Musicians Who Play Left Handed

This is a list of notable musicians who play their instruments left-handed. (This does not include left-handed people who play right-handed, such as Duane Allman, B. B. King, and Paul Simon.). Left-handed people play guitar or electric bass in one of four ways: play a right-handed guitar right-handed, play a true left-handed instrument, play a right-handed instrument that has been altered to play left-handed, i.e. with the bass strings on top), or 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 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 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

Man Kidal ( Plays guitar left-handed : Lefthanded Malaysia Rock Band }
Tim Armstrong (Rancid)
Perry Bamonte (ex-The Cure)
Jill Barber
Eric Bogle
Jonathan Butler
Jo Callis (The Rezillos/The Human League) - Plays guitar left-handed.
Calogero - Plays guitar and bass left-handed
Ali Campbell (ex-UB40)
Robin Campbell (UB40)
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) (Stetin 2001:5)
David Cook
Billy Ray Cyrus
Willie Duncan (Spider Murphy Gang)
Elliot Easton (The Cars)
Klaus Eichstadt (Ugly Kid Joe)
John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants)
Eagle "Bones" Falconhawk (The Aquabats)
Michael "Mikeydemus" Fry (Skindred)
Paulo Furtado (Wraygunn/The Legendary Tigerman)
Paul Gray (Slipknot) (left-handed) Started out playing right-handed, then changed to left-handed because it was more comfortable.
Ollie Halsall
Jimi Hendrix (Ferguson 1979:121)
Imai Hisashi (Buck-Tick)
"Kuddel" Andreas von Holst (Die Toten Hosen)
Ben Howard
Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) (Stetin 2001:5)
Paskal Jakobsen (BLØF)
George Johnson (Brothers Johnson)
Mark "Kazzer" Kasprzyk (Redlight King/Solo)
Dave Kilminster (former lefty; originally played left-handed until injury, now exclusively plays right-handed)
Dave King (Flogging Molly)
Hayley Kiyoko
Dave Longstreth (Dirty Projectors)
Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost)
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 (Babiuk 2001:14).
Al McKay (Earth, Wind & Fire (Stetin 2001:5)
Mike "Gunface" McKenzie (The Red Chord)
Luke Morley (Thunder / The Union )
Paul Mullen (The Automatic/Young Legionnaire/Yourcodenameis:milo)
Iggy Pop
Mac Powell (Third Day)
Omar Rodríguez-López (At the Drive-In/The Mars Volta)
Verónica Romeo
Cesar Rosas (Los Lobos)
Lukas Rossi - Can play the guitar with either hand.
Jeffrey Steele (formerly of Boy Howdy)
Sylvia Tyson
Kristopher Roe (Ataris)
Blake Schwarzenbach (Jawbreaker)
Josey Scott (Saliva)
Arnim Teutoburg-Weiß (Beatsteaks)
Ragnar þórhallsson (Of Monsters and Men)
Zacky Vengeance (Avenged Sevenfold)
Douglas Verhoeven (In-Quest)
Davey von Bohlen (The Promise Ring/Cap'n Jazz/Maritime)
Kaizer Von Loopy (Hanzel Und Gretyl)
Ryan Waste (Municipal Waste)
Andrew White (Kaiser Chiefs)
Felix White (The Maccabees)
Slim Whitman
Atahualpa Yupanqui

Notes

Jimi Hendrix was naturally left-handed but his father tried to force him to play right-handed because he believed playing left handed was a sign of the devil. Hendrix took right-handed guitars and restrung them for playing left-handed (Cross 2005:55). Hendrix did continue to write right-handed. Jimi DID learn to play right handed as mandated by his father, he had to play right handed any time his father was around(and left handed, upside down, when his father wasn't around) or risked losing the guitar forever.

Once he started making modifications that allowed him to play left handed with the strings in the proper order, he still had to play right handed with the old man nearby, so he also learned to play right handed with the strings upside down. His brother Leon's testimony confirms this in Sharon Lawrence's biography "Jimi Hendrix: the man, the magic, the truth" and in quotations from guitar players such as Mike Bloomfield in "Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child of the Aquarian Age" by Dave Henderson.

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 (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

Ed Blaney (The Fall)
Doyle Bramhall II (Stetin 2001:5)
Glen Burtnik (Styx/solo)
Eddy Clearwater
Babyface
Jimmy Cliff
Lefty Dizz
Elizabeth Cotten
Dick Dale (Stetin 2001:5)
Ed Deane
Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats) Right handed player, but DID play with strings upside down
Eric Gales, naturally right-handed but plays left-handed.
Benn Jordan
Jacek Kaczmarski
Albert King (Ferguson 1979:121)
Anika Moa, (New Zealand singer, songwriter)
Coco Montoya
Malina Moye
Kurt Nilsen (Winner of the first season of the Norwegian version of the Idol series)
Paul Raymond
Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals)
Kris Roe (The Ataris)
Otis Rush (Stetin 2001:5)
Graham Russell (Air Supply)
Seal
Dan Seals
Bill Staines
Dan Swanö
Dave Wakeling (The English Beat/General Public)
Karl Wallinger (World Party)
Bobby Womack
Dave Thomas (Blonde on Blonde)
Michael Card
Rusty Burns (Point Blank)

Unclassified left-handed players

Arif Sağ (plays bağlama left-handed)
Asya (Smoosh)
Gordon Anderson aka Lone Pigeon/(The Aliens)
Michael Angelo Batio plays a double-guitar ambidextrously
John Butler (Diesel Park West)
Robin Campbell (UB40)
Ali Campbell (UB40)
Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots)
Neil Harbisson, left handed experimental musician
Ed Harcourt
Shirlie Holliman (Pepsi & Shirlie)
Cheyenne Kimball (also plays mandolin left-handed)
Jez Lowe, actually right-handed but plays guitar left-handed.
Jon Oliva
Peter Plate (Rosenstolz)
Emily Robins (In The Elephant Princess, she is a band member and plays guitar left-handed)
Simon Taylor-Davis
Andrew "Whitey" White (Kaiser Chiefs)
Lari White
Wendy Wild
Rick Willson (Diesel Park West)
Michael Zakarin (The Bravery)
Wayman Tisdale
William Beckett (The Academy Is...)
Ade Firza Paloh (Sore Band)
Scott Hedrick (Skeletonwitch)

Many of The Muppets also play instruments left handed such as Kermit the Frog (banjo), Janice (guitar), and Floyd Pepper (bass guitar). This is because most of the puppeteers are right handed and control the puppets with their right hands, leaving their left hands for strumming.

