Gear Page Poll

[oldleftybass]

Poll over on the Gear page about which way lefties play. Currently, out of 148 responses, 123 of them play right handed. Blows me away....

Lefty playing lefty here.

[KingOfAmps]

Just as astounded as you...but those numbers sound about right to me...based on what I notice in the real world...

I mean...

lots of people writing with the wrong hand too.

This is a right-hand world. PERIOD.

Imagine yourself going back in time first time playing bass. What are the odds you'd encounter a lefty at a dude's house?

At a store? You know the drill.... "Just learn righty dude" make your life easy! Teachers, tab(!), selection, etc., blah, blah...

Are there exceptions to the rule leftys who can set the world on fire playing righty? Yep. But are there tons more stifling, cramping there development? Uh huh.

[Basshappi]

How many are rightys playing lefty?

[jayceofbass]

I may have touched on this before but.....

I actually write with my right hand. NOT because someone made me. But, because when I picked up my first crayon, that's the way that felt right. To be fair, I can also write reasonably well with my left hand but I feel I have more control with my right. Does this make me an outsider on the lefty bass front? I've always wondered how many "lefty" bassists - like me - still use their right hands for other tasks. (Insert masturbation joke here.... )

For instance, and for the record, here's how awkwardly handed I am:

Guitar/Bass - Left
Writing - Right
Rifle/Archery - Left
Billiards - Left/Right equally
Hockey - mostly Right but can flip around to left easily
Baseball - throw Right, hit Left/Right equally
Bowling - Right (embarrassingly, I bowl ALOT....)
Darts, and pretty much any other throwing activity - Right

All this is to say... Does whether or not you identify as a left handed person make any difference in whether or not you just plain ol' can't play a guitar/bass right handed?

Yours truly,

Righty Plays Lefty

[Matt R.]

I'm similarly afflicted with right handed penmanship and other things.

[leftieray]

In my circle of musician friends I have five guitarist whom are lefties who play righty. My band had at one stage had four lefties one righty and I was the only who play lefthanded.

[DavidGentry]

I actually write with my right hand. NOT because someone made me. But, because when I picked up my first crayon, that's the way that felt right. To be fair, I can also write reasonably well with my left hand but I feel I have more control with my right. Does this make me an outsider on the lefty bass front? I've always wondered how many "lefty" bassists - like me - still use their right hands for other tasks. (Insert masturbation joke here.... )

For instance, and for the record, here's how awkwardly handed I am:

Guitar/Bass - Left
Writing - Right
Rifle/Archery - Left
Billiards - Left/Right equally
Hockey - mostly Right but can flip around to left easily
Baseball - throw Right, hit Left/Right equally
Bowling - Right (embarrassingly, I bowl ALOT....)
Darts, and pretty much any other throwing activity - Right

I write with my right hand but was forced to do so in school. Thankfully I am probably one of the last. For me it's....

Guitar/Bass -- Left
Writing -- Right
Rifle/Shotgun/Archery -- Left
Billiards -- Left
Baseball -- Throw Left (can't believe you throw right), hit either way well
Bowling -- Left
Frisbee -- Left
Golf -- Right

In terms of rifle, shotgun, etc it should be based on your dominant eye (left dominant eye = left handed). My brother is right-handed but shoots left-handed because of the dominant eye.

I have always wondered if the fretting hand is a more natural conversion to your writing hand. I could easily pluck with my right hand but fretting with my left hand is difficult.

[Addison]

I'm not surprised... people who start playing lefty and actually stick with it make up about 1% of the guitar/bass playing population, which is far less than the number of people who are left-handed in the rest of life.

I'm a bit of an odd-ball, myself... I think most left-handed people are.

I am left-eye dominant.

Write Draw - Lefty (although I can write very well backwards with my right hand)
Rifle/Pistol - Lefty
Billiards - Lefty
Throw Ball, darts - Lefty
Bowl - Lefty
Tennis - Lefty

Bow - Righty
Bat - Righty
Throw Frisbee - Righty
Hockey - Righty
Skateboard/Surf - Standard (not goofyfoot)

I can box equally well orthodox or southpaw.

