TSO Contest - Southpaw Guitar Entry Wizards in Winter

[yhuji123456]

cool dude i am a lefty but plays right handed guitar for 3 years i only focused more on my picking cause that's the only problem on my playing for three years of rigor practice i have now succeeded my dream speed picking and one of my inspiration was micheal angelo batio, herman li, mark knopfler and you dude \m/

[MrCmd29]

nice vid man,im a lefty too,man thats an awesome guitar tone u have too

[AnuarLopez]

hey one great tip is to train your thumb to grab the guitar fret while your playing righty itll sink in more

[devanw121698]

I bet this guy is a whiz at guitar hero

[nvhearld]

russia

[penguin1therapy]

wow that was pretty sick im also a lefty im trying to learn to play right handed to but so far all i cn do is cords

[deathrubik]

AWESOME!

[unlimitedskate4life]

dude that was sick!

[adasmiszcz]

OMG! What a SHIT!

[JustinPiano09]

Great video! 1:38 to 1:49 was awesome!

[veryblesseddenny]

You're awesome man! I'm a natural lefty and learned to play righty, but just switched to playing left 'cause of wrist problems. Did you find yourself progressing faster or slower with your non-dominant hand?

p.s. did I mention that you are awesome?!

[JoeCervo]

Thanks a lot!!! well.... I think progress was much faster the second time through. But the dominant hand has more power... but then I already knew how to play everything so I was my own teacher.

[FkEmomEkF]

lol wow ur just like me, im a lefty but i play righty.

[xlpdm]

@veryblesseddenny I'm doing the same thing cause of wrist problems. I'm glad to hear that its faster the second time cause I dont know how much longer my wrist will hold out.

[veryblesseddenny]

@xlpdm Yeah man, good luck. For me, it's been a little over a year after switching to lefty, and I am substantially better than I was after two and a half years playing righty. Just listen to your body and if your wrist starts to hurt, take a day or two off to rest it....best of luck to you. Remember, if playing the guitar was easy, everyone would do it... :)

[MeTaLdUdE02]

i'm learning how to be ambidextorous on the guitar and since all i have are left handed guitars,or do you call them right handed.but i can play right handed,or left handed,its just that since the strings are reversed,its harder to know what to play.but i got used to it,now i got fret with my right as good as my left.

[JoeCervo]

Cool, post some videos

[MeTaLdUdE02]

i'll try when i've gotten used to it.i started not to long ago.

[Daarknesss3]

I bet it felt weird playing right-handed for awhile. It feels really weird even when I pick up a right-handed bass. But you know what they say about us lefties, we're more creative, and you live up to that. Great work, and keep it up!

[anm25productions]

now thts wut a guitar player shud be lik. u never gav up which is awesum. keep doin wut yur doin cuz good insperation to many kids.

[JoeCervo]

Thank you! I will

I start music school in 5 months from now in St. Paul

[TacoLuke]

Wow - that's dedication. Kudos to you my friend!

[JoeCervo]

Thanks, I Like to play.

[DavidCGuitarGuru]

Dude you have a gift I really enjoyed your video and I was just wondering, what king of pedal are you using?

[JoeCervo]

Thanks A lot! I am using a Pot line 6. It is 300$ and it lasts for years.

[MadBassist2]

dude, youre the next Michael Angelo Batio

keep it up

[krytoxic122]

teach me your ways dood, im so fascinated.

[JoeCervo]

Practice Practice Practice

and then Practice some more

[kai12107]

all i have to say is awesome guitar playing

[JoeCervo]

yea! Thanks

[krytoxic122]

dood, this is soo sick. before i read your story i was like wow another right showing off. then i saw you switch and then i was amazed. theeeen i read the story, and im even more amazed. rock on man.btw, im a natural lefty too.

[JoeCervo]

haha Thanks

[KissJustMimi]

awesome!!!!!!!!

[JoeCervo]

thanks

[socksforsandals]

amazing story, amazing talent.

[Syllandry]

Wizards in winter " a la Yngwie malmsteen" nice version

[JoeCervo]

hahaha Thanks!

