The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #12697   Message #101275
Posted By: Doctor John
01-Aug-99 - 11:01 AM
Thread Name: Five Strings and Left Hands
Subject: Five Strings and Left Hands
Not that it causes me any problem: just curious. Left handed guitarists usually swap the strings around so they are still sort of playing the right way, hitting the bass strings with their thumb. An exception was Elizabeth Cotten who really played the guitar upside down, giving her a unique sound. But you can't swap round the strings on a five string banjo because (mostly) the drone fifth string at the "top" is a short string not going up to the neck; so are special banjoes made or do the left handed just learn the usual way. Dr John