Here’s a youtube of Pat Metheny playing an Ovation nylon string guitar. Pat Metheny became famous in the mid seventies at a very young age touring with Gary Burton the vibes player. He recorded numerous albums on the European ECM label such as Bright Sized Life, WaterColours and with other players like Eberhard Weber. Pat Metheny has inspired many guitar players with his perfect tone, melodic lines and very musical sounding jazz guitar.
This recording of Paco doing Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo must be one of the most beautiful and sublime recordings ever made.
Alex De Grassi Genius Guitar Player
In the 1980’s William Ackerman and the Windhall Hill label recorded Michael Hedges and the brilliant recording techniques help leave a legacy of this astounding musician. One other player who was very popular at the same time was the Guitarist Alex De Grassi. Alex De Grassi plays incredible open tuning guitar. Amongst guitar players who were alive, listening and watching the development of acoustic guitar he is highly regarded. If you get a chance listen to Slow Circle and Turning Back albums. In this youtube video Alex De Grassi plays a multi stringed Harp Guitar. What surprises me is that De Grassi is not a household name amongst more guitar players.
I thought it would be a ,good time to write a few short posts about some of the acoustic bands and players that don’t have a global audience. As stated a number of times in my articles, I’m open to various styles and am not prepared to limit myself to one particular style. Angus and Julia are reasonably popular in Australia in the contemporary alternative (in this case being anything other than commercial and not necessarily grungy sounding).I like the guitar players solo, simple but really affective.
Jimmy Page on double neck Ovation acoustic guitar and Robert Plant on vocals doing No Quarter. It’s pretty laid back and is reasonably simple open tuning piece but the guitar has a very very big sound because of the drone notes. It was originally recorded on the Houses of the Holy album in 1973. It was also recorded on the Jimmy Page and Robert Plant album Unledded in 1994. It was co written with the Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones.
You might not be familiar with Tim Reyolds so I thought it might be a good idea to introduce you to his playing. He has toured a number of times with Dave Matthews Band, and also performed with the legendary banjo player Bela Fleck. He plays both electric and acoustic. This youtube video features him playing acoustic. Fantastic left hand technique.
If you don’t know about the great blues rock player Joe Bonamassa, it’s probably time you became aware of him. At a very young age he was taught by Danny Gatton. He’s only in his early thirties.
In this youtube video you’ll hear him finish off a ballad… and then he goes for it. He has an extraordinary right hand rhythm technique. Throughout the tune he moves through quite a number of styles, seems like he’s done a little practice 
David Wilcox is my favourite singer songwriter guitarist. ’How did you find me here’ was voted by Acoustic Guitarist Magazine as one of the top ten singer songwriter acoustic guitar albums. He plays predominantly in open tunings, if you don’t know his albums I suggest you try and get hold of the How Did You Find Me Here and Burgandy Heart Medallion albums. This youtube video is funny, I’d never seen it before. David is an exceptional guitar player, what he plays looks simple but try playing it.
Tony McManus is a very good acoustic guitar player who tours the world playing festivals and acoustic venues. Although he often gets labelled as a Celtic guitarist he is really much more than this, there is a great mix of other styles in his playing. He does songs such as Goddbye Porkpie Hat by Charlie Mingus, a tune that has been covered by numerous players such as Jeff Beck, Joni Mitchell, Ralph Towner and John McLaughlin.
In this video he does a Celtic tune called the Seagull, then takes you through a tutorial
It’s an open tuning it’s an odd one but suits the tune.
E down to D, A stays on A, D down to A, G down to E, B down to A, E stays on E
Tony McManus has a beautiful guitar style and gets a very good tone from the guitar
Just when you think you are getting your guitar chops together you suddenly remember the Rosenburg Trio. Two guitars Maccaferri style and a double bass playing acoustic gypsy jazz a la Django and Grappelli style minus the violin to remind you that there are always new height to aspire to. If you are not familiar with the Rosenberg’s you are in for a treat or shock. I love the ending of this tune, his chords are just fantastic after playing all those incredible single lines. The tun e is called For Sephora
Enjoy!!!
