 And because Paul McCartney was right-handed and so was John Lennon, John asked Paul if you could play the guitar left-handed. And he learned how to do that also. In 1957, two teenagers, Paul McCartney, who was only 15 at the time, and 16-year-old John Lennon met for the first time. The two were again very quickly becoming closer at what they wanted to do. And in 1957, they started their first band.