I started playing UPSIDE DOWN in 1957, nobody told me I could get a lefty guitar until 2007. I bought a lefthanded guitar but six months on I sold it and went back to my old ways. I then changed my thinking and learned o do all the things I wanted including Travis picking with my little finger & ring finger... GO LEFTIES!!!
Albert King was the first guitarist I had heard about that played upside-down when I was younger and I will admit that did surprise me a bit, but after jamming on Born Under A Bad Sign with my band one day I definitely gotta give him props for his playing style. So damn cool
As a lefty guitarist, I really appreciate this video! I do play strong lefty with a “normal” string order, but occasionally, I’ll pick up a right handed friend’s guitar and play it upside down. Thanks for putting this together, Ms. Moye!
Rob Saint from Houston Texas! I was honored playing drums with who I call one of the best guitarists out there! From blue's to funk to heavy f.....n Metal. Thanks Rob for the opportunity brother.
Not only an incredible player, but also an incredible teacher, incredible inspiration to young musicians and just adding some interesting general guitar knowledge to all those are interested. I am not left handed nor play upside down I just find this a very interesting topic ever since learning Albert played upside down. I have also seen some of the videos Malina did for Fender where she goes through creating solos. Above all else there is just something about her.. It's like she is a shining ray of positivity. It must be what people mean when they say pregnant woman glow or something.. I clicked on the video to learn about upside down guitar playing but am just overcome with what a wonderful person Malina Moye is. Just wanted to say that i genuinely appreciate all the stuff you're putting out Malina and hope you keep at it!
Lefties playing upside down is an incredible skill. I'm always impressed. I'm a lefty and many years ago when I first started to learn, i learned right handed guitar cos that was the only thing that was available. Then about a year later I paid through the nose to buy a left handed guitar and started all over again and learned left handed. Because I started right handed, after all these years I'm still able to play a little bit of right handed guitar, just strumming chords like a beginner, and a bit of finger picking. Nothing earth shattering. I have both left handed and right handed guitars now.
I am a lefty about to start playing on a right-handed guitar acoustic upside down that's how I feel comfortable learning so this will be my endeavor. Really appreciate this video gives me the encouragement I need to learn right-handed guitar upside down Thank you
I’ve been playing upside down for 40 yrs. I remember the first time I heard Albert King on my alarm clock radio and was dreaming I was playing and as I woke up I thought I got to find out who this is that sounds like me and when they announced Albert King I was so thrilled. Now at that moment of course I didn’t know he played upside down yet and I found out , I said makes perfect sense. I drove my guitar tutor crazy in college and all my friends tried to get me to switch but it was too late. And BTW. I play bar chords and power chords all day. So what’s that about. All my best , Big Dave Simpson
Hey, if you can do it that way and it feels right, then screw everyone else. Just because they can't do it doesn't mean someone else can. I'm a lefty, but I use lefty guitars. For me fretting a chord upside down is really hard, but not impossible.
@@Lucifer2066 I had a guitar playing friend who was right handed and played with his strings and guitar left handed reversed. So not just upside down backwards like me but double reversed. He was one of the only people who I could tell what chord he was fingering. It was like a mirror image. So in effect he played left handed upside down but was primarily right handed. I have no idea how he wound up playing like this. He was a really good guitarist.
I’m left handed and I’ve just started learning guitar I decided to play upside down because it felt fun to do just knowing your playing in a way that not that many people are playing in it makes the music feel likes it’s mine and not anyone else’s
Don’t forget Coco Montoya, he is a great upside down blues player as well. I play a lefty strung correctly, but looking back now, I wish I would have learned the upside down way because I’m really limited to what guitars I can get. Had I learned upside down, I could go anywhere, pick up any old righty and play it….too late now after 30 years🎸🎸🎸
I’ve been playing that way for 56yrs. My main reason is to keep the Volume and Tone Knobs out of the way so I don’t keep moving them with my arm, but I still play Righty guitars if need be. Nice Video and Subject! Cheers from Salem, Ohio!
I'm lefty- played bass upside-down for six years. Then, I got an upright bass. Thumb position is impossible 'backwards.' Been playing now for 55 years. I just turned 70, and bought two new Sire lefty 5 string basses. It's in my blood. I knew Otis Rush, did a weekend gig with him once, fun and interesting. Great video, Malina!
