Left Hand Guitar

Guitar Lefthanded

This is a list of famous musicians who play guitar left-handed. This does not accept people who play right-handed, despite being left-handed. Left-handed individuals play guitar or electric bass in one of four ways:

(1) play a right-handed guitar right-handed
(2) play a true left-handed instrument
(3) play a right-handed instrument that has been altered to play left-handed, i.e. with the bass strings on top)
(4) 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. (The fingering is the same for methods 2 and 3.) Any style of picking with the left hand (flatpicking or fingerstyle guitar) is believed playing left-handed.

Also guitarists in this category pick with their left hand and have the strings in correct place 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 adjusted so the strings are proper for a left-handed player. Several guitar players in this class (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 requires several things. The nut of the guitar has to be changed to accommodate the string widths. The bridge requires to be adjusted to make the lower strings longer than the top strings for proper intonation. On almost all acoustic guitars the bracing is non-symmetrical. On electric guitars altered this way the controls will be backwards.

2 Comments »

  Alvin’s Blog :: Lefthand Guitar Review :: October :: 2009 wrote @ October 26th, 2009 at 5:29 am

[...] Guitar Lefthanded [...]

  Guitar LeftHanded Review « Lefthand Guitar Review wrote @ October 26th, 2009 at 5:46 am

[...] Posted on October 26, 2009. Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: lefthand guitar, lefthand guitar guide, lefthand guitar info, lefthand guitar review | Guitar Lefthanded [...]

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