117

Dexterity
Posted on May 28, 2024 by David M Willis

117 thoughts on “Dexterity”

  1. IntangibleMatter

    Playin’ the uke like Paul McCartney

    1. Lysbeth

      Funny, I’d always thought Paul McCartney would be the sem- (I am immediately drawn off stage by a pack of wild cougars)

  2. Nono

    Looks like she’s… fret-ting about it.

  3. Cholma

    Batman is judging you.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Batman trained for years to be the best at playing the ukulele left-handed.

      It’s not a skill that comes up very often, but rest assured when it does he’s got it covered.

      1. Mr. Random

        When the Riddler’s Death Machine requires a perfect rendition of “Over the Rainbow” and your right hand is currently occupied with holding the “Death Crystal of Shaballah”, then it really helps to save the day.

        1. anonymsly

          I enjoy this scenario because it might mean Batman is using the Death Crystal as a ukulele pick. And that seems exactly like something that might happen in a comic.

        2. GholaHalleck

          Jack Black IS batman.

        3. ktbear

          Its true Ive never seen them both in the same room…

        4. Needfuldoer

          I thought he was Hulk?

        5. Daibhid C

          I’ve never seen Batman and Hulk in the same room either.

        6. Daibhid C

          …And now I have to tell my brain that this was a daft joke and it doesn’t actually need to run through the whole of Marvel Vs DC and JLA/Avengers to confirm this is accurate.

        7. keithcurtis

          Actually, they had a team up in a giant-sized crossover….

        8. JasonAW3

          Well, Bruce Banner and Bruce Wayne…
          I figured they’re both geniuses, and Banner had to finance his Gamma Bomb SOMEHOW, so…
          Bruce Banner is Bruce Wayne’s other, OTHER secret identity…

          and thus…

          BatHulk was born…

      2. ValdVin

        As a southpaw who plays guitar LH-strung, I’m used to not being able to play anyone’s guitar. But aren’t there some uses which use the same strings and can be tuned for lefties?

    2. Dean

      Batman can play the ukelele left-handed in space.

      1. Opus the Poet

        I understand this referenced dot gif.

        1. spriteless aunty

          I understand this reference to I understand this reference dot gif

      2. JasonAW3

        …because he can breath in Space..?!?

    3. TrueVCU

      Amazi-girl is judging you, but for non-ukulele reasons

  4. Slarstorm

    Maybe it’ll help if she wears a hat.

  5. NGPZ

    ?

    *plays “Somewhere Over The Rainbow on Ukelele” on hacked muzak*

    1. Laura

      Oh, my FAVORITE! Thank you! What a star.

  6. Bicycle Bill

    Gonna have to restring it if she’s gonna play it left-handed.

    1. pdp15

      Elizabeth Cotten played a rightie guitar left handed, as did Bill Staines. It’s doable.

      1. Dara

        Super doable. I played guitar once using only the top four strings after realising that I could use mandolin chords upside-down. If you want to sound like you’re not doing that you have to invert your strum pattern, but that’s not hard.

      2. Opus the Poet

        Jimmy Hendrix likewise inverted a right-handed guitar and played it left handed, back in the 1960s.

        1. Azrael

          Jimi restrung his guitar left handed though; he didn’t play it actually inverted, just the body was.

          Albert King and Lefty Dizz on the other hand did play right handed guitars backwards; they didn’t restring, just flipped them over and played. Lefty is sadly mostly forgotten, but was an awesome guitarist, while Albert King is better remembered. I recommend both.

      3. BarerMender

        As a left-handed guitarist, it blows my mind to watch Elizabeth Cotton. Playing the bass with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. How does she do that?

      4. Bridgebrain

        Especially on the Uke. Two less strings to keep track of

    2. ThomasQuinn

      Absolutely not necessary, especially on a ukelele, which is nearly always strummed. I’m a lefty who plays right handed guitars, it’s no big deal.