Very cool. I like how Eric Gales is a right handed person but learn to play upside down with the left hand. I'm righthanded. I bought a short scale bass and I just couldn't get my coordination. I decided to flip it to see how it feels. I'm not going to get ahead of myself here and say okay I'm all set, but it does feel more comfortable. My brain likes the concept of (top) E and (bottom) G. My hands are responding better with the reversed roles. Just feels a little more natural. I still stink but I'm more comfortable LOL
I'm right handed but I played my first two years "flipped righty"/"upside-down lefty" ... until I came to my senses, bit the bullet, got an actual lefty guitar, and learned again how to play with the strings the correct way for a lefty. Playing well with the strings upside-down clearly can be done...but you must be unique. You have to do everything your own way, because EVERYTHING is different, and different things are possible and impossible. wikipedia has a more complete list of these rare brethren: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musicians_who_play_left-handed#Left-handed_with_strings_backwards
I'm a left handed guitarist, but I use a left handed guitar. I really don't see how people play a right handed guitar upside down without reversing the strings. I have tried it but it is very hard. I have seen others do it but it's so hard that they sound awful. Only once did I see someone do it and do it very well and I was really impressed. So hats off you you upside down guitarists out there. If it works for you then do it. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something. When I got my first guitar and asked this guy to teach me how to play he told me that I could not play guitar because I was left handed. Thing is that guy had bought a right handed Alpine white Stratocaster because he liked Jimi Hendrix, but the guy didn't even know he was left handed. I'd love to see him tell Jimi that he could not play because he was a lefty. Oh, and I use .008s myself, like Albert King, I don't wanna work that hard...lol
Weird how our brains are wired differently to each other. I'm one of those who has to flip the vertical axis control on video games. I didn't think about it much til I discovered that I felt more comfortable flipping the string order on the Rocksmith guitar trainer/game. I play standard RH guitar but I still relate better to the Rocksmith display with strings inverted! - it's just how what my eyes see happening in front of me connect to what my fingers do out of sight!
Awesome video! I am lefty, been playing upside down for several years, than I learned how to play normal lefty guitar where I got righthanded tehnique.. And now I can play both ways, normal or upside down.. It is such a great feeling to see other people doing it this way, in the beginning literaly everybody told me that's the wrong way.. But some things I can find even easyer to do on upside down way.. And it is crazy how the sound is different when I play the same song normal or upside down :D
Oh I love you soooo Much for this! I've been playing bassakwards since I was 5! errrr 48 yrs! I never knew of Miss Elizabeth or the cotton pickin connotation. Love Sir Albert! I struggle with getting out there but finding my wind and Thanks for the inspiration!
Lefty upside-down player here. I only knew about Elizabeth Cotton before this video. I never considered it a particularly cool style or anything, it's just how I picked up the first guitar I had access to, which happened to be a right-handed guitar, and I just figured out the chord shapes/fingerings that worked and got used to where the strings are. What I didn't know was that you can order a lefty body with a righty headstock...now THAT is neat.
I’m just curious why you would want a righty headstock on a left body because then the tuning knobs are on the bottom and that just makes it less convenient to tune your guitar unless it has to do with the sound it produces. Also aren’t some of the left and right handed necks shaped slightly asymmetrical so that the fretboard on the treble side is slightly lower than the bass side? Also something I never noticed before but is on any guitar headstock whether it’s a left or right handed guitar is the tuning pegs are geared to tighten the strings in one direction which is counterclockwise. A righty tightens the strings in a counterclockwise motion with his left hand which is a more natural way. Kind of like how you tighten a screw down clockwise with your screwdriver in your left hand doesn’t feel as comfortable as with your right hand does. I play left handed with the strings the normal way. At least they can reverse the pots on electric guitars for lefties but they still don’t reverse the numbers on the knobs. Oh well, the trials and tribulations of a true lefty!
@@Guitarman2 I don't play enough to consider all your really cool and valid points! And I've mainly played with acoustic ukuleles and guitars, so tuning pegs are on both sides. Never bothered me! :P
What a cool vid. I've been playing for 50 years and I've always been fascinated by the lefties who were too cheap to get the bridge and nut switched. They just stayed. And I swear this curio among fretsters was given the full stamp of amazment by my seeing and hearing a young man in Cleveland back in the mid '70's. It was a free event in Forest Hill Park, and the band was large, a show band prepared to cover all sorts of pop, jazz, and soul tunes. Everyone wearing a suit. And the guitarist was playing a gibson 175 upside down. Yes, a 175. And he was brilliant and completely leading the band--his approach a combination of George Benson (whom he resembeled), Joe Pass, and "Frankie" Little Jr..
Like a lot of you probably, I picked up a normal guitar and just kept playing it that way. There are many, many things that are way harder-slash-impossible for me to do- that basic Chuck Berry boogie lick with your pinky for just one. And I don't know if it's harder to use upstrokes to get the downstroke tone, but I did get mean carpal tunnel in the punk days. And you look weird. But at 61, the die is cast!
This is so cool! Thanks! The first guitarist I saw play upside down was Amber Bain from The Japanese House, and it blew my mind at how cool she looked. Watching this, I wonder if Tosin Abasi was influenced by Mr King's way of playing, at least to some extent.
