INSPIRATION: Elizabeth Cotten

A self-taught left-handed guitarist, Elizabeth Cotten developed her own original style. Her approach involved using a right-handed guitar (usually in standard tuning), not re-strung for left-handed playing, essentially, holding a right-handed guitar 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".  The grand-daughter of slaves, Cotten was working as a nanny for the Seeger family when she recorded her first album (in her 60s!) and the rest is history.