  7. Chaucer59

    Sal invents hard rock ukulele. Someone get that girl a whammy bar.

    1. Ray Radlein

      Comedian Wayne Federman already did that almost 40 years ago.

    2. Max

      Feng E from Taiwan also plays a mean rock ukulele:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngdwpNWjw9s

  8. jeffepp

    Waiting for this comic, I realized what the last one reminded me of. Well, who. Sal was totally Zendaya in that one. Saldaya.

    1. Jamie

      In general, or specifically in the Challengers movie?

      1. jeffepp

        I have no idea what movie that is.

    2. Thag Simmons

      Honestly she and Danny have been reminding me of Hadestown’s take on Eurydice and Orpheus

      1. CODDE117

        Damn, can’t unsee

  9. Mr. Random

    … it occurs to me that if her hand winged out on her when she was biking that it could have been a major issue. So I wonder if tyoing or anything else is hard for her.

    1. cain

      I’m guessing from my own experiences with nerve pain that it’s probably positional. Like, holding things certain ways might set off her nerves, but she’s probably accustomed enough to biking that she knows how to hold her hands without setting it off.

      1. Needfuldoer

        My guess is that she lost some fine motor control, range of motion, and/or feeling in at least a couple fingers on her right hand. Reconstructive surgery is pretty good, but they’re never exactly the same again after tendons and nerves get severed.

        She has enough grip strength to pull the front brake lever on her motorcycle, at least. (And to carry a book.)

    2. DashWallkick

      It’s not that kind of injury, fine motor control isn’t the same thing as losing your grip. Especially not with something like holding handlebars, where you have multiple fingers. She won’t be playing piano but she can still climb a ladder.

      1. Ray Radlein

        “Ladders? Where we’re going* we don’t need ladders”

        * up the side of a dorm building

      2. HueSatLight

        I lost both grip and fine motor control from a single injury. Not the same injury as Sal, though, I’m pretty sure.

  10. BBCC

    Yeah, that doesn’t look fun.

  11. Pocky

    gotta learn to play with your teeth

  12. Drain

    If Sal has no fans I’m DEAD!!!

  13. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Put down the ukelele, only then can the healing begin.

    1. Emil

      I was literally scanning the comments to check if someone hadn’t already posted this:)

    2. RassilonTDavros

      …shit, that’s good.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Yeah, it is! That should be a book title.

  14. Aslan

    Is Sal left-handed? Or is the ukulele typically played with the right hand on the fretboard? She doesn’t seem comfortable holding it like one would a right-handed guitar

    1. Aslan

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/mmnph/
      The guitar here is left-handed. If Sal lost some functionality with her dominant hand, that makes the injury a lot more debilitating

      1. Ray

        YEAH OKAY you found it yourself while I was typing glacially lol

    2. Ray

      I had to follow back up on a couple of things via their character tags: she frets guitar with her left hand, like most right-handed people. Danny frets the ukulele with his left hand, so it’s not likely laid out for fretting with the right hand.

      1. ThomasQuinn

        A ukelele only has four strings. They’re also tuned in any of a number of re-entrant tunings (high notes on the outside strings, lower notes between them). Flipping it upside down and playing it that way would take just a little effort to figure out, and if you’re used to it, it would be no issue whatsoever, neither strummed nor finger-picked.

      2. BarerMender

        She frets with her right hand. She’s apparently a southpaw.

      3. Nathan

        No, she frets with her right hand. That’s how she starts with ukulele in this strip, and that’s how she plays the guitar in the strip linked above

    3. Reltzik

      “I know something you don’t know: I’m not left-ukuleled!“

      1. Steamweed

        Danny returns. “There’s something I ought to tell you. I’m not left-ukuleled either.”

        *epic ukulele duel ensues

        1. Laura

          “You want to see the dueling ukeleles?

          I’ll show you the dueling ukeleles.”