Thanks for this enlightening and motivational video! I am left handed, and started playing acoustic guitar upside down in my adolescence. I became quite good at rhythm, and I soon found out that the reversed guitar has a peculiar, brilliant, sound, because you strike first the high strings, which I like.However I never learned proper fingerpicking, because the thumb is in the wrong position (I experimented a bit with using the index finger to play the bass as Elizabeth Cotten did, but didn't go very far). I tried many times to turn my guitar the other side and learn "the proper way", but in the end I was always frustrated and switched back to upside-down guitar. Since I'm primarily a pianist, the issues I found were not in left hand dexterity, but rather in "feeling the rhythm" in the right hand. I still don't understand to this day if I just din't go past a resistance or there is an intrinsic reason why strumming works better for me with the right hand. Recently I started played electric bass and electric guitar. I bought right-handed instruments and I play upside-down. I'm getting better every day, but I understand I have some limitations: first of all, the cut is on the wrong side, so access to higher strings is difficult or precluded; then string muting, for both bass and guitar must be completely rethought, but I already managed to get good results, for sure using methodologies which are different from those used by right-handed guitarists; but the biggest limitation I found is in doing certain kinds of double stop with bending on the lower string, which are very natural for a right-handed (the pinky is already in the correct position) and very difficult when not impossibile for an upside-down guitarist; I also find difficult some basic funk chords voicings (dominant 9ths and 13ths) which are very easy for a right handed guitarist and challenging for me. If you are looking for your unique style this is not an issue. On the contrary, you can explore the things that YOU can do which are precluded to a regular player, but it will be almost impossibile to reproduce the sound of famous guitarist, say play a David Gilmour solo. Since I also have that ambition, I decided not to use left-handed instruments and I started to play right-handed, while continuing to play upside down. The good thing is that since the strings are in the same position, the mental image remains the same, to that everything that I learn by playing upside-down will be conceptually ready when playing regularly. What of course has to be rebuilt is hand dexterity and muscular memory, but I', working on it :-) I wonder how many ambidextrous guitarists exist. My secret dream would be to have a double neck (bass + guitar) custom built instrument, with the bass neck on one side and the guitar on the other :-)
I am an amateur acoustic fingerstyle player and a huge fan of Elizabeth Cotton. I never realized there were so many left handed guitarists that play upside down.
Thank you A great subject, about which you know a lot. I would add another important LHUD guitarist: the great Bobby Womack. Not only did he have a very successful artist career but He played with Sam Cooke, Ray Charles & on Aretha recordings etc.
I have a left handed friend who doesn't play upside-down but then when I borrow her guitar, I'm the one who's playing upside-down (as I'm right-handed). I must admit it is not that difficult to figure the chords backwards.
I've been thinking on doing that as well. I'm left handed , but play a right hand guitar . Sometimes it comes out right , and sometimes it doesn't . I would have to Albert King is #1 . I think it's time for me to try the other way and see how it goes.
Incredible.... I seen Coco Montoya (played with J Mayall and the Blues Breakers) in Port Charlotte FL in 2017 or 2018... Also a lefty playing upside down
Let’s not forget Rusty Burns of Point Blank. (RIP) Rusty was one of the finest guitarists to come from the Lone Star State! Rumor has it Bill Ham stifled Point Blank to push ZZ Top to the top! At any rate, Rusty was one bad ass Texas guitar player and those of us who loved his playing will always miss him! 😉🎸
Other upside-down lefties: Dave Wakeling (English Beat/General Public) Karl Wallinger (Waterboys/World Party) Graham Russell (Air Supply) Me! :-) Those are a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
I learned how to play bass this way, though recently I bought an actual left-handed bass and I found it isn't actually that hard to conceptualize mirroring the neck like that. Suffice to say I can still play both ways 😎
I hear that from lots of bassists, who learned with an actual left handed bass, but are often in gigging situations, where there are only right handed ones available. I guess it's easier with bass, because it is more single note lines than chords and all strings are tuned in 4ths. Guitarists have to deal with the b string tuned a major 3rd higher than g, which makes it less symmetrical.
I write left-handed but by being taught most other tasks from my entirely right-handed family and told 'just do this... but... backwards.?.", therefore learning things right-handed and practicing left-handed, im ambidextrous in most all things. I have a right-handed guitar and am just starting to learn so i'm considering learning right-handed as well as lefty-upside-down like i do with other things to make it easier in the future. Upside-down lefty feels the most natural while playing chord-less riffs so far.
I'm left handed but I've always played guitar right handed. For some reason playing the guitar right handed has always been more comfortable to me since I was a little kid. I attempted to play drums in jazz band in high school but I could never figure out if I was more comfortable with the snare drum on my right or left side hehe. So I gave up haha
i always thought Hendrix played this way cause Joe Walsh said Jimi did in an interview but Jimi strung the right handed guitar upside down only but did not have the strings reversed with the high e on the top. Cool now i feel more like Hendrix the GOAT imo!
Great vid. I read that Jimi Hendrix could play both left and right handed and upside down because his dad wanted him to learn right but when he would leave the room he would just switch it back to lefty :). I’m a good Ight handed player but I just started learning it upside down. It be cool to be ambidextrous heheh
I also can't help but to always notice how huge Albert King was.. Literally. I always think about Freddie's song Living on the Highway when he recounts meeting Howlin Wolf 'He's a giant of a man'. 3:06 Malina holding her V (what most people look like with a V), then skips to the next scene and Albert King dwarfs that flying v. He makes it look small
I'm relieved to know that the term "cotten pickin" came from this woman. Yosemite Sam had me feeling a little uncomfortable for a hot minute... thanks for doing this! It actually bothers me that I haven't even heard of black music month before this and apparently it's been a thing since 1979 o.O again, thank you!
Just a few, Paul McCartney, Kurt Cobain, Elliot Easton, Tony Iommi, Bobby Womack, Jimmy Cliff, Ceasor Rosas. And of course on any list JIMI. But you are my favorite leftie female!
Our stories are so similar, I was blowing out Johnny cash ghost riders when I was seven and then people who knew music tried to force me to go right but I was like "too late!"
Dick Dale was the first I heard did that...I'm lefty but as a kid never attempted the upside-down play I didn't know it was possible or I would have started that way. ..maybe gales wanted his penmanship hand on the fretboard I play lefty and write with my right..
