Hello V.R.&Lefty Fans,

                  Of course Albert King came to mind immediately.I was watching Eric Claptons' "Crossroads"benefit DVD&a young man by the last name of Bramhall{?}played left handed,high E up top,jammed w/E.C.,solo&w/an AMAZING steele guitarist name of Robert Randolf.I noticed most of his bends were pulled down,which made for some very cool,unique solos.I think many of you blues fans are well aware of Mr.Bramhalls' father.Us right handers mostly push our bends up,but I sometimes pull 'em down just to see what happens.Hey ,whatever works roll w/it.

                                                                  Keep On Doin' Whatcha Do V.R.&Lefties,

                                                                                                           GTRZAN

Jimi flipped the guitar but -- definitively -- re-strung it with the low E string on top and the high E string on bottom, i.e. proportionately correct. For absolute proof just watch the Woodstock concert video. There are plenty of extreme close ups of both Jimi's right and left hands. You can see the strings. Also ... notice on the photo below that Jimi is bending the strings UP. All the lefties I've played with who did not restring the guitar end up bending DOWN.

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"What Performers Are Paid" in the Ladies and Gentlemen forum.

"Greg Wright, of Greg Wright and Light Years, played a Strat upside down with the strings left as they were. He played it with his teeth and played it behind his back like Jimi, too. To top it off, he LOOKED exactly like Jimi.  He was (and still is, I guess. This was during the 70's) a VERY talented guitarist. Marriage (mine) ended my "Band Fan" days so I'm not sure what has become of Light Years or Greg Wright."

 

Hmmm...first I've heard of him. I heard of (and heard) many talented Hendrix impersonators over the years--both locally and nationally--but not this guy. What part of the country (USA) was he from, i.e., where did he perform?

 

Thanks,

 

Electrix

I did a Google search on Greg Wright and found this (from 2004):

 

On Sept 17 we will celebrate the 8th annual B-day of Jimi Hendrix at BB Kings Blues Club Hollywood. Special guests include Randy Hansen, Greg Wright, Guitar Jack and a special surprise guests. In years past the show has included guests like The late Noel Reading, This event is once a year and sells out early. Please contact adale9@earthlink.net or log onto www.grandentertainment.info for more information.

 

http://www.melodicrock.com/news/news.html

 

Electrix

 

I did a bit more research, and BINGO! I found Gregg's web site:

 

http://www.greggwright.com/main.html

 

Electrix

And speaking of  "southpaw" guitarists, I just found this:

 

Uncommon Sound - The Left-Handed Guitar Players That Changed Music

 

The following musicians are left-handed or play guitar left-handed. But not all of them are naturally left-handed.

Click one of the lines highlighted in red below, and in the right column you'll discover which guitarists play with proper left-handed stringing or with the strings upside down (i.e., keeping the right-handed stringing), or which lefty players are in fact right-handed! 

• Left-Handers who play guitar Left-Handed (lefty stringing)
• Left-Handers who play guitar Left-Handed Upside Down
• Left-Handers who play Right-Handed
• Right-Handers who play Left-Handed

 

http://www.lefthandedguitarists.com/

 

Electrix

Wow, nice stuff, Electrix. Lots of info.

Doyle Bramhall Jr. plays upside-down and gets better Hendrix nuance sounds than any player I've heard.

A great advantage to Jimi's set up is that the whammy is on top of the bridge when the guitar is reversed which makes it easier to hold in your palm while strumming.

Doyle II is awesome,and you are right about the nuances...

A HUGE fact that is commonly ignored about Hendrix is the fact that he stretched his middle finger and used it like you would use a ring finger.  This technique is what gave him his unique sound and appearance and makes it difficult to emulate him with accuracy.  This is probaly what left Pete Townsend dumbstruck when he first saw Hendrix. No Brit was doing this at the time. 

Also his mother was native American and because his father was black, he had self-esteem issues due to the complexity of his heritage.

Man the guitar is up side down that was his trade mark...sure he strung it to left,..upside down

i've been thinking about this one, and another possibility is that jimi might have been upside-down (while wearing a mirror suit*); or that every photo of him ever taken has been flipped left/right (either by yer standard hendrix magic, or by lab technicians the world over - they don't wear white coats for nothing y'know); or - and i accept that this is the least plausible - the audiences were standing on their heads.

enjoyed all the posts - thanx

*see 'a scanner darkly'

jocool you had me laughing my butt off.

Thanks for bumping the thread.

    Two other leftys who play guitars strung in the right handed manner are Glenn Burtnik (Styx)and Paul Raymond (UFO). Don't know about Glenn but Paul Raymond reflected in a response to a query in his site guestbook that when he started playing, a right hand guitar was the only one available to him and he simply taught himself to play "upside down" .  I also remember reading somewhere that when Paul McCartney and John Lennon first met, Paul showed John a bit of how to play upside down.