I certainly don't qualify for any Hall of Fame, but I do play a right-handed instrument as a left-hand dominant person. It occurs to me that, both hands are occupied with doing things, which direction the peghead is pointing doesn't really matter. Seems like any banjo style would benefit from having the more dexterous hand working the frets.

These are my own, equally weird thoughts. 

Don Lineberger was a left-handed player who played with Bill Monroe back in the Sixties. Below is a Bluegrass Today link to a story about Don and his tragic death in 2010.

Don Lineberger
 

I when I learned to play guitar in the 70s, left handed instruments were extremely rare, and I learned to play right handed and still do.

Doesn't BHOer Terry/1935tb-11 play a right-handed banjo left-handed...... or upside down...... or sumpthin'?To me that sounds pretty "wild" and maybe even worthy of a Hall of Fame nomination.  

I've seen a few. And in 30+ years of teaching, I've had two lefty students. One was a total beginner who'd tried playing a right-handed banjo but could make it work, and the other was a guitarist who'd already been playing lefty for years.

At Bernunzio's Old Time Jam, Dan Gilbert, the leader plays lefty. His banjo neck is pointed the same direction as mine when we are in a circle.

The last time I saw a left-handed banjo player, he was playing a right-handed banjo upside down. I don't know how that's possible with the fifth string peg in the way, but he made it work. That was in Woolwine, Virginia about 35 years ago. About ten years before that, I saw a left-handed banjo player at the Mountain Magic in May Festival in Buchanan, Virginia, my hometown. He was playing a custom-made Liberty banjo. The ironic thing about him was that he was right-handed but had caught his right thumb in a steel trap so he learned to play left-handed.

I've made two custom left handed banjos over the years and had a fellow bring in a modified Orpheum banjitar set up with 5 full length strings and a short 6th that was also set up for left hand playing. So I can confirm definitively that there are at least three people playing left handed banjos in the world.

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Originally posted by Culloden

The last time I saw a left-handed banjo player, he was playing a right-handed banjo upside down. I don't know how that's possible with the fifth string peg in the way, but he made it work. That was in Woolwine, Virginia about 35 years ago. About ten years before that, I saw a left-handed banjo player at the Mountain Magic in May Festival in Buchanan, Virginia, my hometown. He was playing a custom-made Liberty banjo. The ironic thing about him was that he was right-handed but had caught his right thumb in a steel trap so he learned to play left-handed.

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if that sighting in woolwine was at the festival that could have been me..i think we were there about 35 years ago.....

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Originally posted by Owen

Doesn't BHOer Terry/1935tb-11 play a right-handed banjo left-handed...... or upside down...... or sumpthin'?To me that sounds pretty "wild" and maybe even worthy of a Hall of Fame nomination.  

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you are correct sir !!!   and thanks for the nomination ,,,,,  thats about all i will ever get ... but yes right handed banjos played upside down and left handed  since i started in 1978......   i played guitar the same way before i started on th banjo.

  here is a little sample after i aged a bit.

i wrote this one for my wife 

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=2609&archived=

this is one with the group me and my wife had for a short time

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=9102&archived=

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Originally posted by Ira Gitlin

I've seen a few. And in 30+ years of teaching, I've had two lefty students. One was a total beginner who'd tried playing a right-handed banjo but could make it work, and the other was a guitarist who'd already been playing lefty for years.

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Uh..."could NOT make it work...."

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Originally posted by Brian Murphy

Weird random thought, but it occurred to me that I don't remember the last time I saw someone playing a 5 left-handed. Who would be in the left-handers' Hall of Fame? Anyone know how common it is? (I know people have trained themselves to play right-handed. I'm talking about people playing with a left-handed neck).  Kermit the Frog doesn't count:  He played a 4 string.

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Kermit's banjo is a J.D Croak model!

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

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Originally posted by Owen

Doesn't BHOer Terry/1935tb-11 play a right-handed banjo left-handed...... or upside down...... or sumpthin'?To me that sounds pretty "wild" and maybe even worthy of a Hall of Fame nomination.  

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you are correct sir !!!   and thanks for the nomination ,,,,,  thats about all i will ever get ... but yes right handed banjos played upside down and left handed  since i started in 1978......   i played guitar the same way before i started on th banjo.

  here is a little sample after i aged a bit.

i wrote this one for my wife 

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=2609&archived=

this is one with the group me and my wife had for a short time

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=9102&archived=

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Terry ....... that's great banjo playing regardless of which way the neck is pointed.  Hope your golf game was as good as your banjo picking.

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten played left-handed -- without reversing the strings -- on a right-handed banjo "upside-down and backwards" (to us), as she also did on guitar.

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Originally posted by BanjoLink

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

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Originally posted by Owen

Doesn't BHOer Terry/1935tb-11 play a right-handed banjo left-handed...... or upside down...... or sumpthin'?To me that sounds pretty "wild" and maybe even worthy of a Hall of Fame nomination.  