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7sbTIN37lk

  15. Ray

    Thinking about how given that a left fretting hand gets prioritized on a lot of string instruments, and most picking methods don’t require significant dexterity, she’s not set up as bad there as she probably thinks.

    1. Bash

      I think it just sucks that what felt natural wasn’t possible because of an injury.

  16. Dday

    A cute, half-naked girl playin a uke feels like a viral Youtube short if I ever saw one

    1. Pergola

      Why are there not already seventeen links?

    2. GholaHalleck

      But what is she apologizing for?

  17. DailyBrad

    Sal looks cute in those. Kind of a fun contrast with Joyce’s style, previously.

  18. Suet

    If I could save time in a bottle
    The first thing that I’d like to do

    Can’t believe Batman is out here silently judging Sal’s playing technique

  19. HueSatLight

    like… I know she’s left handed, but aren’t the customary way to play stringed instruments kind of backwards? When you use a bow, it’s supposedly because of keeping the bow straight and control over volume. I’m not sure that couldn’t be learned though. Dexterity on the neck would be pretty beneficial.
    I don’t know much about strumming, but pizz was easier than bowing.

    1. Dara

      Picking, though. You want your better hand for that.

      If you’re a pure rhythm guitarist (ukulelist, whatever) however… yeah, I can see it.

      1. Weatherheight

        Check that out with Guitar George – he’s the one to get confirmation on that.
        (He knows all the chords)

        1. Needfuldoer

          But he doesn’t want to make it cry or sing.

        2. Disastroid

          “We are the Sultans of Twee”

  20. Shakes

    Does Sal downplay how much her stab hand is disabled as well as how it looks to others?

  21. CrazyJ

    As a left-handed guitarist who frets with their right hand, I don’t see any issues playing in that manner. Like you need more strength in your hand to fret that than to strum anyway.

    1. ThomasQuinn

      Strength, maybe a little. But if you do finger-picking, that takes a lot more dexterity than fretting does. I’m a lefty who plays right handed guitars flipped upside down – I can’t imagine doing any finger-picking with my right hand.

      1. Stormies

        It’s very learnable either way though. I’m left-handed, but piano taught me to use both hands pretty well, often favoring the right hand for the melody. When I picked up guitar I decided to learn it right-handed, just for ease of… being able to pick up a guitar and use it. It’s definitely not the direction that feels natural when picking up the instrument for the first time, but once you start that way you learn so many new hand movements anyway…

  22. CrazyJ

    Sorry I meant frets with their left hand (or like a right-handed guitarist).

  23. Blue Dragon

    You called today’s strip Dexterity?
    I’d have called it Strumming of Age.

    1. Bogeywoman

      *badum tss*

    2. Needfuldoer

      That’s sinister.

      1. Puppeteer Nessus

        Oh my god I got that

      2. HueSatLight

        gauche too

  24. tenkiforecast

    Usual convention is that frets are handled with your left hand to my knowledge-it’s how I’ve learned basic ukulele and how you usually see guitar.

    That being said given Sal’s injury/loss of dexterity, trumpet, french horn, or trombone would be possible instruments.

    1. Reltzik

      Sal’s already sufficiently brazen as is.

  25. Formedras

    [Nathan Lane voice] It starts.

  26. Ray

    Sal trying to figure out how Danny played HER so good….

    1. Opus the Poet

      There’s another comic that has a lesbian bassist/guitar player commenting on how it was a good thin she played fretted string instruments so she would have enough strength/dexterity to finger her partner properly. Menage a3 near the end of its run Zii talking to DeeDee, Zii is the guitar player in question and DeeDee is the person getting “played”.

      1. Taffy

        “She didn’t have guitarist fingers”

  27. Callid13

    Hmm, I tried to figure out if Sal was left- or right-handed, and did a bit of research. In flashback panels, she seems consistently left-handed – she holds the knife in her left hand (which was an indicator of the knife-wielder fake-out, BTW, Amber’s red panel shows a right-handed grip – which is how se holds it when she stabs Sal), and she places her money on Marcie’s bed with her left hand.

