Ask the Expert: Understanding Acoustic Guitar Scale Length
Here's a guide to understanding scale length on acoustic guitars, an often overlooked design variable that has a big impact on the sound and feel of the guitar.
These articles originally appeared in the May-June 2020 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
Video Lesson: How to Play Guitar Like Reverend Gary Davis with Ernie Hawkins
Reverend Gary Davis is widely celebrated as a genius of blues fingerpicking. In this guitar lesson, Ernie Hawkins, who studied with him, teaches his style.
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Guitar Lesson: Fingerpicking on the Blues in C Major
Here are three ways to play a 12-bar blues in C major on guitar, seen through the lens of the old blues masters.
Video Lesson: How to Get Great Tone with Michael Chapdelaine
Relearning your picking-hand approach can help you achieve the best sound that your guitar can make.
Learn Peppino D’Agostino’s ‘Dancing with Shadows’
“As in a painting, the melody should be the subject right up front, close to your eyes, and the bass should be the mountains in the background,” D’Agostino says.
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Personalized Inlays: Working Pieces of Art
For many players, these personalized inlays are not about having a flashy stage guitar, but about adding embellishments that makes a guitar their guitar.
Album Review: Peppino D’Agostino Has Much to Say on Instrumental Tour de Force, ‘Connexion’
The ten tracks vary considerably from tune to tune in terms of style, but are unified by his wondrous playing
Review: Lowden WL-35 Jazz Nylon-Stringed Guitar is Sonically Balanced and Inviting to Play
Parlor-sized with an L.R. Baggs pickup system, Lowden's WL-35 Jazz nylon-string guitar is an excellent fit for steel-string guitarists looking to expand their palette.
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Out of the Blues: Reflections on the 1960s Folk Revival
In the late 1950s and early ’60s, prewar acoustic blues guitarists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, and Reverend Gary Davis earned late-in-life fame as new audiences eagerly devoured their music through performances at events like the Newport Folk Festival and LP reissues and compilations on labels like Folkways…
Solas’ Seamus Egan Casts a Wide Stylistic Net on ‘Early Bright’
On his second solo album Egan adds classical, pop and progressive rock influences.
Great Acoustics: Bukka White’s 1933 National Duolian
For much of his career, White played this 1933 National Duolian, serial number C7094, which he called “Hard Rock.”
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Campfire Songs: Learn to Play ‘Red River Valley’
In this acoustic guitar lesson, you'll learn how to play "Red River Valley."
Gear Review: SonoTone Symphonic Strings
SonoTone, a small-batch guitar-string company based in Massachusetts, prides itself on design and tone, as well as the pitch accuracy of its handiwork. Developed to faithfully produce authentic vintage tones from the 1950s–’70s, SonoTone’s American-made strings are available in two types for acoustic guitarists: phosphor bronze Symphonic and Concert brass.
Review: Shubb Capo Royale is Compact, Simple, and Efficient
Shubb stands out among the most popular capos for its elegantly simple lever design
Album Review: More Exploration on Stephane Wrembel’s ‘The Django Experiment V’
Before beginning live-on-the floor sessions for The Django Experiment V, Stephane Wrembel recorded Django L’Impressionniste, an album-length interpretation of 17 little-known Django Reinhardt solo pieces.
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Makers & Shakers: Audrey Bartlett of Waterloo Guitars
Audrey Bartlett, the lead builder and department manager of Waterloo Guitars, in Austin, Texas, says, “I’m not a musician—which makes me different from most of the people doing this work.” That can make her feel like she doesn’t fit in, but also sets her apart for its parallels to her…
Dave Simonett’s ‘Red Tail’ is Full of Revealing, Plainspoken Honesty
The lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Trampled by Turtles has finally released an album under his own name.
Jeff Gunn’s ‘Sonic Tales’ is Full of Mystery and Imagination
Gunn draws on jazz, flamenco, and Travis-style fingerpicking to tell a series of impressionist stories
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Gear Review: Preston Thompson 000-14SBA
Carrying on the work of company founder and namesake Preston K. Thompson, who died April 11, 2019, the small cadre of builders at Preston Thompson Guitars, in Sisters, Oregon, is one of those teams that’s capable of delivering extraordinarily crafted steel-strings time and again, and this Thompson 000-14SBA is one of those fine instruments.
Reverend Gary Davis‘ Country Picking Acoustic Classic: ‘Cocaine Blues’
Beyond the blues techniques, there is a seriously bittersweet tone to Davis’ guitar on “Cocaine Blues.” It seems to come from a very deep place in his soul.
Gear Review: Schertler Roy Amplifier
Thanks to their full-range sound capabilities and multiple input options, many acoustic guitar amplifiers have been called miniature PA systems. That has never been so true as with Roy, a top-of-the-line package from Schertler, the Swiss maker.
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Acoustic Classic: ‘The Girl from Ipanema’
“The Girl from Ipanema,” a prime example of the bossa nova idiom, is one of the most covered songs in recorded history. Here we explore Charlie Byrd's dropped-D interpretation.
Guitar Talk: Railroad Earth’s Todd Sheaffer on His Influences, His Martins, and More
Sheaffer is a colorful and imaginative soloist who does wonders with a very simple setup
How to Play Billy Strings’ “Guitar Peace”
To really play “Guitar Peace” authentically, you’ll want to improvise on Strings’ riffs.