Kickstarting a movement for the Left Handed Bass Player!
When I wrote Music Theory for the Bass Player I thought very hard about how to best present music theory concepts on the fretboard. I really wanted to work around having to be able to read notation. (Read here why I think learning theory first, then reading is the better way and other thoughts on the topic of reading and theory)
I observed in others and myself that a great way to approach the bass fretboard is to learn by shapes (visual learning) and feel (kinesthetic learning), so I decided to use fretboard diagrams to teach music theory. It did occur to me however, that a book so heavy on diagrams would be hard on left handed players (I acknowledge that in the foreword, but that’s it). I get dizzy when I attempt to create a left handed view, so that’s how it must feel for left handed players to look at my right handed diagrams!! It’s like driving on the other side of the street!
I have been getting quite a few inquiries from left-handed players recently who are longing for fretboard diagrams to be reversed accordingly and language altered to fit their needs. I would love to be able to provide that! The cost to pull this off would comprise creation, setup and legal costs, managable, but a few thousand.
I cannot do this alone, so this is where you come in…
- Anyone good at Kickstarter campaigns or IndieGogo who would enjoy lending a hand setting this up and running it?
- A left handed bassist who would volunteer to adapt the language in the text?
- A left handed player who could turn the diagrams around. I get absolutely cross-eyed when I try to do that, though there may be a one-click operation to do that in InDesign once we figure out how to mirror the images.
I’d also like to interview a few left handed pro players and educators about specifics of the lefthanded life on bass, and add a chapter specifically for the left wing. So if you would like to participate in that or know someone, I’d love to talk to you!
I can’t do this alone, but with your help this could happen. You’d be part of the “Music Theory” street team (hey I just created that 🙂 ). Rewards will be early access to new books and products as well as free access to my upcoming 20-week course and other products.
Email me via my blog, if you are interested!
Cheers,
Ari
15 Replies to “Left-handed Players – I need your help!”
Have you contacted Arni at leftybass.com yet? A huge community of lefties from all over the world …
Wow, what a great resource! Thanks for that!!
I’m in.
That’s awesome, Gil 🙂 stay tuned
I just ordered your book yesterday, and as a lefty, I’m very happy to hear that you are thinking about creating a book specifically tailored to all of the lefties out there. I’d be happy to help where I can.
Fantastic, Zach. I am already talking to my designers about flipping the photos. Looking for someone who would volunteer going through the text adapting the lingo. Email me if you’d be interested/available.
I have just got a copy of the book and I love it such a great resource for learning
Thank you Andrew, great to hear from you!
Great idea, being a lefty can be a chore sometimes, I’ve had to resort to drawing my own diagrams in the past, however it gets easier over time to figure out, this is where tablature really helps. I don’t think the language being used is a big issue, I think mainly it’s just remembering to think of when a right hand is mentioned to think of it as left and vice versa. great book by the way.
Cheers Leo, great info for me, thank you. You read TAB like righties do, correct?
Oh just another thought, what about an ebook, (iBook via iTunes or a kindle version or even a PDF) may save on having to print a bunch out to begin with if you do go ahead with it.
I can help flipping the diagrams. I’m a printer and am quite proficient in Illustrator and InDesign, Plus, I’ve flipped diagrams many times for books and PDFs I’ve purchased.
Photos on the other hand, never need to be flipped. As a lefty, watching a righty play is just like looking in the mirror. It’s one of the advantages of being a lefty.
Bill, thank you for your comment and offer to help, I may indeed come back to that. And that is so interesting regarding not flipping the photos. Whenever my left handed student plays for me I get so turned around! I am guessing this is because you are used to it this way. Something to ponder! Thank you!!
I know this is irrelevant by now, but I’m a lefty and I think the best thing to do is to just get used to reading right-handed diagrams because that’s the way the vast majority of books and tabs and grids are. And like Bill said, with photos and videos, it’s just like looking in the mirror. With a little practice, it becomes second nature.
As a lefty who plays multiple instruments i can tell you it is best to just learn the same way as everyone else. When playing right handed we have better fret hand dexterity and strength so that part is easier for us anyway and plucking/picking is not hard to learn with a non-dominate hand…