Jerry Reed the country guitar legend has died
As a tribute to Jerry, I’ve posted about this youtube video with Chet Atkins.
Jerry was a sensational guitar player, no doubt he won’t need to saudition for the heavenly band, they’ll give a chair at the front straight away. I recommend that guitar players check out his incredible technique.
Neil Finn from Crowded House is probably one of the most musically intelligent pop songwriters I’ve ever heard. My first encounters with Neil finn was watching him play bass with Split Enz about 35 years ago and it’s been an intersting journey to watch him develop as a front man and song writer. He can easily stand up with just an a acoustic guitar and voice and completely slay you. The last time I saw him play was with Crowded House at a free lunch time concert, that’s right, I had front row seats sitting on a step in a small ampitheatre in Sydney, it sort of reminded me of what I’ve seen of the Beatles doing Let it Be with people hanging out of windows, standing on roof tops.
It’s very easy to get carried away with the complexity of guitar parts, especially if you’ve played for many years. Neil Finn always reminds me to play what is required, and often hat may just be a good solid simple acoustic guitar part to accompany a good melody.
If you like acoustic blues and you don’t know John Hammond, there’s a hole in your blues guitar music history. John Hammond plays some of the best raw acoustic blues you’ll hear. In a way apart from being a blues guitarist, singer and harp player he’s also a walking history of the blues. He’s a complete band by himself.
Jimmy Page the Led Zeppelin super guitarist didn’t always want to be a guitar player. I guess everyone has a history and ambition. This youtube of James made me smile.
Enjoy!!
You’ll love this Jimmy Page on Acoustic Guitar
Peter Spragues music was something I became aware of in the eighties. When I was studying with jazz legend Ike Isaacs I’d always turn up and say “Ok uncle Ike, who’s hot? ” and he’d mention different players that I’d never heard of. One such player is a guy called Peter Sprague. I went straight out at the time and got a copy of Na Pali Coast on vinyl, it is still in my collection of coveted guitar albums that other guitar players I grew up with look at and go yeah…I rember that. The album was on the Concord label, to jazz experts, that would mean someting and to other people who are up to speed on drummers, it had Peter Esrskine on drums, not to mention Bob Magnusson on Bass and Steve Kujala on Flute and Tripp Sprague sitting in on one tune.
The beauty of having a guitar blog site like this is I can dig into my musical history and introduce all these astounding guitar players that you as a reader may never have the opportunity of hearing.
So here is Peter Sprague some years later, live in his lounge room, doing what he does best, play brilliant guitar.
Here’s Peter Spragues Guitar site
Tony Hogan - The Guitar Blogger
John Butler is one of the greats that has helped take the art of acoustic roots music to a broader younger audience. Although there have been brilliant players and singer songwriters around for years, a lot of the players have been obscurred by the electric musicians who have dominated the music scene.
I thought I’d post about this John Butler Youtbe Video because I know that a lot of players might be interested in the slide guitar that he is using that sounds very Indian, it reminds me briefly of Krij Bhushan Kabra and then it heads into a more rock sort of feel, complete with digital delay and wah wah, it’s called Treat Yo Mama.
What I like about John Butler is he never plays safe, he’s always pushing the boundaries out a little more, crossing styles, cultures and bridging the gap between acoustic and electric. This music is not refined like Matin Simpson, John McLaughlin or Alex De Grassi but John Butler is an important musical voice that adds to the acoustic guitar community.
Martin Simpson is one of the legends of contemporay British acoustic open tuning guitar. His roots are in folk but extends way past that.
Martin Simpson is one of the most beautiful sounding acoustic guitar players you’ll ever have the privelege of hearing.
This Youtube Video is exceptional. I’m humbled when I hear and watch him play.