    Some (though by no means all) more recent (comic-chronology-wise) strips, however, often show her as though she were right-handed (for example, when Joyce hovers over her in bed, she grabs her with her right hand, and she also points with it a lot). This makes me wonder if she has effectively trained herself to be ambidextrous or right-handed, but is/was originally left-handed. Either that, or Willis simply sometimes forgets she’s a lefty.

    1. Ray Radlein

      When I got stabbed through the back of my left hand, post-surgical physical therapy made me more ambidextrous, as I started to do things like write left-handed to help strengthen the hand back up (also, I thought it would be cool to write on the chalkboard with both hands while I was teaching, so I did)

      1. Callid13

        It seems likely that that’s what’s going on here, then, too. Thank you for sharing 🙂

      2. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        When I developed carpal tunnel syndrome, one of the things I did to ameliorate it was force myself to mouse with my left hand to reduce the load on my very dominant right hand. Though I have now realized I switched back to right hand mousing at some point.

    2. HueSatLight

      Confirmed on tumblr.

      Grabbing or pointing or whatnot with a non-dominant hand doesn’t really mean anything.

    3. BarerMender

      As a southpaw, it would seem natural to grab with my right if going for the throat; presumably to keep my strong hand free for working them over.

  28. gnomedeplume

    With a bit of practice she’ll be ready to make a youtube apology.

  29. Chris

    Picked up our dog from the vet yesterday. In the office was another dog being picked up. When he faced us (we were still outside, I had just opened the door for my wife to enter) I thought, oh my god, that thing looks like a bat! The face and ears looked just like a bat head stuck on a medium sized dog’s body. Then I realized the owner had a batman themed harness on him. My wife and I both just cracked up, laughing out loud. I got embarrased we did that and stammered an apology to the man. He laughed and said, no don’t worry about it, that’s why we got the harness, after all.

  30. Chubseus

    Now I can’t help but think about how the Walkertons sent their daughter away with a relatively fresh, debilitating injury/surgery and probably didn’t help her at all. They certainly don’t ask about it nowadays. They certainly ruined their relationship with their daughter such that she wouldn’t ask for help even if she needed it.

    1. Amós Batista

      the more I think about it

  31. John Campbell

    I just realized that Sal’s not wearing the shirt she came in in, but rather the one that Joyce left there.

    1. CianM1301

      Which was her shirt to begin with.

      1. Taffy

        Yes, but now with the added bonus that another set of titties was in it just a little while ago.

    2. HueSatLight

      She likes how it smells now (new cigarette smoke).

      1. John Campbell

        Stale booze, Joyce, Joe, and a hint of Dorothy.

  32. Da Boy

    Then Danny walks in
    And does that Fangasm reaction Po tends to make when he sees some cool Kung Fu thing

  33. CianM1301

    A new hand touches the beacon.

  34. Alan in DC

    Do the world a favor Sal … fill his uke with concrete and hang it back up.

    1. staszu13

      Second that

  35. Taffy

    I like Sal and all, but she’s super hot and really fun to read.

  36. Hof1991

    Sals learned to adjust to the good things life has provided.

  37. darkoneko

    Alas, poor Sal T___T

    but maybe that’ll work. It’d require retraining, and the right hand would still be strained depending on how fast the song to play is, but it may work T_T

  38. Nathan

    Is she switching from playing left-handed to playing right-handed in this comic?

  39. Derek

    I’m mostly just grossed out that Sal is wearing the dirty sweaty shirt Joyce wore all night to drink and then wore while having diarrhea.

  40. HueSatLight

    No G-String puns yet?

    1. Opus the Poet

      I don’t think Ukes have a G open string.

      1. Rotunda

        Depends on the tuning, and Sal has been seen tuning Danny’s ukulele with a G string: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/02-this-is-the-way-that-we-love/tune/

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