An Unexpected Display of Technique

bassilisk · October 24, 2017, 10:08:19 AM

So I'm channel surfing and I hit on my local Public Access channel which was listing Latin Jazz Festival.

This amounted to a Latin Jazz band in the TV studio riffing through a bunch of tunes. They weren't kids, clearly accomplished players.
Sax, trap drummer, conga player with an array of congas, keys and bass guitar.

They were pretty good, but here's what really grabbed me. Bass player was a lefty with a lefty 5 string Carvin.

But it was strung as an upside down righty!!!! B string at the bottom and the G on top.

This wasn't like just looking in the mirror - it was like looking in the mirror while standing on your head! He played seamlessly fingerstyle and had even developed a method of slap/pop. He used his middle finger to tap the string over the neck (a la Entwistle's typewriter style) and then pop the G with his thumb. He was pretty darn good at it too, and quick. I don't slap myself so any display that's musical (not just chops heavy) gets my attention. He was working some nice licks.

It's pretty amazing how adaptable one can get with some focus and application. I was thoroughly impressed.

uwe · October 24, 2017, 11:50:28 AM

It's not that rare with lefties and it comes from the fact that they mostly have access only to instruments strung righty when they start playing (the bass of the righthanded brother etc.), so they just switch it to what's comfortable to them and start learning it "wrong". Even some lefty guitarists do that - Paul Raymond of UFO (or, at times, MSG) is one of them, he's a lefty playing a lefty guitar strung righty. Michael Schenker always said that that combination makes Raymond's rhythm guitar work "like no other guitarist's" because it affects the sound of the strummed chords too (of course he has to work with a lot of upstrokes for chugging rhythm guitar work, but his downstrokes too sound different to anybody else's). Raymond says he never gave it a thought when he learned to play, he didn't even know that such a thing as a lefty guitar strung lefty existed.

Alanko · October 24, 2017, 01:30:07 PM

Scott Reeder plays lefty on basses string righty. He played Rickenbackers, and later Ibanez ATK basses during his stint in Kyuss. More recently he's moved over to Warwick basses. I understand he pretty much taught himself bass, out in the desert, and picked up a righty bass and flipped it over.

clankenstein · October 24, 2017, 02:16:43 PM

I do that too.drives guitarists insane,hahahahaha.

amptech · October 24, 2017, 11:47:30 PM

Jimmy Haslip plays upside down strung basses too, doesn't he? I think he was popular in the 90's, I remember him from string ads in bass player magazine.

I actually saw him play with Allan Holdsworth some years back. By then something must have happened to him, he played awful.
The drummer had to 'shout' the beat out to him, he was all over the place and seemed to be in his own world.

bassilisk · October 25, 2017, 04:40:00 AM

Yeah, I totally get that it's the way they started out using what they had. It was just unexpected and I have to say a treat to watch.
Being a player, you hear the licks and know what you should be seeing. it's just fascinating to watch it happen in "reverse" so to speak.

It reminded me of an experiment done at some university where they took students and had them wear glasses that flipped what they saw 180 degrees. It took very little time for the brain to acclimate and they were not just fully functioning but riding bikes etc. (I don't think they let them drive though...).

The point - so what's normal anyway?

Chris P. · October 25, 2017, 04:54:26 AM

Quote from: Alanko on October 24, 2017, 01:30:07 PM
Scott Reeder plays lefty on basses string righty. He played Rickenbackers, and later Ibanez ATK basses during his stint in Kyuss. More recently he's moved over to Warwick basses. I understand he pretty much taught himself bass, out in the desert, and picked up a righty bass and flipped it over.

I've been to his studio and ranch and played those basses!

Alanko · October 25, 2017, 05:39:44 AM

Quote from: Chris P. on October 25, 2017, 04:54:26 AM
I've been to his studio and ranch and played those basses!

Ever so slightly jealous over here! I follow him on Instagram and he seems to be a very nice down-to-earth dude.

Highlander · October 25, 2017, 06:20:44 AM

I remember watching Long-John Baldry and his bass player (African origins) flipped from righty to lefty for the encores... 20-30 years back so no idea of band...

gearHed289 · October 25, 2017, 08:52:29 AM

I did not know that about Paul Raymond.

Our own Ronn Roberts strings that way.

Lee Pomeroy with YES (Anderson, Rabin, Wakeman), Steve Hackett, and others strings upside down.

clankenstein · October 25, 2017, 04:02:26 PM

Crikey they are all at it -

this guy too-Jimi Goodwin of the doves.

Psycho Bass Guy · October 25, 2017, 10:57:09 PM

Howsabout I make it REALLY confusing and include a monster player who's a lefty, but plays left-handed basses string upside down?

I saw him at a jazz clinic years ago when he probably weighed double what he does now. He's a super nice guy and one hell of a chikin' pickin' Tele player too!