Are you hard wIrEd or are you not???

[Clifford-D]

Ok, you have five beats, call it four 16ths and
the beat on 2.

Tap alternatly the five beats with your hands on something.

Chances are you tapped leading with your dominant hand.
That means the first, third and fifth taps were done with
your dominant hand, how fast can you cleanly tap it?

Now, reverse hand order, start with your weak hand.
What happens? Are you clumsy and uncoordinated?
Is it hard to place the proper accents like strong beat placement?

Many people will not be smooth in reversed order, it will seem
unnatural to them.
And some I suspect will have no problem with this game.

Why is this?

[Clifford-D]

.
Another example of this "am I hardwired?" Thing,,

The BB butterfly vibrato, where you rotate your wrist real fast, like a twitch.
Some people cannot do this vibrato, and less can.

Try this experiment;
With your dominant hand do a fast rotating twitching BB buterfly,
sustain it for as long as you can before you the burn.
Now do the same thing with your weak arm,
What happens? No sustain? Irregular butterflies??

This points to a weakness in the less dominant arm.
I think it has to do with the nervous system we were born with.
And in some cases the person will never develope the weak side,

I know this weak side can be developed but I've never had the feeling of
"This is right". It still feels backwards, and that's after 40 yrs working on this vibrato

[huw]

...And some I suspect will have no problem with this game.

Why is this?

Drum lessons.

(That's not a sarcastic answer BTW, drum lessons are something that I have always said will benefit any musician, regardless of their main instrument).

[buddastrat]

Agreed huw. I took some drum lessons way back and you think of that right off the bat, because are you gonna sit as a righty or lefty. And then all rudiments you practice, work it both ways like LLRL or whatever.

Being lefty and playing righty on guitar.... I had to work a ton on it, agonizingly at times. I forced myself to write with my right hand while taking notes in college and stuff. Learning to write with my right hand really helped my picking btw. But there was a time when it would've been more to start with the left. Also I notice, sometimes if I don't keep on it, I can lose some of the right hand development, but my left never does. It's fascinating stuff, I wish science knew more about it.

Most lefty's are righty to an extent, in this RH world, but there are some true blue lefty's.

[travisvwright]

Ok, you have five beats, call it four 16ths and
the beat on 2.I would answer you if I could understand that.

[buddastrat]

1e+a 2

is the way I understood it Travis. Not five beats but still..

[Clifford-D]

So you guys are agreeing with me? That this weaknesss affects many, many people?
I can't really tell.

[Clifford-D]

1e+a 2

is the way I understood it Travis. Not five beats but still..
Exactly, strong timing, hitting the 2 beat on 2.

[buddastrat]

So you guys are agreeing with me? That this weaknesss affects many, many people?
I can't really tell.

I don't know. I'd think it varies, and everyone will tend to favor one over the other. That's why those drum books start right off, doing every exercise both ways.

Did you ever take a syncopated guitar line and do it so all the upstrokes are on the downbeat? That can screw me up on a tricky rhythm, because I have sort've trained myself to do the usual down on down beat, up on up. Then I wonder if it's good to practice or not. I mean when it's in the heat of the battle, do I really want to have to stop and think okay now which way am I gonna do this stroke. The best players seem to do certain lines one way all the time to where they don't have to think and it seems natural. But I'm rambling.....

[travisvwright]

1e+a 2

is the way I understood it Travis. Not five beats but still..
So it's:
r---l--r---l---r--l---r--l---r--l---r---l--r---l--r---l--r---l---r--l---r--l---r---l
1--e--a--2--e--a--3--e--a--4--e--a--1--e--a--2--e--a--3--e--a--4--e--aCause I can do that equal whether I start with r or l.

[Clifford-D]

So it's:
Cause I can do that equal whether I start with r or l.
How fast? Equal at a fast tempo?

[comealongway]

this proves absolutely nothing. litreally nothing. all it demonstrates is that humans have a dominant hand (noprmally the right) and that the other hand is a bit less developed. that;s all this exercise shows. nothigng else.

[Zero G]

Started with my non dominant hand.

[comealongway]

also, the original desprition of the ex was so cryptic, heres is what is required in plain english:

play a steady series of beats alternating right and left hands and accent every 5th beat.

[Clifford-D]

also, the original desprition of the ex was so cryptic, heres is what is required in plain english:

play a steady series of beats alternating right and left hands and accent every 5th beat.
Mr Cryptic here

So lovely to hear from you my friend. Haven't had adose for a week now.

[Clifford-D]

also, the original desprition of the ex was so cryptic, heres is what is required in plain english:

play a steady series of beats alternating right and left hands and accent every 5th beat.
I'm not trying to prove anything, I was asking a question about why this and is it a hardwired system within us to have a dominant side.
That's more the question, not reall asking about how the beats go.

So again I'm proving nothing and my questions abound.

And I'm trying to stimulate this into a serious discussion

[CharAznable]

It took me a couple of rounds to get it nice and clean leading with my left hand, but once I got it I got it.

Practice can overcome many things.

[comealongway]

I'm not trying to prove anything, I was asking a question about why this and is it a hardwired system within us to have a dominant side.
That's more the question, not reall asking about how the beats go.

So again I'm proving nothing and my questions abound.

And I'm trying to stimulate this into a serious discussion

it's really a meaningless question better served by perusing a medical text. humans have dominant sides.this is just a fact related to brain devlopment. this dominance can be compensated for by practice. simple and nothing more to be said about it.

i sense this is probably all related to the fact that you are noticing a lack in your playing and are wondering why. the answer is you. more practice. closer attention to detail. And acceptance and then isolation of the perceived weakness.
it doesn't matter how other people experience it. you are still stuck with yourself and need to do whatever it takes to fix what troubles you.

if i'm barking up the wrong tree here, apologies, but thats how i read it.

[Clifford-D]

it's really a meaningless question better served by perusing a medical text. humans have dominant sides.this is just a fact related to brain devlopment. this dominance can be compensated for by practice. simple and nothing more to be said about it.

i sense this is probably all related to the fact that you are noticing a lack in your playing and are wondering why. the answer is you. more practice. closer attention to detail. And acceptance and then isolation of the perceived weakness.
it doesn't matter how other people experience it. you are still stuck with yourself and need to do whatever it takes to fix what troubles you.

if i'm barking up the wrong tree here, apologies, but thats how i read it.
Its hard to get past your first sentence about how this is all meaninglesss.

That is your opinion, since you suggested a medical pro answer the question
I don't see you as the expert that would know this is meaninglesss.

And my experience with tells me you enjoy making me wrong
Like when I posted the blues and you gave me uhm, advise.
I remember all those posts of yours. Really ruined your credibility with me.

Call it making the bed you have to sleep in.

[Sensible Musician]

I've come across this subject tangentially in casual reading over the years. It's interesting, but I haven't been motivated to really look into it. The gist I get is that the human brain is supremely adaptable and will pretty much figure out how to move you toward any goal you choose. You can't change things like the shape of your skeleton (not by sheer will anyway LOL) but you can literally rewire your brain do things like even sticking with L/R hands, even if one starts much more adept.

There is a book that is hot right now called The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (http://www.amazon.com/The-Shallows-Internet-Playaway-Nonfiction/dp/1441750037) that talks a lot about how neural networks are malleable to the tasks given the body and brain. Of course, that part is all a setup for an entreaty to stop spending all day on TGP : )