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, Ritchie Blackmore, Mike Bloomfield, Rik Emmett, Robert Fripp, Matt Sharp, Noel Gallagher, Danny Gatton, Duff McKagan, Mike Starr, Janick Gers, Tom Araya, Dave Lombardo, Mark Knopfler, B.B. King, Gary Moore, Steve Morse, Joe Perry, Chris Rea, Paul Simon and Ringo Starr.)
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Left-handed people play guitar or electric bass in one of four ways: (1) play a right-handed guitar right-handed, (2) play a true left-handed instrument, (3) play a right-handed instrument that has been altered to play left-handed, i.e. with the bass strings on top), or (4) 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). 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.
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.
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.
Note: it is very unusual for anyone to play the violin "left-handed"; the vast majority of violinists whether they write with their left or right hand play the violin "right handed".
