A tragic moment involving a guitarist has now become an uplifting tale and a shining beacon of light amongst the community right now.
Philippe Drouin, has recently successfully achieved the feat of relearning the guitar, following a car accident which left the guitarist unable to use his right hand.
Now he’s re-learned the guitar, becoming a left-handed player, with the whole process having taken a total of three years. He was also assisted by Michael Angelo Batio.
According to Ultimate Guitar, Drouin had been a guitarist for 15 year prior to the accident and is also the frontman of Obvurt, a Quebecois-based death metal three-piece group. He sat down for an interview with Metal Sucks and detailed his journey.
Drouin began, “After being a victim of a car accident in late December 2016, I lost my picking as a right-handed guitar player for more than 15 years. After talking with Pat Martino in 2017, I bought my first left-handed guitar, and it begins there.”
“Since I made that choice, I tried to recover and practice a lot, trying to get my picking back on my right hand in 2018. I was playing both sides every day for a while. One day, I felt I was able to become left-handed, so I decided to leave everything behind and start over.”
On receiving help from Batio, he said, “I left my previous band I had for more than 10 years and learned a new instrument. I practiced for one year alone and then I realized I needed help. I asked Michael Angelo Batio for lessons and he accepted. Since that day, I’ve practiced over four hours every day.”
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In other guitar-related news, Fender has launched a new pocket-sized personal amplifier, which comes in as part of their Mustang series, the Mustang Micro.
For more on this topic, follow the Metal Observer.
Check out guitarist Philippe Drouin play left-handed below.
