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Topic: Lefties that play right |
Nathan Burns
From:
Alberta, Canada
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Posted 30 Aug 2017 6:03 pm |
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Wow. Very interesting to see so many! Didn't know Lloyd and Curly were lefties, as well.
While given time I think you can workout whatever style or licks you like I can't help but think in an improve situation a lefty might favour certain types of licks to the strength in their bar hand over a righty. Cool stuff.
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Mullen G2 through Fender Steel King
Rayco 6 string curly maple reso
Petingill Southern Belle through Fender 68 Princeton Reverb reissue. |
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Rick Schmidt
From:
Prescott AZ, USA
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Posted 30 Aug 2017 7:37 pm
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I'm in my right mind too... er, I mean right brain  |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 30 Aug 2017 7:42 pm
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YEp, lefty playing righty, bass, guitar & steel. Do you know the only place where I believe it's crippling?
KEYBOARDS. I just CAN NOT doot. It does explain why Rubenstein, Rachmaninoff & Beethoven sucked so bad... and the problem with guitar sniveling - (Wah, I'll never pick good!) is, Steve Morse? Danny Gatton? Dang. Gatton also wins the Shortest Fingers Award, no wonder tha... oh dang. |
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Dale Rivard
From:
Ontario, Canada
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 8:08 am Left handed
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| Me too! |
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Tony Rankin
From:
Land O’ Lakes, FL
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 8:51 am
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Guilty!
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Tony Rankin |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 9:23 am
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I do everything left handed except for playing guitar. My first baseball glove at about age six was a Wilson first basemen's mitt. There is an inherent advantage to being a lefty at first base, so I guess my dad figured he would get me started early on at the position. And it indeed was the position I played most of the time for decades as both a baseball and softball player.
It's too long ago to remember - but when I started with lap steel lessons at age nine or ten back in the '60s, I wonder if I initially wanted to place it on my lap so that I would be plucking the strings with my left and barring with my right? And perhaps my teacher said, "no - it goes the other way" So when I took up standard guitar later I just continued as a "righty," even after watching Jimi Hendrix tearing it up as a lefty.
One apparently can get used to almost anything - think Django Reinhardt with the 3rd and 4th fingers on his fretting hand rendered useless from a fire related accident and still being one of the greatest guitarists in history - but were I to start over now, though plucking the strings on a steel guitar with my left or "coordinated" hand would probably come to me fairly quickly, I can't imagine controlling the bar with any competence while holding it in my right, or "uncoordinated" hand. Same goes for fretting a standard guitar with my right hand.
But this is exactly what the millions of naturally right handed guitar and steel players do every day - they either fret or bar with their "uncoordinated" left hand. How do you guys do that 
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Mark |
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Jeff Harbour
From:
Western Ohio, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 10:10 am
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| Mark Eaton wrote: |
...Django Reinhardt with the 3rd and 4th fingers on his fretting hand rendered useless.. |
This is a true statement for all practical purposes. But, I wanted to point out that I've also read that Django was actually able to employ the two crippled fingers to fret certain chords. That to me is one of the ultimate examples of "Adapting"!
The only thing I can think of that comes close to that is Def Leppard's Rick Allen re-learning to play drums with only one arm. |
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Mark Eaton
From:
Sonoma County in The Great State Of Northern California
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 10:32 am
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I have always figured there was a possibility of that being the case with Django - being able to occasionally use the crippled fingers for something while playing - but nevertheless there was a serious effort in "adaptation" in order to make it work.
And it goes hand in-hand (no pun intended) with my analogy of having to start over if a situation relating to health or injury forced me to bar or fret with my right hand rather than my left. I know it would be one long and winding road for me to develop those skills.
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Mark |
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Pat Heller
From:
Missouri, USA (deceased)
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 11:17 am
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| Lefty all the way. A hundred years ago I told the guy giving me my 1st lesson that I was left handed, he said not to worry about it, since I had never tried anything different. I don't play very well, but my tone stinks. P.H. |
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Hook Moore
From:
South Charleston,West Virginia
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David Martin
From:
Kingsport, TN 37660 USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 6:40 pm
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I am mostly left handed. I started playing guitar left handed with the guitar strung lefty. When I went to steel, I played right handed. For some reason it felt natural since the right hand grips you use on steel felt similar to the right hand forming chords when playing guitar left handed. I know, it's weird. I write lefty and eat lefty but I bat or throw a ball right handed. Whatever feels natural is the way to go. You can develop muscle memory with either hand if you work at it...just like players that switch from Day to Emmons or the other way around, can do it with a little work.
I recommend that any new steel player start right handed even if you're left handed.
If I had played Steel lefty, I would have missed out on the great times I have had over the years playing other guy's steels and trying out various brands.
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SHO-BUD SUPER PRO D10(8+10)
EMMONS LL-III D10(9+9)
Too many Amps |
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Rich Upright
From:
Florida, USA
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 6:45 pm
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Total lefty here. Started playing lefty; flipped my Fender Mustang & played it like that till my guitar teacher told me I'd never be any good if I didn't play the "right" way. Prolly be a better guitar player, but wouldn't be a steel or banjo player. I mean...where do you get a lefty steel or banjo?
FWIW Jimi Hendrix was right handed; just played lefty. How do I know? Saw a pic of him signing an autograph right-handed.
Ringo was also a lefty; just played a right handed kit but led with the left. Which is how e got his signature sound; One of the top sesssion drummers once said he can do any style in the studio asked for except Ringo. NOBODY can do Ringo.
Mistake in the "Rocky II" movie...he signs an autograph for the nurse righty, although he is supposed to be a southpaw.
The definition of the word "sinister" is left-handed; from the latin "Sinestre". Back in the day, it was thought lefties were in league with the devil, hence the term.
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A couple D-10s,some vintage guitars & amps, & lotsa junk in the gig bag. |
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Damien Odell
From:
Springwood, New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 31 Aug 2017 7:58 pm
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| Tomi Grasso from Sydney Australia is an exceptional player left-handed, funny thing is he can still mop the floor with most of us right handed too! Huge talent. |
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Ken Byng
From:
Southampton, England
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Posted 2 Sep 2017 9:30 am
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I think Buck Reid may be a lefty turned righty - but I may be wrong.
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Show Pro D10 - amber (8+6), MSA D10 Legend XL Signature - redburst (9+6), Sho-Bud Pro 111 Custom (8+6), Emmons black Push-Pull D10 (8+5), Zum D10 (8x8), Hudson pedal resonator. Telonics TCA-500, Webb 614-E, |
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Mickey Adams
From:
Bandera Texas
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Posted 2 Sep 2017 4:25 pm
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..lol..IM LEFT HANDED TOO..
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ARTIST RELATIONS: MSA GUITARS
2017 MSA LEGEND XL D10, S10, Studio Pro S12 EXE9
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Anderson, Buscarino, Fender, Roman Guitars, Sarno Octal, Revelation Preamps, BJS BARS, Lots of Blackface Fenders! |
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Alan Simon
From:
Tennessee, USA
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Posted 3 Sep 2017 8:16 am
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I'm left handed, as well. Been playing right handed guitars since the start.
When I was a young man, back in the day, I applied for a job at a factory that had a lot of openings. Everybody was getting jobs except me.
Why, you ask, because I was a lefty and everything was set up for right handed people. Left a bad taste in my mouth about being a lefty. I got over it. |
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Don Walworth
From:
Gilmer, Texas, USA
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Posted 4 Sep 2017 5:11 pm Lefty here, too
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I think all dental chairs are set up for Right handed dentists. Left handed students learn to adapt.
Don |
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