John Watt
Member
Oh! I would have thought this is a thread topic I should have started right away.
That's how I play, basically, with a right-handed neck on a left-handed body.
When I was a teenager, I was playing my brothers' acoustic guitar,
my neighbours' acoustic guitar, my other neighbours' electric guitar,
my high school friends acoustic guitar, who let me change the strings to be left-handed.
That meant I had to buy a new set of strings for him after I gave it back.
I was playing right-handed, left-handed and left-handed upside down.
That was easy, because I wasn't playing barre chords.
I had a violin and a trumpet, what I really wanted to play, even if I was a slacker,
just getting into it whenever I felt like it.
It was hard to find the same note twice on the violin. and the trumpet gave me a headache.
When I saw Jimi Hendrix and dropped out of high school for a steel factory job, in 1970,
I bought a '64 Stratocaster and a Marshall amp with effects, now hot to play electric lead guitar.
That was five months before Jimi Hendrix passed away. And yes, it was a right-hander.
I got semi-agonista every day about how to play, right-handed or lefty like Jimi,
when I thought having the bass strings on the bottom with highs on top was easier.
And when I say easier, that's just how it felt on my fingers, softer, and the bends.
I was pulling the high strings down, getting bends I thought Jimi used a tremolo arm for.
I knew his albums were heavily dubbed together, doing any and everything they could,
and the riffs I was catching with his albums, some recorded and played backwards,
showed me you had to play some of them with the bass on the bottom.
You can't let the G, B and E strings ring open, feeding back with effects,
and play the E, A and D without having the highs on top.
I'll save my story about Mr. George Benson taking me backstage to help me decide, in 1970,
for later, if anyone is interested.
What got me going today is seeing this photo for this YouTube video of Jimi playing bass.
I've been looking at everything Jimi ever since I saw him at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto,
and this is the first photo of him playing a bass left-handed.
I've seen a video of him playing an S.G. left-handed, so I should look for that,
if anyone is interested.
I can also get into seeing Jimi in Toronto, the real Jimi, and his "axis of sound",
more about the very original and one-of-a-kind P.A. he had set up.
After I upload this video, I'm going to look for an Eric Gale video,
so you can see how he plays upside-down.
I actually believe he's not as much of a lead guitarist as myself,
but then, if anyone is interested, or challenges me, and I always want to be called out,
I'd be willing to make a video of myself playing in ways he doesn't.
You can also blame some of my attitude on Mr. George Benson.
He was laughing at me, what I could do that he couldn't,
and it was a very good laughter we both shared. He made learning amazing.
Even if this is pre-1970, you can see how much bass you can play, as you play lefty all the way.
That's how I play, basically, with a right-handed neck on a left-handed body.
When I was a teenager, I was playing my brothers' acoustic guitar,
my neighbours' acoustic guitar, my other neighbours' electric guitar,
my high school friends acoustic guitar, who let me change the strings to be left-handed.
That meant I had to buy a new set of strings for him after I gave it back.
I was playing right-handed, left-handed and left-handed upside down.
That was easy, because I wasn't playing barre chords.
I had a violin and a trumpet, what I really wanted to play, even if I was a slacker,
just getting into it whenever I felt like it.
It was hard to find the same note twice on the violin. and the trumpet gave me a headache.
When I saw Jimi Hendrix and dropped out of high school for a steel factory job, in 1970,
I bought a '64 Stratocaster and a Marshall amp with effects, now hot to play electric lead guitar.
That was five months before Jimi Hendrix passed away. And yes, it was a right-hander.
I got semi-agonista every day about how to play, right-handed or lefty like Jimi,
when I thought having the bass strings on the bottom with highs on top was easier.
And when I say easier, that's just how it felt on my fingers, softer, and the bends.
I was pulling the high strings down, getting bends I thought Jimi used a tremolo arm for.
I knew his albums were heavily dubbed together, doing any and everything they could,
and the riffs I was catching with his albums, some recorded and played backwards,
showed me you had to play some of them with the bass on the bottom.
You can't let the G, B and E strings ring open, feeding back with effects,
and play the E, A and D without having the highs on top.
I'll save my story about Mr. George Benson taking me backstage to help me decide, in 1970,
for later, if anyone is interested.
What got me going today is seeing this photo for this YouTube video of Jimi playing bass.
I've been looking at everything Jimi ever since I saw him at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto,
and this is the first photo of him playing a bass left-handed.
I've seen a video of him playing an S.G. left-handed, so I should look for that,
if anyone is interested.
I can also get into seeing Jimi in Toronto, the real Jimi, and his "axis of sound",
more about the very original and one-of-a-kind P.A. he had set up.
After I upload this video, I'm going to look for an Eric Gale video,
so you can see how he plays upside-down.
I actually believe he's not as much of a lead guitarist as myself,
but then, if anyone is interested, or challenges me, and I always want to be called out,
I'd be willing to make a video of myself playing in ways he doesn't.
You can also blame some of my attitude on Mr. George Benson.
He was laughing at me, what I could do that he couldn't,
and it was a very good laughter we both shared. He made learning amazing.
Even if this is pre-1970, you can see how much bass you can play, as you play lefty all the way.