#1: Re: John Mclaughlin is not left handed
Posted on 2006-07-23 17:53:17 by funkifized
"pmfan57" <<a href="mailto:jwragusa@aol.com" target="_blank">jwragusa@aol.com</a>> wrote in message
news:<a href="mailto:1150859161.458400.76490@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com..." target="_blank">1150859161.458400.76490@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...</a>
>
> Sean wrote:
>> On 6/20/06 2:43 PM, in article
>> <a href="mailto:1150839801.980287.180340@y41g2000cwy.googlegroups.com" target="_blank">1150839801.980287.180340@y41g2000cwy.googlegroups.com</a>, "pmfan57"
>> <<a href="mailto:jwragusa@aol.com" target="_blank">jwragusa@aol.com</a>> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > <a href="mailto:tombrown@jhu.edu" target="_blank">tombrown@jhu.edu</a> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Just because something made sense at some point in history does not
>> >> mean that it remains a logical solution today. The first plucked
>> >> string
>> >> instrument had only one string. In that situation, obviously rhythm
>> >> will be the main element of music, and the picking hand will bear most
>> >> of the load.
>> >>
>> >> But playing contemporary jazz on the guitar requires far more from the
>> >> fretting hand, compared to what the music of thousands of years ago
>> >> required from the fretting hand. So I don't think that original
>> >> motivation for the division of labor between hands remains relevant in
>> >> the contemporary context.
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> > It certainly remains relevant. It may be outweighed by other factors
>> > (I'm not conceding that it is). That does not mean it's not relevant.
>> >
>> >
>> > To develop and maintain virtuoso picking skill requires a great deal of
>> > repetitive and physically intense training. It makes sense to use the
>> > stronger hand for this. However, a player like Holdsworth would not
>> > need to devote as much intense effort to building up his picking chops.
>> > I wonder if he's a lefty?
>> >
>> If you're talking about "stronger hand" in the sense of brute strength,
>> the
>> left hand often ends up being the stronger hand in right-handed people
>> because it is the hand in which one grasps the thing one is working on
>> with
>> the right hand. For example, our ancient ancestors would have grasped
>> their
>> prey with the left hand while they bludgeoned it with the right. If you
>> are
>> going to fashion a stone tool, you grasp the object stone (usually
>> heavier)
>> in your left hand while wielding the striking stone (usually lighter)
>> with
>> your right. Picture yourself doing any number of carpentry tasks: the
>> left
>> hand does the heavy lifting, grasping and supporting, while the right
>> does
>> the delicate work: sawing, hammering, chiseling, etc..
>
> But teenagers have extremely strong right hands and that's a great time
> to develop virtuoso chops for shredding.
>
Not to mention that shredding and doing what teenagers do in order to
strengthen that right hand pretty much have the same result...
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