Why is EVERYONE playing mis-oriented basses?

[darev]

I am a hard coded lefty. All motor skills, vision, & hearing oriented hard left.

As a lefty living in a righty world I have some ability to play right handed but I haven't developed it. When I started I picked up a righty bass and started playing it upside down. I haven't stopped all these years later even though I can play righty (or lefty right side up) if I wanted. I don't want. I've always liked having my dominant hand being in control of the pizz.

This could just be an incidental observation, but seems to me that left handed people have the ability to "go the other way" easier than rightys.

I seem to be the only lefty I know so far who can switch as I can. However, all of my lefty friends have some righty abilities otherwise we would all die in your right-handed world.

Anybody choosing to play bass or guitar lefty is choosing to handicap themselves IMO

OK

 

[aprod]

It’s basic neurology. The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa. There is obviously much more to it.

 

[aprod]

That's pop psychology, but unfortunately it's not true....

It’s not psychology it’s physiology. You are wrong.

 

[Saetia]

If you want my honest opinion… it’s how you were introduced that matters the most. It’s foreign in either orientation regardless of hand dominance until it’s not foreign anymore. The OP’s statement somehow assumes that the non dominant hand is less capable, the twin that got the shallow end of the gene pool. Now once taught, switching how you do it is down to a number of skills that require aptitudes that may vary between individuals.

 

[gln1955]

That's pop psychology, but unfortunately it's not true....

Sorry, no. The corticospinal tract, which controls skeletal muscles of the body, crosses on the way out of the brain, so the left motor cortex runs the right side muscles. This has been know for many decades and is definitely not pop psychology.

 

[Wasnex]

I think it's a bit misguided to assume that the dominant hand is better at everything. The hands work together and specialize.
My right hand is better at plucking and bowing. My left hand is better at fingering. Both hands would suck at doing the other hand's task.

Plucking fast, technical lines is definitely challenging. I think it may be more challenging than fingering the same lines. However, what usually limits me is coordination/timing between the two hands.

Imagine how musical instruments must have developed. I assume rhythm would come first, and I think it's natural that we would tap out the most complex rhythms with our dominant hand.

Over time maybe some caveman got the idea to manipulate pitch. It likely already established that you tap out the difficult rhythms with your dominant hand, so the new task would fall to the non-dominant hand.

Perhaps it would make sense to reverse the way we use our hands to play bass. If this were the case, lefties who play righty should be better players on average. Is there empirical evidence of this?

 

[jd56hawk]

I think if you invert your playing you’ll understand why. Rhythm comes easier on the dominant hand while fretting is actually simple. Push down on the string while the other hand actually makes the string vibrate at just the right amplitude and timing.

Just like in golf and baseball the leading hand is the non dominant hand. This doesn’t make sense until you stop to think that all the non dominant hand is doing in that motion is providing acceleration. All the fine adjustments and stuff are done on the dominant hand.

All that needs to be said, I think.

 

[lm183902]

Interesting topic.

I absolutely think it took more time and attention for me to develop great plucking technique as compared to fretting. Oddly enough, I started playing keyboards long after becoming a bass player and I had way more dexterity/coordination in my left hand when I was starting out. I'm assuming that was from the coordination developed over time from fretting?

 

[Guitalia]

Surprisingly few left-handed pianos, typewriters, and other keyboards out there.

I wonder if this topic comes up much for musicians in Africa, Asia, etc.

 

[darev]

Perhaps it would make sense to reverse the way we use our hands to play bass. If this were the case, lefties who play righty should be better players on average. Is there empirical evidence of this?

<blush>

Not over here LOL

 

[Afc70]

I would agree with others, & would add , that your plucking is a much more nuanced skill, & requires attention to detail , and more intricate fine motor skills, than fretting. IMO

 

[hasbeen]

I'd say even more when you're talking about nuance. I'm not good at left hand muting. I do it all with my right. I suck either way, but the right hand does more than just plucking, or at least it should.

I agree. I play mostly 6 string and the right hand REALLY has to do a lot of muting.

 

[Wasnex]

I agree. I play mostly 6 string and the right hand REALLY has to do a lot of muting.

I find it necessary to use both hands for muting on 6 string.

 

[HolmeBass]

The plucking hand generates the tone, dynamics, and timing; it is more demanding than the fretting hand, in my opinion.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

My Dad is left-handed, but somewhat ambidextrous. He learned to play banjo right-handed because a left-handed 5-string banjo is very hard to find, and he wanted to play one really bad. That carried over to guitar and eventually, upright bass. He writes left-handed. When we played golf, he would drive the ball off the teebox right-handed, then play from the fairway to green and putt left-handed. It drove people crazy. He shoots a rifle right-handed, because that's what the USMC did, and qualified Marksman. FWIW, I'm left eye dominant, so I shoot left-handed, and always have. (I didn't have to worry about the Gunny running me to death...) I do seem to have inherited some of the ambidextrous-ness though... I can do a good many tool-related jobs with either hand, and some things are actually easier with my left. I think that's a holdover from some lingering nerve damage... I involuntarily learned to use my left hand while my right side was 'asleep'.

Playing bass... forget about it. Right-handed all the way.

 

[ad9000]

I remember talking with John Patitucci about his being left-handed and playing righty. He said it did make him focus more on the role of each hand while he was learning, and he thinks being left handed helped in developing more strength and dexterity in his left hand (along with classical guitar exercises his brother turned him on to).

One unusual case along those lines is Jimmy Haslip, who is left handed and plays a right handed instrument upside down - he plays a lot of things unlike anyone else I've seen or heard, and it's very disorienting to see him play slap bass stuff that way, which he does extremely well.

I've seen a couple of left handed players grab a right handed axe and play it as well as they do a left handed one, which to me is some kind of superhuman ability. David Enos (local LA player) picked up my right handed bass at a party where were both playing and proceeded to do just that - freaked me out big time.

 

[Gorn]

I think we've all been agreeing with each other for four pages in a troll thread.

 

[wompwomp]

FWIW, on drums you play "more" with your dominant hand than the opposite, but the harder and more "upfront" hits often come from your opposite. So it's hihat or ride with your right and snare/rack toms with your left.

iirc Bonham was a leftie who played as rightie but led with his left hand. I wonder what his feel would be like if he had taken another approach?

I have a super dominant right hand and can't really physically play drums but I practice rudiments on my kiddo's set as a form of rehabilitation ( I took an injury to the left side of my back years ago).

I can play guitar, mandolin, and of course bass guitar. my right hand is a superdominant beast and does one hell of a lot including most of the heavy lifting of actually supporting whatever instrument i'm playing. my left hand is along for the ride.

music is made of time so i'm ok with my picking hand dominant. Van Halen is maybe the only string player that i've seen keep time with his fretting hand.

 

[wompwomp]

Sorry, no. The corticospinal tract, which controls skeletal muscles of the body, crosses on the way out of the brain, so the left motor cortex runs the right side muscles. This has been know for many decades and is definitely not pop psychology.

for certain types of epilepsy the standard of care is a hemispherectomy, afaik it's curative. they remove either the right or left half of the brain.

the patient typically recover completely. it's called neuroplasticity!

 

[Gino t]

i tried to play guitar upside down (i'm righty), pretty tricky. Bass wasn't that bad

the piano world has decided that lefties have a huge advantage, and left handed composers too (i was born disadvantaged) see link below

For many pianists, being left-handed is just right