# RE: Paul McCartney **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-paul-mccartney/321470 "2005-09-13T19:55:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-paul-mccartney/321470/1 "2005-09-13T19:55:07Z")
Is it true James Paul McCartney Jr, is right-handed but prefers to play his guitar left handed? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-paul-mccartney/321470/2 "2005-09-13T20:09:38Z")
Not true. Paul is a natural lefty. Ringo Starr, on the other hand (so to speak), is a natural lefty who plays drums in right-handed configuration. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-paul-mccartney/321470/3 "2005-09-13T21:39:43Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Is it true James Paul McCartney Jr, is right-handed but prefers to play his guitar left handed? 😕 Related: the guy who plays Paul in the tribute band 1964 IS right handed and learned to play left handed for realism. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-paul-mccartney/321470/4 "2005-09-13T21:48:01Z")
Actually, I think Ringo plays (or at least **played** , when he was with the Beatles) lefty - bass with left foot, snare with right hand - on a righty-configured drum kit. If you watch old tape of him playing, he plays kind of sideways, and cross-armed, in order to hit the snare over his left arm. I played the same wya the first few times I sat behind a friend’s kit, until I realized no one would kill me for moving stuff around. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-paul-mccartney/321470/5 "2005-09-13T21:54:01Z")
When I was 13, some friends were forming a garage band, and realized they lacked a bass player. “Hey **Hal** , your birthday is coming up…ask your mom to buy you a bass”, they said. A few weeks later I had my spiffy new bass and amp. I sat in my room for a month with my record player learning how to rawk out some _Dazed And Confused_, _Smoke On The Water_, _Cat Scratch Fever_, etc… Once I had all this down, me and the band (“Woohoo! We’re a band! _Dude_!”) set up shop in the garage. I slung my bass down low, and prepared to rock out… “Uhhh… **Hal**? You know you’re holding that thing upside down?” Errr, no. I had no idea. But there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it by then. And so it’s been for the past 25 years – a righty playing bass and guitar lefty. \ ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-paul-mccartney/321470/6 "2005-09-13T22:02:19Z")
I had a similar experience **Hal** , only much geekier. I essentially taught myself how to play [mellophone](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellophone). A friend of mine stopped in to see how I was doing on it. He listened to me play, then said, “Nice job, but you’re playing it backward.” Most brass instrument are played with the right hand. I, a clarinet player, gripped it the first way that felt comfortable, left-handed. I eventually switched over to the correct way.