https://acousticguitar.com lessons, music to play, and how-tos for all guitarists Mon, 26 Aug 2024 15:40:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/acousticguitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/AG_Favicon.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 https://acousticguitar.com 32 32 103806923 https://acousticguitar.com/boost-your-bottleneck-slide-playing-by-focusing-on-chord-tones/ https://acousticguitar.com/boost-your-bottleneck-slide-playing-by-focusing-on-chord-tones/#respond Tue, 27 Aug 2024 13:00:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=145215 Chord tones provide not only a solid foundation for expanding your slide playing but a template for soloing in general, with or without slide.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/boost-your-bottleneck-slide-playing-by-focusing-on-chord-tones/feed/ 0 145215 https://acousticguitar.com/open-strings-blues-basics/ https://acousticguitar.com/open-strings-blues-basics/#respond Sun, 14 Apr 2024 13:00:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=143946 Here you'll learn a few cool licks that go beyond the minor pentatonic scale—and how to put them to use for your own leads and improvisations.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/open-strings-blues-basics/feed/ 0 143946 https://acousticguitar.com/spice-up-your-chord-and-lead-work-with-double-stops/ https://acousticguitar.com/spice-up-your-chord-and-lead-work-with-double-stops/#respond Tue, 12 Mar 2024 13:00:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=143506 From folk to blues to rock and beyond, the harmonies produced by double-stops can make a melody in any genre stand out. ]]> https://acousticguitar.com/spice-up-your-chord-and-lead-work-with-double-stops/feed/ 0 143506 https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-simple-acoustic-blues-tips-that-can-improve-your-bottleneck-slide-technique/ https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-simple-acoustic-blues-tips-that-can-improve-your-bottleneck-slide-technique/#respond Tue, 25 Apr 2023 21:00:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=100382 There are several things you can do to get a good slide sound: Set up your guitar with heavier strings, use an open tuning, try different kinds of slides, dampen the strings, and learn to properly intonate. Getting a good sound is often as much a function of proper setup as it is technique. ]]> https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-simple-acoustic-blues-tips-that-can-improve-your-bottleneck-slide-technique/feed/ 0 100382 https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-fingerpicking-on-the-blues-in-c-major/ https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-fingerpicking-on-the-blues-in-c-major/#respond Fri, 25 Nov 2022 17:31:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=115839 Here are three ways to play a 12-bar blues in C major on guitar, seen through the lens of the old blues masters.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-fingerpicking-on-the-blues-in-c-major/feed/ 0 115839 https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-an-intro-to-bottleneck-blues/ https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-an-intro-to-bottleneck-blues/#respond Fri, 11 Nov 2022 17:08:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=102824 Learn the basics of acoustic slide guitar and start to find the notes between the notes where the range of human emotion runs.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-an-intro-to-bottleneck-blues/feed/ 0 102824 https://acousticguitar.com/review-fender-paramount-pr-180e-resonator-guitar/ https://acousticguitar.com/review-fender-paramount-pr-180e-resonator-guitar/#respond Tue, 02 Aug 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=132639 The Fender Paramount PR-180E is an affordable resonator that has a sweet sound and appeal for slide guitarists, fingerpickers, flatpickers, and strummers alike.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/review-fender-paramount-pr-180e-resonator-guitar/feed/ 0 132639 https://acousticguitar.com/class-action-tips-on-building-a-successful-guitar-teaching-practice/ https://acousticguitar.com/class-action-tips-on-building-a-successful-guitar-teaching-practice/#respond Fri, 15 Jul 2022 16:16:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=120084 Whether you want to recruit a few students or develop a full schedule, here are a few suggestions to get the ball rolling.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/class-action-tips-on-building-a-successful-guitar-teaching-practice/feed/ 0 120084 https://acousticguitar.com/make-your-own-blues-using-classic-guitar-licks-and-phrases/ https://acousticguitar.com/make-your-own-blues-using-classic-guitar-licks-and-phrases/#respond Wed, 13 Jul 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=131992 If you look to the masters for inspiration—without copying them note for note—you can produce blues verses and solos that sound fresh and exciting on guitar.