Since there really only seem to be two differences in the way left handed bass/guitar players relate to playing, vs. right handers, I thought I’d I’d start this and another thread (“Left handed bass instruments”) with the idea of highlighting some resources and encouraging others to add more.
- The first difference is obviously the instrument orientation, and is the topic of the other thread (posted in the Gear category*).
- The topic of this thread is the second difference: how the left handed player learns to play bass, and I define that as having options to view fretboards and chords shown as they are played on left hand oriented basses. I hope others will point out any websites, books, videos, etc. for those types of resources, and will discuss the merits of them.
Here are three such sources to start with (one of which I recently posted in another thread, but am reposting here specifically to bring to the attention of left handed players):
- Left Handed Bass Fretboard Notes Diagram (at LeftyFretz.com) - shows a small image, with a link to the larger downloadable version, of notes on the left handed 4 string bass guitar in both sharps and flats.
- a “Left-Handed Bass Chord Picture Book,” published by Mel Bay and $9.99 at Amazon, seems to be the most current edition. It is described as
“A user-friendly photo chord guide designed specifically for the left-handed bass guitarist showing basic chord tones for major, minor, dominant 7th, sus 7, minor 7, major 7, diminished, augmented, sixth, minor 6th, 7#5 and 7b5 chords. The arpeggios for each of the above chord forms are pictured on the fretboard and given in notation and diagram form in all twelve keys!” - “Left-Handed Guitar Fretboard Memorization: Memorize and Begin Using the Entire Fretboard Quickly and Easily (Seeing Music)`” by Andy Schneider, is another offering at Amazon at $14.99 (also has a description and audio files at the “Seeing Music” website).
I do not own either of the above books, but welcome input from any who have had experience with them. They seem like they’d be helpful for left handed bass players.
If you have any other learning resources for left handed bassists that you can share, please post here!
*I intended to post the “Left handed bass instruments” topic in the “Gear” category, but it seems not to be.