The Left Right Hand….

Hamilton blues diva Trish O’Neill and I were having a conversation the other week about how we both happened to be naturally left-handed, but learned to play guitar right-handed.  It was, for her as well as me, a matter of the availability of instruments as much as anything else.

But it led me to wonder, “How many others are there?” Well, once you get around to asking, it would seem that almost as many natural lefties play right-handed as left-handed. LeftHandedGuitarists.com  posts the following list of players who are left-handed, but play righty:

AL ANDERSON (I assume they mean the guy from NRBQ, not the guy who played with Bob Marley)

BILLY BOB THORNTON

BILLY CORGAN

BOB BROZMAN

BRUCE COCKBURN

CALVIN NEWBORN

CARL WILSON *

CHRIS MARTIN (Coldplay)

CHRIS REA

DANNY GATTON *

DAVE HOLE *

DAVID BOWIE *

DAVID BYRNE

DUANE ALLMAN

ELVIS COSTELLO

ERIK DARLING (The Rooftop Singers)

GARY MOORE

GEORGE BARNES

GEORGE VAN EPS *

GILES HEDLEY (Giles Hedley Blues Band, The Aviators)

INORAN (a.k.a. INOUE KYIONOBU)

JANICK GERS (IRON MAIDEN)

JIMMY RAINEY

JOHN WETTON (KING CRIMSON)

JOHNNY WINTER

JULIA ROBERTS

KEANU REEVES

KEITH CARRADINE

LEFTY FRIZZELL

MARE WINNINGHAM

MARK KNOPFLER *

MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO *

MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD

MICHAEL HEDGES

NICK LOWE

NOEL GALLAGHER (Oasis)

PASCAL PERIZ

PAUL LE MAT

PAUL SIMON

PHIL HILBORNE

PRESTON REED *

RIK EMMETT (Triumph)

ROBERT FRIPP

RUVANE KURLAND

STEVE CROPPER *

STEVE MORSE

TED GREENE

I am amazed by how many of my favourites are on here – Steve Cropper, Michael Bloomfield, Al Anderson. I am also amazed by how many super-pickers there are – Danny Gatton, George Van Eps, and one that remains unconfirmed – I’ve always understood Roy Clark to be a member of the fraternity.