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/make-your-own-blues-using-classic-guitar-licks-and-phrases/feed/ 0 131992 https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-how-to-play-the-blues-like-r-l-burnside/ https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-how-to-play-the-blues-like-r-l-burnside/#comments Fri, 19 Nov 2021 16:44:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=101935 If you like your blues with funky drive, listening to and learning Burnside’s riffs and licks will get your mojo working. Learn to play in his raw percussive style.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-how-to-play-the-blues-like-r-l-burnside/feed/ 1 101935 https://acousticguitar.com/learn-to-play-in-open-g/ https://acousticguitar.com/learn-to-play-in-open-g/#respond Sat, 24 Apr 2021 01:25:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=123302 A lesson on how to play fingerstyle blues in this popular open tuning, using examples from classic songs by Elizabeth Cotten, Robert Johnson, and more.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/learn-to-play-in-open-g/feed/ 0 123302 https://acousticguitar.com/how-to-fingerpick-the-blues-like-mississippi-john-hurt-the-alternating-bass-pattern/ https://acousticguitar.com/how-to-fingerpick-the-blues-like-mississippi-john-hurt-the-alternating-bass-pattern/#respond Sat, 25 Jan 2020 09:34:06 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=112234 Listening to players like Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, and John Fahey will get your ear accustomed to fingerpicking blues. In this lesson, you’ll apply the techniques they’re known for to a 12-bar blues, but you can also use them to play ragtime, early jazz, and folk. ]]> https://acousticguitar.com/how-to-fingerpick-the-blues-like-mississippi-john-hurt-the-alternating-bass-pattern/feed/ 0 112234 https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-beard-a-model-odyssey/ https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-beard-a-model-odyssey/#respond Fri, 17 Jan 2020 16:34:30 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=113915 With its mixture of vintage and modern appointments, the Beard A-Model Odyssey resonator guitar has a stunning look that is certain to captivate the audience at any gig. ]]> https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-beard-a-model-odyssey/feed/ 0 113915 https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-using-the-caged-with-the-12-bar-blues/ https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-using-the-caged-with-the-12-bar-blues/#respond Thu, 05 Sep 2019 17:38:26 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=111833 The study of prewar blues includes a heavy amount of time playing in first position—between the nut and the first four frets of your guitar. However, as you learn more and more songs, you might be asking yourself, “What comes next?”]]> https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-using-the-caged-with-the-12-bar-blues/feed/ 0 111833 https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-national-m-14t-thunderbox/ https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-national-m-14t-thunderbox/#respond Tue, 27 Aug 2019 22:07:12 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=111731 Although known for its steel and brass instruments, National also offers many wood-bodied guitars, both tricone and single-cone biscuit bridge style. The M-14T Thunderbox is the most recent addition to National’s M series of single-cone mahogany resonators.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-national-m-14t-thunderbox/feed/ 0 111731 https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-how-to-play-bottleneck-in-a-range-of-styles/ https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-how-to-play-bottleneck-in-a-range-of-styles/#respond Fri, 17 May 2019 17:19:18 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=111062 Slide/bottleneck guitar can evoke flavors ethereal and lyrical or aggressive and bombastic. From Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk” to Elmore James’ “Dust My Broom” and on to Debashish Bhattacharya’s Indian slide musings, this approach delivers a wide spectrum of sounds, emotions, and cultural touchstones.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-how-to-play-bottleneck-in-a-range-of-styles/feed/ 0 111062 https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-magslide-magnesium-guitar-slide/ https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-magslide-magnesium-guitar-slide/#respond Fri, 17 May 2019 14:18:45 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=111148 The most common materials for bottleneck slides are steel, brass, glass, and ceramic. I have also seen slides fashioned from copper tubing and plastic cylinders. Now comes the MagSlide, made of magnesium, the eighth most abundant element, as well as the lightest structural metal on earth.