Plain silly statements by those who should know better.

[Count Bassy]

I know someone, a left handed jazzer, who plays guitar and bass:

Right way up right handed guitar, right way up left handed guitar, and upside down right handed.

As far as I know he does not play a lefthanded guitar upside down, but that would be just perverse.

 

[BassTractor]

I feel it's relaxing to realise that 50% of people are below average. It makes me expect less, and I get frustrated less.
Yes, people in a role with some authority maybe should know better, but they don't.

Only real example off the top of my head was Krzysztof Penderecki telling me over a cup of coffee: "I am more musical than you are".
He really should've known better. 😐

🤣
 

[uk_lefty]

11 hours ago, EssentialTension said:

My great-niece wanted to learn guitar. She's left-handed and left-footed at everything. I told my niece to get her a lefty guitar.

Left-handed guitar arrives. Great-niece insists on playing it right-handed. 😞

Us lefties (I don't mean politically) are an odd bunch. I am only left handed for writing and playing guitar. All sports are strictly right handed/ footed but I have a slight bit more left side coordination thsn most right handers/ footers in sports. I could have a go at playing bass right handed, in fact I used to in my youth sling my bass round behind my back and play a few bars right handed reaching behind myself, nothing complicated though. 

[uk_lefty]

And back to the op... What an idiotic statement for number 1!!! Nowt wrong with epiphone, some prefer them to the Gibsons. I was expecting him to say he'd need more lessons and theory lessons but buying new gear? Not right. And number 2? Someone doesn't get out much. I'm starting to use a pick more and more these days 21 years in. In my early learning days I found finger style easier to control string vibrations and having a budget bass I got a more pleasing tone by finger than pick but I'm starting to really try to expand my horizons with the pick now, definitely some real skill involved. 

I guess being a guitar teacher is like a lot of trades. You have a guitar and need money so you call yourself a teacher. Like in my area most tree surgeons and gardeners are just guys with a white van and some tools, no farking clue what they're doing (one guy patronisingly told my wife "no dear, that's definitely a blue bell" when talking about the forget me nots springing up all over our garden) 

[mikel]

12 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Um, try applying the same logic to playing right-handed then. Your right hand is the stronger hand, isn't it? So it should be on the fretboard, shouldn't it? So most guitar or bass players should play what we call left-handed instruments, shouldn't they?

I wasn't taking a pop, no need to be defensive, it was a genuine belief. When I started playing It would have made more sense to me to do the difficult stuff with my stronger right hand. Does that not make some sense?

[Twigman]

13 hours ago, 4000 said:

. The prolapsed discs in my neck affect the nerves in my arm and make a lot of fingerstyle things that I used to be able to play very difficult, if not impossible, for me. If I’d only played fingerstyle, I’d now be incapable of playing many of the bass lines I’ve written over the years. I remember when I was starting, a more experienced mainly- fingerstyle player told me to stick with my plectrum playing as it could become my “thing”. He’ll never know how prophetic that was!

 

The disc problem in my neck has caused nerve damage in my arms and fingers which means I no longer have the grip strength to hold a plectrum. If I start using one I tend to drop it mid song. The 3rd and 4th fingers on my right hand are also permanently numb, luckily the main plucking fingers work OK.

recently problems have developed in my left arm which is making fretting difficult.

i suspect my bass playing days are numbered.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Twigman

[DoubleOhStephan]

15 minutes ago, mikel said:

I wasn't taking a pop, no need to be defensive, it was a genuine belief. When I started playing It would have made more sense to me to do the difficult stuff with my stronger right hand. Does that not make some sense?

Pretty good (albeit unscientific) article on the subject here

They've given the list of tasks performed by each hand and believe the dominant hand has more complex tasks to do - 

Edited November 26, 2019 by DoubleOhStephan

[mikel]

39 minutes ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

Pretty good (albeit unscientific) article on the subject here

They've given the list of tasks performed by each hand and believe the dominant hand has more complex tasks to do - 

All true, but I love the way they reduce the very complex and strength demanding task, more so when you first start, of playing chords as "Fret chords" Ha, If only it were that simple. Also, when you first start you have to look at both hand to be sure of what you are doing so "Playing blind" is a bit of a gloss over. You could argue the picking hand remains pretty much in the same place whereas the fretting hand is all over the neck, and making constant adjustments not only for chord shapes but also for the different fret spacing as you go up or down the neck. Just a thought.

