Upside down bass stringing

[Black Coffee]

Am I missing something obvious here as to why anyone would do this ?

This was Midge Ure's bassist while playing Vienna at Ryder cup concert.

A lefty bass and player but strung the wrong way round....

[Telebass]

Probably learnt to play by flipping a righty bass!

[kodiakblair]

I've seen it a few times Bassman but thought the same as Telebass so never bothered to ask.

[stingrayPete1977]

There are more of them than you think, the bloke from The Doves does it I'm fairly certain as does our local busker on a 12 string acoustic, I presume they are self taught on an instrument left lying around especially a symmetrical acoustic.

[stingrayPete1977]

PS I've been looking for the reverse but never found one, a right hander playing a normal strung lefty?

[wateroftyne]

Lee Pomeroy does too, for the same reasons..,

[Happy Jack]

I've started looking out for the "other" definition of upside down, where you put the bridge on the headstock and the tuners by the control knobs ...

[martin8708]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1411977490' post='2564390']
I've started looking out for the "other" definition of upside down, where you put the bridge on the headstock and the tuners by the control knobs ...
[/quote]

Steinberger bass ?

[JTUK]

Jimmy Haslip....

You wouldn't teach it, but these guys have a unique stylistic take on things
so don't go trying to nick their top licks...

[Conan]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1411980906' post='2564436']
Jimmy Haslip....

[/quote]

Indeed. And I've always wondered how the heck he manages to slap on an upside-down bass!!

[Doddy]

Jimmy Haslip is probably the highest profile player to play like that.
Keith Horne and Stan Sergeant play that way too.

[sblueplanet]

I play this way. Lefty instruments were scarce and I was happy enough playing on righty basses in the local guitar shops.
I kept to small-bodied symmetrical bodies to cut down the obvious problems, eg Hofner 500/1, Gibson EBO, Steinberger...

Now play proper lefties but still strung upside down of course.

[fender73]

Pretty sure Lee Pomeroy plays upside down too.

[blablas]

Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark plays right handed upside down! I always wondered why, it's not logical for a right handed player to do this.

Edited September 29, 2014 by blablas

[TolerancEJ]

Bass soloist, Jeff Schmidt is left-handed but plays on a right-handed bass with the highest string at the top. That technique has contributed to him developing a unique style difficult for others to duplicate in a standard stringing format.

There are many videos on YouTube of his work.

Edited September 29, 2014 by TolerancEJ

[EssentialTension]

[EssentialTension]

... that's Albert King ... Edited September 29, 2014 by EssentialTension

[EssentialTension]

... and Dick Dale

[Paul S]

I saw a guitarist recently playing like this - one of Limehouse Lizzy's pair was a leftie playing a right handed guitar flipped over. That kind of rock lead guitar playing looks really odd played upside down and it was difficult not to just sit and watch.

[upside downer]

I've always played a flipped righty. Began on bass 25 odd years ago by playing along to Sex Pistols, Ramones and other punk stuff so it was mainly root notes and I found it easier as it was all on the E and A strings. Played in bands on and off since early 90's. Moved on from the dum-dum-dum-dum days but self taught so my technique would have many of you wincing!

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1412008015' post='2564792']
Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark plays right handed upside down! I always wondered why, it's not logical for a right handed player to do this.

[/quote]
Ah you have solved my quest,I knew one must exist! Are there any more? I can only see that they must have picked up a lefty bass or guitar when starting.

[EssentialTension]

I read somewhere that Hendrix could play all four ways if needed ... righty, lefty, righty upside down, lefty upside down.

[EssentialTension]

[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=1][Quote] I was having a discussion today with someone in my studio about why I play bass with the strings upside down even though I am right handed. I told them that it was because my first bass was a left handed Wilson Rapier that I bought in a second hand shop in Birkenhead in 1975. It was the only one I could afford ( I was 16 at the time). It cost me £32. ... Andy McCluskey[/size][/font] ... [url="http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/mp3downloads.htm"]http://www.watkinsguitars.co.uk/mp3downloads.htm[/url][/quote]

[JTUK]

[quote name='blablas' timestamp='1412008015' post='2564792']
Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark plays right handed upside down! I always wondered why, it's not logical for a right handed player to do this.

[/quote]

so so weird...........

[geoffbyrne]

I used to play with a keys player who also played a bit of guitar & bass - he always played the flipped. He told me that it was because he was the only corrie-fister (left hander) in the family & he had 3 older brothers who played guitar/bass. He learned to play (& he wasn't bad, but a much better keys player) by picking up his brothers' instruments thus saving himself mucho dinero!

It might be interesting to find out if those mentioned above as playing flipped learned on their older brothers' instruments.

G.

Edited September 29, 2014 by geoffbyrne