[georgieporgie321]

I've just started relearning guitar left handed, it's sort of humbling. You forget how hard things are to start with.

[beawulf9]

nice playing. and its great how you took control of your tendonitis and kept playing.

rock on

[yoshisrightegg]

this version is way more hardcore than the real version... I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[JoeCervo]

Thanks a lot

[Littleschopp]

herro! my dad works with your dad! nuts guitar skills!

[raymondloke]

Brilliant !

[DeineMata]

omg! awesome,amazing....great work again dude

[LoudLizzard]

Great job. That was absolutely amazing! Kudos on the ambidextrous playing. I hope you go really far with your music! Maybe you'll be the next Slash! :P

[JoeCervo]

Thank you! I will do my best.

[Gkeese]

Truly awesome...words fail...and wow!!!

[guitarmandannyboy]

holy shit that good

win you switched hands

your made me want to try so much hader

and play faster with both hands

[rocrgurl1023]

Awesome playing!!!

[bmx10rider25]

im left handed but i play guitar right handed lol

nice playing

[MelasChupa]

Im in the same tendinitis shit. Never thought about switching hands though. how'd you get better?

[JoeCervo]

I switched hands and took 4 months off lefty.

[Megaallica]

damn man thats inspirational i couldnt ever imagine playing with my left

someone comment my vids!!!

[SwiftFinch]

3 minute ambidextrous solo = instant win. Excellent work man.

[JoeCervo]

thanks! I did not win.

[SwiftFinch]

Then the judges fail at judging.

[tomgul82]

amazing playing...  realy like it.. :-D

[DarthNerd9]

AMAZING! How long did it take you to come up with that? Or was it on the fly?

[JoeCervo]

I had 8 days before the contest was over. I worked on it ALOT. This song was my first real instrumental.

[incognito69kc]

Incredible, well played my friend. You can do your sweeps left handed.

[JoeCervo]

Thanks

[Steveosaurous]

If the contest was to completely rewrite the Wizards In Winter song, you'd have won hands down. Still, very well played, sir. You're an excellent guitarist.

[JoeCervo]

Thank you! It was fun making it my own song.

[ANICON2006]

..damn!! u play left & right handed?? u must hav a lot of time "on your hands" to play both that well!

[JoeCervo]

Im working on being a Pro.

[totallydisturbed]

two words.....holy..crap

[229Mafia]

BADASS.

[mikey6064]

Hey man, you definitely should of won. I'm left handed myself. Do you have the tabs?

[JoeCervo]

Thanks, Sorry I don't have any tabs yet.

[detrimentalflame]

maybe the judges thought that your entry was too distracting from the song and overtakes everything. I dunno, but this is really entertaining.

[JoeCervo]

Nah... in the contest rules it said the songs will be judged by originality and creativity. They should have said "PLAY THE SONG BY THE BOOK"

[jobformax]

my god you are absolutely amazing you definatley deserved this more than what the fuck his face his

[xcardboardbox]

bob molton ftw bitches!!!

[shadowkiss22]

i like how u put ur own touch to it.

very creative. ^^

[JoeCervo]

Thanks alot

[Cisforcelina]

Haha I have a south paw

[rockmaster0]

I am starting playing lefty, actually today. You're so inspiring^^ And you must be the winner!!! You really rock!!! Well, I want to share to you why I want to learn lefty... so that I can play any guitar, lefty or righty, and of course, my dream to play a double guitar like MAB have.

[THEonlyZACKGORT]

*puts down guitar forever*

[JoeCervo]

This video should inspire you to play more!

[Longmusic]

sounds like tsbo

[raulox71]

Ambidextrous Play. I have see that in Michael Angelo Batio.

[OutShoneGod]

maybe a new MAB in the making, nice work man

[TheRockLord1211]

Dude you are truely amazing! Leftys Rule!

[OutShoneGod]

nice and clean too, i really enjoyed it

[Gibson1423]

wut feels more comftarable 4 u.. left handed or right handed?

