Left handed basses: why?

[lanark]

Just a question from the curious. I'm left-handed, but I play bass right-handed and I've often wondered why the guitar appears to be the only instrument available commercially in substantial numbers in a left-handed version.

You don't get left-handed violins, or flutes or pianos or saxophones or accordians, so why are so many left-handed guitars available? After all, when you first take up the instrument, both hands are doing something entirely new so why use a left-handed version, instead of training your hands to play a right-handed instrument?

As I say, I'm left-handed, but I've often wondered if this is people genuinely being unable to play right-handed at all, or if it's people thinking "I'm left-handed, therefore I have to have a left-handed guitar".

[thepurpleblob]

[quote name='lanark' post='782405' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:07 AM']Just a question from the curious. I'm left-handed, but I play bass right-handed and I've often wondered why the guitar appears to be the only instrument available commercially in substantial numbers in a left-handed version.

You don't get left-handed violins, or flutes or pianos or saxophones or accordians, so why are so many left-handed guitars available? After all, when you first take up the instrument, both hands are doing something entirely new so why use a left-handed version, instead of training your hands to play a right-handed instrument?

As I say, I'm left-handed, but I've often wondered if this is people genuinely being unable to play right-handed at all, or if it's people thinking "I'm left-handed, therefore I have to have a left-handed guitar".[/quote]

I asked this question I while back. Apparently, if you analyse it, your plucking hand does a lot more work than your fretting hand and so you want that to be your stronger hand.

Edited March 22, 2010 by thepurpleblob

[Dom in Dorset]

I occasionally work in a shop and if anyone asks for a left handed guitar or bass we always ask if they have tried right handed first. many leftys assume that they just wont be able to play a standard bass. If you can play right handed you have a greater choice.
some left handed players can and some can't play right handed. I have a friend who is left handed , he plays classical guitar right handed , that's how he was taught at school. Later in life he took up bouzouki, he says that his left hand has a better sense of rythm and as he primarily strums the bouzouki he plays bouzouki with a pic left handed.
Left handedness isn't clear cut , one of my daughters writes left handed, my mother (also a lefty) bought her some left handed scissors and she couldn't use them!
It's just a matter of choice, I would always recommend trying a right hand bass first (our shop gives a good trade in if you don't get on with it). as I point out to new players , we have over 100 guitars and basses in stock , 10-15 are left handed ( and we stock more LH stuff than most and don't charge extra if possible.)

[rasher80]

i tried RH, but it just felt wrong!

The massive down-side is the availability of instruments LH.

[lanark]

But .... left handers learn to play the violin and the flute right-handed why can't left-handed guitarists just persevere?

I'm just playing devil's advocate here, by the way, I'm left-handed myself and I'm genuinely just interested in why this instrument in particular gets so many left-handed variations made (I know that if you DO play left-handed it feels like there's hardly any, but compared to every other instrument there's an enormous amount of choice).

[josh3184]

Oi! Don't start

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='lanark' post='782419' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:33 AM']But .... left handers learn to play the violin and the flute right-handed why can't left-handed guitarists just persevere?

I'm just playing devil's advocate here, by the way, I'm left-handed myself and I'm genuinely just interested in why this instrument in particular gets so many left-handed variations made (I know that if you DO play left-handed it feels like there's hardly any, but compared to every other instrument there's an enormous amount of choice).[/quote]

It is an interesting question. I suppose we might never know if there are musicians who play classical instruments out there who would have done so much better had they been able to pick up a left handed instrument (btw cellos and violins and such believe it or not are actually asymetrical if you didn't know) this person who was my friend in school is left handed but very good on both the piano and cello and didn't even think twice about getting a right handed guitar when he started playing. To be honest though he might be pretty ambidextrous anyway because when he broke his left arm he managed to pick up writing with his right hand in a matter of a couple of weeks. Now whether it's a matter of being able to play the instrument due to this natural ambidextrosity or the left hand strength being developed as a result of having played right handed instruments for nearly all of his life i suppose it's pretty difficult to say.

