Left handers playing right

[Doddy]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='1305584' date='Jul 16 2011, 10:57 AM']I also set my drum kit up standard right handed but I don't play crossed like most drummers, it opens up the whole kit all the time and not just when I'm playing the ride cymbal.[/quote]

Billy Cobham/Simon Phillips style. I've always wondered why more left handed drummers don't do this.
It makes a lot of sense and makes things way easier if you are sharing gear.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1305620' date='Jul 16 2011, 11:33 AM']Still no evidence of an upside down right handed player then? There must be one out there surely.[/quote]

I tried out a left handed JD Supernatural yesterday. It took a minute to get my head around playing
upside down,but I don't think it would take long to get used to.

[hairyhaw]

Yup, another lefty playing right here. Actually surprises me how many of us there are.

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='1305434' date='Jul 16 2011, 05:07 AM']I'm one too. Only because I was taught this way. Mark King is as well, apparently.[/quote]
As is Dave Hill of Slade.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='hairyhaw' post='1305745' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:29 PM']Yup, another lefty playing right here. Actually surprises me how many of us there are.[/quote]
Why? Playing right handed is the most sensible way given the crap choice of instruments and inflated prices you'd have to put up with otherwise.

The only advantage I can think of is that it's easier if you you need to share a mic with a right-handed player.

[hairyhaw]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1305752' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:35 PM']Why? Playing right handed is the most sensible way given the crap choice of instruments and inflated prices you'd have to put up with otherwise.[/quote]

Why not? Till today I thought the only people that were leftys and played right were me and MK.

[bumnote]

Another one here, when I started left handed guitars and basses were very rare. My collection would be a whole lot thinner had I learned LH

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1305741' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:25 PM']Billy Cobham/Simon Phillips style. I've always wondered why more left handed drummers don't do this.
It makes a lot of sense and makes things way easier if you are sharing gear.

.........[/quote]

I think a lot of drum teachers used to force their students to play crossed (and traditional grip on the stick) because that's the way it's always been done, but they now seem to be becoming more open minded and more and more players play open (uncrossed).

Coming back to bass, I chose to play right handed because my left hand is stronger and more dexterous so I thought it made more sense to use that on the fingerboard instead of just holding a pick or walking with a couple of fingers.

I'd would say that all right handed people should play left handed guitars, except that then we wouldn't be able to get some models we want in right handed.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1305752' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:35 PM']The only advantage I can think of is that it's easier if you you need to share a mic with a right-handed player.[/quote]

Rubbish for doing the Quo thing though! Most the time I see a lefty in a band instead of taking advantage of that only advantage thing they always setup the wrong way round so they spend the whole night clashing headstocks. Maybe more to do with the stance maybe, does everyone stand with their leg beneath the neck slightly forward regardless of left or right neckedness? Im right handed and stand if anything left leg forward pointing the head towards the audience a bit and presume a true lefty does the reverse but what about the lefty righters? Im confusing myself now soon we will need diagrams

Edited July 16, 2011 by stingrayPete1977

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1305741' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:25 PM']I tried out a left handed JD Supernatural yesterday. It took a minute to get my head around playing
upside down,but I don't think it would take long to get used to.[/quote]
Maybe you could become the first then, It would be a talking point I guess although there must be one person in the world famous or not that is that way up?

[jezzaboy]

To throw a slight curve ball, Andy McCluskey of OMD plays a right handed bass but with the strings reversed from normal, E where the G is etc, as he is right handed but learned to play on a left handed bass which he turned to play right handed.

Confused?

Jez

[jampottt]

well, I'm a righty that plays left...

[hairyhaw]

[quote name='jezzaboy' post='1305777' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:58 PM']To throw a slight curve ball, Andy McCluskey of OMD plays a right handed bass but with the strings reversed from normal, E where the G is etc, as he is right handed but learned to play on a left handed bass which he turned to play right handed.

Confused?

Jez[/quote]

You didn't perchance read that in the Fender Bass Manual did you?

[lanark]

[quote name='dannybuoy' post='1305384' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:02 AM']I'm left handed in general but naturally play bass right handed. The way I see it, the fretting hand has to be the most precise so that should be my left! [b]But I'm semi-ambidextrous since I use my right hand for certain tasks and left for others.[/b][/quote]

I'd have thought that most of us left handers do. Otherwise you'd never be able to use a pair of scissors or a corkscrew. I can't imagine playing a guitar left-handed now, it would seem all wrong. Because both hands are doing something entirely new, whichever way round you start you're learning new skills - my (right-handed) brother had a 6-string guitar and I just started playing that so when I took up bass switching would have been unthinkable.

