Famous Lefty Guitarists | Left-Handed Guitar Players

Posted by Austin Bazaar on 13th Aug 2015

In honor of National Left-Handers Day, we decided to feature a few of our favorite lefty guitarists. You may or may not have heard of some of these left-handed musicians, but they should definitely be on your radar!

1. Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney is arguably one of the most well-known lefty musicians. What you may not know is that McCartney is largely a self-taught musician and plays a multitude of instruments besides the bass including ukulele, banjo, piano and drums. Check out a fresh young Paul playing southpaw guitar solo in this footage from a Beatles performance in 1965.

2. Barbara Lynn

Beaumont, Texas native Barbara Lynn was one of the first female artists to top the blues/R&B charts. Along with recording her own hits, this left-handed dynamo toured with a long list of soul superstars including Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Ike and Tina Turner, the Temptations, and B.B. King.

3. Kurt Cobain

Another well-known left-handed guitarist is '90s anti-hero Kurt Cobain. We like to think that Kurt's lefty status was especially fitting as Nirvana's music was just as non-conforming. This video shows Nirvana's unplugged performance of The Man Who Sold The World originally by David Bowie (who is also a lefty, though he plays righty!)

4. Malina Moye

Malina is a fiery performer whose unique blend of rock 'n' roll, blues, and soul has people touting her as the female Jimi Hendrix. Like Jimi, Malina is also a lefty, and in this video she explains how she uses her amp settings to compensate for her unique guitar configuration (left-handed guitar with right-handed headstock and right-handed string configuration).

5. Iggy Pop

The frontman for The Stooges is probably best known for his unpredictable stage antics, but Iggy Pop is also an accomplished solo artist as well playing a variety of styles including rock, blues and jazz.

6. Tim Armstrong

Best known for being the lead singer of Rancid and The Transplants, Armstrong is an accomplished song-writer and guitarist. He has also worked with many of today's popular artists such as Pink, AFI, and Gwen Stefani. (Transplants bandmate Travis Barker is also a fellow southpaw!)

7. Courtney Barnett

This singer-songwriter and left-handed guitarist hails from Australia and has recently been attracting interest from many of the major music press, including Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. Barnett's debut album Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, released in March 2015, has been gaining worldwide on the music charts.