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-magslide-magnesium-guitar-slide/feed/ 0 111148 https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-iris-guitar-company-og-standard/ https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-iris-guitar-company-og-standard/#respond Fri, 17 May 2019 13:56:02 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=111114 The Iris’ terrific-feeling neck, with a perfect rounded-C profile that’s .880 at the first fret, split the difference between skinny modern and vintage hefty.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-iris-guitar-company-og-standard/feed/ 0 111114 https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-klos-carbon-fiber-acoustic-electric-travel-guitar/ https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-klos-carbon-fiber-acoustic-electric-travel-guitar/#respond Wed, 08 May 2019 17:46:15 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=111028 There has been a revolution of sorts in guitar making over the past 15 years. RainSong, Blackbird, Composite Acoustics, and now KLOS have developed carbon-fiber instruments that can withstand the elements of extreme heat, cold, and moisture without suffering damage.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-klos-carbon-fiber-acoustic-electric-travel-guitar/feed/ 0 111028 https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-learn-to-play-scott-joplins-ragtime-classic-the-entertainer/ https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-learn-to-play-scott-joplins-ragtime-classic-the-entertainer/#respond Sun, 07 Apr 2019 13:15:55 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=102260 “The Entertainer,” Scott Joplin’s 1902 ragtime piano masterpiece, is known the world over and is a great challenge for the blues fingerpicker.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/video-lesson-learn-to-play-scott-joplins-ragtime-classic-the-entertainer/feed/ 0 102260 https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-alvarez-yairi-honduran-dym60hd/ https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-alvarez-yairi-honduran-dym60hd/#respond Wed, 14 Nov 2018 23:15:05 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=108625 The partnership between Yairi and Alvarez goes back several decades, with the Alvarez-Yairi stamp reserved for Alvarez’s finest instruments. While much of Alvarez’s line is manufactured in China, the Yairi-branded guitars are made in a small shop in Kani, Japan, where modern power tools are eschewed in favor of hand tools, like spokeshaves for carving necks, and hide-glue construction is standard throughout.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/gear-review-alvarez-yairi-honduran-dym60hd/feed/ 0 108625 https://acousticguitar.com/preview-the-new-play-the-blues-like/ https://acousticguitar.com/preview-the-new-play-the-blues-like/#respond Fri, 26 Oct 2018 22:34:10 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=108462 Blues, like folk music, is all about making it your own. The ultimate goal is to study the greats and piece together what you have learned in a unique way. The more sources you borrow from, the less you sound like, say, a Robert Johnson clone, and the more you sound like a player who […]]]> https://acousticguitar.com/preview-the-new-play-the-blues-like/feed/ 0 108462 https://acousticguitar.com/recording-king-rattlesnake-resonator/ https://acousticguitar.com/recording-king-rattlesnake-resonator/#respond Mon, 15 Oct 2018 17:31:04 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=108185 Mojo and character abound in this affordable wood-bodied single-cone resonator guitar.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/recording-king-rattlesnake-resonator/feed/ 0 108185 https://acousticguitar.com/play-the-blues-like-acoustic-guitar-plus/ https://acousticguitar.com/play-the-blues-like-acoustic-guitar-plus/#respond Tue, 09 Oct 2018 22:22:00 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=128549 Learn the styles of 12 all-time great pre- and postwar guitarists, from Elizabeth Cotten to Charley Patton to Alvin Youngblood Hart.]]> https://acousticguitar.com/play-the-blues-like-acoustic-guitar-plus/feed/ 0 128549 https://acousticguitar.com/an-operatic-rag-for-guitar/ https://acousticguitar.com/an-operatic-rag-for-guitar/#respond Fri, 17 Aug 2018 18:01:32 +0000 https://acousticguitar.com/?p=107641 Accordion music of the early 20th century might seem an odd source of inspiration for a fingerstyle guitarist, but not for the San Francisco Bay Area musician Craig Ventresco, with his vast musical knowledge of that bygone era. I have long admired Ventresco’s arrangement of “An Operatic Rag,” a 1910 recording by Pietro Frosini, one […]]]> https://acousticguitar.com/an-operatic-rag-for-guitar/feed/ 0 107641