Famous left hand players who still play right handed

mike257

I'm left handed and play righty, thus putting paid to the theory that the extra left hand dexterity aids virtuosity, none of that here!

@Spandex makes an interesting point about mixed handedness. I do a lot of things right handed. In fact, the only things I regularly do in a proper lefty fashion are writing and drumming!

DLM

kennedydream1980 said:

I've heard a tale about the guy who plays Paul McCartney in the Bootleg Beatles. He is actually right handed, but re-learnt himself to play all of McCartney's parts left handed to be authentic to the man himself. That's dedication for you!!

I mean I can't even begin to comprehend how frustrating that would be.

This came from my brother in law who is very good friends with the Keyboard player in the band, so I believe it's true. :-)

I've heard this too.

How about Eric Gales, a righty who learnt from his lefty brother and never second-guessed the orientation?

HAL9000

freakboy1610 said:

Joe Strummer was left handed.

Apparently his natural inclination was to play left handed but was 'encouraged' to play right handed by whoever taught him. He allegedly adopted the 'Strummer' moniker so as to be a constant dig at his teacher.

I believe Wilko Johnson and Mark Knopfler are both lefties who play right handed.

guitars4you

DLM said:

kennedydream1980 said:

I've heard a tale about the guy who plays Paul McCartney in the Bootleg Beatles. He is actually right handed, but re-learnt himself to play all of McCartney's parts left handed to be authentic to the man himself. That's dedication for you!!

I mean I can't even begin to comprehend how frustrating that would be.

This came from my brother in law who is very good friends with the Keyboard player in the band, so I believe it's true. :-)

I've heard this too.

How about Eric Gales, a righty who learnt from his lefty brother and never second-guessed the orientation?

Eric is weird in that he keeps it strung as per a right handed player/guitar - so not like Hendrix with a r/hand guitar re-strung for   a lefty

Albert King played similar to this I believe

so yes both totally oddball - just shows though that if that is how you start you adapt accordingly

Trude

I write left-handed, drink left-handed, eat sandwiches and other finger-food left handed. I'm right-handed for everything else, including guitar.

I hold my fork in my left hand, but weirdly I keep it there when twizzling spaghetti. Most people swap it to the right hand for that, I'm told.  

Does anyone have a photo of Hendrix eating spaghetti? 

clarkefan

I'm lefty and twirl spaghetti with fork in left hand, never knew that was unusual

I used righty guitars for years back in the day cos I couldn't find a left handed guitar.  The very first time I tried a guitar I tried it right handed, then left handed which just felt er correct.  Right handed felt alien, left handed natural.  I think it's a brain thing

Gassage

It's all to do with eye dominance.

Three-ColourSunburst

In the classical / orchestral world, practically all string players learn to play right-handed, irrespective of any natural preference, so handedness does seem to be something of a peculiarity to guitar playing.

Trude

Three-ColourSunburst said:

In the classical / orchestral world, practically all string players learn to play right-handed, irrespective of any natural preference, so handedness does seem to be something of a peculiarity to guitar playing.

I think that's more to do with orchestral symmetry - ie so you don't keep poking the person next to you in the eye... 

Three-ColourSunburst

Trude said:

Three-ColourSunburst said:

In the classical / orchestral world, practically all string players learn to play right-handed, irrespective of any natural preference, so handedness does seem to be something of a peculiarity to guitar playing.

I think that's more to do with orchestral symmetry - ie so you don't keep poking the person next to you in the eye... 

Yes, that's correct, but all those pro musicians seem to manage to learn to play the 'usual' way, so one would think that most 'lefties' could also learn to play guitars right handed. (Although there are doubtless a few who could not.)

Trude

clarkefan said:

I'm lefty and twirl spaghetti with fork in left hand, never knew that was unusual

No, it's not unusual for a lefty, but do you normally have your fork in your right hand?  I'm right-handed for normal cutlery, but left-handed for spaghetti cutlery, meaning the fork stays in the same hand.  

Since Hendrix was right handed but played guitar left handed, my hypothesis is that he would have been a left-handed spaghetti forker.  We need a photo of him eating spaghetti whilst reading a newspaper, so we can tell if the photo has been reversed.

DLM

guitars4you said:

DLM said:

How about Eric Gales, a righty who learnt from his lefty brother and never second-guessed the orientation?

Eric is weird in that he keeps it strung as per a right handed player/guitar - so not like Hendrix with a r/hand guitar re-strung for   a lefty

Albert King played similar to this I believe

so yes both totally oddball - just shows though that if that is how you start you adapt accordingly

@guitars4you Yeah, I knew he had the thinnest string closest to his face. Apparently SRV kept a guitar strung like that for playing Albert-style. I even heard he could play it lefty, but I'm not sure I believe that.

OT: Other lefty players with the thinnest guage on top are Thorsten Köhne, a Paul-Gilbert-influenced shredder , and Cormac Battle of Kerbdog. I always thought that was really strange, because metal relies so heavily on downstrokes, but these guys will have to execute those as upstrokes. :crazy: