I'm a true lefty.I've learned violin faster left handed than traditional. Right handed musicians told me to learn traditionally bec. they said I have the advantage with fingering with my dominant hand. Wrong! They don't see it as a true lefty does. Playing left handed is natural for me. If they think about it, they bow with their right, their dominant hand. It's natural for me to bow with my left as bowing requires more power and control, while the non dominant hand has the speed for fingering.
Thank you for explaining this! I took viola for a few months when I was 11, but it felt completely uncoordinated because I'm a lefty and was bowing with my right hand. I always wanted to take it up again, but worried that I'd have the same problem. Left handed viola, here I come! Interestingly, even before I could write I would pick up my dad's banjo and guitar and pluck them with my left hand, finding notes with my right hand. Just goes to show, I was a born lefty. :-) Awesome! Thanks again!
A violin is a right handed instrument in which the violinist bows with the dominant hand and arm (right), with the righties' left fingers suitable for the fingerboard. So it is natural for the lefties to bow with their dominant hand (left) and with their right fingers suitable for the fingerboard. Depending on the player's motive, if he/she wants to play for fun or solo, that's fine. But if the goal is to be in an orchestra, that's a different story. So it is really depends on the player's goal.
What you said is incorrect as Ryan has many examples of orchestra violinists who play professionally and are left handed. So maybe you should purchase Ryan's book and stop spreading information that is incorrect.
Why would you assume that I was spreading anything? I wasn’t talking about what’s correct or incorrect. It is more an individual thing of what comes natural. And for me it’s what came natural. And I know there are left handed professional violinists in the orchestra. When I was a beginner years ago my teacher would tell me and force me to play right handed so I can join the orchestra. And I didn’t listen. And I proved my teacher wrong that I learned quicker and better left handed. Years later, now, I still play for fun. If later on I’d decide to join an orchestra, I would be playing violin left handed. Don’t assume. I wasn’t generalizing. My opinion was more about me. Besides, I also play my ukulele and guitar left handed. If a left handed can learn right handed violin, that’s fine. Good for him. But as for someone like me, I know that I could learn faster and better and that’s what came natural for me. My teacher then saw that I really could learn faster naturally with my left.
@@anthonymaglione8593 I hear you. I learned faster playing left handed too. But, as Ryan says in this video, give a left handed student a bow and most of them will put it in their dominant hand because this is what feels natural. We lefties have different brain wiring. And honestly, I believe damage can be done when you force a lefty play right handed.
Don't let the store fool you in selling you a right handed violin that is restrung for left handed. That is not a left handed violin. A left handed violin is made a mirror image of a right handed violin both inside and out. The sound bar inside is also relocated so a left handed is actually a custom made. Don't know where you live but hope there is a dependable violin store in your area or you can also search for a luthier in your area. I'm in OC California.
to play an instrument is not just a robotic thing of putting your finger and pushing the string you need rhythm to finger/bow/pick the string and it is obviously easier with your strong hand, thus if you are left handed you should bow with your left hand because bowing needs more presition than the other hand
After learning and playing SouthPaw, Ryan which one do you prefer or you think are good with it or is there tunes you like to play left and others right ? Good explanation , different strokes for different folks.
I can't play the guitar, but when my sister handed me hers so I could try, I automatically fingered it with my right hand (I'm right handed), not the left. Maybe I'm just uncoordinated, but whenever I think of playing the cello or the violin, I think of fingering with the right hand and bowing (?) with my left...
Play whichever feels natural to you. Some lefties play right, and some play left, and some can even play both left and right. But regardless, it should be which ever feels natural to you. Even with the lefties, it is an individual thing. I'm a lefty and I play left handed because it's naturally better for me.
I play the guitar and I can tell you that the rhythm hand is more important than the fret hand the flexibility has to be developed by doing finger exercises and practicing, the rhythm however can't be magically acquired thus your strong hand will do a better job
OMYGOSH! i was just gonna comment saying i truly tihnk,being a left handed, its easier because i'm using my dominant hand for fingerings, and this is what the video talks about!!! LOL ;PPP but also, whenever i try to bow different strings fast, i keep messing up since i'm bowing with my less dominant hand D;
In playing violin,musicians know bowing does more in playing violin than fingering.That's why right handed people bow with their right hand. It requires more power, control,and coordination not just from the dominant hand but with the whole arm. The fingers on the non dominant hand is faster because you don't use it much. The fingers on the dominant hand is stronger but slower bec. that's what they use most. So it's natural for a lefty to bow with the left and does the fingering with the right.
