LeftyBassist.com

Hi there,
Long-time reader but first-time poster and I'd like to keep this thread for buying/selling instruments. So if you can point me elsewhere I'll post there. Here goes.
I'm a Lefty but play guitar RH. Have done since my primary school teacher insisted that I don't play the 'wrong way round'.
So, I recently started playing bass LH because...
1) My left wrist is starting to ache after a long gigs playing RH guitar.
2) Whilst playing a Chapman stick I found RH fingering relatively easy and on piano, my RH is much slicker than my LH
3) My wife, a psychology lecturer told me about mirroring - the fact that when teaching, your pupils respond better if they copy as if from a mirror. i.e. I started to teach my beginner RH students with me playing (rudimentary) LH.
4) I AM LEFT HANDED!

However - The question has come up a few times wether it's worth the hassle for my students to start playing LH. The fact that quality LH instruments are so rare that we foam up like piranhas every time something suitable appears on Ebay suggests that the market is dry, but manufacturers don't seem to see it that way. I went to the bass fair in Olympia 2010 and there were hundreds of RH basses and about a dozen Leftys.
Also there's the question of jamming. If you're a lefty then you're always obliged to bring your own instrument to jams. Also you'll be ostracised when the RH guitar is passed around at the beach/party.
Why shouldn't we just suck it up and play RH. It's what all orchestral players do?

Thoughts please.

Also.

I'm desperate for a good LH headless bass. Or something less than Long Scale. As a guitar player basses seem HUGE! Is there any real issue with short/medium scale basses. I know Macca played a medium scale, and he did ok...

Thanks for your reading and I would love to hear any comments.

Fifty years ago, black people were required to ride on the back of the bus, drink from segregated water fountains, and sit in "colored" sections of restaurants (if they even served 'negros').

Women were expected to not work, and if they did, to earn less then men. A woman in a position of authority, such as a judge or a member of Congress was considered a ludicrous idea.

Why did these things change?

The people in these groups were considered minorities and discriminated against. It had always been this way, and many people saw no reason to upset the applecart. That's "just how it is". However, some people did make waves, began to complain, and refused to settle for the status quo. Today we live in a completely different world. Not to say that the old demons are completely gone, but many of the ugly ways of life that were considered unchangeable have now been consigned to history. And all of us are better off for it.

You, sir, are a member of another minority that is regularly discriminated against, because "that's just how it is". You can bend over and take it, or you can complain. Many of the people on this forum have no problem being critical of guitar stores or guitar manufacturers for their lack of attention to left-handers. Otherwise, what's their incentive to offer LH instruments? It's a cyclical problem - Manufacturer makes one LH bass, which sits in a guitar store for months (or more) because it's a boring (probably) black model. Store tells manufacturer that the LH bass won't sell, so they don't make any others.

So if you settle for the status quo and don't make your voice heard, why do you expect anything to change? Who have you written to and complained? More and more companies are offering wider options for us. There's even a company in Australia (Gaskell Guitars) that only make left-handed instruments. Buy one and show your support.

Also, the idea that we should just "suck it up" is offensive. Many left-handers have a wide degree of ability in playing righty. Some are literally ambidextrous, many can play a little bit of RH guitar upside down (because of years of having to do so - much to the amazement of rightys who rarely get the chance in reverse), and others cannot play at all right-handed. Just because the majority of the world is right-handed does not make it "correct".

BTW, when I played in the college orchestra, I restrung one of their uprights left-handed. The only reason orchestras refuse LH players is for visual symmetry, which is to say, no reason at all. I see more and more LH orchestral string instruments being available, so eventually this absurd scenario will also crumble, once the teachers allow the students to be who they are.

You have a moral responsibility to tell your left-handed students that they should never change who they are to 'conform' to the majority. That would be equivalent to telling homosexuals to stay in the closet; atheists to go to church; blacks to stay in the back of the bus, or women to stay home and have babies. If you think that the best solution is to give up and learn to play righty, then you should not be teaching students. The more left-handers who stand up and demand the system change, the better chance we have of making that change.

Oh, boy, can of worms here, and an often discussed topic. All I can say is that being left handed is a natural thing and one should not go against it because of trivial obstacles such as lack of instrument choices and or the inability to play an RH instrument at a party. . . There were two RH guitars in my house growing up, and since the first day I grabbed one at age 10 I naturally flipped it - I just couldn't imagine playing it RH. So I learned to play on a RH guitar left handed until I got my own guitar and flipped the strings.

It's been a pain but fun being left handed and trying to find the right instrument, and nowadays when you can find a LH Fender pretty much anywhere in the world, I don't see what the problem is. I know it gets hairy with orchestral instruments and what not, but making a LH kid play RH without even trying to find a LH first, it's a disservice to the kid. I know that most schools have a poor budget for instruments and getting a specific instrument LH could be impossible. In that case, I think it would be okay for the kid to just start playing RH, but if you suspect that the kid has a lot of talent and is being held back by the RH instrument, or if the kid shows a real interest and talent in music as time goes on, I would try to find a LH instrument. There are some amazing LH people who play RH, so it's definitely doable, but who knows how would they play would they have played LH. . .