Had I been presented with both a lefty and a righty guitar on the first day I'd taken it up, who knows which I'd have chosen - maybe part of its' psychological and left-handed people assume that they won't be able to play anything but, so don't even think about picking up a right-handed instrument. Now, I can't even visualise how I'd play a left-handed guitar.

[Badass]

Guilty ! Lefty playing right here too.

[pantherairsoft]

Odd fact... Maybe relevant... Maybe not.

I understand that Jimmy Haslip is a lefty and plays a lefty 6 string bass, but has it strung as if he was a lefty playing a right handed bass (C highest, B lowest - basically in reverse) - Maybe due to leaning on a righty, then moving to a lefty but realising he prefered a righty...?

I'm not sure all the lefts and rights are in the correct place... I'm all confused.

[jezzaboy]

[quote name='hairyhaw' post='1305786' date='Jul 16 2011, 02:06 PM']You didn't perchance read that in the Fender Bass Manual did you?[/quote]


Nah, I think it was in an interview in either Bass guitar or Guitar and Bass.

Jez

[lanark]

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='1305617' date='Jul 16 2011, 11:32 AM']It's a shame so many left handed players play right handed due to lack of choice; if more left handed people played left then there might be more choice lol.[/quote]

It's not a shame at all. It would be a shame if they didn't play at all because of a lack of choice, but I'd say that a lefty who plays a right-handed instrument has probably made the wisest choice.

[lanark]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1305741' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:25 PM']Billy Cobham/Simon Phillips style. I've always wondered why more left handed drummers don't do this.
It makes a lot of sense and makes things way easier if you are sharing gear.[/quote]

Ringo Starr is a lefty drummer playing a right-handed setup drum kit, it's one reason why his playing style is so distinctive (and higly under-rated). Probably from all those days of sharing a bill in the late 50s early 60s.

[Ross]

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='1305763' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:44 PM']I think a lot of drum teachers used to force their students to play crossed (and traditional grip on the stick) because that's the way it's always been done, but they now seem to be becoming more open minded and more and more players play open (uncrossed).[/quote]
The best teachers will teach you crossed and open handed playing, as well as french, german, american and traditional. To see what you prefer.

I use a combination of german and traditional myself (probably because I learnt snare drum before I learnt drums). And play cross hand. But I can use the other grips and play open handed.
Never had a formal lesson for drums in my life, just a lot of careful practise with a metronome and reading.

Some people even play open handed but have the high hats on the right using a cable hi hat stand. Which I'm hoping to try one day, I reckon that'd be a nice setup.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Ross

[Graham56]

I'm a lefty and I play a lefty. When I tried to play righty it was really uncomfortable and gave me a headache.

I also have a cheapy righty strung upside down but the balance is all wrong and the neck-dive is ferocious.

One advantage is that I stand to the right of the drummer with the headstock aimed out to the side. This is a useful space-saver in some of the postcard-sized stages we play.

It would have been better if I had learned on a righty as I would have a full choice of instruments rather than the very limited selection there is now. Playing lefty also means I need to be completely self-sufficient and I always carry a back-up bass. It's highly unlikely I'd ever be able to borrow another player's bass in crisis.

Cheers

Graham

[Paultrader]

I'm a lefty playing right handed bass. To me it was always the natural thing to do.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='jezzaboy' post='1305777' date='Jul 16 2011, 01:58 PM']To throw a slight curve ball, Andy McCluskey of OMD plays a right handed bass but with the strings reversed from normal, E where the G is etc, as he is right handed but learned to play on a left handed bass which he turned to play right handed.

Confused?

Jez[/quote]
It has happened then I thought it must of! Just to be sure then he plays a left handed bass that could be given to a regular left hooker strung as normal but plays it as I would as a right hooker but the strings then become upside down? I bet he started on something symetrical like a kay SG or similar.

[TheGreek]

Two of my mates are left handed but play Golf right handed..does that count??

[risingson]

Wow, actually more people than I would have thought on here!

The drumming thing I struggle with, whenever I go to play our drummer's kit (a righty) I always feel like I'd want to reset his drums up for a left hand player... but he always insists if I learn then I should play open handed (like John Blackwell... incredible player [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcjbP_lUwdU)"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcjbP_lUwdU)[/url].

The Jimmy Haslip way confuses the hell out of me. One of the most competent bass players in the world right now though.

[Crimson Guitars]

I know he's a guitarist but we build Robert Fripps guitars (some of them) and he's a lefty playing righty and he's one of the all time greats! Some of the best ever players I've met have been leftys on 'the wrong' instrument.. it's the people who can swap around that blow me away.. at Crimson Guitars we don't charge any extra for left-handers.. maybe we should offer a discount!?