I'm not a particularly good drummer but can hold a simple groove OK and -- most importantly -- have some fun while doing it.
 
#70
The best rhythm guitarist I've ever played with is a fast and precise HxC groove master and also a lefty who learned to play right handed since day one. You cannot tell he's a lefty at all (the guy in the left in band shots)...



IMHO, things such as having to buy more expensive instruments, or not being able to play an instrument that's hanging around, or having to share a gig with a band that has a lefty drummer are all a drag. If you're starting from zero I think it has more to do with a choice than a real advantage/disadvantage thing. I always advice this to parents whose kids want to play an instrument: "Are there any lefties' pianos out there? There's your answer then.".
 
#71
I played a guitar upside-down for a while, 'cause the person who gave it to me was a lefty. Eventually, I restrung it the right way around. I can honestly tell you that there's no advantage or disadvantage to either choice.
The only practical use I've seen for upside-down stringing is a local blues band where the bassist plays keys as well, sometimes both at once, which means that it's easy to tap low notes with one hand.
 
#73
I am a left handed person. When I was a kid I was naturally inclined to play that way but the guy at the music store talked me out of it. He explained that piano, trumpet, clarinet, etc... We're not offered in lefty format so learn guitar the right way. When I mentioned Hendrix and McCartney he said that there were exceptions to every rule but that as time passed he would thank me. I surely do thank him.
 
#74
mcarp555 said:
BS. There's plenty of choice, and more all the time. Many people are simply unable to play 'wrongly' and give up, or never achieve their full potential. You don't get more 'choice' by conforming to the norm. You achieve it by helping provide enough numbers to make it viable. If left-handers were 50% of the population, there would be no discussion about 'choice'. It would be built-in to the system.
Click to expand...

It's interesting to see this statement about there being more choice (by which I mean more left handed instruments available) all the time, and @boomtisk's post a few later that says there are fewer and fewer left handed instruments available.

I'm not trying to say that left handers should choose to play right handed instruments, I think it is a shame there aren't more available. I'm just wondering if some people choose to play a right handed instrument because by doing so they will have more instruments to choose from, or it will be easier to get those instruments.
 
#75
hjschwartz said:
Lefties play upside down? poopie, and all these years I thought it was everyone else that was doing it backwards.
What I really don't get is right handed players who go to the trouble of playing a lefty upside down because they incorrectly think it makes them look cool.
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I'm extremely right hand dominant (I don't think I could wipe my butt with my left hand) but set up my drums left handed so I can play open handed but keep my right hand on the hats. Incidently, playing left handed I don't find crossing to be as difficult either - as the right hand is now the hand that's having to play under a roof. Working now to get my left hand ghosting up to where the right was - but it's also easier to bring the right over to snare drum as needed. I found my feet to be the much more difficult part of trying to play left handed.

My son is about to turn 3, we play lots of music together, he LOVES bass and drums especially. And I'm about 85% certain that he's left handed (and it runs in the family) I really had intended to try to teach him righty for guitar/bass, but he's showing a really strong preference to hold the bass left handed. (Until recently,even the little 25" scale I found for him was far too heavy to hold, so he always banged around with it in his lap. It's still too heavy to play standing, but now he's really wanting to try it, and when he does, he always tries to hold it left handed.)
 
#80
LowDownHawkeye said:
It's interesting to see this statement about there being more choice (by which I mean more left handed instruments available) all the time, and @boomtisk's post a few later that says there are fewer and fewer left handed instruments available.

I'm not trying to say that left handers should choose to play right handed instruments, I think it is a shame there aren't more available. I'm just wondering if some people choose to play a right handed instrument because by doing so they will have more instruments to choose from, or it will be easier to get those instruments.
Click to expand...

I obviously disagree with the other poster. While some of the bigger names (Gibson, Rickenbacker, PRS) seem to think left-hand players don't exist (or shouldn't), many smaller brands are only too happy to put out LH instruments. Compared to twenty or thirty years ago, the numbers available have exploded.

swarfrat said:
I'm extremely right hand dominant (I don't think I could wipe my butt with my left hand) but set up my drums left handed so I can play open handed but keep my right hand on the hats. Incidently, playing left handed I don't find crossing to be as difficult either - as the right hand is now the hand that's having to play under a roof. Working now to get my left hand ghosting up to where the right was - but it's also easier to bring the right over to snare drum as needed. I found my feet to be the much more difficult part of trying to play left handed.

My son is about to turn 3, we play lots of music together, he LOVES bass and drums especially. And I'm about 85% certain that he's left handed (and it runs in the family) I really had intended to try to teach him righty for guitar/bass, but he's showing a really strong preference to hold the bass left handed. (Until recently,even the little 25" scale I found for him was far too heavy to hold, so he always banged around with it in his lap. It's still too heavy to play standing, but now he's really wanting to try it, and when he does, he always tries to hold it left handed.)
Click to expand...

I hope you will not try to force him to play against his natural tendencies. When we read about a teacher forcing a left-handed student to learn to write with the wrong hand, we consider it abusive. When a guitar salesman suggests learning to play RH just to make a sale, the suggestion is that it's for the 'good of the student' to have 'more choice'. This is patently nonsense:

DSCN8077A_zps8eb39b54.jpg


DSCN6069A.jpg


And there are more guitars not pictured. No choice?
 

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