# Are there lefty violinists?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 16, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935 "2016-05-16T21:31:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/1 "2016-05-16T21:31:03Z")
I recently saw a concert where the local symphony orchestra was backing the trio _Time for 3._ (A very good show, by the way.) I had never thought about this before, but all the string players on stage held the bows in the right hand.
Is this universal? Are their no lefty violinists, violists, cellists, or bass players? Are lefty players forced to play right-handed, or are they just sent to be oboists?
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2016, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/2 "2016-05-16T22:15:16Z")
Left-handed violinists play in the same position as right-handed violinists. So do left-handed oboists for that matter. Guitarists are an anomaly in using separate instruments with left- and right-handed configurations–which is really unnecessary.
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/3 "2016-05-16T22:34:04Z")
> **[List of musicians who play left-handed | Violinists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musicians_who_play_left-handed#Violinists)**
>
> The violin can be learned in either hand, and most left-handed players hold the violin under the left side of their jaw, the same as right-handed players. This allows all violinists to sit together in an orchestra.
> 1.Richard Barth |
> 2.Paavo Berglund (A well known Finnish left-handed conductor who also played violin, often joining orchestra players for chamber music just for fun. Due to the value of his violin collection he did not want to change his instruments and had trained himself to play l...
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/4 "2016-05-16T22:43:30Z")
With the violin, both hands have some fairly dexterity-challenging things to do, so you wouldn’t need a special violin strung (and played from) the other way. It’s not like left-handed pianists have their harps reversed, for example.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2016, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/5 "2016-05-16T23:00:21Z")
I’m a lefty violinist (well, super-amateur, although I went pro as a busker when I was seven), and I always thought that we lefties had the better end of the deal in this one instance. The right hand’s movements require a lot of fine pressure and rhythm, but it’s the left hand that engages in the finest fingerwork. I’m not sure why right-handed violinists don’t play the other way round.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/6 "2016-05-16T23:08:25Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> I’m not sure why right-handed violinists don’t play the other way round.
Violinist/violist/cellist here. It’s because of the power and thrust of the right arm and wrist. That’s what creates the sound. The left hand merely adjusts the pitch, which through much practice, can be achieved with the non-dominant hand.
Another issue is that most string players play in an orchestra, in close proximity to other players. It can be dangerous to hold the bow in your left hand.
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### Author:  [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/7 "2016-05-17T08:13:42Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> I’m a lefty violinist (well, super-amateur, although I went pro as a busker when I was seven), and I always thought that we lefties had the better end of the deal in this one instance. The right hand’s movements require a lot of fine pressure and rhythm, but it’s the left hand that engages in the finest fingerwork. I’m not sure why right-handed violinists don’t play the other way round.
Another theory is that, you need to pay more attention to your “other” hand anyway. You dominant hand you can just ignore, because it works without conscious volition. So you give your dominant hand rythme, and just forget about it. Since you have to focus on your “other” hand to make it do anything, you can focus on doing the tricky stuff.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/8 "2016-05-17T11:23:48Z")
> [@Melbourne](#):
>
> Another theory is that, you need to pay more attention to your “other” hand anyway. You dominant hand you can just ignore, because it works without conscious volition. So you give your dominant hand rythme, and just forget about it. Since you have to focus on your “other” hand to make it do anything, you can focus on doing the tricky stuff.
Have you ever actually played a string instrument? There’s no “other” hand that works without conscious volition. Bowing needs the same attention as fingering.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/9 "2016-05-17T11:45:48Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#):
>
> Left-handed violinists play in the same position as right-handed violinists. So do left-handed oboists for that matter. Guitarists are an anomaly in using separate instruments with left- and right-handed configurations–which is really unnecessary.
I’m under the impression that the vast majority of left-handed guitarists don’t play reversed guitars.
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### Author:  [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/10 "2016-05-17T12:17:31Z")
The fiddler Ashley Macisaac is the only person I’ve ever seen play the instrument lefty style. Amazingly, he just flipped a regularly tuned fiddle around. Ashley Macisaac is also unequivocally the greatest fiddler in the world, and hence it is clear that playing lefty is the way to go. 😉
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### Author:  [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/11 "2016-05-17T15:05:17Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> I’m under the impression that the vast majority of left-handed guitarists don’t play reversed guitars.
