Anyone ever switched from playing right-handed to left-handed guitar ?

chilipeppermaniac said:
I have tried to practice making chord shapes with my right hand when I flipped my buddy's Epiphone Dot ( ES 335 copy) upside down after I reattached the head stock he broke off it.

Now for some mind warpage.
I am sure that there have been more than 1 guitar player like Albert King. He played lefty but strung righty so that his low E string was down to the floor.
This brings me to 2 bass players I know who do the same thing. The one plays in a band that my high school buddy is the drummer in. The 2nd is the guy who sold me my Epiphone Korina Bass that was signed by Michael Schenker and his band mates and REV, Herrmann the German Rarebill etc.
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I've been trying it, but in my humble opinion it comes down to a brain (neural network) issue more than a mechanical (finger/hand) issue that makes it so difficult to switch over.

:unsure:
 
PLX said:
I've been trying it, but in my humble opinion it comes down to a brain (neural network) issue more than a mechanical (finger/hand) issue that makes it so difficult to switch over.

:unsure:
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That can be partially true, PLX.

One thing I do sometimes to flip people out is to write with both hands at the same time.
The fun part comes when I write different words simultaneously.

Also, if I remember right, my mom used to be able to write with both hands at the same time. Her trick came when she would write the words like a mirror.
In other words, she would write frontwards with her strong right hand, like her name J>e>a>n>n>e>t>t>e>>, but with her left hand it would start with the e but go like this

<<J<e < a < n < n<e<t< t< e<
 
I know a guy that's left handed, but he plays right handed guitars flipped over. Yes he plays upside down with the high E up top, low E at the bottom. He even had a custom guitar built for him that is a lefty, but the strings are upside down like a righty flipped over. That's just how he learned to play.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
That can be partially true, PLX.

One thing I do sometimes to flip people out is to write with both hands at the same time.
The fun part comes when I write different words simultaneously.

Also, if I remember right, my mom used to be able to write with both hands at the same time. Her trick came when she would write the words like a mirror.
In other words, she would write frontwards with her strong right hand, like her name J>e>a>n>n>e>t>t>e>>, but with her left hand it would start with the e but go like this

<<J<e < a < n < n<e<t< t< e<
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One of the things said about this is the only thing you carry over with you is your fretboard knowledge, however it's all got to be "mirrored" in your brain in real time in order to apply it.

I find that this is not the problem they make it out to be because I watch lessons on YouTube all the time, and you're always watching a right-handed player and mirroring what you're seeing in real time to play it yourself.
 
PLX said:
One of the things said about this is the only thing you carry over with you is your fretboard knowledge, however it's all got to be "mirrored" in your brain in real time in order to apply it.

I find that this is not the problem they make it out to be because I watch lessons on YouTube all the time, and you're always watching a right-handed player and mirroring what you're seeing in real time to play it yourself.
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This brings me to a similar experience I had when I was seeing a woman maybe 15 years ago. She could crochet all manner of outfits, blankets etc and whip them out so fast practically without looking. She had a girlfriend who wanted to learn how to crotchet too. When Jenny first tried to teach her, they were both righty. I crochet lefty, so Jenny told me to teach her friend, because it was like looking in a mirror directly at me teaching, instead of trying to look at a righty and then reverse it in the brain and follow along.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
This brings me to a similar experience I had when I was seeing a woman maybe 15 years ago. She could crochet all manner of outfits, blankets etc and whip them out so fast practically without looking. She had a girlfriend who wanted to learn how to crotchet too. When Jenny first tried to teach her, they were both righty. I crochet lefty, so Jenny told me to teach her friend, because it was like looking in a mirror directly at me teaching, instead of trying to look at a righty and then reverse it in the brain and follow along.
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After messing around with this for a couple days, the thing I find is that all the "feel" of how I approach playing the guitar is gone playing left-handed.

Not diggin it - at all.

:(
 
DirtySteve said:
I know a guy that's left handed, but he plays right handed guitars flipped over. Yes he plays upside down with the high E up top, low E at the bottom. He even had a custom guitar built for him that is a lefty, but the strings are upside down like a righty flipped over. That's just how he learned to play.
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This is what I figure must have happened to Albert King and my bass playing friends.

I think when I tried to make chords with my right hand, part of my ability struggled because nerve damage from a puncture wound that got infected, caused loss of range of motion and strength/ flexibility in spreading my index finger away from my middle finger. I suspect if I worked at playing lefty, I could learn.
 
PLX said:
After messing around with this for a couple days, the thing I find is that all the "feel" of how I approach playing the guitar is gone playing left-handed.

Not diggin it - at all.

:(
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This I totally understand.

Here is another thing I do when playing my drum kit. I play regular grooves right handed/ footed then I switch my brain to left foot kick and still maintain the groove. Since I have a double bass pedal on a single kick or when I set up a double bass with 2 pedals, I can do this. I suspect that if I ever tried to set my kit up lefty, I could also switch around and play the snare, hi hat etc with my left hand on hats, right and leading on the snare beats as well.

Limb independence is a definite sign of ambidextrous brains which is vital to all good drummers.
 
PLX said:
After messing around with this for a couple days, the thing I find is that all the "feel" of how I approach playing the guitar is gone playing left-handed.

Not diggin it - at all.

:(
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Here's one that I struggled with most of my music life. Reading the bass clef notes on Piano or Trumpet. Once I got below the A, B below Middle C, I'd get lost when the note stems turned upside down. My left hand/ right brain parts never kept up with my left brained right hand sheet music reading. Now, at 61, I always revert back to Piano and Trumpet while figuring our songs on Guitar/ Bass I kinda suck at Guitar Tab. but I work at it too. Drumming Tab, I picked up right away. Something simple, logical and innate about where the kick, snare, hats, crash, ride cymbals go on the Tab.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
Here's one that I struggled with most of my music life. Reading the bass clef notes on Piano or Trumpet. Once I got below the A, B below Middle C, I'd get lost when the note stems turned upside down. My left hand/ right brain parts never kept up with my left brained right hand sheet music reading. Now, at 61, I always revert back to Piano and Trumpet while figuring our songs on Guitar/ Bass I kinda suck at Guitar Tab. but I work at it too. Drumming Tab, I picked up right away. Something simple, logical and innate about where the kick, snare, hats, crash, ride cymbals go on the Tab.
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Never learned to read musical notation.

Came up in the age of tablature - for better or worse..
 
PLX said:
Never learned to read musical notation.

Came up in the age of tablature - for better or worse..
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Sheet Music is easy especially when you learn at 8-10 years old playing Piano and Trumpet.

I'm watching a Zeppelin documentary and when JPJones talks about his formative years, he said he learned organ and played the hymns in a church @ 14. Then his dad listened to him on Bass and said for him to watch his left hand on piano. JPJ learned bass grooves that way.
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
TRY a V, dummy.
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I was using my Dean ML, but it's just a brain twister no matter what.

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chilipeppermaniac said:
Here's one that I struggled with most of my music life. Reading the bass clef notes on Piano or Trumpet. Once I got below the A, B below Middle C, I'd get lost when the note stems turned upside down. My left hand/ right brain parts never kept up with my left brained right hand sheet music reading. Now, at 61, I always revert back to Piano and Trumpet while figuring our songs on Guitar/ Bass I kinda suck at Guitar Tab. but I work at it too. Drumming Tab, I picked up right away. Something simple, logical and innate about where the kick, snare, hats, crash, ride cymbals go on the Tab.
Click to expand...
I have the same issue in reverse. Played trombone in band. Bass clef. I start getting lost when I move up hill past middle C.
 
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