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you are correct sir !!!   and thanks for the nomination ,,,,,  thats about all i will ever get ... but yes right handed banjos played upside down and left handed  since i started in 1978......   i played guitar the same way before i started on th banjo.

  here is a little sample after i aged a bit.

i wrote this one for my wife 

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=2609&archived=

this is one with the group me and my wife had for a short time

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=9102&archived=

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Terry ....... that's great banjo playing regardless of which way the neck is pointed.  Hope your golf game was as good as your banjo picking.

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golf game was never never never close to my banjo playing  !!!   on a good day i was a 13 handicap ,, on a real good day that is.

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

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Originally posted by Culloden

The last time I saw a left-handed banjo player, he was playing a right-handed banjo upside down. I don't know how that's possible with the fifth string peg in the way, but he made it work. That was in Woolwine, Virginia about 35 years ago. About ten years before that, I saw a left-handed banjo player at the Mountain Magic in May Festival in Buchanan, Virginia, my hometown. He was playing a custom-made Liberty banjo. The ironic thing about him was that he was right-handed but had caught his right thumb in a steel trap so he learned to play left-handed.

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if that sighting in woolwine was at the festival that could have been me..i think we were there about 35 years ago.....

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Yes, it was at a little town festival. I think it was a fundraiser for the fire department. We played a set that morning, went up to Meadows of Dan to play a show, then went back to Woolwine to play another set later that afternoon. After the festival was over, a bunch of guys got together and had a jam session on stage with Buddy Pendleton and his son. I stayed and played with them for several hours. The rest of the group I played with had already gone home.

I saw one at the Berkshire Mountain Bluegrass Festival in 1976 or 1977. Had what looked like an old Top Tension Style 18 pot matched to a left handed neck with an incredible tree of life inlay on the fingerboard. Still can see him now. The guy was an incredible player.

Wish I knew who he was. The guys playing impressed me so much as a teenager I still think about him.

Given the instrument, and the level of playing he could do, somebody here must know who he is/was.

Similar subject came up years ago on Facebook.
When I exclaimed I was a Lefty playing righty, I was cursed for denying my "inner lefthandedness." That was the end for me and Facebook.

Steve Louvat from Belgium. Plays a left handed banjo, left handed.
The guy can play.

But yeah, south paws are rare on banjo.

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Originally posted by Culloden

The last time I saw a left-handed banjo player, he was playing a right-handed banjo upside down. I don't know how that's possible with the fifth string peg in the way, but he made it work. 

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One of my bunkhouse mates last week at Blue Ridge Banjo Camp plays that way. He's a member here, though not very active.

He plays notes as tabbed, but ignores any fingering instructions since he's picking the fifth string with his left hand middle finger and has to rearrange the right-hand fretting to suit the reversed string order. He brought his Nechville with tunneled fifth to camp. Things he had worked out -- if I remember correctly there was some ragtime, jazz or classic era pieces - sounded great. When I was inside and he was on the porch, there was nothing in what I heard to suggest he was playing any differently. When I watched him play, I simply could not understand what I was seeing.

He's in his 70s, as I am, and has been playing since 1969. 

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The most noteworthy lefty player of a lefty banjo I can think of is Steve Louvat, from Belgium. Here he is in an old video from a North American with Canadian singer Tammy Fassaert. His left-handed brother, Dennis, is on guitar and mandolin. Music doesn't start until about 1:10.

I know I've seen other lefties playing lefty banjos. Shared a music stand during orchestra rehearsal one day at camp last week. Don't recall his name.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IobSpMzmjQY&list=RDIobSpMzmjQY&start_radio=1&pp=ygUWZWxpemFiZXRoIGNvdHRlbiBiYW5qb6AHAQ%3D%3D&ra=m

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

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Originally posted by BanjoLink

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

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Originally posted by Owen

Doesn't BHOer Terry/1935tb-11 play a right-handed banjo left-handed...... or upside down...... or sumpthin'?To me that sounds pretty "wild" and maybe even worthy of a Hall of Fame nomination.  

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you are correct sir !!!   and thanks for the nomination ,,,,,  thats about all i will ever get ... but yes right handed banjos played upside down and left handed  since i started in 1978......   i played guitar the same way before i started on th banjo.

  here is a little sample after i aged a bit.

i wrote this one for my wife 

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=2609&archived=

this is one with the group me and my wife had for a short time

https://www.banjohangout.org/myhangout/media-player/audio_player2.asp?musicid=9102&archived=

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Terry ....... that's great banjo playing regardless of which way the neck is pointed.  Hope your golf game was as good as your banjo picking.

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golf game was never never never close to my banjo playing  !!!   on a good day i was a 13 handicap ,, on a real good day that is.

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..... well you are certainly a scratch banjo picker!

youtube video

Here's a video from a couple of weeks ago showing a left-handed banjo player.
 

This…

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Originally posted by randybartlett

youtube video

Here's a video from a couple of weeks ago showing a left-handed banjo player.
 

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yeah but he is cheating,, he has a left handed banjo !!!!!   LOL