Keanu Reeves is left-handed, but plays bass guitar with his right hand.

[Adee]

I AM LEFTY

I PLAY RIGHTY

[alexclaber]

I'm left eyed...

Alex

[Stingray5]

So what hand do you wipe your bass with?

Personally, I use a lint-free cloth!! (ok, it's an old joke... )

[bassmansky]

yep another lefty playing rightly.just happend to pick up the bass for first time right handed and never changed.dont change a drum kit around either but tbh i hardly play them now.

[Delberthot]

I'm left handed and owe playing right handed to Mike Reid.

Not him of 'Pat' fame but the other one that used to do Saturday Superstore.

I must've been about 10 or 11 and was doing the usual thing you'd do a that age of picking up a tennis or badminton racket and pretend you were playing the guitar. Being naturally left handed I thought nothing of playing it left handed.

That was until I saw him with a guitar and thought I'd been holding it the wrong way round so immediately switched to right handed air guitar.

Stuck with it ever since.

I write with my left hand, play pool left handed and play darts with both hands equally badly.

It does make you wonder if there would've been a lot more lefty guitars out there if players had gone with playing left handed as opposed to changing. It also makes me wonder if I'd have been better, worse or the same had I chose to play lefty.

The drummer in my band also teaches and he was saying that no one teaches drums left handed any more

Edited September 2, 2008 by Delberthot

[coasterbass]

I reckon i played lefty because i always played air guitar that way

[Jesus]

Im left handed and learning right... Worried that i still air guitar left handed tho!

[tauzero]

Gary Moore is a lefty playing righty (because no-one in the village he grew up in had ever heard of a left-handed guitar).

One guitarist I used to play with was a lefty who played righty but who decided that he really ought to play lefty, so he bought a left-handed guitar and learnt to play it that way round too.

Considering that it's the non-dominant hand that does most of the work with necked string instruments, it seems a bit odd that we play the way round we do. Maybe the dominant hand bullied the subordinate hand into doing all the work. Or maybe it's from bowed instruments, so avoiding having hundreds of skewered second violinists.

[KevB]

There was a poll a while back either here or the old site, over 30% of the contributers were left handed playing right handed instruments, including me. Makes perfect sense to me, playing basslines isn't like holding down chords for long periods, good dexterity in the fretting hand is probably more important than the plucking/strumming hand. It might put people at a disadvantage with more complex slapping techniques but for most general playing I'd want all the fretting done with my 'best' hand.

Edited September 3, 2008 by KevB

[MuseMatt]

I have to agree on that. I'm not really good at slapping, but my fretting hand pretty much gets everything done!

[16Again]

[quote name='Adee' post='275645' date='Sep 2 2008, 05:33 PM']I AM LEFTY

I PLAY RIGHTY[/quote]

I'm a lefty who plays righty as well.

[lineboss58]

Joe Perry of aerosmith is a lefty playing right handed, i have played in bands with drummers who are leftys buy play right handed kits. Also rightys playing left handed kits, its a funny old world and no mistake.

[Sharkfinger]

[quote name='From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia']Sinister is originally a Latin term for left or to the left (and by extension, left-handedness), and is used in heraldry to refer to the left of the bearer of the arms, and to the right by the viewer's eyes. It is often used to mean evil.[/quote]
[quote name='http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sinister']1. Suggesting or threatening evil: a sinister smile.
2. Presaging trouble; ominous: sinister storm clouds.
3. Attended by or causing disaster or inauspicious circumstances.
4. On the left side; left.
5. Heraldry Situated on or being the side of a shield on the wearer's left and the observer's right.[/quote]
Not that I'm attributing negative connutations to lefties, you understand...

[Kiwi]

I am too, I'm left sided for everything APART from bass. And thats only because I learned drums right handed before I took up bass.

How Mark King has managed to buildup that strength and control in his non dominant hand, I don't know.

f*** it, lets start a Talkbass style club!

[Delberthot]

i would like #1 in the lefty/righty club simply because I said so. Check my sig, it says so.