A real oddball in this history is also Rand Burkey, formerly of the metal band Atheist. Upside-down playing isn't something I consider as counter-intuitive and "weird" as other regular guitarists do, since I don't believe in there being any real "rules" or viable one-size-fits-all guidelines as to how one achieves the creative results one goes for. Buuuuuut.... Tech-thrash rhythm playing that's heavily dependent on powerchords and downstrokes on the low strings!? THAT's gotta be a bit difficult this way, but listening to the old Atheist records, Burkey definitely made it work. Absolutely killer player.
Really interesting video. It seems like double challenge to play a left handed guitar with the strings reversed but as you say you get different opportunities with that. I'm right handed but play left handed probably because I could never bar six strings with my left hand and it just get more comfortable holding a guitar that way. End result less guitar choice :-)
I honestly thought lefty's always restrung them. I need to do more research, I've been too busy playing for 15 years. I love the 8s quote. "I don't wanna work that hard" I can't find the quote anywhere online
Who was left off the list?.. Me!! Campfire Guitar Hero LOL. Not quite the same league as these guys and gals, but still a LH upside-down guitar player. 👍
As everyone probably knows, Jimi played a Strat upside down. However, unlike great players, Albert King and Eric Gayles, Hendrix did actually restring his guitar, making it play as a proper lefty. But apparently, this cat in the video just flipped a righty over like King & Gayles.
As an upside down player this was inspiring but what about the strap situation ? Is drilling a hole or buying a right handed body the only option? I ask because I hear there are now left handed guitar straps.
В России такой гитарист, это Антон Докучаев (Bender) гитарист группы ПТВП и Л.С.П. а также его собственный бомбический проект The Benders. вот он конечно круто играет...!
I'm a left handed upsidedown intermediate player. So is it possible for left handed upside-down players to play barre chords? I can almost make some basic barre chords sound clear, but I feel like it's cheating to only play part of the barre chord. I feel if barre chords weren't a think I would be way better player. What should I do?
I play like this, and im real special :-] the bending strength bit is true. Its so easy to do pedal steel style double stop bends and whatnot. The singer songwriter thumbslap is off the table, but 2006 already happened !!! Rise up backwards bastards.
Yeah, I started pretty recently (lefty but normal string order) and heard that too, being called dumb and the same lame arguments. The worst of them, I guess, is "I'm a lefty who plays right-handed" while meaning "if it works for me, it will work for you too, you're just stupid if you don't do so". I'm totally fine with lefties playing RH if it works for them but I hate the aforementioned argument.
You left off one that a lot of people dont know but was a powerhouse writer and underrated guitarist, Bobby Womack. attributing it to having to play his brothers' guitar secretly when he was a kid. Hendrix was often seen just flipping a righty when messing around and jamming. He supposedly could do that pretty well and i ve seen a little footage of him doing it. And of course, a lot Albert King's approach is different cause of his tuning also. Someone who knew him told me he played real heavy strings on the bass and lighter on the top (is that the top still lol) and I think that quote isnt really from him but who knows he was as bad as they come, Otis Rush too.
I started playing UPSIDE DOWN in 1957, nobody told me I could get a lefty guitar until 2007. I bought a lefthanded guitar but six months on I sold it and went back to my old ways. I then changed my thinking and learned o do all the things I wanted including Travis picking with my little finger & ring finger... GO LEFTIES!!!
Finally ! A video I can relate to, as I am myself a Lefty playing Upside-Down ! Thanks for the love, Reverb 😍
You left me off the list 😂. I’m 63 and playing this way for 45 years and not changing now. Southpaws Unite💪
Albert King was the first guitarist I had heard about that played upside-down when I was younger and I will admit that did surprise me a bit, but after jamming on Born Under A Bad Sign with my band one day I definitely gotta give him props for his playing style. So damn cool
i had no idea, they dont even teach you about half of these people. man, this is incredible, thank you so much.
And if we're talking bass, you can't forget MonoNeon
And Sonny T.
Scott Reeder
And Jimmy Haslip
And Gerald Casale.
There's also Gerald Johnson, and Waymon Tisdale and quite a few others.
Love this subject!
I always find it intriguing and inspiring to see how other people approach playing this way and what they do :)
As a lefty guitarist, I really appreciate this video! I do play strong lefty with a “normal” string order, but occasionally, I’ll pick up a right handed friend’s guitar and play it upside down. Thanks for putting this together, Ms. Moye!
SNAP! :P
Rob Saint from Houston Texas! I was honored playing drums with who I call one of the best guitarists out there! From blue's to funk to heavy f.....n Metal. Thanks Rob for the opportunity brother.
Not only an incredible player, but also an incredible teacher, incredible inspiration to young musicians and just adding some interesting general guitar knowledge to all those are interested. I am not left handed nor play upside down I just find this a very interesting topic ever since learning Albert played upside down. I have also seen some of the videos Malina did for Fender where she goes through creating solos. Above all else there is just something about her.. It's like she is a shining ray of positivity. It must be what people mean when they say pregnant woman glow or something..
I clicked on the video to learn about upside down guitar playing but am just overcome with what a wonderful person Malina Moye is. Just wanted to say that i genuinely appreciate all the stuff you're putting out Malina and hope you keep at it!
