Left-Handed Keyboard Players

[Dr 5ives]

Being a lefty on the keyboards has always been an advantage to me.

Playing chords or bass lines, improvising Bach style counterpoints, (memorizing Bach however, not too good) or just a steady single note bass line like "abacab" "turn it on again" etc.

Plus, a lot of the controls are on the left side.

Just my two cents worth

 

D

[keyman27]

I'm a lefty, but play violin right-handed (like most leftys do). You'd think it would give me an advantage -- the fingering is with my dominant hand. But it turns out that bowing is more important. Or at least for me, my bowing has always been poor. Just for laughs, I've bowed my violin left-handed and it immediately feels better. I wonder how long it would take to re-learn an instrument the other way around?

 

Was Jimmy Smith left-handed? Didn't he play some leads with his left hand (mostly on ballads while kicking bass)?

[xKnuckles]

I am also a lefty. A pretty extreme one too - I cannot use scissors or a knife or much else right handed. Indeed there are many objects in this world which seem carefully designed to make my life uncomfortable ... I remember once being handed my tea in a restaurant in a mug with a solid handle, which was shaped for the right hand to curl around. It was impossible to hold in a left hand (the cup would have needed to be upside down....) The cup was too hot to hold without the handle....(who designs this stuff?? ) :idk It always mystifies me that nobody ever complain about all the "leftism" in this world...

 

As far as playing the piano, being a lefty is fine. And I LOVE the way the controls are on the left in most keyboards! Like keyman 27 above, I also play the violin right handed, and it was a huge handicap for me too. The bowing was always a big problem. I would have got on much better with a left handed one.

 

BTW: Who remembers these ridiculous school desks? - they never even considered making left handed versions, so I was always twisted in knots and facing backwards when I needed to write... (And I write upside down so always smudge everything I write....thank goodness for computers! )

 

 

http://i21.geccdn.net/site/images/n-picgroup/30439837.jpg

[zephonic]

Wow, old thread, missed it first time around.

 

I'm also a lefty. I don't feel like it is an advantage with left-hand parts on the piano.

 

[dougb415]

I'm a lefty, but you wouldn't know it by watching me play, either keyboards or guitar. Neither an impediment nor a secret weapon.

[Al Quinn]

I'm a lefty. I suspect it's help playing keyboards. I'm comfortable playing left hand bass and do pretty well with classical. Still, I play much better with my right hand. I play guitar right handed because that's how I originally learned. It would be interesting to try left handed guitar to see how it feels but it never occurred to me to try. Perhaps I'll try soon. I feel handicapped playing right handed drum sets but I don't play drums well enough for it to matter much.

 

I agree with comments about it being a righty world. It's something that doesn't really get discussed. But right handed designs are all around us and can be uncomfortable for a lefty.

[zaphod betamax]

Yes, lefties do not care about time and space!lol!

Also, on synths, the controllers are ON THE WRONG SIDE!

The pitch and mod wheel should be on the right hand of the synth.

5 years old thread about left handed keyboard players appears out of no where.

[Dave Bryce]

I have a right hand preference, but am decidedly left footed and left eye dominant.

 

I can catch, throw and write with either hand. I play disc golf most days of the week and can throw a disc farther with my left, but (for the most part) more accurately with my right.

 

I'm really bad at identifying left and right when being given direction. If you tell me turn right, I have to think about it for a second - much better to point and say "Turn that way".

 

dB

[Baldwin Funster]

I am right handed. I play guitar in standard way so my weaker left hand does all the hardest work like string bending and hitting notes on the string cleanly with thr required precision. I play keys the standard way too. So its my right hand that somewhat mimics what my guitar left is doing as far as fast lead licks and chords are concerned while me LH is doing more bass stuff. Youd think my left hand would be more co ordinated because ive played guitar more than twice as long as keys. Not so. On keys my righty can do the blazing fast licks that my lefty stumbles on. Probably the same with many other players. I dont think which hand you write your name with or use to hold a steakknife matters when playing an instrument. Its all practice.

[JCRoswell]

I used to think lefties had an advantage over righties on piano (I'm one of the latter). Typically the right hand has the melody and therefore the busier part so you're right hand is going to get a workout so lefties are going to get more ambidextrous, but we righties would just continue to have a minimally useful left hand. Seems logical to me.

 

But one day years ago (back when I still had enough hair to blow dry) I tried switching hands with the hair dryer and the brush. My right hand with a brush was useless. I was brushing my ear and forehead and that's my supposed dominant hand! Shouldn't it be able to do something my left can do so easily? That's when I realized that while one hand may be dominant each skill is learned separately.

 

Crap, I guess that means my right hand isn't better due to nature, but because I've been lazy on working out my left hand. Sigh. Where's that Bach book...?

[Rusty Mike]

Another southpaw here. On keyboard, my right hand is significantly stronger and more nimble than my left. I attributed it to my training and Elton John more than anything. LOL

 

My first instrument was actually accordion, which I played for about four years. I jumped to piano, but stayed with my same teacher, who was an old school club date guy. Early on, he taught me out of fake books, and we focused on learning chords and blues scales. At the same time, Elton John was a big pop influence for me, and he plays mostly power octaves with his left hand. I also never had a classical music lesson in my life. As a result, my left hand was way behind in dexterity, and remained so through the early 90's when I stopped playing for nearly 20 years.

 

When I came back to playing, I've made an effort to develop my left hand playing more. Going back to lessons has been great, and my teacher has added some classical rep to my workload. Maybe I'll have some decent independence and dexterity in a year or two.

 

The only other thing I can do with my right hand is bowl, and I bowl about once every ten years. I can use right handed scissors, so I have that going for me.

 

Golf was the most frustrating thing for me. Finding decent clubs and gloves was always a hassle - clubs were often special order only. Many courses are designed for right handed players (many doglegs are to the right), so, along with my horrible playing, I spent a lot of time in the woods. I am right eye dominant, though, and putt with a short putter using a straight right arm, so that worked out well. I stopped playing a few years ago, partially due to the frustration of being a lefty in a right hand dominated game.

 

 

[mynameisdanno]

Leon Russell was a lefty, I believe.

[Donsta]

I consider myself to be ambidextrous. I think it's partially the result of my 1st grade teaching forcing me to write right handed when I wanted to write left handed. My handwriting is atrocious.

I've tried writing left handed as an adult but that is even worse.

 

The good news is that I can use a tools with either hand and that marks things a little easier.

 

As for playing keyboard, I don't see how anybody could learn how to push bass without being somewhat ambidextrous.