Late Night Music Part 139........"Left Handed Guitar Players"
You may think I'm full
of it, but it is unbelievable how many items are made completely for
right handed people. Being a left handed person, it is extremely
difficult to adjust sometimes, and I am 100% serious. In music, some
left handed people have said they have learned to play right handed just
due to the pressure of someone teaching them to play and the look of
having all the guitars in the same direction. As dumb as this sounds,
I've decided to dedicate tonight's list to lefties out there everywhere
who dare to be different.
In order to be considered for this list, any member of the band who played guitar or bass had to play left handed. Naturally left handed right handed guitar players were disqualified. In a rare "Late Night Music" feat, all songs receiving votes were included in this post.
"Run"- Snow Patrol. Great live performance here on The Late Show With David Letterman by Snow Patrol of my favorite song by them. This song off of their 2003 album The Final Straw would prove to be Snow Patrol's first major mainstream exposure peaking at #5 on the British Singles Charts, and would go on to be covered by Leona Lewis (I seriously smell a bonus video!) and was recently featured on the NBC Broadway drama Smash covered by former American Idol contestant Katharine McPhee. Oh, and in case you didn't notice, bassist Paul Wilson plays left handed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVSN8gXQ6z8
"Here I Am (Come And Take Me Away)"- UB40. I have to admit that UB40 gets on my nerves- a British reggae band? Really? And the UK is HOW far from the Caribbean? Anyway, despite that, they've had a very long career highlighted by songs like this one that peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990 off of their Gold album Labour of Love II. Interestingly enough ALL THREE Campbell brothers in the band are left handed, and it's seen very clearly here with Robin Campbell in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AeRMrZCPGk
"Just Like You Said"- Seal. Man I love Seal. Talk about a guy with true soul and real musical talent. This acoustic ballad was featured on his third album, 1999's Human Being, and while it was widely creative, it never capture the magic of 1995's Seal, which reached platinum status. This album was very different just for the fact it was recorded as a tribute to Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. Pretty interesting connection there. As seen in this spectacular live performance from London, Seal not only plays the guitar left handed, but he plays upside down. As we'll see with a few other artist who do this, this not only looks very weird, it looks hard as balls. I have no idea how he does this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjQMpYyMb8c
"When Can I See You"- Babyface. Here's another guy who plays upside down (seriously, watch it looks so weird!). This 1995 single from Babyface's album For The Cool In You is surprisingly his highest charting single as a solo artist peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. I always found this strange seeing how the guy wrote how many #1 singles for other artist? (I smell a blog on that coming up very soon). This single also earned Babyface the Grammy for Best Male R & B Performance, his first as a singer. I always thought the Asian waitress in this video was smoking hot. I wonder who she was. Ok, now that I've finished watching this video again, I have to think it was smarter for Babyface to give those songs he wrote to other artists. "End Of The Road" just wouldn't have the same ring coming from him- just sayin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee9SCW91urE
"Purple Haze"- The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Jimi Hendrix was interesting because he could play the guitar both handed, and played left handed upside AND re strung. Early in his life, his father forced him to play right handed because he said that playing left handed "was a sign of the devil". So, in protest, Hendrix would play left handed upside down when his father was away, but would also play right handed when his father was around. In his hay day, he played left handed normally, as seen here in this awesome video. This widely famous single from the band's 1967 album Are You Experienced? was actually a bigger hit in the United Kingdom at the time of release, but went on to become one of the most famous heavy metal songs ever written.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYIc6s5ACY
"All Out Of Love"- Air Supply. For some reason, I feel my credibility as a music guru just went out the window on this one. Was there ever a band more cheesy than Air Supply? What made it even funnier is that they're Australian and seeing them dress like they wanna be the Bee Gees so bad was so funny to me. Graham Russell's upside down left handed playing is featured in the opening sequences of the video, it's followed by Air Supply's super ridiculous outfits, even for the 80's. Despite its stupidness, this song from their 1980 hit album Lost In Love shot to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is easily one of their biggest hits. Wow, this video is so bad I can't stop watching it. Also, is it just me of does Graham Russell look a lot like Jeff Daniels?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWdZEumNRmI
"Achy Breaky Heart"- Billy Ray Cyrus. Whatever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQIPdHMpjc
