I think it's more traditional myself or whatever the musicians are used to. Maybe how they set things up in the recording studio. When I played in groups during the 60s it varied even with a particular group at different venues. These were often a tad cramped to say the least & the position of the gear was dictated by the size of the stage more than anything else.

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Remember this lot?

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That is the logical explanation. I believe this photo was taken on a mimed session & maybe it looked more symmetrical for the TV cameras. I tried to find one of an actual live performance without success so far.

Maybe I got it wrong but it was always my understanding that Paul is standing at "stage left" in that particular photo.

PS. George was always regarded as the Beatles lead guitarist & he's in the middle.

Maybe I got it wrong then. I never took acting lessons.

Going back to the main question - I can only speak for the UK but The Shadows were the first conventional 3 guitar & drums group in this country, They were obviously a great influence on many budding British musicians like me (& The Beatles) who went on to form their own groups. I found this early photo of Cliff Richard & the Shadows perfoming live in Sweden in 1961. Note that Jet Harris the bass player is in the centre with Hank Marvin the lead guitarist on his left.


It seems natural for up & coming groups to copy this layout. As I previously mentioned, the setup would often depend on the venue. My brother played bass & I was drummer in most groups I was in. I distinctly remember him being sometimes on my left & sometimes on my right. Personally, I much preferred it when he was on my left or "stage left" as you refer to it. As I recall, this was our usual setup.

PS. Purely as a matter of interest this was taken in 1959 - before Jet Harris (with blond hair) imported his prized Fender Precision bass guitar, the first example ever seen in this country.

From my understanding stage left is the left had side of the stage as seen by the audience and stage right is the right had side. The means that standing on the stage looking at the audience, anyone standing on your left is stage right of you. So in that picture of the beatles, paul is stage left and john is stage right.

The way we did it in acting class was when it was time to leave the stage you were directed "stage left/right"  so if I were on stage looking at the crowd (which was never many people) and directed "exit stage left" I would leave to my left, which to the audieance would be right. Right? great now i'm really confused!!!!

P.S. Hagar I took over four years of acting classes and became a woodworker. I took a wrong turn somewhere!!
Oh well we here in the States need another actor like we do a lawyer. LOL!

Thank you! I needed that! LOL!!!

This might make you feel even better. http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/stage+left
It appears you were right all along & I owe you an apology for bringing it up. To think I've been wrong about this all these years.

As usual, I have also learned something from this thread. LOL

PS. Thanks for your support Woody but in this case it seems we are both wrong.
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Well i was starting to think that I was mistaken, but the "human encyclopida" Hagar rescued me from humilliation!!
Thank you buddy!!
Don't feel bad though going to school in the '80's I have learned since then that allot of my teachers were wrong about just about everything!!
The best example would be from my career counsler "You don't want to get into the computer field, it is going to be a dead end"  that is the actual quote from him!!
And him being a good friend of my mother I see him on a frequent basis and will never let him live it down!!
See what happens when you take advice, he was also the one that talked me into acting classes, said it would help me overcome my shyness, well needless to say I'm 35 and single with no kids. Guess that advice didn't work either. LOL!!!

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This basically depends on 2 things. How many there are in the group & how good you are. (It will also depend on the size & shape of the stage to a certain extent.)
If you go it solo you can stand wherever you like.  If you're brilliant & they need you badly enough the same applies no matter how many there are in the group. So keep practising.