Finding and Fixing Rattles and Buzzes on Acoustic Guitars
Here is an end-to-end approach for for finding and fixing those annoying rattles and buzzes on your acoustic guitar.
These articles originally appeared in the May-June 2022 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
How to Avoid String Tension Problems on Vintage Parlor Guitars
Should you be concerned about string tension on parlor guitars from the early 1900s? Considering that very few of these instruments have truss rods, it's a valid worry.
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Reimagining a Fernando Sor Etude as a String-Crossing Guitar Workout
This guitar lesson breaks down the mechanics of string crossing and applies it all to a classical guitar etude by Fernando Sor to help build up picking-hand precision.
Golden Jubilee: Bob Taylor, Richard Hoover, and Dana Bourgeois Reflect on 50 Years of Guitar Making
Bob Taylor (Taylor Guitars), Richard Hoover (Santa Cruz Guitars), and Dana Bourgeois (Schoenberg, Bourgeois Guitars) reflect on 50 years of guitar making.
Folk, Jazz, and Classical Meet in Woody Harris’ Return to Recording on ‘Bluish’ and ‘Edgework’
With the EPs Bluish and Edgework, guitarist Woody Harris has released his first new music in 42 years, and it’s a lifetime away from the folk albums he recorded in his 20s.
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Improve Your Flatpicking Technique with These Mother Maybelle Carter-Inspired Exercises
In this guitar lesson, these arrangements of two songs by Mother Maybelle Carter will help develop your technique and understanding of the flatpicking idiom.
How the Music of Madagascar Can Expand Your Fingerstyle Guitar Playing
In this lesson, Bruce Molsky demonstrates how the guitar tradition from Madagascar takes in not only local music elements but classical and pop influences from everywhere.
Great Acoustics: This Custom Style 21 Cowardin 000 Celebrates a Decades-Long Friendship
A friend commissioned Jack Cowardin to build an understated 000 acoustic guitar to complement his 1938 Martin 000-18. The result was much more than just wood and metal.
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Guitar Review: Luna’s Vineyard Koa Bevel Folk Is a Versatile and Vibrant Acoustic-Electric
The Vineyard Koa is based on Luna’s Folk body, which splits the difference between a grand auditorium and a parlor. Hear how it sounds in this guitar review.
Watch Joan Armatrading Play Her Classic Ballad “Love and Affection”
Watch Joan Armatrading play "Love and Affection" on her Ovation 12-string guitar, and learn some tips for playing the song with her rich chord voicings.
Time Reveals Changes in Son House’s Approach on 1964 Recording ‘Forever on My Mind’
The 8 performances on Forever on my Mind, recorded live at Wabash College in 1964, are so different, they force us to rethink everything we know we about him.
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Aoife O’Donovan’s ‘Prodigal Daughter’
Once you’ve gotten a feel for the fingerpicking pattern, played in dropped-C tuning, look for ways to add your own variations to the song.
Learn a Simple Guitar Arrangement of “I’m Sitting On Top of the World”
This arrangement is taken at a relaxed tempo, using a handful of open and first-position chords—C, F, A7, D7, G7—along with a couple more sophisticated but easy-to-play shapes.
Explore Joan Armatrading’s Unorthodox Acoustic Guitar Style
Joan Armatrading has followed her own path for 50 years to become one of the most revered songwriters of her generation. Here's an in-depth look at her guitar playing.
Amp Review: VHT True Acoustic 60 Is a Versatile Combo with Clean Sounds
The VHT True Acoustic 60 guitar amp displays relatively little harmonic distortion, even at high-volume settings. Read more in this review!
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Ana Vidovic’s Live and Virtual Recitals Have Made Her One of the Classical Guitar’s Brightest Stars
Live and virtual recitals—including on YouTube—have helped fuel Ana Vidovic’s rise as one of the world’s most popular classical guitarists.
Jamming on Acoustic Guitar: How to Play Well with Others
If you’re used to playing acoustic guitar alone on your couch, it’s time you get out there and join a jam session. Here's how to get started.
Ease into Alternate Tuning with This Open D Minor Blues Guitar Lesson
In this guitar lesson, get a taste of open tunings by lowering your strings to open D minor, then playing a handful of chord shapes and applying them to a bluesy etude.
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Kaleidoscope Ears: Gyan Riley Has a Unique Approach to Nylon-string Guitar
Gyan Riley’s big ears and deep guitar skills have taken him from solo shows to classical ensembles.
Guitar Review: Preston Thompson D-SMA Is a Light and Powerful Dreadnought
Handcrafted in the company's Sisters, Oregon, workshop, the Preston Thompson D-SMA has a poetic side you might not expect from an instrument of its size.
Carlos Barbosa-Lima and Johannes Tonio Kreusch Shine on ‘Manisero’
This release pairs the two guitarists on a collection of short pieces from Latin composers
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Trevor Gordon Hall Crafts Expressive Instrumentals from a Variety of Guitars on ‘This Beautiful Chaos’
Using six guitars—a nylon-string crossover, a baritone, a Portuguese viola amarantina, steel-string acoustics, and an electric—Hall switches between solo and multitracking and different tunings.
Eliza Gilkyson Delivers a Remarkable Ode to the Southwest with ‘Songs from the River Wind’
Gilkyson calls this album a “love letter to the Old West."
‘Woody Guthrie: Songs and Art, Words and Wisdom’ is a Spectacular Portrait of American Folk’s Greatest Minstrel
A delightful visual feast, compiled by Guthrie’s daughter Nora with material from the Woody Guthrie Archive in Tulsa, Oklahoma.