List of musicians who play left-handed

This is a list of notable left-handed musicians who play their instruments naturally. (This does not include left-handed people who play right-handed, such as Noel Gallagher,[1] Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Steve Morse, Billy Corgan, Jesper Stromblad, Dave Hill, Kiko Loureiro, Mark Knopfler, Gary Moore, Tomo Miličević, James Root, Duff McKagan and Paul Simon.)

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 four ways: (1) play a right-handed guitar or right-handed bass in a right-handed manner, (2) play a true left-handed guitar or bass, (3) play a right-handed guitar or bass that has been altered to play left-handed, or (4) turn a right-handed guitar or bass upside down, pick with the left hand, but leave the strings as they were – which makes 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

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 strings longer than the top 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 too, but with the strings as on an unaltered right-handed guitar, thus the strings are backwards for a left-handed player (e.g. Bob Geldof). Some players in this category (e.g. Dick Dale and Albert King) had custom instruments that were basically a left-handed guitar 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

Drummers

A drum kit for a left-handed person is set up so that percussion instruments drummers would normally play with their right hand (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 with their right foot. Some drummers however have been known to play right-handed kit, 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 but play drums purely right-handed such as Ringo Starr,[9] Stewart Copeland, Dave Lombardo, Travis Barker and Chris Adler.

Notes

Violinists

The violin can be learned in either hand, and most left-handed players hold the violin under their left chins, 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

  1. ↑ Noel Gallagher (Oasis) Late Late Show - 1996 circa 5 mins.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 (Stetin 2001:5)
  3. ↑ "TICE". Etab.ac-caen.fr. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Chase Bryant Talks Brantley Gilbert and ZZ Top, Performs 'Take It on Back' [Watch]". Tasteofcountry.com. 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  6. ↑ (Ferguson 1979:121)
  7. ↑ Guitarplayer interview
  8. ↑ https://lasentinel.net/melvin-williams-launches-world-tour-where-i-started-from.html
  9. ↑ "Ringo Starr Reveals The Secret Of His Distinctive Rhythm - CONAN on TBS". YouTube. 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  10. ↑ "Steve Hewitt – Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and pictures at". Last.fm. Retrieved 2015-12-21.

Bibliography

  • Cross, Charles (2005), Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix, Hyperion, ISBN 0-87930-662-9
  • Babiuk, Andy (2001), Beatles Gear, Backbeat Books, ISBN 978-0-7868-8841-2
  • Ferguson, Jim, ed. (1979), The Guitar Player Book, GPI Publications, ISBN 0-394-17169-1
  • Ruggere, Steve (1980). "Left-Handed Guitar: A Look at the Players, Problems, & Products". Guitar Player. 14 (5 (May 1980)): 48–50.
  • Stetin, Troy (2001), Left-Handed Guitar: The Complete Method, Hal Leonard, ISBN 978-0-7935-8788-9
  • Engel, John (2006), Uncommon Sound: The Left-Handed Guitar Players Who Changed Music, Left Field Ventures, ISBN 2-9600614-0-3, archived from the original on 2007-02-08
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