Question for lefties....

[ead]

I have realised that the last two gigs I saw with left-handed bassists, both players had their instruments (left handed basses) strung with the E string nearest the floor, as if they had learned on a RH bass turned over. Clearly a sample of two is not significant, but is this more common than I might have imagined.

For the record one was Mr Pomeroy (Steve Hackett) and the other Gary Fletcher (The Blues Band).

[Grangur]

I saw something interesting the other day. The guy was saying that the original inventor of the guitar was, in fact, left handed. He invented the instrument to have the neck on the left of the player, so all the complicated fretting was done with his most dexterous hand - his left.

So all you right-handed players out there are actually playing LEFT handed. All those playing in the style recognised by most as "left-handed" are just poor confused souls and are playing right-handed.

[Silvia Bluejay]

Having a lefty bass strung the wrong way up is no more normal than having a righty strung the wrong way up. It's possibly slightly more common due to those poor souls who are left-handed but only have/had a righty bass turned upside down to learn on.
All the lefty guitar or bass players I know in person have the strings the right way up on their instruments.

Edited November 9, 2013 by bluejay

[EssentialTension]

The bloke out of Bay City Rollers.

The bloke out of Doves.

[risingson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfsH3MkRgE0

[kevin_lindsay]

Andy McCluskey from Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark also stribgs his bass "upside down".

I've got a guitarist / bassist friend of mine - Marcello Marinelli - who is a leftie. He learned to play using his older brother's right handed guitars - simply turned round to the left hand position, with the low E closest to the floor.

It was funny at the Wembley Guitar Show years ago when he asked to try out a Gibson Les Paul, and then flip it over to play . The rep said " wow, I've never seen that before".

Chello's older brother Rico was also there, and he lost his right hand aged 16 in a horrific accident. He too asked to try out a guitar. The rep said, "are you going to play this one upside down too"? The look on his face was even better this time around as Rico answered "no, I play right handed", then proceeded to take off his right hand and replace it with a new one specially made to hold a plectrum! The poor rep must have thought he was being filmed for a hidden camera tv show! Hahaha

[Grangur]

Jimi Hendrix can also be added to the list too.

Another lefty genius

[OldG]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1383982681' post='2271463']
Jimi Hendrix can also be added to the list too.

Another lefty genius
[/quote]


He usually played strung normally,didn't he?

[Grangur]

Turned upside down and bottom string at the top. My guess is leftie guitars were harder to find back then.

[joeystrange]

I thought Hendrix did both from time to time?

I could be wrong but I'm sure someone here once told of a friend (or possibly themselves) that played right-handed with the strings upside down due to learning on a friend's lefty bass.

I also have a lefty friend that strings normal for a lefty. He once broke his Thunderbird in half during the first song at a gig in London and, due to being from New York, didn't have a spare. A guy from the support band gave him a Thunderbird strung righty that he played for the rest of the set. He said by the end of the first song he'd got used to it and he could play fine.

Edited November 9, 2013 by joeystrange

[leftybassman392]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1383985432' post='2271480']
Turned upside down and bottom string at the top. [b]My guess is leftie guitars were harder to find back then[/b].
[/quote]

What, as compared to now you mean?

Edited November 9, 2013 by leftybassman392

[EssentialTension]

Hendrix, it is said, could play both ways up and when playing bass did commonly play upside down as that was what would be available.

[leftybassman392]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1383991253' post='2271552']
Hendrix, it is said, could play both ways up and when playing bass did commonly play upside down as that was what would be available.
[/quote]

Ironically, it's actually easier to get a decent Lefty bass these days than a decent Lefty guitar. Some major companies (PRS springs to mind) have actually stopped producing Lefties altogether (although I don't doubt you could still get one as a special order if you paid them enough...).

[Spike Vincent]

The few people I've spoken to who play L/H basses strung upside down said they did it because they learned to play on R/H basses flipped upside down, and had got used to playing that way. Ironically it meant they couldn't play my "proper" L/H basses.