[JoeCervo]

lefty for sure

[Gibson1423]

i think u play sick both ways.. u should of won the contest.. the winner sucks.. ur better

[JoeCervo]

Thanks, The contest wasn't fair. They said they wanted people to be creative not just play the tab like that guy did. I wish they would have put 'PLAY THE SONG NOTE FOR NOTE INFRONT OF A BUNCH OF SPEAKERS' like they wanted......

[s1234520]

wow dude u rock

[BloodDemon33]

pretty good

[formulathx]

I have a question for you Joe, how did you get over the hump of playing lefty? I had a compound fracture on my ring finger on my right hand in a hockey game. I can't bend that finger all the way, so for string bends or certain chords it's difficult.

I was considering trying righty. So you went back to lefty? Was playing righty just too hard for the right hand as the strumming hand?

[JoeCervo]

The secret to overcome things is to never give up. I never went back to lefty all the way. I play both now.... It doesnt matter which hand is the strumming hand. My guitar teacher is a lefty but has alyways played right handed. Remember playing guitar isn't about great strength it is about correctly applied pressure. I think you should give righty a shot. Just have fun with it.

[xSurfingWithTheAlien]

Dude how did u get rid of the tendonitis??? i been struggling wit it for ages??

[JoeCervo]

I switched to right handed(during my injury I took 4 months off lefty) then worked back into it. Starting at 5-10 minutes a day. Now I am better than ever. Its important not to overdo it with fast exercises. You have to learn your limits. Your hands are not a machine.....

[xSurfingWithTheAlien]

Dude thanx for the advice but my right hand is even worse than my left so i could never switch to southpaw and the thought of 4 months off just makes me wanna cry.

[xSurfingWithTheAlien]

Oh and ur awesome by the way :)

[lafurselfsik]

dude! you're goooooood... you know mattrach? you two would make an awesome band!

[JoeCervo]

Yes! I watch his videos every few weeks! He is one of the best players on youtube. It would be a cool band because he was brought up through Steve Vai and I followed more along Jason Becker and Joe Satriani!!!!!

[danoja80]

fuckin awesome...I hope you're rich someday

[xRaynFirex]

dam ur good

[trumpetman0608]

Jimi would be proud....

[JoeCervo]

haha! Thanks......

[Gibson1423]

holy shit.. ur my hero

[biggdoggasert]

your fucking fantastic.

[bmx209]

i mean im right handed sorry i wish i could play left handed.

[bmx209]

wow i want to to play both handed right and left but im left handed

[ilikestuffdou291]

i can play both handed. I prefer playing right handed even though i'm left handed.

[Multifrucht]

wow, playing with both hands :) Fortunately your tendonitis went away

[tnpan]

I have the same strap. the lightning one in the very begining. I love it!

[1D3M0NX1]

wouldnt it be cool if jimi hendrix played this?

[BlackWolf4229]

that was the best lefties unite great back story very inspiring

[AlekHendrix]

Amazing! Now you just need a guitar like Michael Angelo Batio has! :-)

[JoeCervo]

Yeah!!!!!!!!!! I want my own some day!

[warpguitarist]

hey u have a jackson dk2l too? they are so cool- i got emgs in mine

[JoeCervo]

Yea, I got mine 4 and a half years ago! I switched the pickup to the George Lynch Screamin' Demon (Semyour Duncan)

[fhatsk8er]

I remember viewing this a year ago because I was in the contest too, and this is amazing. Since you've made this video, I've been inspired, and I've started learning to play guitar left-handed, and it really is a different feel (still not too good at it though).

[CanadaKubecka]

Your solos are amazing!

I wish I could just pick up any guitar and play... Expeshily switch hands! Nice!

[BADBOY131]

yo man i play righty also only for about 3 years but im dying to play lefty as well. imma ask u since u can do it. is it hard to learn both lefty and righty guitars?

[xriotgrrrl13]

its awkward at first, but you DO get the hang of it. especially cuz you know the scales, chord formations and power chords and whatnot with your original frethand, all you need to do is translate that into your reverse guitar frethand.

thats what I did

[BADBOY131]

imma try that thx 4 da davice

[AEC32094]

dude you rock!

ive only played for 4 years, so im gonna keep to it. your like, PRO! im serious your awesome!