This Gibson Acoustic Guitar Youtube Video is definitely worth a view, yes they are advertising but regardless of this the snippets of guitars in various stages of development are of great interest, especially to guitar players that don’t really know much about the guitar making process. As we all know Gibson is famous but there are so many guitar makers that make beautiful guitars, such as Ellis Guitars , McGowan Guitars and Froggy Bottom Guitars. As a long term guitar player, I recognise the beauty of the Gibson Guitar and I also see the need for the smaller custom workshop that has the ability to create specialist instruments and push the art form of guitar forward.
My introduction to the Cream featuring Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker was in 1969, I was 13 years old and just discovering music. By 1970 I had inherited four albums, Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced, John Wesley Harding by Dylan, Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan and Disraeli Gears by the Cream. To this day I’m still spooked by the Tales of Brave Ulysses of the Gears album, but another song that really caught my ears back then was Outside Woman Blues. So to get hold of a version by Clapton doing the tune on acoustic, really brings the tune into context and shows the underlying thinking behind the song. This is a tremendous song to add to an acoustic blues repertoire and it’s reasonably simple …if you can already play.
For other blues check out Stefan Grossman Blues showing how to play a slow blues:
http://acousticguitarist.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/acoustic-blues-guitar-youtube-stefan-grossman/
It’s always good to see great guitar players interpreting other players work. This video youtube of Jacques Stotzem plaing the Jimi Hendrix tune Purple Haze is a perfect example of when it works. Keep in mind the original by Hendrix was on electric, to hear an acoustic version which works well is a treat. Jacques Stotzem was born in Begium and was inspired by Stefan Grossman at an early age. He plays a signature guitar build by the Irish Guitar company Avalon Guitars. but in this video he’s playing a Martin with a cutaway If you are an avid reader of Acoustic Guitar Magazine you’ll already be aware of him
To hear and watch Jimi Hendrix play 12 string acoustic blues guitar click ‘Jimi Hendrix Hear My Train A Comin
Laurence Juber playing playing an acoustic guitar arrangement of While my Guitar Gently Weeps is a great lesson in itself.
Watch his technique and see how much control he has in his bends and his ability to be natural and relaxed throughout this video. Although the basic theme and chorus of the tune is repetitive, he manages to maintain an interest throught with his variations around them. The more I hear of Laurence Juber, the more I realise the quality of guitar player that he is.
If you want to here another video of Laurence Juber playing a beautiful slow blues, go to the acoustic guitarist site
In case you missed my previous article about Lightning Hopkins the legendary acoustic Blues Guitar Player, here’s another song complete with sunglasses, it’s a slow blues, talking style of vocal line. This is history and it’s wonderful to have it saved and preserved on video. It’s from the American Folk Blues Festival 1964. His voice is outstanding in this video, see how simple his guitar part is and it stands up. I can hear a lot of what Hendrix based his style on in this tune. I’d be struggling to say I’ve ever heard a better blues than this.
If you want to hear another Lightning Hopkins Blues click back the link to the left
Here’s another beautiful guitar piece on youtube video by the brilliant Andy McKee acoustic guitarist. Notice how he uses a half capo that only covers some of the strings. He is one of the most natyrally percussive players that I have ever heard. he’s playing a Lowden guitar, not unlike the ones Pierre Bensusan used for many years. I like the tiny bit of vibrato he often uses when he holds a note. Listen out for the bell like harmonics just after the 4 minute mark.
For more music by Andy McKee check out Andy Mckee on youtube
Tommy Emmanuel, the brilliant Australian guitar player playing Classical Gas on his Maton acoustic Guitar, quite a good combination. A couple of days ago I posted about Tommy Emmanuel’s youtube version of Amazing Grace. This youtube of Tommy has him playing Classical Gas his style, a dynamic rhythmic intro and then it gets the Emmanuel steel String acoustic. It’s great to hear different players of Tommy Emmanuels standard versions of such well known tunes. Common song that we know so well in our heads that we’ve head numerous versions make it easy for us to notice the unexpected. I love the percussion he creates on the guitar in this version, and the arpeggios around about the 4 minute mark. This intensity that he expresses when he plays acoustic is rare. Hats of to to Tommy Emmanuel, he keeps getting better and better.