[lanark]

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='782442' date='Mar 22 2010, 11:19 AM'](btw cellos and violins and such believe it or not are actually asymetrical if you didn't know)[/quote]

True - although if you're playing in an orchestra and bowing with the "wrong" hand, you're going to cause an enormous pile-up unless you're always going to be sat on an aisle seat.

Edited March 22, 2010 by lanark

[Dom in Dorset]

At one time (C19 and earlier) most woodwind instruments were made right or left handed (most were still RH), todays mass production makes this commercially unviable.
I do know someone who made a left handed modern clarinet.
Also it's now acceptable to be left handed, at one time it just wasn't allowed.

[Golchen]

If I were left handed I'd have chosen to play RH instead, just because there are so many more instruments available to you. Plenty of people have done it so why not?

[Leftbass]

[quote name='josh3184' post='782432' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:55 AM']Oi! Don't start [/quote]
Careful now. We don't take kindly to traitors!! lol

[Leftbass]

And another thing. Have a look here and see how many we are. Its time we had more choice.
[url="http://www.leftybass.com/"]http://www.leftybass.com/[/url]

[LukeFRC]

I'm left handed. When I picked up guitar first (unsuccessfully) and then bass I found fretting hard. Strumming and the rhythm I found easier. It made sense to me to have my better hand doing the thing i found hardest so learned righthanded. This my be why my right hand technique is a wee bit unconventional with me walking my fingers into my thumb and moving the thumb to the string above (below musically), because it gives me greater control on a hand that could easily be flailing wildly.

[josh3184]

[quote name='Leftbass' post='782458' date='Mar 22 2010, 12:01 PM']Careful now. We don't take kindly to traitors!! lol [/quote]
Traitor?! How so, just trying to stop the lefty bashing in advance

When I first started bass, playing right handed felt wrong and left handed felt correct. Can't say why exactly, but then again I can't say why I feel my left hand is more dextrous than my right. I probably should have learnt right handed to gain access to a wider market, but then again I know for a fact that I've saved money because of the lower availability of left handed basses in the model I want.
Something that I've often thought though, is would I be the same player if I learnt right handed? I'm not sure that I'd be able to do what I can now were I forced to use my hands the 'wrong way round' even with practice.
Also, if we turned this around and the world was largely left handed and the market reflected that, would the right handers on this board have learned lefty? Would you have had the tenacity to keep playing in the early days if you had the added difficulty of everything you're playing feeling really strange to play?
I think that's one of the major reasons, people who take up bass without being 100% enamoured with it initially (as I know I was like) would be way more likely to just say 'stuff it I'm watching TV instead' if it felt unnatural as well as difficult to do.

[Eight]

Another lefty here, happily playing right handed. I played a little guitar as a kid (right handed) so years later when I picked up a bass, it didn't even occur to me to consider a left handed one.

[Leftbass]

[quote name='josh3184' post='782471' date='Mar 22 2010, 12:26 PM']Traitor?! How so, just trying to stop the lefty bashing in advance

When I first started bass, playing right handed felt wrong and left handed felt correct. Can't say why exactly, but then again I can't say why I feel my left hand is more dextrous than my right. I probably should have learnt right handed to gain access to a wider market, but then again I know for a fact that I've saved money because of the lower availability of left handed basses in the model I want.
Something that I've often thought though, is would I be the same player if I learnt right handed? I'm not sure that I'd be able to do what I can now were I forced to use my hands the 'wrong way round' even with practice.
Also, if we turned this around and the world was largely left handed and the market reflected that, would the right handers on this board have learned lefty? Would you have had the tenacity to keep playing in the early days if you had the added difficulty of everything you're playing feeling really strange to play?
I think that's one of the major reasons, people who take up bass without being 100% enamoured with it initially (as I know I was like) would be way more likely to just say 'stuff it I'm watching TV instead' if it felt unnatural as well as difficult to do.[/quote]

Not you Josh. That was meant to be an add on to your post

[johnnylager]

IIRC, one is born either right-handed or with the potential for right [b]or[/b] left-handedness. So bind your nippers left hand early on, force them to use the right and avoid having to pay over the odds for lefty basses.

