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.
Left-handed people play guitarorelectric 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 (flatpickingorfingerstyle guitar) is considered playing left-handed.
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.
Hendrix on stage in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1967Tony Iommi playing a true left-handed guitar (a Jaydee Custom S.G.)Jonathan Butler at the Newport Beach Jazz Festival, 2011.
Paul Gray (Slipknot) started out playing right-handed, then changed to left-handed as it was more comfortable being left-handed.
Paul McCartney (The Beatles) first struggled playing right-handed, but then saw a picture of Slim Whitman playing left-handed and realized that he could reverse the guitar, reverse the strings, and pick with the left hand (Babiuk 2001:14).
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.
Dick Dale playing a customized left-handed guitar with the strings backwards.Bob Geldof playing a right-handed guitar upside down (aGibson).Dan Swanö live at Nosturi
Paul McCartney (The Beatles/Wings/solo) plays with strings in correct order, both guitar and bass; plays drums right-handed
Robbie Merrill (Godsmack) actually right-handed, but plays guitar left-handed because of a birth defect that disabled the middle finger of his left hand.
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 (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.
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.
Paavo Berglund (A well known Finnish left-handed conductor who also played violin, often joining orchestra players for chamber music just for fun. Due to the value of his violin collection he did not want to change his instruments and had trained himself to play left-handed on violins with a standard set-up.)