@4stringjoe Can't argue with that! Though for classical players, I suspect there are orchestras & chamber groups that might object. For us fiddlers, what's the problem, provided you can find a left-handed instrument...
hi there Capitan Thomson! veryinteresting. and very intrigued as well. i myself have some theories about this myth you mention. i just started to play the viola, i have a left handed viola (i convinced the luthier to change it). im right handed. with all respect, i am asking you for a personal email please or any way of contacting you (not phone # cause its definetely not a pocketfriendly way of reaching you from bs as) i would love to read your book, but not so easy to get from here ):
Oh yeah,I had a question for the poster. During the time you were doing your interviews and research, did you happen to run into luthiers that will work on lefty violins?The local one for me is a traditionalist and I don't trust him to work on my violin just in case he "accidentally" does something to my violin because he "forgot that it wasn't a correct violin."
I think there are different levels of left-handedness, and that depends on how you grew up using your right and left hands, being a lefty. I for one, am way more skilled with the left part of my body, the only thing I do with my right hand is to handle the computer mouse, and that's just because habit. I want to learn how to play violin and I think it'll be easier in the the left-handed way.
Im almost left handed in everything i do, im a southpaw, My mouse is even on the left side of my PC (Which i admit is pretty excessive). I dont understand why its considered right handed to play when fingering the violin with your left hand, that requires much more coordination than just playing the string.
do you know what exactly makes a violin left handed? because I've been having problems getting one because the guys in the stores say I just need to restring it and buy another chin holder is there anything else I need in a left handed violin? thanks in advance
Sadly I live in mexico so it's kind of hard to find a good violin store but I'll keep searching, thanks for the advice Do you know how I can identify a left handed violin just by seeing it? because I'm a guitar player and know how to identify a left handed guitar but I'm lost when it comes to violins thanks in advance again
For many, I think that left-handedness is more complex than an "all or nothing" binary issue. I'm normally called a lefty as I do detailed work (writing etc) with my left hand. But I find it easier to make big swinging movements (throwing, tennis etc) with my right. I play the fiddle conventionally, as my left hand has the accuracy for intonation, and my right hand feels more natural on the bow. Playing left-handed doesn't feel right for me.
No two lefties think alike. I play violin left handed and I play guitar left handed. I catch and throw left handed but I bat right handed. No two lefties are the same. However, as Ryan said, if a person is given a choice, he/she will naturally place the bow in their dominant hand.
@4stringjoe I understand the difference, Im just saying, i dont understand why they consider it to be right handed when you do the complicated stuff with your left hand. If i were to play left handed, then i would be doing the hard stuff with my right hand. The classification never made sense to me. Also, i love hendrix, just saying :D
what do you mean 'myth'? I'm a lefty who plays right handed guitar, and which is probably why I can play so fast and do super fast chord changes. I can play lefty too, just not as well.
@ladygaga1st along with 4stringjoe, I can give you some hints. I'm a lefty from birth and just started to learn the violin (left handed from the start). It's actually easier for a righty to teach a lefty than righty to righty. Just have them be the mirror image of you. Fingering and all. It's a lot easier explaining & doing it that way than trying to make one's hand look exactly like the person sitting next to you... at least that's the way it is with me. That's how I learned a lot of things
Agreed, but most violin teachers don't see it as we do. They think learning a violin left handed is bad, and a handicap, when, in fact, it's quite natural for us.
Hi Ryan, but there are great violinists such as Nicola Benedetti who are left handed and play superbly with the traditional violin orientation. If playing with the violin on the right side feels more comfortable, I won’t disagree with that since everyone has their own way, but your argument that why don’t right-handed play to take advantage of the dexterity is not really valid since most players ( be it left or right handed ) play with the violin on the left side not because of their hand but because a huge percentage of instruments are built that way. There are fine examples of left-handed violinists that play with the violin orientation on one side or the other, I think this shouldn’t be standardized to one or the other. As Ricci said “ one hand is for measuring , the other is playing tennis”. In fact, Paganini himself was rumored to be left-hand dominant, and Il Cannone is oriented to the left side.
I feel diffrent, the reason i play right handed is because it makes much more sense to do the notes with the left hand. The right hand is all in the wrist for me, Not the fingers.
You prove my point. No two lefties are the same. I play guitar and violin left handed. I also catch and throw a baseball left handed but I bat right handed.
I'm a true lefty.I've learned violin faster left handed than traditional. Right handed musicians told me to learn traditionally bec. they said I have the advantage with fingering with my dominant hand. Wrong! They don't see it as a true lefty does. Playing left handed is natural for me. If they think about it, they bow with their right, their dominant hand. It's natural for me to bow with my left as bowing requires more power and control, while the non dominant hand has the speed for fingering.
me too.
Thank you for explaining this! I took viola for a few months when I was 11, but it felt completely uncoordinated because I'm a lefty and was bowing with my right hand. I always wanted to take it up again, but worried that I'd have the same problem. Left handed viola, here I come!