[RHCP0087]

I hope I can be as good as you someday.

[Pyromaniacaldude]

You kick ass Joe Cervo, or should I say Joe Hendrix.

[jvptrumpet]

You should have won! That was freaking amazing! Seriously, go professional, maybe you'll be the next Jimi Hendrix, or Dave Mustain! (if only i could play 1/2 as well as you...) GREAT JOB!!!!!

[JoeCervo]

Thanks alot!!!! Im working on being a pro everyday!

[helmfire]

You and Jim should've tied on this!!! Both of you guys are amazing!

[HotakaChan]

Amazing...

[Flasbergo]

Have you ever considered a project of slightly obscure music? With your talent, all you need is an innovative imagination and solid ideas and you could really stand out.

[JoeCervo]

slightly obscure music?

[Flasbergo]

Yeah, not normal, yet not too weird. Think of what your average musician plays, now structure the music differently and play notes that you don't hear on a regular basis. It's hard to explain. basically what I meant was to stand out, play the odd notes. There are bands that have become quite successful at thinking outside the box.

[Turgah]

Btw, what's tendonitis? You rock man!

[gemulon]

damn.. that's about all i can come up with to say in response to this. just damn.

[DragonFlopp]

You are incredibly talented at guitar. Now, the way I see it, there are two versions of Wizards in Winter. There is the original, and then there's your version (the metal version, we'll call it.). Good ass job on the origianlity. Good ass job on the playing. Good ass job altogether.

[JoeCervo]

Hell yeah!!!! Thanks for commenting on the originality! I alyways play stuff that stands out from normal rock/metal guitar playing

[DragonFlopp]

That's why you're so damn good at playing. Kudos for playing both right and left handed too.

[lordhansolo]

dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gazzer2kuk]

awesome :D

[acidiceccfc123]

that was incredible! you actually make me want to learn left handed guitar... well bass lol! i feel for you guys a lot, it's such a shame that there's such a small percentage of left handed models and they cost more than right handed!

anyway, you rock dude!

[strat2tele]

yea its not like drums where you can just switch it to fix it. i play a right handed guitar but i play the drums left handed (that has skrewd with so many sound guys!haha) but yea i think lefty guitars should be cheaper than righties. brilliand preformance! i tried to play a lefty tele in a shop once and was totaly lost! i cant see how you can strum with your right hand... keep pluckin.

[nightwishnowand4ever]

fucking brilliant!!!!!!

[Gooby666]

Sick!

[finkster]

So which way is better for improv soloing, left handed or right handed?

[JoeCervo]

Both are the same!

[FinalFrontier0]

I play left handed but it sux i can't get a left handed guitar!!

[JoeCervo]

you can find them on ebay and most of the online guitar sites......

[D4n01]

I like these lefty guitars x.x

I play like you :3

to both sides

but more like a lefty .-.

[MrWafu]

Thanks man. Btw you rock \m/

[MrWafu]

Dude, can I ask what song is this? or is it original?

Btw. You're one of the best I've ever seen. \m/

[JoeCervo]

The Music you hear behind my guitar is from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra band. I wrote all the lead parts to this song.

[BandyArker]

youv inspired me coool

[chillistick]

how long did it take for you to play on the reerse side of wahtever side you originaly started playing? lol if that made any sense.

[JoeCervo]

haha... I get it. It didn't take as long to build up the reverse side since I already knew how to play. So I just worked on technique the way I originally did.

[tjthebest7]

bro your like the man u'll be like michael angelo

[thanosdrm]

wow thats was freaking good!! im left handed guitarist too but i could never imagine too play like this rigty :)

[alcoholocaust]

Amazing. Keep it up and you'll be the next Michael Angelo Batio.