What evidence have you come across which gives rise to that impression ? For sure, many left handed guitarists do end up playing right handed, but …the “vast majority” ??? I wouldn’t have thought so.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/12 "2016-05-17T15:14:38Z")
A lefty would be visually jarring. Our sheet music had bow marks to indicate up or down. That way the entire 1st violin or 2nd violin section’s bows are moving in unison. Cello has bow marks too.
I don’t know what they’d do with a lefty.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/13 "2016-05-17T15:50:27Z")
> [@Bones\_Daley](#):
>
> What evidence have you come across which gives rise to that impression ? For sure, many left handed guitarists do end up playing right handed, but …the “vast majority” ??? I wouldn’t have thought so.
Well, lefties are something like 10% of the population, but I can think of only a very small number of guitar players I’ve seen who hold the instrument in the lefty configuration. Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, and Tony Iommi are examples that come to mind. I suspect that there are a lot of left-handed people who learn to play right-handed because that’s what most instructors teach, and how most guitars are set up. (Hendrix, for example, learned to play right-handed because his father was a bit of a religious nut. He taught himself to play lefty later. But most people aren’t Jimi Hendrix.)
Also there are incompatible configurations if you choose to play in a nonstandard way. For example, you can play a right-handed guitar flipped over, so the low string is on the bottom, or you can play a true left-handed guitar with the low string on top when held lefty. This makes it even more difficult for nonstandard players to seek instruction or equipment. You really have to be extremely stubborn and make a significant effort to learn guitar in a lefty configuration.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/14 "2016-05-17T15:55:02Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> Another issue is that most string players play in an orchestra, in close proximity to other players. It can be dangerous to hold the bow in your left hand.
IANA violinist but I think that’s worth thinking about. I can see that it might throw off righties to have a bow next to them moving in the opposite direction, and it isn’t going to present the same visual of bowing in sync to the audience.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/15 "2016-05-17T16:01:44Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> IANA violinist but I think that’s worth thinking about. I can see that it might throw off righties to have a bow next to them moving in the opposite direction, and it isn’t going to present the same visual of bowing in sync to the audience.
You have no idea how crowded it can be on stage. Arms would be bumping into each other, and eyes would be lost.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/16 "2016-05-17T16:23:24Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> A lefty would be visually jarring. Our sheet music had bow marks to indicate up or down. That way the entire 1st violin or 2nd violin section’s bows are moving in unison. Cello has bow marks too.
>
> I don’t know what they’d do with a lefty.
I have no idea what bowed instrument sheet music looks like, but if the instrument is strung backwards\*, wouldn’t it work the same way…with some modifications that would have to be worked out between the student and teacher.
That’s what left handed guitarists do. Sure, some just flip the guitar over and figure it out. And that is more convenient in the long run since they can just pick up any old guitar and play it, but it’s common to string it backward so guitar tabs don’t have to reversed on the fly, you learn everything a ‘normal’ guitar player learns, chords look the same, notes/frets/strings/strum patterns are in the same place, the only thing that’s switched is your hands.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/17 "2016-05-17T16:32:50Z")
Bow marks on our violin sheet music looked like a staple and V.
Guitar tab borrowed the idea to indicate pick strokes.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/18 "2016-05-17T16:37:43Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> You have no idea how crowded it can be on stage. Arms would be bumping into each other, and eyes would be lost.
I recall from documentaries that toupees would get stuck to the bows also.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/19 "2016-05-17T19:06:34Z")
> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> I’m under the impression that the vast majority of left-handed guitarists don’t play reversed guitars.
I have no idea of the statistics, but in my opinion, \*nobody \*should bother with a left-handed guitar. It just limits your choice of instruments, may cost extra, and since guitar, like most instruments, requires dexterity [ironic word choice] in \*both \*hands, it’s the solution for a non-existent problem. Look at King Crimson: both Robert Fripp and John Wetton were left-handed individuals playing right-handed. And they did pretty damn well.
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### Author:  [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-lefty-violinists/754935/20 "2016-05-17T23:13:35Z")
It should be noted that handedness rarely a clear-cut “either/or” affair. This subject arises perennially on all guitar forums, and from these postings it is apparent that there is a wide range of degrees of left-handedness… some people write left handed, but actually find it more natural to play guitar right handed.
Very few left- handed people are totally and profoundly left- handed in **everything** they do …I would imagine that those who are would have extreme difficulty in learning to play guitar right handed.
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