Lefties playing upside down is an incredible skill. I'm always impressed.
I'm a lefty and many years ago when I first started to learn, i learned right handed guitar cos that was the only thing that was available. Then about a year later I paid through the nose to buy a left handed guitar and started all over again and learned left handed. Because I started right handed, after all these years I'm still able to play a little bit of right handed guitar, just strumming chords like a beginner, and a bit of finger picking. Nothing earth shattering.
I have both left handed and right handed guitars now.
I am a lefty about to start playing on a right-handed guitar acoustic upside down that's how I feel comfortable learning so this will be my endeavor. Really appreciate this video gives me the encouragement I need to learn right-handed guitar upside down Thank you
I’ve been playing upside down for 40 yrs. I remember the first time I heard Albert King on my alarm clock radio and was dreaming I was playing and as I woke up I thought I got to find out who this is that sounds like me and when they announced Albert King I was so thrilled. Now at that moment of course I didn’t know he played upside down yet and I found out , I said makes perfect sense.
I drove my guitar tutor crazy in college and all my friends tried to get me to switch but it was too late. And BTW. I play bar chords and power chords all day. So what’s that about. All my best , Big Dave Simpson
Hey, if you can do it that way and it feels right, then screw everyone else. Just because they can't do it doesn't mean someone else can. I'm a lefty, but I use lefty guitars. For me fretting a chord upside down is really hard, but not impossible.
@@Lucifer2066 I had a guitar playing friend who was right handed and played with his strings and guitar left handed reversed. So not just upside down backwards like me but double reversed. He was one of the only people who I could tell what chord he was fingering. It was like a mirror image. So in effect he played left handed upside down but was primarily right handed. I have no idea how he wound up playing like this.
He was a really good guitarist.
I’m left handed and I’ve just started learning guitar I decided to play upside down because it felt fun to do just knowing your playing in a way that not that many people are playing in it makes the music feel likes it’s mine and not anyone else’s
Don’t forget Coco Montoya, he is a great upside down blues player as well.
I play a lefty strung correctly, but looking back now, I wish I would have learned the upside down way because I’m really limited to what guitars I can get. Had I learned upside down, I could go anywhere, pick up any old righty and play it….too late now after 30 years🎸🎸🎸
Totally agree. I watched him from a front row seat and talked to him later. Nice guy and fascinating to watch him play.
I’ve been playing that way for 56yrs. My main reason is to keep the Volume and Tone Knobs out of the way so I don’t keep moving them with my arm, but I still play Righty guitars if need be. Nice Video and Subject! Cheers from Salem, Ohio!
I'm lefty- played bass upside-down for six years. Then, I got an upright bass. Thumb position is impossible 'backwards.' Been playing now for 55 years. I just turned 70, and bought two new Sire lefty 5 string basses. It's in my blood. I knew Otis Rush, did a weekend gig with him once, fun and interesting.
Great video, Malina!
Very cool. I like how Eric Gales is a right handed person but learn to play upside down with the left hand. I'm righthanded. I bought a short scale bass and I just couldn't get my coordination. I decided to flip it to see how it feels. I'm not going to get ahead of myself here and say okay I'm all set, but it does feel more comfortable. My brain likes the concept of (top) E and (bottom) G. My hands are responding better with the reversed roles. Just feels a little more natural. I still stink but I'm more comfortable LOL
I'm right handed but I played my first two years "flipped righty"/"upside-down lefty" ... until I came to my senses, bit the bullet, got an actual lefty guitar, and learned again how to play with the strings the correct way for a lefty. Playing well with the strings upside-down clearly can be done...but you must be unique. You have to do everything your own way, because EVERYTHING is different, and different things are possible and impossible.
wikipedia has a more complete list of these rare brethren: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_musicians_who_play_left-handed#Left-handed_with_strings_backwards
I'm a left handed guitarist, but I use a left handed guitar. I really don't see how people play a right handed guitar upside down without reversing the strings. I have tried it but it is very hard.
I have seen others do it but it's so hard that they sound awful. Only once did I see someone do it and do it very well and I was really impressed. So hats off you you upside down guitarists out there. If it works for you then do it. Don't let anyone tell you you can't do something. When I got my first guitar and asked this guy to teach me how to play he told me that I could not play guitar because I was left handed. Thing is that guy had bought a right handed Alpine white Stratocaster because he liked Jimi Hendrix, but the guy didn't even know he was left handed. I'd love to see him tell Jimi that he could not play because he was a lefty.
Oh, and I use .008s myself, like Albert King, I don't wanna work that hard...lol
Weird how our brains are wired differently to each other. I'm one of those who has to flip the vertical axis control on video games. I didn't think about it much til I discovered that I felt more comfortable flipping the string order on the Rocksmith guitar trainer/game. I play standard RH guitar but I still relate better to the Rocksmith display with strings inverted! - it's just how what my eyes see happening in front of me connect to what my fingers do out of sight!
Awesome video!
I am lefty, been playing upside down for several years, than I learned how to play normal lefty guitar where I got righthanded tehnique.. And now I can play both ways, normal or upside down.. It is such a great feeling to see other people doing it this way, in the beginning literaly everybody told me that's the wrong way.. But some things I can find even easyer to do on upside down way.. And it is crazy how the sound is different when I play the same song normal or upside down :D
Oh I love you soooo Much for this! I've been playing bassakwards since I was 5! errrr 48 yrs! I never knew of Miss Elizabeth or the cotton pickin connotation. Love Sir Albert! I struggle with getting out there but finding my wind and Thanks for the inspiration!