Interestingly, even before I could write I would pick up my dad's banjo and guitar and pluck them with my left hand, finding notes with my right hand. Just goes to show, I was a born lefty. :-)
Awesome! Thanks again!
A violin is a right handed instrument in which the violinist bows with the dominant hand and arm (right), with the righties' left fingers suitable for the fingerboard. So it is natural for the lefties to bow with their dominant hand (left) and with their right fingers suitable for the fingerboard. Depending on the player's motive, if he/she wants to play for fun or solo, that's fine. But if the goal is to be in an orchestra, that's a different story. So it is really depends on the player's goal.
What you said is incorrect as Ryan has many examples of orchestra violinists who play professionally and are left handed. So maybe you should purchase Ryan's book and stop spreading information that is incorrect.
Why would you assume that I was spreading anything? I wasn’t talking about what’s correct or incorrect. It is more an individual thing of what comes natural. And for me it’s what came natural. And I know there are left handed professional violinists in the orchestra. When I was a beginner years ago my teacher would tell me and force me to play right handed so I can join the orchestra. And I didn’t listen. And I proved my teacher wrong that I learned quicker and better left handed. Years later, now, I still play for fun. If later on I’d decide to join an orchestra, I would be playing violin left handed. Don’t assume. I wasn’t generalizing. My opinion was more about me. Besides, I also play my ukulele and guitar left handed.
If a left handed can learn right handed violin, that’s fine. Good for him. But as for someone like me, I know that I could learn faster and better and that’s what came natural for me. My teacher then saw that I really could learn faster naturally with my left.
@@anthonymaglione8593 I hear you. I learned faster playing left handed too. But, as Ryan says in this video, give a left handed student a bow and most of them will put it in their dominant hand because this is what feels natural. We lefties have different brain wiring. And honestly, I believe damage can be done when you force a lefty play right handed.
Don't let the store fool you in selling you a right handed violin that is restrung for left handed. That is not a left handed violin. A left handed violin is made a mirror image of a right handed violin both inside and out. The sound bar inside is also relocated so a left handed is actually a custom made. Don't know where you live but hope there is a dependable violin store in your area or you can also search for a luthier in your area.
I'm in OC California.
to play an instrument is not just a robotic thing of putting your finger and pushing the string
you need rhythm to finger/bow/pick the string and it is obviously easier with your strong hand, thus if you are left handed you should bow with your left hand because bowing needs more presition than the other hand
Thank you. I agree 100%.
After learning and playing SouthPaw, Ryan which one do you prefer or you think are good with it or is there tunes you like to play left and others right ? Good explanation , different strokes for different folks.
I can't play the guitar, but when my sister handed me hers so I could try, I automatically fingered it with my right hand (I'm right handed), not the left. Maybe I'm just uncoordinated, but whenever I think of playing the cello or the violin, I think of fingering with the right hand and bowing (?) with my left...
Play whichever feels natural to you. Some lefties play right, and some play left, and some can even play both left and right. But regardless, it should be which ever feels natural to you. Even with the lefties, it is an individual thing. I'm a lefty and I play left handed because it's naturally better for me.
I play the guitar and I can tell you that the rhythm hand is more important than the fret hand
the flexibility has to be developed by doing finger exercises and practicing, the rhythm however can't be magically acquired thus your strong hand will do a better job
OMYGOSH! i was just gonna comment saying i truly tihnk,being a left handed, its easier because i'm using my dominant hand for fingerings, and this is what the video talks about!!! LOL ;PPP but also, whenever i try to bow different strings fast, i keep messing up since i'm bowing with my less dominant hand D;
In playing violin,musicians know bowing does more in playing violin than fingering.That's why right handed people bow with their right hand. It requires more power, control,and coordination not just from the dominant hand but with the whole arm. The fingers on the non dominant hand is faster because you don't use it much. The fingers on the dominant hand is stronger but slower bec. that's what they use most. So it's natural for a lefty to bow with the left and does the fingering with the right.
@4stringjoe Can't argue with that! Though for classical players, I suspect there are orchestras & chamber groups that might object. For us fiddlers, what's the problem, provided you can find a left-handed instrument...
I'm lefty and switched a right handed violin to a lefty but I need a new bridge. Where can I find decent left hand bridges for sale? thanks
hi there Capitan Thomson!
veryinteresting. and very intrigued as well. i myself have some theories about this myth you mention. i just started to play the viola, i have a left handed viola (i convinced the luthier to change it). im right handed. with all respect, i am asking you for a personal email please or any way of contacting you (not phone # cause its definetely not a pocketfriendly way of reaching you from bs as) i would love to read your book, but not so easy to get from here ):
Oh yeah,I had a question for the poster. During the time you were doing your interviews and research, did you happen to run into luthiers that will work on lefty violins?The local one for me is a traditionalist and I don't trust him to work on my violin just in case he "accidentally" does something to my violin because he "forgot that it wasn't a correct violin."
