Hey,

Im thinking seriously about buying a cello but the problem is Im left handed and any left handed cellos ive seen are sooo expensive. I know there are left handed celloists out there that just play the right handed way but that would just feel so unnatural to me. My question is, is it possible to swap the strings on the cello? Or is the cello made in a certain way for righthanders?

Thats not how it works! The cello, violin, viola or bass are just the way there suppose to be. If you played the other way, you would put someones eye out if you were in a orchestra. In an orchestra all bows must point to the left.


...is it possible to swap the strings on the cello?
-No(If you look inside a cello you can see that there is a sound post on one side and a big stick on the other side behind the face of the cello). If you switched the strings, it would probably make the cello implode or cave in .

Or is the cello made in a certain way for righthanders?
-NO. Remember your using BOTH hands right and left. There are people that make mirror imaged stringe instruments. It`s just not needed though.


Nobody is born right handed or left handed they usually learn or kind of inherit that from seeing the "PEOPLE" around them. It`s the same with playing the cello, your teacher teaches you to play with the bow in your right hand and the cello in your left hand, so you get use to it. Just for the fun of it I actually did it the other way around and it didn`t really seem that different to me eccept for the strings were the other way around. I`m not saying that I could play just as good because I couldn`t, but if I practiced, it wouldn`t of made any difference which way I would of played it.

Hey thanks,
However although i do appreciated the advise I was directed to a board on another site that went into left handed cello players. They said firstly that those left handed people who were thought the proper way and later played the left-handed way were in fact better. Also its says theres no problem swapping the strings, in fact charlie chaplin played it that way. Im not looking to join an orchastra so looking out of place is the least of my worries. And your comment `Nobody is born right handed or left handed they usually learn or kind of inherit that from seeing the "PEOPLE" around them` is absolute rubbish. Sorry if I come across as quite harsh, its not my intention.

Also its says theres no problem swapping the strings, in fact charlie chaplin played it that way.

-He was a idiot then, I bet his cello didn`t last very long, mine is over 150 years old. Ok, but dont cry when your cello collapses or atleast when if gets a sound post crack. Well lets just say that different people make different cellos differently and most cellos wont take the stress.
The sound post isn`t made to support the pressure of the G and C strings, Thats why the cello WILL atleast get a sound post crack. Even if you were able to switch the strings, it wouldn`t sound very good after.



...And your comment `Nobody is born right handed or left handed they usually learn or kind of inherit that from seeing the "PEOPLE" around them` is absolute rubbish....

-Oh no it`s not. If EVERYBODY around you is right handed, do you really think you would want to use your left hand, I think not. If everybody around me was left handed, I know I would be left handed because I would get use to seeing other people use their left hand and I would copy them. That was too long ago for me to remember, but everyone around me was always right handed. Anyways when your young and get use to using your left hand, I guess it reflects on your cello playing afterwards like what you said about leftys playing the cello the other way better.

I guess thats just my opinion.

There is no right-handed or left-handed, we are simply cellists. I am a lefty and I play the exact same way my friends, righties, do. It`s fun, and I suggest you go learn to play it!

Re: "Or is the cello made in a certain way for righthanders?"

I don`t know about the actual construction of the instrument, but very clearly and obviously right-handers naturally bow with their right arm because bowing is more fundamental than fingering; bowing sets the string in motion; bowing is the essence of the cello. People who say it doesn`t make a difference because both hands are used are either 1) right-handed and bigoted or 2) left-handed and brain-washed. Ultimately a left-handed person can of course learn to play the cello right-handed, but anyone who maintains that right-handed people don`t have an initial (at least) advantage is a deluded fool.

Re: "-Oh no it`s not. If EVERYBODY around you is right handed, do you really think you would want to use your left hand, I think not. If everybody around me was left handed, I know I would be left handed because I would get use to seeing other people use their left hand and I would copy them. That was too long ago for me to remember, but everyone around me was always right handed."

Nearly "everyone" around EVERYONE is right-handed. If you were right (correct, that is), there would be virtually no left-handed persons whatsoever. Left-handedness is physiological, not psychological, and I`m sorry to break it you, pal, but you are NOT entitled to an "opinion" about an established FACT.

Re: "If you played the other way, you would put someones [sic] eye out if you were in a orchestra. In an orchestra all bows must point to the left."

Guess what? Most people have TWO eyes, one on the left side of their face, one on the right. You would NOT put anyone`s eye out. This is bigoted swill.

A left-handed cello playing next to a right-handed cello might be more likely to bump BOWS, but not any more likely than two unsynchronized right-handed cellos, and cellists in amateur orchestras are unsynchronized a large percentage of the time. Just sit a little further apart.

With all due respect you are the one who has been brainwashed, along with the other people that came up with their stupid so called facts.

Uh. Everyone in my family, save for me, is right-handed. People don`t pick which hand they used based on what others are doing. They don`t pick at all.

Re: "With all due respect you are the one who has been brainwashed, along with the other people that came up with their stupid so called facts."

Those "other people" constitute the rigorous discipline called biology, which long, long ago established incontravertably that right-handedness and left-handedness are physiological. Go back to your cave and never again presume to advise anyone about anything.

Re: "Uh. Everyone in my family, save for me, is right-handed. People don`t pick which hand they used based on what others are doing. They don`t pick at all."

Yes, and if I point out that I can say nearly the same thing, I hope no one forms the impression that the matter hinges on anecdotal evidence. At this point it is no longer subject to debate; it is settled.

I had a left-handed uncle whom I met the first and last time when I was ten, and I have a brother five years younger than me who is lefthanded. Obviously my left-handeness, which was of course strongly in evidence before I knew of my uncle`s existence and before my brother came along, was not influenced by either. Both of my parents and the rest of my siblings (my two older sisters and my brother two years younger than me) are right-handed, as were all my early friends.

I bat right-handed because this is the way my father taught me to bat (he didn`t think to take my left-handedness into account, a typically right-handed oversight). This is in no way an exception. Although I am not skilled at batting left-handed because I never practiced it, to this day batting left-handed feels natural and batting right-handed feels unnatural.

Similarly, I play cello right-handed because I was ordered to in third grade. Laura will need to a lot of courage to play cello left-handed because right-handed bigots like Sean will continually put obstacles in her way. I hope she perseveres, however, and wish her luck. The world-renowned Saint Louis Symphony had at one point (when I lived in Saint Louis) a left-handed first-chair cellist (who played left-handed), so the orchestra is certainly not out of the question.

I have been taking an Intro To Strings class for about four months now. We first learned guitar to learn to play with our left hand on the strings. Really it is not that bad. My class if FULL of left handers and they are doing great. Don`t give up so easily, give it time and patience! And if you are able to do stuff with your right hand, that just means both of your arms are getting "stronger" so to speak. So give it a shot, don`t spend the extra money on a left handed cello and risk the cello breaking from switching the strings. Give it time Good luck!

If you are going to play the cello left handed, I wouldn`t plan on playing in any kind of orchestra. If the note was to be played downbow, you`d hit the person`s bow on your left because you`d be bowing towards each other. If you were playing upbow, you`d be doing the same thing on the other side. Just thought I`d point that out.