Bass guitarists

Paul McCartney (The Beatles/Wings/solo) (Plays with strings in correct order, both guitar and bass)
Paul Gray (Slipknot) Gray started out on a right handed instrument but flipped it over and re-strung it to a true left hand style instrument and found that being left handed, playing left handed was much more natural and then moved on shortly after to playing actual left handed guitars and basses.
Patrick Olive (Hot Chocolate) (also plays percussion)
Paul Wilson (Snow Patrol)
Scott Reeder (Kyuss/The Obsessed/Unida)
Doug Pinnick (King's X)
Jeff Schmidt (Bass Soloist, plays with strings reversed)
Jeffrey Steele (Boy Howdy; see guitarists, above)
Nick Feldman (Wang Chung)
Robbie Merrill (Godsmack)
Martin Eric Ain (Celtic Frost)
Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets) (plays strings backwards)
Glenn Hampton (Rigor Sardonicous)
Ken Casey (Dropkick Murphys)
Kathy Foster (The Thermals)
Jacob Sproul (Rose Hill Drive)
Seffy Efrati (Blackfield, Aviv Geffen)
Colin Hodgkinson (Back Door)
Jimi Goodwin (Doves) (plays both guitar and bass with strings backwards)
Joe Mcguigan (Gama Bomb)
Brad Savage (Band from TV)
Jarkko Ahola (Teräsbetoni)
Wayman Tisdale
Todd Bell (Braid)
Eric Axelson (The Dismemberment Plan)
Awan Garnida Kartadinata (Sore Band)
Gerald Johnson (Steve Miller Band)
Nathen Maxwell (Flogging Molly)
Gerald Casale (Devo) (plays strings backwards)
George McArdle (Little River Band)
Kevin Whelan (The Wrens)
David Pahoa (The Plimsouls)
Dave "Shapes" Rimmer (Zodiac Mindwarp)
David Amezcua (Awolnation)
Jason Christopher (Sebastian Bach)

Drummers

Chris Adler (Lamb of God) plays on a right-handed set of drums leading with the left hand at times and the left foot at times but plays closed on the hi hat and open on the ride[citation needed]
Daryl Atkins (Arcane Roots)
Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band)
Rich Beddoe (Finger Eleven)
Mike Bordin (Ozzy Osbourne, Faith No More) uses a right-handed kit with the ride cymbal on the right
Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) alternates between left-handed and right-handed playing
Chloe (Smoosh)
Phil Collins (Genesis, solo)
Scott Columbus (Manowar)
Joe Daniels (Local H)
Tommy Decker (Spineshank)
Joe Easley (The Dismemberment Plan)
Joe English
Joshua Eppard (Coheed and Cambria)
Fenriz (Darkthrone)
Ginger Fish (Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie)
Dominator (Nils Fjellström) (Dark Funeral)
Mike Gibbins (Badfinger)
Cameron Greenwood (Terrorvision)
Zachary Hanson (Hanson)
Ian Haugland (Europe)
Steve Hewitt[5] (Placebo)
Dominic Howard (Muse)
Mark Jackson (VNV Nation)
Steve Jansen (Japan, The Dolphin Brothers, Nine Horses)
Pierre Langlois (The Black Dahlia Murder)
David Milhous (Lippy's Garden) right-handed and plays a complete left-handed kit
Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs), (Winger), (Jelly Jam), (Platypus)
Steve Negus (Saga)
Jerry Nolan (New York Dolls, The Heartbreakers)
Ian Paice (Deep Purple)
Pat Pengelly (Bedouin Soundclash)
Brett Reed (Rancid)
Neil Sanderson (Three Days Grace)
Robert Schultzberg (Placebo)
Tiger Si (Black Spiders)
Al Sobrante (Green Day)
Michael "Moose" Thomas (Bullet For My Valentine) plays on a right-handed kit, but leads with his left hand
Javier Weyler (Stereophonics)
Robbie Yeats (The Dead C)

Notes :

Ringo Starr is naturally left-handed but was taught to write right-handed. His drums are set up for right-handed playing, but he leads with his left hand.
Christopher Guanlao of Silversun Pickups is left-handed but plays a right-handed set primarily in "open style" (opposite to cross handed) and has his ride cymbal to his left.
Josh Eppard of Terrible Things and formerly of Coheed and Cambria also drums open-handed (left-handed on a right-handed kit) but writes right-handed.

Violinists

Richard Barth
Charles Chaplin
Rudolf Kolisch
Terje Moe Hansen (Norwegian classical virtuoso and pedagogue)
Katrina Pearce (champion folk fiddler, plays "over the bass" with strings reversed)
Ryan J. Thomson (naturally right-handed, but learned to play left-handed after developing focal dystonia that made right-handed bowing impossible)
Ornette Coleman
Ashley MacIsaac
Martin Weiss (French jazz violinist who plays in the style of Stéphane Grappelli)
Jurgen Kussmaul (violist)
Rivka Mandelkern