For humans, it's normal to be a right-hander. Left-handers are generally uncommon within the general society, and even more uncommon in the music industry. However, that didn't stop left-handed guitarists from performing in the music stage. In fact, some of the legendary ones are lefties. Below is the proof:
Paul McCartney
Almost everyone knows Paul McCartney from The Beatles. However, during his childhood years, his father encouraged him to take up the trumpet. Then he heard the sound of rock and roll, and fell in love with the guitar. Paul had a very difficult time learning the guitar with the standard setup. It wasn't until he saw Slim Whitman (which was a leftie) on a live concert that he tried the idea of playing left handed as a means of easing his guitar-learning pains. He then imitated Whitman, restringing the strings and the rest is music history.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix is simply a music icon. Jimi was a natural-born left-hander. Yet his father believed that being a leftie is sinful, so Jimi learned the guitar using his right-handed. However, Jimi was a great innovator, which eventually lead him to start playing guitar left-handed. At first, he modified the strings, which is common for left-hander guitarist. Eventually, he just learned how to play left handed with an upside down right-handed guitars. Even to the end of his days, Jimi was able to play the guitar on both hands.
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain is the iconic frontman of the band Nirvana. He was a natural left-hander ever since he took center stage. His guitar-playing skills are often overshadowed by his tragic death at an early age, during the peak of his career. Kurt Cobain got his first guitar as a birthday gift at age 14. Soon after, he started writing his own original songs. Rolling Stone gave him the honor of being named as the 75th greatest guitarist of all time, to which only a few left-handers made the list.
Albert King
Albert King is a true blues music legend. Most of the time, left-handed guitar players restring their guitars so they can play the usual chord finger patterns with a left hand. Albert King was different in a way that he learned and played the guitar without restringing. He simply flipped a standard right-handed guitar upside down. This also forced Albert King's creativity to blossom and found new guitar tunes and sounds.
Tony Iommi
Tonny Iommi is popularly known as being a member of the legendary Black Sabbath. Ever since Iommi, he already played the guitar in a left-handed fashion. The interesting part is during Iommi's teen years, he lost the tips of his two fingers in a work accident. This eventually led him to de-tune his guitar as a way to ease the tension. Consequently, this led to the now popular signature sound of the heavy metal.
In Conclusion ...
So that's it. Of course, there are a lot of other left-handed great guitar players in music history. However, we picked these ones as the top. We do acknowledge that this is very subject and we don't claim this one as a "definitive list". After all, music is meant to be enjoyed and appreciated.
If you're a lefty yourself and in search of a new ax, make sure to check out our left-handed guitar section, featuring the same quality and construction as their standard counterparts!
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