Long time Acoustic Groove Warrior Stevee’s song CRAZY just got commercially licenced for play at retail outlets in the US. You can stream it and even download it free (for a limited time) on Soundcloud. The song is a slow, soulful number heavily relying on filigree acoustic guitar rhythm work.
“Everybody learns the same handful of open position chords when first starting out on guitar. Chords are certainly important to know but the key to playing hundreds of songs, and becoming a solid acoustic guitar player, is having a grip on a wide variety of rhythms and strumming patterns.
Whatever your goals on guitar happen to be; accompanying a singer in a band, becoming a singer songwriter yourself, or just being able to jam with your buds — Corey Congilio’s 30 Beginner Acoustic Rhythms will equip you with the strumming patterns you’ll need to get wherever you want to go with your guitar.”
”The acoustic guitar has been the favored instrument for accompanying, performing, and writing music since the 1800’s. Most songs use only a handful of chords; but its the rhythm and strumming patterns that makes those chord come alive as music. It’s not uncommon for beginner guitarists to learn their chords only to later find themselves in a ‘rhythmic rut.’ These 30 must-know acoustic rhythms will transform even the most basic chords and progressions into engaging, musical performances of your favorite songs.”
Check out:
Duck Baker – American Fingerstyle Guitarist
Duck Baker doesn’t need much of an introduction to anyone acquainted with the art of fingerstyle guitar. He’s been around on the picking scene for a little short of forever. His playing encompasses a wide range of genres and styles: jazz, blues, gospel and folk of various flavours, including Appalachian, Scottish and Irish tunes. In the featured video Baker spins some real fingerstyle magic with a beautiful and expressive rendition of Pretty Girl Milking a Cow. (For something completely different, check out Judy Garland’s big band version here.)
Apart from being an accomplished player, he is also an astute writer on subjects musical, and luckily for us woodshedders a marvellous teacher who passes on the torch with great wit and wisdom. To this day, players still torture themselves with an exercise he came up with called The guitar is not your friend. You can find it in an offering from Stefan Grossman’s Workshop, the aptly titled Guitar Aerobics. If you’re having trouble hooking your thumb over to fret bass notes, this is just the ticket. There are tons of Duck lessons out there in books, on DVDs etc, and you can google the vaults in a trice. Here’s one I like: how to play Mississippi John Hurt’s Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor, a wonderful piece of ragtime in the essential key of C. It’s from Classic American Folk Blues, a DVD you can find here. The YouTube video is here.
A fan recently said of him, ‘One of the greatest fingerstyle guitarists that has ever lived…period. His body or work is stunning.’ That pretty much sums it up for me. He has influenced a great number of modern fingerstyle players, including someone close to the AGW fold – Tim Sparks.
Curiously enough Duck Baker now resides in Reading near London in the UK, a somewhat different environment to his roots in Richmond, Virginia. From here he continues to fly the flag for fingerstyle, writing, playing and giving workshops. For details visit his site – duckbaker.com
MORE TWANG FOR YOUR BUCK!
At the risk of people crying ‘Judas’, (as they famously did to Bob Dylan when he went electric) I want to talk about electric guitars. The fact is most good guitarists play both electric and acoustic. Personally, I love both. After playing a lot of acoustic it’s nice to take a rest and pick up an electric – and vice versa. My axe of choice is a Telecaster. I can get a nice twang thing going with it and when recording I often layer acoustic guitars under Tele parts.
A really good Fender Telecaster will set you back between $1500 and $2000. If you have the money and your brand conscious that’s fine. However, if you don’t give a damn what it says on the headstock an option to consider is a Partscaster, i.e. it looks and sounds like a Tele, but it’s not made by Fender. I have just invested in one such which is being made as I write by Koen Klijnsmit at the Dutch Luthier company. You can check out how it sounds by playing the video above. Here’s a pic:
As you can see, it looks in every way like a Telecaster, except it doesn’t say Fender on the headstock. Personally, I don’t give a damn about that. What I want is a great-sounding guitar and I know I’m going to get it from Dutch Luthier. I get a choice of pick-ups, e.g. Fender American Vintage ’52, Fender Pure Vintage 64 Telecaster and more. I can select either a maple or rosewood fretboard, I get a good choice of colours, chrome, gold or black parts and etcetera. And here’s the kicker: instead of shelling out $2000 or so, I’m getting it all (oh, and hardcase included) for just $550.
Dutch Luthier has just launched a campaign on Indiegogo.com where you can find out more details. Click here and get a whole lotta twang for your buck!
Acoustic Guitar ToneWoodAmp – serious enhancement for your beloved box!
Despite having the word ‘amp’ in its name, the ToneWoodAmp allows you to play acoustic guitar with different effects, UNPLUGGED, ie no amp required – everything emanates organically from the guitar’s sound hole and the body itself.
The device connects via a magnet system to the back of your acoustic guitar and plugs into the jack input (yes, you need one of those!). And it only takes 5 minutes to install. No tools necessary and it makes no permanent impact on your guitar, which means you can use it with all your acoustic guitars. The unit produces an array of lush effects including reverb, echo, delay, tremolo and more, which interact with the natural sound of the guitar itself. Check out this demo by Maroon 5 guitarist James Valentine.
It’s also a multi-effect processor – connect it to any Amp/PA system. It’s an iDevice interface too, allowing you to experiment with audio and MIDI apps. This really is a revolution in acoustic guitar amplification that’s taken great players such as George Benson, Al Di Meola, Vince Gill, James Valentine, Andy McKee, Kakki King and Mike Dawes by storm. More details of the acoustic guitar ToneWoodAmp – ‘the best thing ever to happen to your acoustic guitar’ – at tonewoodamp.com
The video here is an official ToneWoodAmp demo by Becky Langan, an up and coming young British fingerstyle player, a real acoustic groove warrior.
“The ToneWoodAmp just makes me wanna play all day. Love the way it makes my guitar sound” – Andy McKee
“I think it is the single best product add on for the acoustic guitar that I’ve ever encountered.
My favorite thing about it is that you can record with it and you don’t have to add any reverb that might affect the noise floor of the room you’re in. So all the small pops and squeaks–even an arm brushing the top of the guitar–that you hear on a natural acoustic recording aren’t affected. It’s a sound that hasn’t ever been heard before, truly.” – Kakki King