Lefty upside-down player here. I only knew about Elizabeth Cotton before this video. I never considered it a particularly cool style or anything, it's just how I picked up the first guitar I had access to, which happened to be a right-handed guitar, and I just figured out the chord shapes/fingerings that worked and got used to where the strings are. What I didn't know was that you can order a lefty body with a righty headstock...now THAT is neat.
I’m just curious why you would want a righty headstock on a left body because then the tuning knobs are on the bottom and that just makes it less convenient to tune your guitar unless it has to do with the sound it produces. Also aren’t some of the left and right handed necks shaped slightly asymmetrical so that the fretboard on the treble side is slightly lower than the bass side? Also something I never noticed before but is on any guitar headstock whether it’s a left or right handed guitar is the tuning pegs are geared to tighten the strings in one direction which is counterclockwise. A righty tightens the strings in a counterclockwise motion with his left hand which is a more natural way. Kind of like how you tighten a screw down clockwise with your screwdriver in your left hand doesn’t feel as comfortable as with your right hand does. I play left handed with the strings the normal way. At least they can reverse the pots on electric guitars for lefties but they still don’t reverse the numbers on the knobs. Oh well, the trials and tribulations of a true lefty!
@@Guitarman2 I don't play enough to consider all your really cool and valid points! And I've mainly played with acoustic ukuleles and guitars, so tuning pegs are on both sides. Never bothered me! :P
After getting weird looks and shit from people at countless music stores - thank you for making this video and making me feel like I'm not insane
What a cool vid. I've been playing for 50 years and I've always been fascinated by the lefties who were too cheap to get the bridge and nut switched. They just stayed. And I swear this curio among fretsters was given the full stamp of amazment by my seeing and hearing a young man in Cleveland back in the mid '70's. It was a free event in Forest Hill Park, and the band was large, a show band prepared to cover all sorts of pop, jazz, and soul tunes. Everyone wearing a suit. And the guitarist was playing a gibson 175 upside down. Yes, a 175. And he was brilliant and completely leading the band--his approach a combination of George Benson (whom he resembeled), Joe Pass, and "Frankie" Little Jr..
Another upside down lefty player here. Pickin on a Lowden acoustic and a National resonator.
Like a lot of you probably, I picked up a normal guitar and just kept playing it that way. There are many, many things that are way harder-slash-impossible for me to do- that basic Chuck Berry boogie lick with your pinky for just one. And I don't know if it's harder to use upstrokes to get the downstroke tone, but I did get mean carpal tunnel in the punk days. And you look weird. But at 61, the die is cast!
This is so cool! Thanks! The first guitarist I saw play upside down was Amber Bain from The Japanese House, and it blew my mind at how cool she looked. Watching this, I wonder if Tosin Abasi was influenced by Mr King's way of playing, at least to some extent.
Thanks for this enlightening and motivational video!
I am left handed, and started playing acoustic guitar upside down in my adolescence. I became quite good at rhythm, and I soon found out that the reversed guitar has a peculiar, brilliant, sound, because you strike first the high strings, which I like.However I never learned proper fingerpicking, because the thumb is in the wrong position (I experimented a bit with using the index finger to play the bass as Elizabeth Cotten did, but didn't go very far). I tried many times to turn my guitar the other side and learn "the proper way", but in the end I was always frustrated and switched back to upside-down guitar. Since I'm primarily a pianist, the issues I found were not in left hand dexterity, but rather in "feeling the rhythm" in the right hand. I still don't understand to this day if I just din't go past a resistance or there is an intrinsic reason why strumming works better for me with the right hand.
Recently I started played electric bass and electric guitar. I bought right-handed instruments and I play upside-down. I'm getting better every day, but I understand I have some limitations: first of all, the cut is on the wrong side, so access to higher strings is difficult or precluded; then string muting, for both bass and guitar must be completely rethought, but I already managed to get good results, for sure using methodologies which are different from those used by right-handed guitarists; but the biggest limitation I found is in doing certain kinds of double stop with bending on the lower string, which are very natural for a right-handed (the pinky is already in the correct position) and very difficult when not impossibile for an upside-down guitarist; I also find difficult some basic funk chords voicings (dominant 9ths and 13ths) which are very easy for a right handed guitarist and challenging for me.
If you are looking for your unique style this is not an issue. On the contrary, you can explore the things that YOU can do which are precluded to a regular player, but it will be almost impossibile to reproduce the sound of famous guitarist, say play a David Gilmour solo.
Since I also have that ambition, I decided not to use left-handed instruments and I started to play right-handed, while continuing to play upside down. The good thing is that since the strings are in the same position, the mental image remains the same, to that everything that I learn by playing upside-down will be conceptually ready when playing regularly. What of course has to be rebuilt is hand dexterity and muscular memory, but I', working on it :-)
I wonder how many ambidextrous guitarists exist. My secret dream would be to have a double neck (bass + guitar) custom built instrument, with the bass neck on one side and the guitar on the other :-)
I am an amateur acoustic fingerstyle player and a huge fan of Elizabeth Cotton. I never realized there were so many left handed guitarists that play upside down.
