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Stumbled on this thread. I was one left hander who could never make it work playing right handed so I switched to a left handed guitar after wasting about 5 years playing right handed. For me, I could never pick for shit right handed.
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03-20-2021 10:12 PM
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Well, at least guitar players have a choice, I've always wondered how left handed piano players may approach their instrument in a different way to right handers, does anyone know of which of the great pianists were lefties?
And another question while we're at it, has there ever been a left handed piano (where the notes go "backwards)??
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Originally Posted by princeplanet
Probably has been left handed piano made but never widely available.
Some of the finest pianists are/were left handed including classical. Joe Pass was left handed.
I have symphony orchestra player relations who tell me that once a left handed violinist played in the Birmingham uk S O. However extremely rare and only one!
I also know a self taught classical left hand guitarist who was denied the opportunity to study classical guitar because he was playing left handed. That was back in the dark ages and probably not an issue now.
To be honest I don’t think it’s a big deal which way you play because ultimately both hands have a very important role to play. When I was a youngster left hand guitars simply didn’t exist. You just played what was available in the way you were told to play as the correct technique without question. People and institutions were incredibly narrow minded.
Most instruments are made in one orientation for economic reasons. Because the guitar market is now so huge left hand instruments are serving a small but economic quantity of players. Left hand bassoon? I don’t think so.
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I just have a hard time wrapping my brain around doing anything complicated with the left hand.
The idea of playing a righty guitar upside down...or playing a lefty guitar and reading standard notation or...my gosh...tabs...makes me lightheaded.
My birthmother lost her right hand in an accident when she was thirty or so. She had to learn to write with her left hand--VERY distinctive handwriting because of it! She also was a master quilter, which was her passion until her death. I don't think I could quilt even with both hands.
Also getting a bit more off topic I knew a guy who played bluegrass and injured his fretting hand in an accident. He then switched to slide and became a killer dobro player.
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Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
So are you saying that with guitar played right hand by a right handed player the left hand has it easy? Surely not.
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Do pianists fret a lot over this?
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I remember a story someone told on a Originally Posted by md54
jimi doc i watched (clapton i think) when jimi offered
his left to shake and said
”shake my left hand man , it’s closer to
my heart”
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I think Zawinal used to program one of synths to ‘flip’ the keyboard layout.
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I am left-handed and play without a pick, too. If that was the magic formula, I'd be world famous. As it is, only my family tolerates my playing for any length of time.
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That was a traditional Boy Scout greeting a friend of mine (a scout leader) used many years ago. Originally Posted by pingu
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As a youngster I would naturally offer my left hand to shake. After many embarrassing and confused attempts I just learned not to do it. We live in a right handed world so we just get on with it. I’m surprised someone hasn’t started an ‘oppressed minority’ campaign. No doubt it’s going to happen!
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I wouldn't say that I am 100% ambidextrous by any means but I write right handed. I used to practice writing backwards left handed and could do a decent job by checking it in a mirror. I can throw and catch with both hands baseball wise. I can punt a football with either foot. I shoot pool left handed. A few other things either way. I pick with my thumb and index finger. Never got used to a pick really. I bet that if I would have picked up a guitar before the age of 5 or 6 I would have tried to play it left handed. When I was in college I also used to string a classical guitar left handed and practice. I sucked but I also got a lot better at playing right handed afterward.
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Originally Posted by lammie200
Interesting! I always imagined that being ambidextrous would be a great advantage. The only well known player who was ambi that I know of was Jimi Hendrix. Apparently he could play right handed but preferred left.
Personally I do certain things right handed because as a small child I was assumed right handed and taught that way. ie holding a golf club, guitar or cricket bat = right handed. Table tennis bat left handed.
Someone once gave me some left handed scissors and I absolutely couldn’t use them because I have always used right handed ones.
However I am very left handed and definitely do not consider myself ambidextrous.
Interestingly I am right eye dominant! Most people are dominant on the same side. It’s a good excuse for being rubbish at sports despite my best efforts.
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The more I think about it the more some left handed things seem more natural. Hook shot in basketball and batting left handed are a couple. Throwing darts in another. I wonder which eye is dominant when shooting pool. Both myself and my brother shoot left handed and we learned at about 6-7 years old. We also both write right handed. But he is a doctor. You can't read his writing fer shizzle. I am an architect. Penmanship was old school importantante.
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Have you heard Billy Bean? He certainly didn't play with all downstrokes, and he articulates very nicely. Personally I don't think my upstrokes sound much different than my downstrokes. I have practiced a LOT on both. Originally Posted by md54
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Coolvinny,
True, but I have studied with guys who play with Wynton Marsalis, Frank Vignola, and the like.
They have their alternate picking down to a science, but even they say that the downstroke is preferred--especially for slower passages. There's a fullness that you get with a downstroke that is a lot harder to achieve on the upstroke because it's easier to do a rest stroke and left gravity pull you to rest on the next string then to go the other way with an up stroke.
That said, always glad to see a mention of Bean. Have you heard "Making It Again"? Horrible fidelity, but the playing... I wish Billy Bean recorded more
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Wes Montgomery used his right hand to smoke, which suggests he was right-handed.
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I don't doubt that there is some difference, but I think the difference can be made so small that it's basically imperceptible. I wouldn't say I'm at that level, but (this all being relative as a non-pro of course) I don't think most listeners could tell the difference. Originally Posted by PickingMyEars
Coolvinny,
True, but I have studied with guys who play with Wynton Marsalis, Frank Vignola, and the like.
They have their alternate picking down to a science, but even they say that the downstroke is preferred--especially for slower passages. There's a fullness that you get with a downstroke that is a lot harder to achieve on the upstroke because it's easier to do a rest stroke and left gravity pull you to rest on the next string then to go the other way with an up stroke.
That said, always glad to see a mention of Bean. Have you heard "Making It Again"? Horrible fidelity, but the playing... I wish Billy Bean recorded more
I came back to this thread before seeing the reply but I wanted to mention one factor that may play a role - pick angle to string. Now I don't think there is a "technically correct" pick angle, but I understand most people play at something other than perpendicular. I'm weird in that I do use perpendicular. Some will say this gives a harsh tone and, to an extent, I think they're right...but it depends very much on the pick as well as technique. I can't use picks with pointy ends because with my technique (perpendicular) I get a harsh tone, but with rounded tip picks it's not an issue. I've used a Blue Chip KS60 unbeveled (I can't use the beveled!!) for like 7 years (if you can call my quantity of playing/practicing over the past 2 years "playing" haha!).
Maybe pick angle should be a new thread! Pretty off topic now from whether Wes was left handed.
The perpendicular approach may also hold me back a bit speed-wise, but in the grand scheme of jazz guitar I don't think technical ability to play fast is anywhere near the top of my list of problems...I'd rather be "mentally" better at fast playing, you know?
As for Bean's "Making it Again", oh believe me I have everything available with Billy Bean, including some dubious albums where he's only on there for a few cuts. If you're looking for more some of the more obscure but still well-recorded Billy, I suggest Herbie Mann's boss album "Brazil, Bossa Nova and More" as well as Bud Shank's "Slippery When Wet".
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As a left handers who started out playing right handed, in my experience, the picking hand is much more difficult to master. Originally Posted by md54
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They don't have much choice, but from what I've heard, some. Also, piano is a bit different in that the movement patterns are similar for both hands. As a left handers who plays a little piano, I sometimes solo with my left hand if I'm not comping. Originally Posted by rictroll
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