Comments on: Lefty Bass Player … Sort of.

By: ronin

ronin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:52:15 +0000

Played bass lefty for years when I was younger. Recently got back into it after a LONG layoff and figured righty was the way to go since lefty basses are much more rare and much more expensive. After about two months I’ve just flipped the bass and am playing it left handed strung righty. MUCH easier for me than making the transition to righty! MUCH!!! As for impressive feats, hows this… I recently saw a bassist doing the upsidedown thing in a music shop. No big deal except that he was playing Marcus Miller SLAP lines. Still have no idea how he managed to do that. When I asked him, his response was “I don’t know. I never really thought about it, I just do it.”

By: ronin

ronin — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:50:59 +0000

Played bass lefty for years when I was younger. Recently got back into it after a LONG layoff and figured righty was the way to go since lefty basses are much more rare and much more expensive. After about two months I’ve just flipped the bass and am playing it left handed strung righty. MUCH easier for me than making the transition to rughty! MUCH!!! as for impressive feats, hows this… I recently saw a bassist doing the upsidedown thing in a music shop. No big deal except that he was playing Marcus Miller SLAP lines. Still have no idea how he managed to do that. When I asked him, his response was’ I don’t know. I never really thought about it, I just do IT.”

By: Pat Dennis

Pat Dennis — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:55:56 +0000

There was a traditional Southern blues/folk singer, Libba Cotton, who played guitar the same way. It seems she was self-taught, and no one was around to tell her she was doing it wrong!

By: Robbie K.

Robbie K. — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:33:45 +0000

Hey Jimbo,

Even though I am a drummer (which I play lefty ala Phil Collins), I play a righty guitar as well as bass strung righty and just played upside down and backwards. When I play, the low E string is at the bottom and to get that regular full chord strum I have to make an upstroke.
It is even funnier when people watch when i play riffs like U2′s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” on guitar. People just shake their head ask how the “F” do ya do it?
I don’t know any other way to play.

By: Erica

Erica — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 03:53:42 +0000

Uh, Hairboy? How ’bout dem NEW YORK Giants?

By: wRitErsbLock

wRitErsbLock — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:59:05 +0000

cool though

By: aithne

aithne — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 01:10:24 +0000

I it interesting that you had to point out the bassist to anyone at all, meaning that they don’t know the difference between a guitarist and bassist and what the instruments look like.

Then again I dated a guy who was in many bands and my own twins are respectively, a guitarist and a bassist.

I have never, ever seen a bassist do it that way!

I am very impressed by your powers of observation!

How ’bout them Giants?

By: Journey

Journey — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:28:39 +0000

you have the patience of a saint. I would have said, “Listen doofus, they’re facing us, their left faces your right”. but then again you’re also a nice person!

By: Erica

Erica — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:21:33 +0000

Rest assured, gentle Hairboy, that even as a quasi-ambidextrous, green-eyed, Sagittarius lefty from Brooklyn, who enjoys a splash of Crème de Menthe in her black Russians, had it been me you ponied up to at the bar instead of those two other peeps, that lonesome disconnect you experienced probably would not have happened. It would really behoove so many of our educational institutions would just incorporate a “Relating to Others 101” course into their core curriculums.

By: Teresa

Teresa — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 16:42:08 +0000

Y’know that’s like being able to write you name backward and upside down without thinking about it… Very cool.