[Bassfinger]

See, I'm in a strange nether world.

I've pretty much no feeling in my right thumb and 3rd and 4th fingers due to injury.  Add to that limited strength in my elbow and shoulder.

The big rub there is I'm right handed.  Over time I've subconsciously adapted, and if a door needs opening or a suitcase carrying my left hand automatically does it.  As a result I've become e left hand dominant, although I am still right handed.  I still write (bit jot much) with my right hand, and play bass right handed, but anything requiring heft goes to the left.

[DoubleOhStephan]

2 minutes ago, mikel said:

All true, but I love the way they reduce the very complex and strength demanding task, more so when you first start, of playing chords as "Fret chords" Ha, If only it were that simple. Also, when you first start you have to look at both hand to be sure of what you are doing so "Playing blind" is a bit of a gloss over. You could argue the picking hand remains pretty much in the same place whereas the fretting hand is all over the neck, and making constant adjustments not only for chord shapes but also for the different fret spacing as you go up or down the neck. Just a thought.

Yeah, I don't disagree, it's something I've often wondered about myself.

[Silvia Bluejay]

2 hours ago, mikel said:

I wasn't taking a pop, no need to be defensive, it was a genuine belief. When I started playing It would have made more sense to me to do the difficult stuff with my stronger right hand. Does that not make some sense?

No defensiveness there, just stating the fact. That sort of nonsense gets spouted far too often at left-handed players without taking into account that it could equally be applied the other way round.

[Twigman]

2 hours ago, Twigman said:

The disc problem in my neck has caused nerve damage in my arms and fingers which means I no longer have the grip strength to hold a plectrum. If I start using one I tend to drop it mid song. The 3rd and 4th fingers on my right hand are also permanently numb, luckily the main plucking fingers work OK.

recently problems have developed in my left arm which is making fretting difficult.

i suspect my bass playing days are numbered.

To add: I was offered an operation years ago to release the pressure on the nerves in my neck. I was warned there was a 'not insignificant risk of quadriplegia as the surgeon would be working very very close to the spinal column' -  I decided trying to live with patchy numbness, occasional muscle spasms (which last days), numb fingers and reduced strength in my hands was the better option. That was a few years ago - a friend, who is currently undergoing similar treatment tells me techniques have improved somewhat but i'm reluctant to risk it.

[scalpy]

As a left handed music teacher who plays right handed, I'm going to butt out of this one...

[EliasMooseblaster]

2 hours ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

Pretty good (albeit unscientific) article on the subject here

They've given the list of tasks performed by each hand and believe the dominant hand has more complex tasks to do - 

 

The biggest thing that jumped out for me there was "Keep the time accurate." Has anyone else ever worked with a drummer who played open-handed hi-hat?

The first time I encountered it was the drummer in my old blues trio - and when I asked him about it, it made perfect sense. He was left-handed, but played the kit with a typical, i.e., "right-handed" setup. His dominant hand was therefore the one tapping the hats.

Years later, another drummer switched to doing it one day. Previously he'd played them the conventional, or "closed-handed" way, and been pretty solid. Again, we asked: he'd been talking to some drummers, including a lot of teachers, and they seemed to think a shift towards open-handed playing was going to be the Next Big Thing in modern drumming.

Trouble was, this guy was right-handed. He went from being solid and reliable to being - frankly - a bit shaky, overnight. Not that I wanted to stop him from developing his own playing and technique, of course - I was happy for him to play this way in rehearsals...but did he have to start doing it at gigs as well? There were a few nights when I was almost counting down the bars until he moved onto the ride cymbals, so I wouldn't have to keep reining the tempo back in.

[leftybassman392]

10 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

No defensiveness there, just stating the fact.

Indeed so. I didn't take what you said as aggresive at all. It's exactly what I would have said if you hadn't. A simple statement of fact, and something that just needs thinking through a bit is all.

The other important point that I like to make at about this juncture is that handedness isn't an either/or (as several examples above illustrate). Almost nobody is either lefthanded or righthanded. It's a continuum. Think of it as a horizontal line. Few if any are at either end; most are somewhere vaguely either side of the mid-point. What it means in practice is that most people can do many things with either hand at need but have a preference one way or the other for any given activity. The more you prefer to do things in a lefthanded way (especially things that demand very fine control such as writing or drawing), the more lefthanded you are (and vice versa).

If anybody is interested, this article covers the topic pretty well.

