He's playing upside down!

[LiveMusic]

Somebody mentioned Bill Staines in a folk music thread.

Found this video. I was noticing how long his fingers are. Then, I was scratching my head trying to figure out what chords he is playing, as his guitar sounds really good! I also was wondering what kind of guitar. It has two pick guards, although the bottom one might be an add on. Looks like a Martin? It finally dawned on me that he is playing a right handed guitar as a lefty. Upside down! Shake Russell does that. Weird!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJiEsiO9ZRI

[beachbum205]

I saw that on the other thread too, and had the same reaction. "What the heck is wrong with this picture? Something doesn't look right." Then I figured it out too. Very odd- must be very hard to do!

Well, at least he doesn't have to worry about trying to find a left- handed guitar!

[NoPicks]

Originally Posted by beachbum205

at least he doesn't have to worry about trying to find a left- handed guitar!

From what I've seen, that was the original motivation for most (if not all) of the leftys that play "upside down". Being able to simply pick up a guitar in a store and try it out without having to buy the thing first and then drop a fair chunk of $ and effort into it before it was even playable

What I thought was really interesting about Bill Staines, who I had not known about until I read this thread, is that he's managed to come up with fingerings that produce chords very close to the "righty" versions - in the case of the D in the linked video, for instance, the actual notes sound identical

This is very different from most of the other "upside down" players that I'm familiar with, most of whom are older blues players like Albert King and Otis Rush. Albert King, of course, rarely played anything in the way of chords at all. Otis Rush's chord work is pretty interesting though, using inversions of the "common" blues chords that you don't hear too much from other players

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2tE...layer_embedded

[mchalebk]

I have a cousin who plays like this. How did that happen? He didn't have his own guitar, had to borrow one from his right-handed brother.

I suspect this is more common than someone making a conscious decision to use a right-handed guitar so they can play any guitar out there. Face it, when you're just beginning, you're probably not thinking of things like "I wonder how hard it will be to find left-handed guitars?" I suspect "getting by with what's handy" is more common.

[L20A]

When asked, Bill Stains will tell you that when he started playing, he didn't know that he was playing upsidedown.
He simply picked up a guitar, held it left handed, looked at the chords to a song and put his fingers on the strings where they were shown to go.
As mentioned, back then you just didn't see many left handed guitars.

The first time that I heard Bill sing, it was on one of his LP records.
[anyone remember records?]

I thought that he was playing a 12 string guitar because when he strums, the high strings are played first.
This brings out the high notes very well and creates a 12 sound to the chord.

Bill goes on to say that he can produce some chords and sounds that right handed players cant but there are some right hand chords that he just can't play in his style. "It's a trade off", he said.

If you ever get the chance to see Bill Stains in concert, do it.
Bill has been called the Woody Guthrie of today.

Here is a bio on him.
http://www.acousticmusic.com/staines/bsbio.htm

[kerrinsdad]

AGF member Fambroski plays this way as well. Check him out. Monster talent!http://www.miche.com/

[drowlins]

I'm 60 now, and started playing guitar when I was 16. The guitar I was given was a Sears Silvertone acoustic righty. I'm left handed and just did like Bill Stains- looked at the chord book and put my fingers on the frets. All my guitars are righties that I play left handed except for my Fender Strat which is left handed but strung righty. I've never had a problem with chords, except some jazz chords. I don't think there is a wrong way to play guitar- it's all good.

[Fred]

I've seen/heard Bill Staines several times. He's a wonderful musician, singer and songwriter. Don't miss him. A lot of lefties play right-handed guitars upside down. Check out Elizabeth Cotten, who did the same.

Bill plays (or did when I saw him) a well-used Martin D-18 He's also a heck of a piano player, although I don't think he performs in public on piano.

[L20A]

Bill no longer takes the D-18 on the road.
It has become very road worn and fragile.
He played a Guild for a while and now playes a Taylor.

It has been said that it's not the guitar but rather the player that makes the music.
Bill can make the music!

[Bm7b5]

I have a buddy who is a lefty that learned to play that way.

As lefty's became more prevalent he got one and learned to play standard.

He can now play both ways, which I can't even begin to fathom, given the effort it's takes me to learn to play at all.