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technique
An Introduction to the left-handed ‘upside down’ guitar
Hello everybody!
In this introductory article, we will
venture into the world of the lefthanded upside down guitar. When
I started studying at the Music
Academy, they wanted to teach
me to use right-handed guitar. I
refused because I thought I should
follow my natural predisposition.
That is to say, I wanted to play
without changing the order of the
strings but simply turning the guitar
around. Many guitarists around the
world have used and developed
this technique. To find out more
about it, you can visit the website:
www.lefthandedguitarists.com.
Let’s begin: I will show you some
musical examples so that you
can get to know this technique
and study it more. It’s a technique
that’s not very common but it’s
very interesting.
In example 1, I show you how to
use the fingers of your left hand to
create the arpeggios. Be careful!
The fingerings in the examples
have been set out ready for those
who wish to try playing as a lefthanded guitarist. For left-handed
technique, the fingers of the lefthand are:
– the ring finger, that will take the
place of the right-hand thumb;
– the middle finger, that will take
the place of the right index finger;
– the index finger, that will take the
place of the right middle finger;
– the thumb, that will take the place
of the right ring finger.
In example 2, I explain the diagrams
of some left-handed chords so you
can better understand the fingering
used by the right hand. For the
A chord, using the first finger to
make a bar chord may seem
strange, but it can work really well
and is natural: the first phalanx of
the index finger rests as if it was
a small bar, taking in the second,
third and fourth strings and leaving
the fifth string free. For the chords
B/11, C4/7/9 and F7M, there is a
barré that leaves the treble E-string
free. For the chords C6/7# and
D6/9, you can see there is a barré
with the first finger that leaves
the two treble strings free. You’ll
notice that for some chords there
are two barrés: see for example
the chord C4/6 that has two barrés
made respectively by the first and
fourth fingers. For the chords B/11
and D6/9, I tend to keep a barré
even though I could get away with
holding down a note with the first
An Introduction to the lefthanded ‘upside down’ guitar
Example 2
finger, but that position seems
more natural to me and I use it as
a way of supporting my hand.
In example 3, you can see an
example to try out of a small part
of one of my own compositions,
‘Tres Bocas’, that uses all of the
elements described up to now. You
will notice how the use of the right
hand in left-handed guitar playing
offers the possibility for alternative
fingering. The bass notes come
out stronger and the melody is
smoother.
Marcio Rangel
Marcio Rangel is a Brasilian
guitarist and composer, who has
been living in Italy for several years.
In 1998 he graduated in Music from
the ‘D’Alva Stella’ Music Academy
in Brazil, but he wanted to teach
himself how to play the guitar so
that he could follow his left-handed
nature. He says: «Everybody must
follow their instinct. If you are lefthanded, you have to eat with
your left hand, you have to write
with your left hand, you can’t play
with your right hand». In 2002, he
recorded his first CD Palavras do
Som with Azzurra Music.
Example 1
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chitarra acustica 7 twothousandandeleven
chitarra acustica 7 twothousandandeleven
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