"Light On"- David Cook. As much as I hate American Idol, there's no denying David Cook's talent. I kinda like watching him, because I always feel like I'm gonna see Jimmy Fallon shave and reveal that he's really David Cook. After winning American Idol in 2008, this single was released as Cook's first single from his self titled debut album and peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The kid playing the bus boy in the diner here just for some reason reminds me of Josh Hutcherson who played Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games. I'm also gonna go ahead and say that David Cook blows Chris Daughtry away when it comes to American Idol guys who wanna be rockers. There's seriously no contest to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i8ZCp3-n7w
"Revelation"- Third Day. Lefty Mac Powell and lead singer of Third Day has the perfect southern twang for Third Day's songs. This title track from their 2008 album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs Charts. This is a great rendition here from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Always great to see talented other genre bands get exposure on a national stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu7QKDYqDAQ
"Just What I Needed"- The Cars. Listen to the intro of this song and tell me if you think Fountains of Wayne didn't completely copy the intro of this song for their own hit song "Stacy's Mom" (I smell a bonus video). I swear it sounds exactly the same! I also had no idea that The Cars were from Boston. Talk about a band that "sounds like they're from England but aren't from England". This 1978 debut single from The Cars from their debut self titled album would peak at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100, but would always be one of their most famous songs and always featured the great guitar playing of lefty Eliot Easton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsPh-EgH65M
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"- Nirvana. Perhaps the most famous left handed guitar player of the last 25 years, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana propelled into the spotlight with this unbelievably popular lead single from their 1991 smash album Nevermind that quickly shot to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 along with the very popular video. Both of which were heavily sited as the opening of grunge music into the mainstream as the video gained heavy rotation on MTV. While also being Nirvana's biggest Billboard hit, it is also the only Nirvana song to feature all three band members with song writing credit. Cobain himself admitted to purposely writing this song in the style of one of his favorite bands, the Pixies and was so hell bent on recording it that he made the band keep playing the riff he had written for over an hour. After the band finally agreed on the song, it became one of the most famous songs of the 90's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg
"If I Fell"- The Beatles. Kind of random pick here on the Beatles, but it features the most famous and most influential left handed guitar player of all time in Paul McCartney. Intrestingly enough, drummer Ringo Starr was naturally left handed, but played drums right handed while leading with his left hand- seems pretty complicated. This hidden gem from their 1964 box office smash movie and album A Hard Day's Night was also featured on their American album Something New, but was surprisingly only released in Norway as a single, where it went to #1. Paul McCartney initially wanted to play guitar right handed just to not stand out from his bandmates, but after several years of trying, he felt his progression wasn't good enough, so he went to playing naturally left handed. And the rest, as they say, is history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4HLKoFum-4
"Hello, Goodbye"- Paul McCartney. I know I usually don't feature the same artist twice, but it's Paul McCartney. Great live performance here from his 2002 tour (which I saw in New Orleans!) "Back In the USA". What a great song to open a concert with. Originally released as a Beatles single in 1967, the song went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was also featured on the soundtrack album to Magical Mystery Tour , even though it did not appear in the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEZM29p09t4
"For The First Time"- Taylor Willis. Well, after those two, I had to feature internet sensation and soon to be star Taylor Willis with her awesome cover of "For The First Time" by The Script. This girl is still in high school and is already this good! For more of Taylor Willis check out www.youtube.com/eternalheartspeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqbWWIqhvCs
BONUS VIDEOS- "Everything We Had"- The Academy Is...... I wanted to count this one just because William Beckett is naturally left handed, but plays guitar right handed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YqYA_rbh1Q
"You Can Call Me Al"- Paul Simon. Same thing with this one. Paul Simon is naturally left handed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-gYOrU8bA
"Run"- Leona Lewis. Great performance from The X Factor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pIieK1KfA8
"Stacy's Mom"- Fountains Of Wayne. See what I mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZLfasMPOU4
Nirvana
Jimi Hendrix
I swear he looks like Jimmy Fallon
In order to be considered for this list, any member of the band who played guitar or bass had to play left handed. Naturally left handed right handed guitar players were disqualified. In a rare "Late Night Music" feat, all songs receiving votes were included in this post.
