Decade of Drums

"Vee" and I have elected to make the second decade of the new millenium our Decade of Drums. Join us on our journey as we progress from complete incompetence to über-drummer status.

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Left or Right?

Here's our predicament.

Both Vee and I are lefties. Now this would seem to be a simple matter. Set the drums up lefty (though we don't actually own any drums just yet but that's a minor technicality) and away the two of us go.

I'm slightly uncomfortable with this solution. The main reason is that we would need to negotiate drumming in a right-handed world. How does one then effectively sit in on other people's kits, or play at jams, and so forth. Also, being a leftie has not hindered me musically otherwise on violin, double-bass or bass guitar. (Though the fact that I've been playing some form of string instrument or another since I was 3 years old, very nearly 4 decades, perhaps accounts for this more than anything.)

However, this is drumming, not playing a stringed-instrument. I am a n00b on drums, and more to the point this is Vee's first, and hopefully primary, instrument (well she did study piano when she was 5 but we won't go there). Her natural inclination is to lead with her left, obviously. Tested this out myself by asking her to pick up a stick and pretend to play the ride cymbal while music was playing.

A third option might be to begin with a standard right-handed set-up for six months or so. And then test-drive it with a left-handed set-up for another couple of months afterwards to see what happens and decide then.

Not sure what to do really. And I'm sure there are eighteen different other opinions out there at the very least.

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