Certified, 60+ year upside down lefty here. Still playing gigs and getting the "how do you do that stuff" questions :)
Thank you A great subject, about which you know a lot. I would add another important LHUD guitarist: the great Bobby Womack. Not only did he have a very successful artist career but He played with Sam Cooke, Ray Charles & on Aretha recordings etc.
I have a left handed friend who doesn't play upside-down but then when I borrow her guitar, I'm the one who's playing upside-down (as I'm right-handed). I must admit it is not that difficult to figure the chords backwards.
This was great, I am a lefty myself and I love every person on this list.
I've been thinking on doing that as well. I'm left handed , but play a right hand guitar . Sometimes it comes out right , and sometimes it doesn't . I would have to Albert King is #1 . I think it's time for me to try the other way and see how it goes.
I'd never heard of Bramhall but now I realize I did see him play with Waters some 15 or 20 years ago. Finally solved that mystery.
He was steaming, playing with Waters.
Incredible.... I seen Coco Montoya (played with J Mayall and the Blues Breakers)
in Port Charlotte FL in 2017 or 2018... Also a lefty playing upside down
Man, I so hope that someday fender will make a signature Malina Moye, even though I am a lefty, I don't play upside down.
Let’s not forget Rusty Burns of Point Blank. (RIP) Rusty was one of the finest guitarists to come from the Lone Star State! Rumor has it Bill Ham stifled Point Blank to push ZZ Top to the top! At any rate, Rusty was one bad ass Texas guitar player and those of us who loved his playing will always miss him! 😉🎸
Other upside-down lefties:
Dave Wakeling (English Beat/General Public)
Karl Wallinger (Waterboys/World Party)
Graham Russell (Air Supply)
Me! :-)
Those are a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
I learned how to play bass this way, though recently I bought an actual left-handed bass and I found it isn't actually that hard to conceptualize mirroring the neck like that. Suffice to say I can still play both ways 😎
I hear that from lots of bassists, who learned with an actual left handed bass, but are often in gigging situations, where there are only right handed ones available. I guess it's easier with bass, because it is more single note lines than chords and all strings are tuned in 4ths. Guitarists have to deal with the b string tuned a major 3rd higher than g, which makes it less symmetrical.
I write left-handed but by being taught most other tasks from my entirely right-handed family and told 'just do this... but... backwards.?.", therefore learning things right-handed and practicing left-handed, im ambidextrous in most all things. I have a right-handed guitar and am just starting to learn so i'm considering learning right-handed as well as lefty-upside-down like i do with other things to make it easier in the future. Upside-down lefty feels the most natural while playing chord-less riffs so far.
Even more rare, on bass ! Jimmy Haslip.
I'm left handed but I've always played guitar right handed. For some reason playing the guitar right handed has always been more comfortable to me since I was a little kid. I attempted to play drums in jazz band in high school but I could never figure out if I was more comfortable with the snare drum on my right or left side hehe. So I gave up haha
i always thought Hendrix played this way cause Joe Walsh said Jimi did in an interview but Jimi strung the right handed guitar upside down only but did not have the strings reversed with the high e on the top. Cool now i feel more like Hendrix the GOAT imo!
Great vid. I read that Jimi Hendrix could play both left and right handed and upside down because his dad wanted him to learn right but when he would leave the room he would just switch it back to lefty :). I’m a good Ight handed player but I just started learning it upside down. It be cool to be ambidextrous heheh
i’m pretty sure he just restrung his guitar upside down
also - the American cartoonist Rabert Crumb played guitar upsidedown in his folk band way back when (1960's)
I also can't help but to always notice how huge Albert King was.. Literally. I always think about Freddie's song Living on the Highway when he recounts meeting Howlin Wolf 'He's a giant of a man'.
3:06 Malina holding her V (what most people look like with a V), then skips to the next scene and Albert King dwarfs that flying v. He makes it look small
Jimmy Haslip, bassist extraordinaire .
❤ guitar
Awesome doco. yeah me too. In the African band Tinarawen there are some upsidedown lefties too.
I'm relieved to know that the term "cotten pickin" came from this woman. Yosemite Sam had me feeling a little uncomfortable for a hot minute... thanks for doing this! It actually bothers me that I haven't even heard of black music month before this and apparently it's been a thing since 1979 o.O again, thank you!
I don’t think people that don’t play guitar realize how difficult learning upside down guitar would be. It’s fascinating
Jimmy Haslip from the Yellowjackets is one of the only upside bass players I can think of.
MonoNeon, Sonny Thompson also come to mind...
Bobby Womack
Malina is a great music teacher!
Just a few, Paul McCartney, Kurt Cobain, Elliot Easton, Tony Iommi, Bobby Womack, Jimmy Cliff, Ceasor Rosas. And of course on any list JIMI. But you are my favorite leftie female!
Our stories are so similar, I was blowing out Johnny cash ghost riders when I was seven and then people who knew music tried to force me to go right but I was like "too late!"
Thanks for the respect! I'm a right handed person but can't play right handed for some reason, no matter how hard I try! So I play left handed.
