Can a Budget Guitar Be Transformed into Something Better?
How can you improve a budget guitar? This is a simple question with a complicated answer. To really tackle the subject, we’ll have to let's consider a few different areas.
These articles originally appeared in the November-December 2022 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
Cristina Vane’s Slide Guitar Takes Center Stage On ‘Make Myself Me Again’
On Christina Vane's album Make Myself Me Again, the slide guitarist is exploring what it means to reconnect with herself in a new, unfamiliar city where she seems to fit right in.
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Bluegrass Trio The Slocan Ramblers Breaks New Ground on ‘Up the Hill and Through the Fog’
On Up the Hill and Through the Fog, the Slocan Ramblers make a clean break from their folk-trad past and establishing three distinctive voices to make the group greater than the sum of its parts.
Guitarist Scott Metzger’s Solo Debut ‘Too Close to Reason’ Is an Impressive Acoustic Tapestry
Stylistically, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead guitarist Scott Metzger's solo acoustic album, Too Close to Reason, covers a lot of territory in what he calls his “sonic landscapes.”
Tips on How to Play Michael Hedges’ Evocative Composition “Breakfast in the Field”
This meditative song uses two-handed tappings to fret notes in unprecedented ways.
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There’s More Light Than Darkness on Mary Gauthier’s ‘Dark Enough to See the Stars’
Dark Enough to See the Stars is what we call a happy album for Mary Gauthier—the happiest album in her career, recorded at the happiest time in her life.
Adam Levy Teaches His Moving Solo Guitar Composition “Clandestino (Elegy for a Cheesemonger)”
“Clandestino” begins with a playful single-note figure drawn from the D major pentatonic scale.
“What’s Going On”—Learn an Unplugged Version of Marvin Gaye’s R&B Masterpiece
Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” has nary an acoustic guitar in its swirling arrangement, but the song, in the guitar-friendly key of E major, lends itself nicely to an acoustic treatment.
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Learn Jon Stickley’s Clever Guitar Reimagining of the Classic Fiddle Tune “Blackberry Blossom”
Learn to play the Jon Stickley Trio's unique interpretation of the bluegrass tune “Blackberry Blossom” on guitar.
Young at Art: Five Luthiers 30 and Under Share Their Stories and Talk Shop
Five promising young luthiers—Brian Itzkin, Oliver Marchant, Eve Meister, Max Spohn, and Olivia Elia—chat about their personal visions and approaches to the craft of building guitars.
Learn an Open-D Bottleneck Slide Guitar Arrangement of “Silent Night”
Fingerstyle guitarist Steve Baughman shares an open-d acoustic guitar arrangement of the beloved Christmas carol "Silent Night" that lends itself nicely to slide treatment.
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Review: The Schertler Giulia X Amp Proves Great Sounding Things Can Come in Small Packages
Tested using a handful of different guitars and pickups, this amp impressed with an abundance of great tones.
How to Add Variety to Basic Guitar Strumming Patterns and Use Them When Playing Songs
Here are some patterns you can practice on their own and then use in traditional songs
‘Mercy’ Is a Strong Solo Acoustic Excursion for Phish Leader Trey Anastasio
Clocking in at 33 minutes—shorter than many Phish prog-rock jams— Mercy puts the spotlight on his singing and acoustic guitar work.
Learn an Easy Guitar Arrangement of “Low Bridge, Everybody Down” (aka “The Erie Canal Song”)
Here's an easy strumming version of “Low Bridge, Everybody Down” (aka “The Erie Canal Song”), a 1900s tune that takes a look back to the mid-1800s.
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Review: Takamine’s CRN-TS1 Is a Stage-Ready Dreadnought with a Sensitive Side
Our reviewer found that for a big guitar with a big sound, the Takamine CRN-TS1 also offers an intimate quality that rewards an uncluttered approach, where notes are given the time and space to linger.
4 Contemporary Fingerstyle Masters Reflect on the Impact and Legacy of Guitar Revolutionary Michael Hedges
Contemporary fingerstyle guitar masters Andy McKee, Kaki King, Christie Lenée, and Mike Dawes reflect on the legacy of the revolutionary guitarist Michael Hedges.
Review: The All-Koa Taylor 724ce Is a Stunning Grand Auditorium Guitar with Exceptional Warmth and Balance
Our reviewer found the Taylor 724ce to be an exceptionally comfortable instrument with an easy-playing neck and a resonant feel whether fingerpicked or flatpicked.
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Berta Rojas Celebrates Classical Guitar Pioneers Ida Presti and María Luisa Anido on ‘Legado’
Berta Rojas' album Legado features 12 tracks composed by or written in homage to a pair of classical guitar pioneers: Ida Presti (1924–1967) of France and María Luisa Anido (1907–1996) of Argentina.
Lily Henley’s ‘Oras Dezaoradas’ Is a Beautiful Fusion of Sephardic and American Folk Tunes
Sephardic songs from 15th century Spain and tunes from the American folk tradition fuse together as the core of Lily Henley's album Oras Dezaoradas.
Great Acoustics: A Trio of Hand-Built Instruments from “Retired” Industry Icon Dick Boak
Since his retirement in 2018, former C.F. Martin & Co. mainstay Dick Boak has continued hand-building instruments like this dreadnought-ukulele-small-bodied-guitar trio.
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Try These Fun and Challenging Counterpoint Exercises on Guitar
Contrapuntal lines are not necessarily intuitive for most guitarists, but the approach is certainly worth the investment and yields dividends equivalent to sonic gold.
How Guitarists Can Play with Less Pain and More Balance with Lessons from the Martial Arts
These body awareness tips from the martial arts can help ward guitarists off unnecessary tension and pain before they become problematic.
Alternate Tunings Master Glenn Jones Returns With ‘Vade Mecum,’ a Very Personal Musical Diary
Glenn Jones doesn’t see open tunings as an alternate to standard, but rather as the core to his approach to playing and composing on guitar, including on his album ‘Vade Mecum.‘
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Singer-Songwriter Jesse Terry’s Covers Album ‘Forget-Me-Nots’ Is Indeed Unforgettable
The album is a collection from a wide spectrum of writers, styles, and eras, beautifully presented in (mostly) acoustic settings.