Wacky stuff.

[Pete Gossett]

I tell people that I'm pathetically left-handed. I'm right-eye dominant, and I tend to favor miniature golf right-handed(though I've never played actual golf), but I'm completely incompetent at most sports other than billiards and racing/cycling.

[Sec-Def]

I don't have a dominant eye.
from my military experience I can testify to being able to shoot (ar-15's, and FN MAG 58) fairly well with both sides.
I even have an un-official record with the FN, shooting righty. . ( spot on from about 3 times the effective range in twilight)
left is my go to hand, but I can throw rocks and shit just as good with right.
as far as legs go, in soccer I'd do the fancy stuff left centered but any thing that needs power to it would be right centered.
in Maui-Thai there's just a huge advantage to being able to switch to (and fro) south paw so I trained specifically to be able to use both.

[Brock]

I am 1 of the lefties that play right handed. Though I've been considered ambidextrous,
like many above, I tend to specialize. Left for drawing / drafting & right hand for labor.

Actually, to me, what is considered a left or right handed instrument has always seemed
backward to me. My dominant hand wonders all up & down a 'right handed' fingerboard
with ease & precision while my right hand simply plucks................

[DavidGentry]

You probably have a dominant eye. My guess is that you close your dominant eye when using the non-dominant one. In my experience the good shooters keep both eyes open.

One the the greatest shooters in history (Ed McGivern) was able to shoot with both hands/eyes with great fluency but still had a dominant eye.

I don't have a dominant eye.
from my military experience I can testify to being able to shoot (ar-15's, and FN MAG 58) fairly well with both sides.
I even have an un-official record with the FN, shooting righty. . ( spot on from about 3 times the effective range in twilight)
left is my go to hand, but I can throw rocks and shit just as good with right.
as far as legs go, in soccer I'd do the fancy stuff left centered but any thing that needs power to it would be right centered.
in Maui-Thai there's just a huge advantage to being able to switch to (and fro) south paw so I trained specifically to be able to use both.

[screambasses]

I once had this conversation with T.M. Stevens. We decided that people tend to use their dominant hand to fret.
I'm right-handed at everything EXCEPT playing bass - T.M. is left-handed for everything except playing bass.

Interesting.

pete

[DavidGentry]

Agreed from my perspective. I am left-handed in most things except writing. I would consider my right-hand dominant at least for fine motor skills.

What about everyone else?

I once had this conversation with T.M. Stevens. We decided that people tend to use their dominant hand to fret.
I'm right-handed at everything EXCEPT playing bass - T.M. is left-handed for everything except playing bass.

Interesting.

pete

[Basshappi]

I am right handed in all things but bassplaying.

[rdavidson]

I am left handed in practically everything I do.

[offhand35]

I am left handed in almost everything. My left arm is strongest, but may be simply because I use it more. My right hand seems to have more dexterity for fretboard, threading on nuts & bolts, turning knobs.

guitar,bass, left (all strung right-handed though)

hand & power tools (hammer, saw, screwdriver, wrench, skilsaw, electric drill, scissors, shovel, garden tools) left

write, left

shooting handgun, left handed, but right-eyed (makes for a weird stance/hold)

shooting long gun, right hand, (again, right eyed)

throw, catch baseball, right handed. This might or might not be due to all baseball gloves available to me (borrowed) in the 60's were right handed though holding the glove on my left hand just felt correct. I remember trying to catch using a "right handed" glove, removing it to throw the ball , but somehow it seemed awkward and gave that up. Later I was not as good at catching with a left-handed glove on my right hand.

long swinging tool, baseball bat, golf club, axe, sledge hammer, splitting maul, right.

[AustinLeftyBass]

Everything else lefty but I bat righty 'cause that's how my dad taught me, but throw lefty. I always played First Base in Little League, Scout League, and Pony League.