Seal also does this
Dick Dale was the first I heard did that...I'm lefty but as a kid never attempted the upside-down play I didn't know it was possible or I would have started that way. ..maybe gales wanted his penmanship hand on the fretboard I play lefty and write with my right..
A real oddball in this history is also Rand Burkey, formerly of the metal band Atheist. Upside-down playing isn't something I consider as counter-intuitive and "weird" as other regular guitarists do, since I don't believe in there being any real "rules" or viable one-size-fits-all guidelines as to how one achieves the creative results one goes for. Buuuuuut.... Tech-thrash rhythm playing that's heavily dependent on powerchords and downstrokes on the low strings!? THAT's gotta be a bit difficult this way, but listening to the old Atheist records, Burkey definitely made it work. Absolutely killer player.
Really interesting video. It seems like double challenge to play a left handed guitar with the strings reversed but as you say you get different opportunities with that. I'm right handed but play left handed probably because I could never bar six strings with my left hand and it just get more comfortable holding a guitar that way. End result less guitar choice :-)
Great history and playing- don’t forget Coco Montoya in a followup🎶
I honestly thought lefty's always restrung them. I need to do more research, I've been too busy playing for 15 years. I love the 8s quote. "I don't wanna work that hard"
I can't find the quote anywhere online
Meanwhile, his occasional duet partner SRV is playing along on 13s ... and looks like he's workin HARD
@@RamblinBob 13s, ouch
He also tuned down 2 & 1/2 steps which is how he bent double strings so far.
Im learning to play upside down currently. My pinky is all busted on my left hand so i’m kinda forced. Good to see its not so uncommon!
FMD! I never knew Albert King or Dick Dale played upside down
Who was left off the list?.. Me!! Campfire Guitar Hero LOL. Not quite the same league as these guys and gals, but still a LH upside-down guitar player. 👍
That was absolutely brilliant that!
The Swedish virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen occasionally plays a left handed strat!
As everyone probably knows, Jimi played a Strat upside down. However, unlike great players, Albert King and Eric Gayles, Hendrix did actually restring his guitar, making it play as a proper lefty. But apparently, this cat in the video just flipped a righty over like King & Gayles.
A great start to a video, I love Flying V's.
I really like this whole video.
As an upside down player this was inspiring but what about the strap situation ? Is drilling a hole or buying a right handed body the only option? I ask because I hear there are now left handed guitar straps.
Great video!
В России такой гитарист, это Антон Докучаев (Bender) гитарист группы ПТВП и Л.С.П. а также его собственный бомбический проект The Benders. вот он конечно круто играет...!
Amazing information! Thank you so much!
I saw Eric @Buddy Guy's......they blew the roof off da joint!
I'm a left handed upsidedown intermediate player. So is it possible for left handed upside-down players to play barre chords? I can almost make some basic barre chords sound clear, but I feel like it's cheating to only play part of the barre chord. I feel if barre chords weren't a think I would be way better player. What should I do?
Uffe Steen is an astonishing guitarist who plays upside down
ive heard billy gibbons on several occasions attribute the quote about using 8s or 7s as not working as hard to BB king not albert king
This is amazing 🤩🤩🤩
I play like this, and im real special :-] the bending strength bit is true. Its so easy to do pedal steel style double stop bends and whatnot. The singer songwriter thumbslap is off the table, but 2006 already happened !!! Rise up backwards bastards.
Glad, there's someone with the same case as me 😁😁😁
Thanks for the history
and there are still people that say lefty people should be forced to play right-handed...
Yeah, if someone tried to force me to play right handed I'd make them a popsicle with my guitar like Vlad the Impaler.
Yeah, I started pretty recently (lefty but normal string order) and heard that too, being called dumb and the same lame arguments. The worst of them, I guess, is "I'm a lefty who plays right-handed" while meaning "if it works for me, it will work for you too, you're just stupid if you don't do so". I'm totally fine with lefties playing RH if it works for them but I hate the aforementioned argument.
@@molekyyli Paul Simon is a lefty who decided to learn right handed
@@Guitarman2 And your point is...?
@@molekyyli Not sure! Just disregard what I said!
Stan Skibby!one of the most amazing guitar players!
Great video and subject matter!
You left off one that a lot of people dont know but was a powerhouse writer and underrated guitarist, Bobby Womack. attributing it to having to play his brothers' guitar secretly when he was a kid. Hendrix was often seen just flipping a righty when messing around and jamming. He supposedly could do that pretty well and i ve seen a little footage of him doing it. And of course, a lot Albert King's approach is different cause of his tuning also. Someone who knew him told me he played real heavy strings on the bass and lighter on the top (is that the top still lol) and I think that quote isnt really from him but who knows he was as bad as they come, Otis Rush too.
Please check Edgar Scandurra from Brazil. One of the greatest.
It's a different sub universe.
I’m a lefty and seeing people play upside down like that hurts to watch lol it’s sooo painful
Great video
Is there some righ hand guitarists who play upside down strings?
Man, Eric gales is on a whole different level....!
here before Benn Jordan!
You forgot about Bobby Womack and his Brothers 🙂
Matt Beck from Rob Thomas
Nice piece. You ain’t no slouch on guitar yourself 👍🏻😎
Benn Jordan aka The Flashbulb
Im left handed but i play right handed i thought i would have to turn the guitar upside down but it worked out well for me