I think there are different levels of left-handedness, and that depends on how you grew up using your right and left hands, being a lefty. I for one, am way more skilled with the left part of my body, the only thing I do with my right hand is to handle the computer mouse, and that's just because habit.
I want to learn how to play violin and I think it'll be easier in the the left-handed way.
Im almost left handed in everything i do, im a southpaw, My mouse is even on the left side of my PC (Which i admit is pretty excessive). I dont understand why its considered right handed to play when fingering the violin with your left hand, that requires much more coordination than just playing the string.
do you know what exactly makes a violin left handed? because I've been having problems getting one because the guys in the stores say I just need to restring it and buy another chin holder
is there anything else I need in a left handed violin?
thanks in advance
Sadly I live in mexico so it's kind of hard to find a good violin store but I'll keep searching, thanks for the advice
Do you know how I can identify a left handed violin just by seeing it? because I'm a guitar player and know how to identify a left handed guitar but I'm lost when it comes to violins
thanks in advance again
Did you find your left handed violin?
For many, I think that left-handedness is more complex than an "all or nothing" binary issue. I'm normally called a lefty as I do detailed work (writing etc) with my left hand. But I find it easier to make big swinging movements (throwing, tennis etc) with my right. I play the fiddle conventionally, as my left hand has the accuracy for intonation, and my right hand feels more natural on the bow. Playing left-handed doesn't feel right for me.
No two lefties think alike. I play violin left handed and I play guitar left handed. I catch and throw left handed but I bat right handed. No two lefties are the same. However, as Ryan said, if a person is given a choice, he/she will naturally place the bow in their dominant hand.
@4stringjoe I understand the difference, Im just saying, i dont understand why they consider it to be right handed when you do the complicated stuff with your left hand. If i were to play left handed, then i would be doing the hard stuff with my right hand. The classification never made sense to me. Also, i love hendrix, just saying :D
ok Thank you it helps
what do you mean 'myth'? I'm a lefty who plays right handed guitar, and which is probably why I can play so fast and do super fast chord changes. I can play lefty too, just not as well.
@ladygaga1st along with 4stringjoe, I can give you some hints. I'm a lefty from birth and just started to learn the violin (left handed from the start). It's actually easier for a righty to teach a lefty than righty to righty. Just have them be the mirror image of you. Fingering and all. It's a lot easier explaining & doing it that way than trying to make one's hand look exactly like the person sitting next to you... at least that's the way it is with me. That's how I learned a lot of things
Agreed, but most violin teachers don't see it as we do. They think learning a violin left handed is bad, and a handicap, when, in fact, it's quite natural for us.
Hi Ryan, but there are great violinists such as Nicola Benedetti who are left handed and play superbly with the traditional violin orientation. If playing with the violin on the right side feels more comfortable, I won’t disagree with that since everyone has their own way, but your argument that why don’t right-handed play to take advantage of the dexterity is not really valid since most players ( be it left or right handed ) play with the violin on the left side not because of their hand but because a huge percentage of instruments are built that way. There are fine examples of left-handed violinists that play with the violin orientation on one side or the other, I think this shouldn’t be standardized to one or the other. As Ricci said “ one hand is for measuring , the other is playing tennis”. In fact, Paganini himself was rumored to be left-hand dominant, and Il Cannone is oriented to the left side.
Thanks for the comment. I'f you'd like to discuss the topic in more detail, move over to email. Have you read my book?
I feel diffrent, the reason i play right handed is because it makes much more sense to do the notes with the left hand. The right hand is all in the wrist for me, Not the fingers.
But my right hand is not flexible at all, I wouldnt even be able to stretch 5 frets.
I’m cross dominant and feel really lucky lol
I am left handed, but I play guitar as a right handed. I don't know how I should play the violin :-(
You prove my point. No two lefties are the same. I play guitar and violin left handed. I also catch and throw a baseball left handed but I bat right handed.
@@rawmark I loved reading this after 8 years. I still haven’t learned how to play LOL
@@Benavides072508 This is for you. A well known, and dang talented, lefty violinist from Denmark.
ruclips.net/video/zM3Hso6ccfA/видео.html
I eat with a fork with my right hand and eat with chop sticks with my left...hmmmm.
you should not be stretching 5 frets only four, one per finger
2:37 thats what i do when i play guitar
When you play guitar, the length and flexibility of your fingers do matter. My right hand is not flexible at all
Bow with your dominant hand.
? You cant be agile if you arent flexible. That applies to everything, not just fingers.
flexibility is not what is important is agility
you sure you know how to play?
so I'm guessing you never finger picking and never play complex rhythms
Your fingers dont need to be flexible to finger pick,
herp... derp!
I think you with this simple mathematical explanation are making fun out of one of the most stupid miths about us left handers.: '(