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Forum guest
Jul-07-2009, 10:29 GMT
United Kingdom

Nick from Widnes writes:

Apparantly when younger pre Simon and Garfunkel Art Garfunkel tried his hand at learning guitar. I beleive one of the many Simon and Garfunkel Biographies mention this fact. In fact a photo did appear in a music magazine artical around the release of Paul´s Suprise CD showing both Paul and Art with acoustic guitars playing in presumably the CBS Studio in New York.

Can any one shed some further information on the guitar playing skills of Art Garfunkel. Is there any film or studio recording we can id as Art playing guitar?

Incidently I play acoustic and electric guitar in my spare time. I own several guitars including my fav acoustic an Ephiphone SQ180 Don Everly Black Signature Model. My main electric guitar is an Eric Clapton Signature Fender Stratocaster.

I have been playing guitar since age 14 am now 38 ,when I discovered Paul Simon´s music. Today I try to play the best of Simon and Garfunkel/Paul Simon and Everly Brothers on the SQ180. Sadly not good enough for youtube.

Hope you can help find info on Art and his guitar skills. Lookforward to reading your replys

Ian
Jul-07-2009, 10:55 GMT
USA - United Staates America

Yes Nick,you are correct. In Patrick Humphries 1982 Simon and Garfunkel biography ´Bookends´,he states early in the book that Artie was being taught guitar by a young woman,whose name I cannot remember at the moment. I believe she was trying to teach him ´Scarborough Fair´. I may be wrong. It´s strange that both Paul and Artie are left handed,and yet they both play guitar right handed,unlike Hendrix or McCartney who string their guitars back to front and turn their instruments upside down. Art wrote some songs on his latest album-did he contribute to the music or lyrics?

Forum guest
Jul-07-2009, 12:19 GMT
United Kingdom

Ian Mark Knophler is left handed but plays righthanded as in Old days lefthanded instruments was difficult to come by.

Have been to check Arts Web Sight found his Forum page apparently age 13 he learnt guitar and piano.

Art recorded an album called Eveyone Wiats to Get Noticed with Mia Sharpe and Buddy Mundalock they helped him put music to his prose poetry and toured with in in 2004 prior to the S& G reunion tours.

Bodo
Jul-07-2009, 13:11 GMT
Austria

I know left-handed people which tried to learn the guitar left handed, with the strings in the wrong order!! Ok, that was crazy and could never work.

But - (maybe I am wrong?) - the accoustic guitar is the easiest instrument beside drums which you can make to an left-handed instrument. Simply turn it around, and change the order of the strings. So I do not understand why this should be difficult to come by in the times when Paul or Knopfler learned to play it. I think that was not the reason.

My guess is, that in these times a lot of young people just HAD to learn everything right-handed. In these times left-handed persons had the stigma of beeing wrong/ill. Their teacher played right-handed, so they told them to use the instrument this way.

On the other side - I am left handed too, but only at around 50%. There are people which are left handed for 100%, but I play the guitar with my right hand, I play tennis and all sports right-handed. I write left-handed, I eat-left handed. I use the scissor right-handed. And not because I could not get a left-handed guitar or scissor, it is just easier for me.
Maybe my brains left side is too small to do all things... ;-)

Ian
Jul-07-2009, 13:57 GMT
USA - United Staates America

I hadn´t realised you are a lefty too Bodo. I think you are right(that is to say,correct:-)),that the stigma surrounding folk who are left handed must have been present many years ago. My father was a schoolteacher before retirement,and even in his years of teaching,left handed children were pressured to attempt to write right handed. Strange! I can only say that picking up a guitar as a right handed person,them turning it around,a-la, left handed style feels simply wrong! Some lefties attack this problem in seemingly over-complicated ways. For example,Karl Wallinger from the band World Party is left handed,and plays his guitar back to front but does NOT re-string his guitars,therefore the low E string is closest to the floor! That´s simply making life harder than it needs to be,imo.

Scaaty
Jul-07-2009, 14:07 GMT
Ireland

I have always been right handed, but anything I learnt as an adult (since 15/16) I do with the left hand, especially sport and musical instruments. There is a lot of dyslexia in the family and I think its all related. You should hear my brother and myself giving directions to each other - no one else can follow them - as we always mix up right and left and yet the other automatically compensates and goes in the correct direction.

Bodo
Jul-07-2009, 19:27 GMT
Austria

Hey Ian. I have never heard about Karl Wallinger and his guitar playing, but this makes me wonder. Is that really possible?
If he strums a chord, then he also has to begin every strum from the bottom.

And how can he fingerpick? He has to play the bass notes with his ring finger? I mean, if you simply play travis pickin, then you use your thumb to play the first 3 strings (EAD), and with the next 3 fingers you play the G B and e string. But if you turn it around, you have to play the higher G B and e strings with your thumb, your forefinger and your middlefinger, while your ringfinger has to play all the bass strings.

Is that really possible?

deleted_user
Jul-07-2009, 19:48 GMT
Unknown

Being a left-handed guitar player myself, the hardest part is finding a decent left-handed guitar. It is actually easy to learn (so long as you are not playing the guitar upside down), because you can mirror the right-handed players. If you sit across from one, you simply do the same thing.

However, playing with the strings upside down strikes me as a very difficult thing to do.

Ian
Jul-07-2009, 21:30 GMT
USA - United Staates America

Yeah Bodo,that´s the way he plays it. I saw him in concert,supporting Steely Dan in 2007 and was trying to figure out what chords he was playing. On closer inspection,I saw he had not re-strung his guitar. About playing fingerstyle guitar-it would be next to impossible to play that way,and Wallinger doesn´t play fingerstyle at all,that I know of. The day after seeing him,I just had to try it myself-I played an upside down,back to front C chord with great difficulty,then gave it up as a bad joke. I don´t know what possessed him to learn that way,but he does an admirable job of it. Too hard!

Mimi
Jul-08-2009, 09:05 GMT
Austria

I think it can be done by starting that way. But why make your life that hard?

I am left handed, too and I don´t really play guitar but I played violin as a kid and my take on it is, that you do rather complex things with both hands and it is just a question how you learn it. I personally thing that the left hand does quite a tricky job when playing guitar. And if you only strum with the right hand (as a lot of people do) this is the much easier job.

Bodo
Jul-09-2009, 11:17 GMT
Austria

Hi Mimi

Now as you wrote it I remember it too - thats absolute clear. I always wondered why right handed people have to do the complexe things on a guitar with their left hand.
So I always thought it is even easier for me, because I am left handed.

Ian
Jul-09-2009, 12:38 GMT
USA - United Staates America

I can´t believe there is so many left handed guitarists out there. In and have a look at http://www.lefthandedguitarists.com to see an incredible list of players. It´s strange that as a right handed person,I do the most complex things in my daily routine(writing,using tools,even vacuuming),with my right hand,you would think that fretting a guitar would feel more natural with the right hand. Beats me!

Scaaty  
Jul-09-2009, 13:57 GMT
Ireland

LOL only a man could possibly describe vacuuming is complex!!

Ian
Jul-09-2009, 14:19 GMT
USA - United Staates America

Yeah,(face turning red)oops,bad choice of words. You should see me fumbling with a can opener.

barb
Jul-27-2009, 21:14 GMT
USA - United Staates America

there is a video of S&G on Hollywood Go Go (?)-they are wearing scarves and playing we´ve got a groovey thing (?)-also on Wed 3 am cover, Art writes Paul for the chords to a song so that he can "do singles at Gerdes for a few nights".

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