Otis Rush

[A. Kingstone]

From Wikipedia.


Rush was left-handed and played as such; however, his guitars were strung with the low E string at the bottom, upside-down from typical guitarists.^[2] He often played with the little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for positioning. It is widely believed that this contributed to his distinctive sound.

[pcjazz]

...
Rush was left-handed and played as such; however, his guitars were strung with the low E string at the bottom, upside-down from typical guitarists.
...

Elizabeth Cotten, left-handed, played a regularly tuned right-hand guitar upside down. Is this what Wiki means in this odd sentence about Rush?

[DawgBone]

Elizabeth Cotten, left-handed, played a regularly tuned right-hand guitar upside down. Is this what Wiki means in this odd sentence about Rush?

I think so. Several pretty well known players have done this.

Albert King (non standard tuning)
The Gales Bros (Eric, Manuel, Eugene) all play that way
Dick Dale
Bobby Womack
Doyle Bramhall II

There are more. In every metro area you will usually find a guy who plays like that. I know a guy who does in this area. It's convenient for a lefty and more guitars to choose from.

Otis Rush is one of the best.

[A. Kingstone]

Elizabeth Cotten, left-handed, played a regularly tuned right-hand guitar upside down. Is this what Wiki means in this odd sentence about Rush?

I think so. I'm watching Scorsese's Blues series and Rush is wailing up high but reaching across the fretboard.

Mind boggling for me but it must be easy if that's how one learned.

[DawgBone]

I think so. I'm watching Scorsese's Blues series and Rush is wailing up high but reaching across the fretboard.

Mind boggling for me but it must be easy if that's how one learned.

There is a huge advantage for doing multi-step string bends playing the Albert King/Otis Rush method pulling downward across the fretboard vs having to push upward in the traditional manner. Better leverage.

[mr. beaumont]

Great player, great voice. Lucky as a youngster in Chicago to have been able to see him many times, along with Buddy, Koko, and Eddie the Chief.

The real deal.

[A. Kingstone]

Wow. The Chicago experience. Great!

Toronto is Reg Schwager, Lorne Lofsky, Sonny Greenwich, Ed Bickert, Ted Quinlan.

And that is a jazz aside as I can't name great Toronto based blues players.

I was lucky enough to hear Buddy Guy at some Ontario based festival decades ago, maybe Mariposa.

When Koko sings I think 'I wish I could do that'.

[DawgBone]

Great player, great voice. Lucky as a youngster in Chicago to have been able to see him many times, along with Buddy, Koko, and Eddie the Chief.

The real deal.

A close listen to Otis recently shows me just how much Jimi Hendrix's blues licks were inspired so much by him. They have a very similar sound.

[ruger9]

The only Otis I currently have is the live one...at Live Fools Pub... can anyone recommend any others that are particularly good?

[AllanAllen]

Get his Best of Cobra disc.

[grahambop]

This is a great album from 1976:

[TOMMO]

Don't forget my friend, the late Eddy Clearwater who incidentally was good friends with Otis Rush. The left handed upside down players can acchieve some sounds that are tough or even impossible to do with a standard setup.
Agree with grahambop's recommendation : RPWT is an excellent album.

[Topper Roth]

Isn't/wasn't Amos Garrett based in Toronto? Best known probably for his solo on Maria Muldaur's pop hit Midnight At The Oasis, also played some years with Butterfield's band, and IMO displays somewhat more melodic and harmonic originality than many blues/rock players.

[Doctor Jeff]

Great player.

I am sorry I just can’t get my head around playing a guitar “upside down”. Heck I can’t even see how lefties play a lefty guitar, since my brain is wired to look at a guitar neck spatially in standard configuration.

(In other words, like tablature oriented horizontally.)

I don’t know if others view it that way. But when I see musical notation or play by ear, I visualize the fretting spatially in my mind. To do it bass-ackwards just blows my mind.

I am not very ambidextrous, except for a very few tasks like casting a fishing line. If I lost my right hand I’d be in a world of hurt.

[P.J.]

It is awesome!

[DawgBone]

Great player.

I am sorry I just can’t get my head around playing a guitar “upside down”. Heck I can’t even see how lefties play a lefty guitar, since my brain is wired to look at a guitar neck spatially in standard configuration.

(In other words, like tablature oriented horizontally.)

I don’t know if others view it that way. But when I see musical notation or play by ear, I visualize the fretting spatially in my mind. To do it bass-ackwards just blows my mind.

I am not very ambidextrous, except for a very few tasks like casting a fishing line. If I lost my right hand I’d be in a world of hurt.

I've come to the conclusion that a righty guitar flipped over is the superior and more sane method for playing blues guitar so it comes as no surprise that some of the best sounding blues players aka Albert King and Otis Rush, have utilized that technique. Pulling downward gives you your whole finger pad past the top knuckle to get on top of the strings making double and triple stop bends far easier, requiring less precision, while also putting your remaining fingers in a better spot to fret notes as you pull downwards instead of trying to push them all upwards and balance the strings on your callous. The leverage and hand positioning is superior for doing big bends. It just makes sense.

It always seemed to make more sense to me that a right hand dominant person would play lefty from the get go because the dominant hand is more dexterous and the fretting hand is the one that requires the most finesse.