"Run"- Snow Patrol. Great live performance here on The Late Show With David Letterman by Snow Patrol of my favorite song by them. This song off of their 2003 album The Final Straw would prove to be Snow Patrol's first major mainstream exposure peaking at #5 on the British Singles Charts, and would go on to be covered by Leona Lewis (I seriously smell a bonus video!) and was recently featured on the NBC Broadway drama Smash covered by former American Idol contestant Katharine McPhee. Oh, and in case you didn't notice, bassist Paul Wilson plays left handed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVSN8gXQ6z8
"Here I Am (Come And Take Me Away)"- UB40. I have to admit that UB40 gets on my nerves- a British reggae band? Really? And the UK is HOW far from the Caribbean? Anyway, despite that, they've had a very long career highlighted by songs like this one that peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990 off of their Gold album Labour of Love II. Interestingly enough ALL THREE Campbell brothers in the band are left handed, and it's seen very clearly here with Robin Campbell in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AeRMrZCPGk
"Just Like You Said"- Seal. Man I love Seal. Talk about a guy with true soul and real musical talent. This acoustic ballad was featured on his third album, 1999's Human Being, and while it was widely creative, it never capture the magic of 1995's Seal, which reached platinum status. This album was very different just for the fact it was recorded as a tribute to Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. Pretty interesting connection there. As seen in this spectacular live performance from London, Seal not only plays the guitar left handed, but he plays upside down. As we'll see with a few other artist who do this, this not only looks very weird, it looks hard as balls. I have no idea how he does this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjQMpYyMb8c
"When Can I See You"- Babyface. Here's another guy who plays upside down (seriously, watch it looks so weird!). This 1995 single from Babyface's album For The Cool In You is surprisingly his highest charting single as a solo artist peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. I always found this strange seeing how the guy wrote how many #1 singles for other artist? (I smell a blog on that coming up very soon). This single also earned Babyface the Grammy for Best Male R & B Performance, his first as a singer. I always thought the Asian waitress in this video was smoking hot. I wonder who she was. Ok, now that I've finished watching this video again, I have to think it was smarter for Babyface to give those songs he wrote to other artists. "End Of The Road" just wouldn't have the same ring coming from him- just sayin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee9SCW91urE
"Purple Haze"- The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Jimi Hendrix was interesting because he could play the guitar both handed, and played left handed upside AND re strung. Early in his life, his father forced him to play right handed because he said that playing left handed "was a sign of the devil". So, in protest, Hendrix would play left handed upside down when his father was away, but would also play right handed when his father was around. In his hay day, he played left handed normally, as seen here in this awesome video. This widely famous single from the band's 1967 album Are You Experienced? was actually a bigger hit in the United Kingdom at the time of release, but went on to become one of the most famous heavy metal songs ever written.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYIc6s5ACY
"All Out Of Love"- Air Supply. For some reason, I feel my credibility as a music guru just went out the window on this one. Was there ever a band more cheesy than Air Supply? What made it even funnier is that they're Australian and seeing them dress like they wanna be the Bee Gees so bad was so funny to me. Graham Russell's upside down left handed playing is featured in the opening sequences of the video, it's followed by Air Supply's super ridiculous outfits, even for the 80's. Despite its stupidness, this song from their 1980 hit album Lost In Love shot to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is easily one of their biggest hits. Wow, this video is so bad I can't stop watching it. Also, is it just me of does Graham Russell look a lot like Jeff Daniels?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWdZEumNRmI
"Achy Breaky Heart"- Billy Ray Cyrus. Whatever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQIPdHMpjc
"Light On"- David Cook. As much as I hate American Idol, there's no denying David Cook's talent. I kinda like watching him, because I always feel like I'm gonna see Jimmy Fallon shave and reveal that he's really David Cook. After winning American Idol in 2008, this single was released as Cook's first single from his self titled debut album and peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The kid playing the bus boy in the diner here just for some reason reminds me of Josh Hutcherson who played Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games. I'm also gonna go ahead and say that David Cook blows Chris Daughtry away when it comes to American Idol guys who wanna be rockers. There's seriously no contest to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i8ZCp3-n7w
