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List of musicians who play left-handed

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of notable left-handed musicians who play their instruments naturally. This does not include left-handed people who play (or played) right-handed, such as Joe Perry, Mark Knopfler, and Gary Moore.

Guitarists and bassists

Paul McCartney playing a true left-handed guitar (a Gibson Les Paul).

Left-handed people play guitar or electric bass in one of the following ways: (1) play the instrument truly right-handed, (2) play the instrument truly left-handed, (3) altering a right-handed instrument to play left-handed, or (4) turning a right-handed instrument upside down to pick with the left hand, but not altering the strings – leaving them reversed from the normal order. (The fingering is the same for methods 2 and 3.) Any style of picking with the left hand (flatpicking or fingerstyle guitar) is considered playing left-handed.

Guitarists

  • Tony Iommi's guitar, a custom-made Gibson SG
    Tony Iommi's guitar, a custom-made Gibson SG
  • Jimi Hendrix's Les Paul Custom – a right-handed guitar with the strings reversed for playing left-handed
    Jimi Hendrix's Les Paul Custom – a right-handed guitar with the strings reversed for playing left-handed
  • Fender Kurt Cobain Signature Road Worn Jaguar
    Fender Kurt Cobain Signature Road Worn Jaguar

Left-handed with normal stringing

Guitarists in this category pick with their left hand and have the strings in the conventional order for a left-handed player (i.e. the low string on the top side of the neck). They either have true left-handed guitars or have right-handed guitars altered so the strings are correct for a left-handed player. Some guitarists in this category (e.g. Paul McCartney) play both genuine left-handed instruments and right-handed instruments altered for left-handed playing.

Changing the strings on a right-handed guitar involves several things. The nut of the guitar has to be changed to accommodate the string widths. The bridge needs to be changed to make the lower-note (thicker) strings longer than the higher-note (thinner) strings for correct intonation. On almost all acoustic guitars the bracing is non-symmetrical. On electric guitars altered this way, the controls will be backwards.

Notable players
Hendrix on stage in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1967
Tony Iommi playing a true left-handed guitar (a Jaydee Custom S.G.)
Jonathan Butler at the Newport Beach Jazz Festival, 2011.

Left-handed with strings backwards

These are left-handed players who play naturally, but with the strings organized to emulate an unaltered right-handed guitar, thus the strings are backwards for a left-handed player. The guitar is held left-handed with the high string on the top side of the neck (e.g. Bob Geldof). Some players in this category (e.g. Dick Dale and Albert King) had left-handed guitars with the strings as on a right-handed guitar, since they had learned to play that way.

Notable players
Dick Dale playing a customized left-handed guitar with the strings backwards.
Bob Geldof playing a right-handed guitar upside down (a Gibson).
Dan Swanö live at Nosturi

Unclassified left-handed players

Bassists

Paul McCartney playing a left-handed Rickenbacker 4001 bass
Jimmy Haslip playing a left-handed 6-string bass with strings reversed

Drummers

A left-handed drum kit is set up so that the instruments usually played with the right hand on a right-handed setup (ride cymbal, floor tom, etc.) are played with the left hand. The bass drum and hi-hat configurations are also set up so that the drummer plays the bass drum with their left foot, and operate the hi-hat (or, if using two bass drums, plays the second bass drum) with their right foot. Some drummers however have been known to play right-handed kits, but play leading with their left hand (e.g. playing open-handed on the hi-hat). This list does not include drummers who are naturally left-handed while playing drums purely right-handed such as Ringo Starr, Stewart Copeland, Dave Lombardo, Travis Barker, Eric Carr, and Chris Adler.

Violinists

The violin can be learned in either hand, and most left-handed players hold the violin under the left side of their jaw, the same as right-handed players. This allows all violinists to sit together in an orchestra.

Ukulele

Trumpet

Trombone

Banjo

Mandolin

Bansuri

  • Hariprasad Chaurasia (right-handed, started his career playing the bansuri, a side-blown flute, right-handed, and switched to left-handed playing)

References

Bibliography

External links

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