Question?

[Backi]

Hi, I'm Backi, i'm new to this board been playin bass for 10 years or so, play a warwick streamer lx 5. anyway here's something that's on my mind:
if u could go back in time to when u first picked up a bass or a guitar, would you learn left handed or try to learn right handed?

[fivebass52]

When I decided to play bass, I went to San Francisco to the biggest music store I knew of, and bought a 1974 Fender Sunburst P Bass. There was never a moment of hesitation for me. I've been raised to be a left hander.

[amimbari]

LEFTY from the beginning but when I started playing lefty basses were so expensive, I went the Jim Haslip/Jeff Schmidt route and played inverted and still have a huge collection of rightys which I play all the time.

It also hindered me in many ways forcing me to learn on my own ( another bad mistake for newbies with no teachers or tabs to help )

but now a days, I can play anything, but I always say start out "correctly" and you'll end up much better off.

p.s. any lefty I buy gets the nut and strings changed, which "could" be another pain in the ass and money out of pocket to have someone do that if you can't do it yourself.


whats my bottom line?
start out lefty if it feels normal, and enjoy years and years of jamming

[andrew]

It definitely felt more natural to me to play lefty when starting, but if I had the choice again I'd learn right handed, simply for practical access to different brands of basses and the freedom to sit in with people more spontaneously.

[Addison]

It definitely felt more natural to me to play lefty when starting, but if I had the choice again I'd learn right handed, simply for practical access to different brands of basses and the freedom to sit in with people more spontaneously.

+1...

I think there's a certain sense of pride and/or victim mentality that comes along with being a lefty has made me not admit this as easily as I would have several years ago, but yeah...

If I could go back in time and switch, I would in a second.

And, although it might have been a little harder to at first, there's absolutely nothing that can convince me that I would be any less of a player than I am today... ESPECIALLY with all the work I've put into being the absolute best I can be.

[Matt R.]

Glad I play naturally.

[amimbari]

I think Andrew said it all. playing righty gives you 1000 production units to choose from..lefty is 50
and no I'm not hyping up the inverted thing, but sit in and use someone elses righty basses?..lol I do that all the time

[andrew]

This question comes up from time to time and without fail every time I read/ponder this it immediately bring the Gibson Thunderbird to mind. I hate flipping non-symmetrical righty basses, and LOVE the Gibson Thunderbird, so that bass seems to be the particular thorn my brain associates with this question.

[amimbari]

ya it does look stupid, but gets the job done...and Tbirds? never had a Gibson but.......
I still got this one and used it for almost 8 years before I found out they made less than 50 of them. Now it just sits in the case, and gets pulled out for "jamtime" ..no more gigs

[Moses]

I can't regret that because I DID try. And I failed.

P.S. Thunderbirds look WAY cooler when they are NOT reversed.

[AzWhoFan]

What I like about flipping T-birds is that there is no real "correct" orientation for the body or headstock. Heck, IIRC gibson built all the possible combinations.
So, flipping over righty's gives you lots of possibilities.

[amimbari]

I never found a black Tokai TB-Lefty yet for the right price but when I do, I'll buy one I used a Dillion DFBB in black but since it had the gibsonhead it looked more normal, just like "the low end" did on theirs:

.