There's still so much misconceptions about hand orientation. Funny story, my Mom tells me that when I was a toddler learning to grab a spoon, since day one I naturally used my left hand, and an old aunt (and old fashioned) who babysat me used to make me grab the spoon with my right hand and I would throw it and start crying and simply refused to use my right hand. . . apparently my aunt thought that using the left hand was wrong and could lead to problems. . . that was over 40 years ago, but I'm afraid there still is a lot of people in the world who think that being left handed is wrong. (Not related, but I do think that driving on the left side of the road like in the U.K. is wrong! )

In sum, don't fight it. A person's natural hand orientation should be respected and encouraged.

I'd say if you already play righty, stick to it. Here are a few advantages to be a lefty bass player:

- No one ever asks to borrow your bass
- It looks cool on stage with a right handed guitar and a lefty bass - a la Beatles
- You can sing using one microphone without slamming your neck into the other singer's face - a la Beatles too
- It makes the search for instruments incredibly "interesting" (that's the word)
- You get to hang out on the best site ever with a limited, yet knowledgeable and respectful amount of members (a sort of private club where you would drink Scotch at night but without the hostesses)
- Site on which you get to poke fun at member Amimbari for his taste for cheap-pointy-headed-1980's instruments he is the only one in the world to collect.

Good luck!

You forgot: GAS control!

It's like having a limiter on your gas pedal.

andymunro73 -- I appreciate your post and pragmatic thought process behind your question, not to mention your willingness and courage to present a question that challenges the very foundation of this community's identity.

No doubt, you can force left-handed people to play bass right-handed, and yes, they will be able to play. But you can't rewire their brains to intuit and process right-handed playing anywhere near the same level of adeptness and natural instinct. I recall as a kid playing baseball that for lefty-throwing fielders, there were hardly any options for baseball gloves. Yet, I didn't see a single parent or coach force their kid to start throwing right-handed.

We're not some sort of gimmick, novelty or group of rebels. This wasn't decided arbitrarily. We're a special breed and with that, comes distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Surely, one of the disadvantages is the dearth of quality left-handed basses. But even that's changed a bit over the decades. There are some manufacturers that recognize and truly cater to the left-handed market. Besides, there's always that proverbial thrill of the hunt.

IMHO, I think the quantity and quality of lefty basses - and other lefty instruments - has never been better. sure, the market is skewed toward lefty guitarists, but you can find lefty basses of just about any variety (with some notaeable exceptions of course) out there much much easier than you could even 5 years ago.

I'm not going to get into a debate over this... but i have to tell you that the comparison between lefties not having many basses to choose from and the oppression that women and people of color have suffered through the last... I dunno... THOUSANDS of years... is completely fucking absurd.

I'm just as pissed as the next guy about our lack of choices... but it's a bass... it's a luxury I get to enjoy because I can afford it and I have the time. It's not my human rights. People aren't hanging me from trees, dousing me in acid, stoning me to death or burning me alive.

The fact that I can't just run out and buy something because I am part of a population that is less than 1% of the buying market has NOTHING to do with the level of discrimination that you mentioned in your post. The thought is utterly ridiculous.

Anyway... carry on.

^^^THAT^^^

I concur

It's not my fault if you guys don't give a shit. Oppression and discrimination is what it is. If you're happy letting Fender and Gibson ignore you, flip over any bass you want, but don't whine if you can't get it left-handed. Certainly buying a guitar is not on the same scale as what other minorities have had to endure over history, but that doesn't mean that we should simply shrug our shoulders and let kids have to be forced to use the 'wrong' hand simply to fit in.

It's discrimination, and it's wrong. End of story. Ignoring it is what's fucking absurd.

"Not giving a shit" and comparing the availability of left handed instruments to racial and gender bigotry are in completely different universes. Someone who has experienced the brunt of racism or gender discrimination would laugh in your face about getting so worked up over what, in the end, is an economic/marketing decision by an instrument manufacturer.
I wish there were more choices, but I have a bad ass arsenal of basses. So yeah, I'm not gonna get all militant because Gibson won't make me a lefty Ripper. Fuck them.

What Matt said. I've got plenty of nice basses, fuck'em.

Let's stop and take a step back here. Certainly the discriminations against race and gender are of a different level than the discrimination guitar manufacturers practice. Can anyone please show me where I said otherwise?

However, the fact that they are different levels does not mean that there is no discrimination against being left-handed. Most of us are too young to remember a time when parents and teachers would actively force children to use the right hand. The original poster wanted advice on teaching his students RH instead of LH. I feel that it is wrong. Is there going to be disagreement with that?

I'm perfectly justified to compare discrimination against us with discrimination involving race and gender. And I'm the first to admit that there is a huge difference. But that does not mean that our discrimination does not exist, or is not important in its own right.

Addison: I'm sorry you misunderstood or misread my original comments. But I don't feel that blasting me was an appropriate response. Maybe next time if you're confused about something, ask for clarification. A lot of this nonsense could have been avoided.

I think there are many nice left handed basses available now, many more than years ago. It's true you can't go into a local store and snag one of the rack, but then they invented the internet! If you know what to look for there's lots of good stuff out there, plus it's more interesting to find cool lefty basses. I did feel when I first started playing in the 70s that is was very difficult to find anything lefty, but now it's not an issue. I have to say I really don't get the idea that you should play righty because you have more choices. I think lefties have plenty of choices, at least enough for my needs. Plus it just looks cooler to have a lefty player on stage.

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