[JoeCervo]

Hell yeah! Thanks for the comment

[araenae]

Hi I would like to invite you to my group, I want to gather all the left handed youtuber-guitarists and bassists. Hope to see you there!, the name of the group is southpaws

[JoeCervo]

I joined

[iswyd]

I'm a left handed guitar player, but i wish i started out right handed, coz left handed guitars are so hard to find! I heard that they only spend ONE day a YEAR making them for us. shockin aye...Theres many left handed players out there having the same problem as me. Anyways, awesome work. Im learning lead guitar at tha moment. Hope i can get that good ;)

From Sarah

[Maher1991]

Man that was gr8 really ..... I a begginer and a left handed too . keep it up man

[Jonny620]

i suggest you carry on playing both ways and get better playing lefty and righty

[JoeCervo]

Yeah!!!!!!!!!

[omgallitypehereexist]

Noisy. I don't like pitch shifter. Too much of Malmsteen for me... I don't like it but you are a good one!

[Swindlbee]

I think you look so muck better playing left handed.

Keep it up, and hopefully more vids.

[JoeCervo]

Yeah, I started playing left handed first. There is going to be a new music video called "Time Traveler" out in a few weeks. Check it out when the time comes!

[SafetyMan911]

That was a great vid, I'm left handed but I play righty. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if I would have been better playing lefty. When you play either way, are you more aware of your picking hand or your fretting hand?

[JoeCervo]

After I play for 10 minutes it is the same thing either way. I think its because it doesn't take alot of pressure to play guitar, just alot of correctly applied pressure. I get that question alot but im the only one that can answer it.

[Jonny620]

are you ampidextrus or something?

[JoeCervo]

Not at all

[Enfeeblement]

You're awesome dude. I'm left-handed too :)

[hellomoto5]

This is totally badass man!

Great technique, and truly dedicated guitarist with your tendonitis struggle!

-mike-

[hellomoto5]

Im pretty sure I have tendonitis myself, in my left wrist. it isnt horrible but still hurts.

What should i do? i stretch it sometimes even tho it hurts, and now keep it wrapped..please tell me it will go away soon.

? get back please

-mike-

[JoeCervo]

Instead of wrapping your wrist go to a sporting goods store and get Brace. I acutally use a hockey brace around my wrist sometimes.(the brand i use is TruFit) I know alot about Repetitive Motion Injurys. I went to 3 doctors when I hurt myself. Give it maybe a few months and you will be fine. Tendonitis will go away.

[JoeCervo]

Don't play alot if it hurts. That will just make it worse. Play about 10-15 minutes a day. Play NO faster that 8th notes a few minutes at a time(So you don't lose the feel for the guitar. That is what I did) That way you won't have to stretch, just massage your hands to get the blood flowing.(buy the guitar video called "John Petrucci Rock Discipline" I use EVERY warmup from it every time I pick up the guitar. it even shows you what to do before picking up the guitar.)

[hellomoto5]

Thanks for both comments. Yes I play on an average 4-6 hours day, that whole time my wrist is curved around the fretboard..so it became a problem, My thing is shred so ill lay off for like a week and see how I feel.

Thanks!

[brunocf7]

oh and one more thing (sorry :P). did it came with floyd rose?

im making all this questions because i want to buy a strat: a deluxe LH or an american LH. i appreciated if u could help me

[JoeCervo]

No problem, just go to the musiciansfriend page and type in Fender American Deluxe Strat Left-Handed. That will give you all the info.(I play my fender 98% of the time)

[brunocf7]

just one more question: I notice that your tremolo's strat doesn't have that white rubber on the end. did u took it off or it didn't came with it? and that rubber can affect your in the tremolo?

[sew34]

Hey , where did u get the chords ?

[JoeCervo]

Trans-Siberian Orchestra's webpage

[brunocf7]

nice playing sweet stratocaster deluxe

but i have a question. which one sound better: fender strat. american series LH or fender strat. deluxe LH?

[JoeCervo]

I think the Fender American Deluxe Strat sounds better. It Never goes out of tune when using the wammy bar and it has no buz pickups for recording/playing loud.

[DeadXFaceXViolence]

im lefthanded do i have to play on a lefty guitar or it dsnt matter?

[JoeCervo]

Play the way that is more comfortable