 

[Muzz]

16 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Add to that the dreaded

3/ Oh you are left-handed? Nah, just learn right-handed, it's always difficult at the start anyway, and there are more right-handed models available on the market.

[More or less the equivalent of: 'Oh, you are gay? Nah, only sleep with the opposite sex from now on, it'll make your life easier']

I'm right handed and left footed...who am I supposed to be sleeping with again? 😕😁

[Cato]

17 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Add to that the dreaded

3/ Oh you are left-handed? Nah, just learn right-handed, it's always difficult at the start anyway, and there are more right-handed models available on the market.

[More or less the equivalent of: 'Oh, you are gay? Nah, only sleep with the opposite sex from now on, it'll make your life easier']

Guilty.

(The suggesting that left handers learn to play right handed bit, not the encouraging gay conversation therapy part).

I promise I won't do it again.

 

[thodrik]

I am left handed and play right handed. However not all left handers are alike. Some people are very left-handed to the point that doing anything 'the right handed way' feels like an unpleasant and alien experience, some are ambidextrous to the point that they are essentially right handed but choose to write with their left handed. In terms of the sliding scale, I am definitely towards the latter. 

I think that the 'left handers should play right handed' view (or stigma) comes from bowed string players or musicians who have grown up in an environment amongst bowed string players in symphony orchestra seating arrangements. Most orchestral violin/cello/viola players play right handed even if they are naturally left handed. Playing left handed results in the bow going in the different direction to right handed players and leads to potential awkwardness with regards to bowing space, which can be an issue with a crowded orchestra on a small strange. I was poked in the eye by a leftie bow on a few occasions growing up... 

Left handed musicians should be able to play in orchestras and some do, but it is a small minority compared to the amount of people playing in orchestras who are naturally left handed. 

Taking an  'you are left handed so must automatically play left handed' approach from the start is not something I would necessarily endorse. Personally, I  think that it is worth starting out getting left handed people to play right handed in the first instance. If the player thinks 'this is all wrong and I hate it' then this becomes apparent pretty quickly (usually within a few moments of picking up the instrument). The fault is then on the teacher not noticing that the player is not enjoying the experience and would be far better suited to playing left handed. This really shouldn't be an issue on bass guitar though, given it isn't an instrument that is going to be used in an orchestra in large numbers anyway. 

[Rich]

Pick snobbery gets right on my toot.

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Rich

[dmccombe7]

13 hours ago, pete.young said:

Katriona Gilmore plays violin right-handed and mandolin left-handed.

weirdo 

Yes i'm only joking with that comment. Please don't take it seriously in any way whatsoever as i do not wish to offend anyone.

That should keep me right with everyone 

Dave

[dmccombe7]

31 minutes ago, Muzz said:

I'm right handed and left footed...who am I supposed to be sleeping with again? 😕😁

Yourself.

[dmccombe7]

I started with a pick mainly because it came with my first bass out of our mail order catalogue and being a fan of Thin Lizzy and Kiss that's how they did it.. After a few yrs i changed to fingerstyle and then a few yrs later i occasionally used my index finger as a pick altho nowhere as proficiently as a genuine pick player. I tend to use it for certain songs or if my fingertips are getting a bit sore on longer gigs. 

With regards the Epi guitar i see no reason why it can't be gigged. Many people do use them same as Squier basses or guitars some of which are better than the originals.

Dave

[upside downer]

I'm a world of wrong according to some. Play the bass upside down and with a pick too. Done it for over 30 years and I've managed just fine. Different courses for different horses.

 

[dmccombe7]

58 minutes ago, scalpy said:

As a left handed music teacher who plays right handed, I'm going to butt out of this one...

Get in there with the big spoon and stir things a little bit. Its what we're all here for. 

On the other hand (excuse the pun) you'll be a prime target no matter what you say 

Dave

[leftybassman392]

42 minutes ago, thodrik said:

Personally, I  think that it is worth starting out getting left handed people to play right handed in the first instance.

With great respect I have to disagree with this sentiment. In an orchestral setting I can see how this would be the norm, but I still wouldn't endorse it as a general teaching principle. Lefthanded classical musicians who have flourished have done so in many cases in spite of the challenges they faced. As I said before, handedness is not an either/or phenomenon, but playing a musical instrument well requires a high degree of fine motor skill. As such, and where there is any doubt as to a student's handedness, I would always carry out a basic check right at the start. It's not that hard to do.

Edited November 26, 2019 by leftybassman392