"Revelation"- Third Day. Lefty Mac Powell and lead singer of Third Day has the perfect southern twang for Third Day's songs. This title track from their 2008 album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs Charts. This is a great rendition here from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Always great to see talented other genre bands get exposure on a national stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu7QKDYqDAQ
"Just What I Needed"- The Cars. Listen to the intro of this song and tell me if you think Fountains of Wayne didn't completely copy the intro of this song for their own hit song "Stacy's Mom" (I smell a bonus video). I swear it sounds exactly the same! I also had no idea that The Cars were from Boston. Talk about a band that "sounds like they're from England but aren't from England". This 1978 debut single from The Cars from their debut self titled album would peak at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100, but would always be one of their most famous songs and always featured the great guitar playing of lefty Eliot Easton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsPh-EgH65M
"Smells Like Teen Spirit"- Nirvana. Perhaps the most famous left handed guitar player of the last 25 years, Kurt Cobain and Nirvana propelled into the spotlight with this unbelievably popular lead single from their 1991 smash album Nevermind that quickly shot to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 along with the very popular video. Both of which were heavily sited as the opening of grunge music into the mainstream as the video gained heavy rotation on MTV. While also being Nirvana's biggest Billboard hit, it is also the only Nirvana song to feature all three band members with song writing credit. Cobain himself admitted to purposely writing this song in the style of one of his favorite bands, the Pixies and was so hell bent on recording it that he made the band keep playing the riff he had written for over an hour. After the band finally agreed on the song, it became one of the most famous songs of the 90's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg
"If I Fell"- The Beatles. Kind of random pick here on the Beatles, but it features the most famous and most influential left handed guitar player of all time in Paul McCartney. Intrestingly enough, drummer Ringo Starr was naturally left handed, but played drums right handed while leading with his left hand- seems pretty complicated. This hidden gem from their 1964 box office smash movie and album A Hard Day's Night was also featured on their American album Something New, but was surprisingly only released in Norway as a single, where it went to #1. Paul McCartney initially wanted to play guitar right handed just to not stand out from his bandmates, but after several years of trying, he felt his progression wasn't good enough, so he went to playing naturally left handed. And the rest, as they say, is history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4HLKoFum-4
"Hello, Goodbye"- Paul McCartney. I know I usually don't feature the same artist twice, but it's Paul McCartney. Great live performance here from his 2002 tour (which I saw in New Orleans!) "Back In the USA". What a great song to open a concert with. Originally released as a Beatles single in 1967, the song went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but was also featured on the soundtrack album to Magical Mystery Tour , even though it did not appear in the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEZM29p09t4
"For The First Time"- Taylor Willis. Well, after those two, I had to feature internet sensation and soon to be star Taylor Willis with her awesome cover of "For The First Time" by The Script. This girl is still in high school and is already this good! For more of Taylor Willis check out www.youtube.com/eternalheartspeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqbWWIqhvCs
BONUS VIDEOS- "Everything We Had"- The Academy Is...... I wanted to count this one just because William Beckett is naturally left handed, but plays guitar right handed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YqYA_rbh1Q
"You Can Call Me Al"- Paul Simon. Same thing with this one. Paul Simon is naturally left handed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq-gYOrU8bA
"Run"- Leona Lewis. Great performance from The X Factor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pIieK1KfA8
"Stacy's Mom"- Fountains Of Wayne. See what I mean?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZLfasMPOU4
NirvanaJimi HendrixI swear he looks like Jimmy Fallon
posted by General 5A Pigott at 10:34 PM
2 Comments:
Not only are lefty guitarists the best (Hendrix, hello), but they also look super duper sexy when they are playing. Not sure why. It's weird.
Oh, and stop melting my clothes off with your sexy stalker stare there, Mr. Cookfallon. No man with hair that appalling should be hot, and yet...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Post a Comment
<< Home