Lefty/righty Club Member #1

















okay I've been on talkbs maybe once too often

[Kiwi]

heheh beat u anywayzzz i gets first dibz innit

[Hamster]

I had to learn to shoot with my weak hand as good as I can with my strong hand. It was ok with the fine motor skills, but with the gross motor skills it was really hard work - especially in a really stress filled situation. I suppose the same applies to bass.

[Delberthot]

I still punch with my left hand

[noelk27]

I know a lefty who plays a right-handed guitar, but doesn't re-string it from righty to lefty. But he also plays bass, and uses a right-handed bass, but this time re-strung from righty to lefty. Which means he plays two stringed instruments, but with reverse fretboard layouts - top to bottom. Is it just me, or does he take the prize for being the weirdest guitarist on the planet?

Edited November 26, 2008 by noelk27

[cheddatom]

[quote name='noelk27' post='337345' date='Nov 26 2008, 03:10 PM']I know a lefty who plays a right-handed guitar, but doesn't re-string it from righty to lefty. But he also plays bass, and uses a right-handed bass, but this time re-strung from righty to lefty. Which means he plays two stringed instruments, but with reverse fretboard layouts - top to bottom. Is it just me, or does he take the prize for being the weirdest guitarist on the planet?[/quote]

Is his name Adam? I know a guy just like that.

[noelk27]

[quote name='cheddatom' post='337385' date='Nov 26 2008, 03:46 PM']Is his name Adam? I know a guy just like that.[/quote]

No, it isn't. But this one started as a guitarist before taking up bass. What about the one you know of?

[Biggsy]

I'd love to understand a bit more about this kind of thing..

I write with my left hand,
When I play football, I'm very right footed,
Golf I play right handed,
Cricket I bat righty and bowl lefty
In tennis I don't have a backhand ()
Snooker and pool I'm lefty, (but have taught myself to play adequately right handed to secretly amuse my team-mates,)

Musically I learnt to play the violin the proper way around, but always had problems with my bowing arm.
After binning that and taking up the guitar I found it much easier lefty. However, after years of picking up friends right handed guitars I can play them without any thought now, just left handed and 'upside down'.

Drums cause me problems; My left hand wants to play the hi-hat, and my right foot wants to control the kick. So I can either play a lefty kit and have really poor timing on the kick, or a righty kit and losing time on the hats. I could play a righty kit open handed, but it makes fills really hard as I naturally lead with my left. Good job I'm not a drummer!

Bass, I'm simply lefty.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Biggsy

[cheddatom]

[quote name='noelk27' post='337924' date='Nov 27 2008, 12:21 AM']No, it isn't. But this one started as a guitarist before taking up bass. What about the one you know of?[/quote]

He's left handed, plays the tuba and piano and all that, and took up guitar as a bit of a hobby and now plays bass in a band in london. I think he's actually taking the bass seriously now, i've not spoken to him in a while though.

[noelk27]

[quote name='Biggsy' post='338417' date='Nov 27 2008, 02:04 PM']I'd love to understand a bit more about this kind of thing..[/quote]

There's a little test you can do to see which leg is dominant ...

Stand against a wall, with your heels touching the wall. Try to relax, and let your mind clear. Then, take a step away from the wall.

The leg you use is your dominant leg. You might find that this is not the same side as your dominant arm. (I'm right/left - right arm/left leg.) Some things we learn by example, some things by mirroring, and others as a result of our dominant attributes. But, as to which has the biggest influence, I've no idea.

[Biggsy]

[quote name='noelk27' post='338440' date='Nov 27 2008, 02:22 PM']There's a little test you can do to see which leg is dominant ...

Stand against a wall, with your heels touching the wall. Try to relax, and let your mind clear. Then, take a step away from the wall.

The leg you use is your dominant leg. You might find that this is not the same side as your dominant arm. (I'm right/left - right arm/left leg.) Some things we learn by example, some things by mirroring, and others as a result of our dominant attributes. But, as to which has the biggest influence, I've no idea.[/quote]

Just a nature/nurture kind of thing? How disappointing. I thought it might be down to sides of the brain, and I was some kind of genius flitting between both abnormally. Clearly I was just grasping at straws!