List of musicians who play left handed

This is a list of musicians who play guitar, bass or drums left-handed. This does not include people who play right-handed, despite being left-handed.

Guitarists

Left-handed people play guitar or electric bass in one of three ways: (1) play a right-handed guitar right-handed, (2) play a true left-handed instrument (or a right-handed instrument that has been altered to play left-handed, i.e. with the bass strings on top), or (3) turn a right-handed guitar upside down, pick with the left hand, but leave the strings as they were – which makes them reversed from the normal order for a left-handed player. Any style of picking with the left hand (flatpicking or fingerstyle guitar) is considered playing left-handed.

Left-handed with strings correct

Guitarists in this category pick with their left hand and have the strings in the correct order for a left-handed player (i.e. the low string on the top). 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.
*Tim Armstrong (Rancid)
*Jo Callis (The Rezillos/Human League) - Plays guitar left-handed.
*Calogero - Plays guitar and bass left-handed [http://www.etab.ac-caen.fr/clg-cerisy/calogero%20photo.jpg]
*Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) harvcol|Stetin|2001|p=5
*David Cook
*Billy Ray Cyrus
*Elliot Easton (The Cars)
*Jimi Hendrix harvcol|Ferguson|1979|p=121
*Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) harvcol|Stetin|2001|p=5
* George Johnson (Brothers Johnson)
*Paul McCartney (The Beatles) McCartney first tried playing right-handed, but was making no progress. He saw a picture of Slim Whitman playing left-handed and realized that it was necessary to reverse the guitar, pick with the left hand, and reverse the strings harvcol|Babiuk|2001|p=14.
*Al McKay (Earth, Wind & Fire harvcol|Stetin|2001|p=5
*Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos)
*Lukas Rossi - Can play the guitar with either hand.
*Jeffrey Steele (formerly of Boy Howdy)
*Slim Whitman
*Zacky Vengeance

Left-handed with strings backwards

These are players who play left-handed, but with the strings as on an unaltered right-handed guitar, thus the strings are backwards for a left-handed player. 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.
*Elizabeth Cotten
*Dick Dale harvcol|Stetin|2001|p=5
*Albert King harvcol|Ferguson|1979|p=121
*Doyle Bramhall II harvcol|Stetin|2001|p=5
*Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats)
*Coco Montoya
*Malina Moye
*Kris Roe (The Ataris)
*Otis Rush harvcol|Stetin|2001|p=5
*Graham Russell (Air Supply)
*Seal
*Dan Seals
*Bill Staines
*Bobby Womack

Unclassified left-handed players

*John Bigham (Fishbone)
*Zeff Childress (Sanctity)
*Ed Harcourt
*Cheyenne Kimball
*Iggy Pop
*Mac Powell (Third Day)
*Bjarne Roupé
*Gruff Rhys
*Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (At the Drive-In/The Mars Volta)
*Bent Sæther (Motorpsycho)
*Andrew "Whitey" White (Kaiser Chiefs)
*Lari White
*Zacky Vengeance (Avenged Sevenfold)
*Michael Zakarin (The Bravery)
* Joel Stoker (The Rifles)
* Aidan Horn (Last Ride In)
*Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots)
*Simon Taylor-Davis
*Jill Barber
*Wendy Wild

Bass guitarists

*Paul Gray (Slipknot)
*Paul McCartney (The Beatles/Wings/solo) (plays with strings in correct order)
*Paul Wilson (Snow Patrol)
*Scott Reeder (Kyuss/The Obsessed)
*Doug Pinnick (King's X)
*Jeff Schmidt (Bass Soloist)
*Jeffrey Steele (Boy Howdy; see guitarists, above)
*Robbie Merrill (Godsmack)
*Martin Eric Ain (Celtic Frost)
*Ken Casey (Dropkick Murphys)

Drummers

*Al Sobrante (Green Day)
*Phil Collins (Genesis, solo)
*Steve Jansen (Japan, The Dolphin Brothers, Nine Horses)
*Ian Paice (Deep Purple)
*Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band)
*Dominic Howard (Muse)
*Zachary Hanson (Hanson)
*Mark Jackson (VNV Nation)
*Brett Reed (Rancid)
*Mike Bordin (Ozzy Osbourne, Faith No More)
* Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) alternates between left-handed and right-handed playing
* Joe English
* Rich Beddoe (Finger Eleven)

Violinists

*Charles Chaplin
*Rudolf Kolisch

References

*Citation
last=Babiuk|first=Andy
year=2001
title=Beatles Gear
publisher=Backbeat Books
ID=ISBN 0-87930-662-9

* citation
|editor-last=Ferguson|editor-first=Jim
title=The Guitar Player Book
year=1979
publisher=GPI Publications
isbn=0-394-17169-1

* citation
|last=Stetin|first=Troy
title=Left-Handed Guitar: The Complete Method
year=2001
publisher=Hal Leonard
isbn=978-0793587889

Further reading

*

Left-handed guitar books

* The left-handed guitarists manual: How a left-handed guitar player "sees" the guitar : a guide to left-handed guitar chords, by Charles F Mahl, 1994

* Mel Bay Left-Handed Guitar Chords, by William Bay, 2005

* Left Handed Guitar Chord Chart, by Robert Tarchara, 1996

* Guitar Case Guide to Left-Handed Chords, by Rikky Rooksby, 2001

* Guitar Case Guide to Left-handed Scales, by Rikky Rooksby, 2006

External links

* [http://www.lefthandedguitarists.com Left Handed Guitarists] A website completely dedicated to musicians and other famous figures who are left-handed.