Playing A Guitar Upside Down
I was reading a post on one of my favorite blogs, New York Traveler by Mrs. Mecomber. On this particular post, she was posting pictures in reference to the word “surprise.” I happened to notice that in one of her pictures, her children were visiting a museum display featuring the wonderful guitarist, Elizabeth Cotten.
Elizabeth Cotten taught herself to play the guitar. She started learning how to play a string instrument when she borrowed her brother’s banjo. At age 11 she was able to scrape together enough money to purchase a guitar for herself and named her guitar, “Stella.” Cotten developed her own original style. Her approach to left-handed guitar playing involved keeping the guitar in standard tuning but holding it upside down. This position required her to play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature, alternating bass style has become known as “Cotten picking”.
Since its release, her songs, especially her signature track, “Freight Train”, written when she was 11, have been covered by Peter, Paul, and Mary, Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, Devendra Banhart, Matt Valentine, Laura Veirs, and Taj Mahal.
The following video shows her unusual style of guitar playing as she performs with Pete Segeer.
In 1984 she won the Grammy Award for “Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording” for her album on Arhoolie Records.
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