Simples.

[BigRedX]

I do some things left-handed and some right-handed. I can remember the first time I picked up a guitar it was as if I was going to play left handed. However because of the way it was strung it was obvious that you were supposed to play it the other way round. It never occurred to me to change the strings to suit left handed playing.

I have a feeling that if I'd gone left-handed at the beginning I might have made initial progress quicker but in the long run it's made little difference to my playing and a massive difference to my choice of instruments.

[Ou7shined]

I like the symmetry you get on a stage with one right handed player and one left.

[bottlebassman]

Im left handed, but have always played bass right handed. To be honest this was more down to not being able to find / afford a left handed bass when i first started. Now I don't think I could play left handed (I have tried turning the bass around, just feels weird!), however I do think that if I had started left handed then my plucking may have been much faster/stronger, as they are my stronger fingers. Funnily enough I still play air guitar left handed!

[bigash]

[quote name='Golchen' post='782452' date='Mar 22 2010, 11:51 AM']If I were left handed I'd have chosen to play RH instead, just because there are so many more instruments available to you. Plenty of people have done it so why not?[/quote]


Unfortunately not as simple as that. First bass i had was right handed. and tried playing right handed for a couple of months was getting nowhere. Eventually flipped it round and hey presto progress. Played that bass for a couple of years with strings wrong way round untill i could afford my first left handed bass.

[whynot]

Here we go again!
It always amazes me that anyone who has the ability to play right handed guitar or bass just doesn't get it.
Just waiting for the usual anti lefties from previous threads to jump onboard now.

With regards to other instruments.....
The piano is not such an issue with the keys laid out in front of you.
There are a lot of true left handed players who never took up the violin in a true lefty fashion because the option was never there, so you rarely see them.
If I never had the option to play a left handed bass I probably would have bought a right hander a turned it upside down.
I am envious of those people that can play a right handed instrument in a right handed manner but my brain does not work that way.

[josh3184]

[quote name='Leftbass' post='782485' date='Mar 22 2010, 01:09 PM']Not you Josh. That was meant to be an add on to your post [/quote]
Ah I see! No worries then

[quote name='whynot' post='782822' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:05 PM']Here we go again!
It always amazes me that anyone who has the ability to play right handed guitar or bass just doesn't get it.
Just waiting for the usual anti lefties from previous threads to jump onboard now.

With regards to other instruments.....
The piano is not such an issue with the keys laid out in front of you.
There are a lot of true left handed players who never took up the violin in a true lefty fashion because the option was never there, so you rarely see them.
If I never had the option to play a left handed bass I probably would have bought a right hander a turned it upside down.
I am envious of those people that can play a right handed instrument in a right handed manner but my brain does not work that way.[/quote]

Well said! I always find it oddly insulting when someone says I should have learnt right-handed. Can't really explain why though

[budget bassist]

I never understood it either, if you've never played guitar before, then surely it shouldn't make a difference when you start out. I know a guy who's lefty but plays righty guitars (i've only just realised that in my head just now) and gets on fine

Edited March 23, 2010 by budget bassist

[Buzz]

I think it's a combination of factors outside of bass playing (or any instrument playing) which makes you lean either towards the right or the left.

I write left handed, and for all but tasks that require lots of fine control (ie, soldering, wiping my bum, jewellers screwdrivers etc) I'm capable with using the right and often use it in preference, examples are computer mice, joysticks, mobile phones, scissors (although, if I need really fine I'll go left), etc...

I can just about write right handed, although the quality looks to be on par with your average 8 year old and I have to think about how I'm going to draw the characters, but that would be improved with practice.

However, when picking up bass/guitar etc it feels natural for me to play right handed. I think that may be to do with playing the trumpet for a bit before hand, which is technically a right handed instrument, so I'd exercised my plucking hand alongside using my left for other tasks rather than it falling by the way side.

Edited March 23, 2010 by Buzz