Great Acoustic Guitar Music

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:07:00 +0000

March 29, 2013

Better known as an electric blues guitarist, Joe Bonamassa tears it up on acoustic guitar.

Keep it Acoustic...
Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:09:00 +0000

March 28, 2013

Have you ever heard a catchy jingle or song used for a commercial and wondered, "who does that song?" I do that all the time, especially if there is a great acoustic guitar featured. And so it was that I went out to find who plays and sings on the current Sprint commercial, you know the one with the phone streaming the little girl aging from infant to 12 years old.

Well, that song is done by British singer/songwriter Alexi Murdoch from his 2006 debut album Time Without Consequence, and the song is titled All My Days. Alexi's baritone voice and rootsy guitar picking has made his songs popular on other commercials as well as a host of TV shows like Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs and Ugly Betty to name a few.

Here is Alexi Murdoch performing All My Days live.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:53:00 +0000

March 5, 2013

DOH!

Kelly Valleau

Sean Gordon

Aranjuez Guitar Quartet

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:41:00 +0000

February 27, 2013

David Wilcox has been around for a long time and even though he hasn't had a major chart hit he is well know among guitarist as a gifted player who like to play in odd altered tunings.

David is a great songwriter also and some of my favorites are Last Chance Waltz, Eye of the Hurricane, Leave It Like It Is and Rusty Old American Dream. One song which resonates with me personally is Show The Way. After losing my son Aaron in 2005 there was one song that played repeatedly on my car stereo, Jackson Browne's Too Many Angels. I was saddened, hurt, pissed and didn't particularly want to hear any feel good songs and Too Many Angels became my soundtrack for depression. After about 3 months I somehow came across David's song Show The Way and it quickly replaced Too Many Angels and became my new soundtrack for my recovery.

Show the Way

from Big Horizon ITunes

You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason

We should dream that the world would ever change

You're saying love is foolish to believe

'Cause there'll always be some crazy with an Army or a knife

To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify

What's stronger than hate, would they not arrange the stage

To look as if the hero came too late, he's almost in defeat

It's looking like the Evil side will win, so on the Edge

Of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins

It is....

Love that mixed the mortar

And it's love who stacked these stones

And it's love who made the stage here

Although it looks like we're alone

In this scene set in shadows

Like the night is here to stay

There is evil cast around us

But it's love that wrote this play...

For in this darkness love can show the way

So now the stage is set. You feel your own heart beating

In your chest. This life's not over yet.

So we get up on our feet and do our best. We play against the Fear.

We play against the reasons not to try

We're playing for the tears burning in the happy angel's eyes

For its....

Chorus

It's a beautiful song with the guitar tuned C-G-C-G-C-E. So simple yet complex to get all the nuances that David does so well. David remains one of my favorite singer-songwriters/guitarists and I remain thankful for his music and this song to this day.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 21:00:00 +0000

February 25, 2013

We could certainly use more of this type of glasnost. I've seen Igor Presnyakov's videos posted on YouTube, as a matter of fact they are all over the place. But I've never given him a serious listen, until now.

Igor Presnyakov was born in Moscow but currently resides in the Netherlands. He has become a hit on YouTube with over 170 million views and regardless of your taste in music Igor has got a video for you.

I've always been a fan of rock and pop music, done acoustically of course, and Igor takes on Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, you name it. His percussive tapping enhances the song without becoming overbearing and, I love his choice of guitar voicing.

A man of many hats, as you will discover if you watch a few of his videos, it seems there isn't anyone Igor won't tackle and do them justice. Enjoy Igor Presnyakov doing Hotel California playing the guitar above and below his capo.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:48:00 +0000

February 21, 2013
It's a snow day so I'll feature one of my favorite "snow" songs written by Hoyt Axton, Snow Blind Friend.
The white stuff he's talking about here is not the type that falls from the sky though... it's the kind that blows up your nose.

Unfortunately I can't find a video of Hoyt performing this song but I'm going to include a YouTube music clip version because his version is so damn good. I'll also let John Kay & Steppenwolf do their version since they had the hit back in 1970.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:59:00 +0000

February 20, 2013

One of my favorite finger style guitarists is Al Petteway who along with his wife Amy White play great Americana music. Al borrows from everybody when it comes to writing or arranging songs and he's unapologetic about it. Yet he comes up with some of the tastiest licks around.

Al Petteway & Amy White with friend Adam Gardino

I first heard Al on a Cheryl Wheeler cd and went looking on the album credits for who the second guitarist was. I've been hooked on his music ever since.

Besides session work and writing film and TV scores, Al has a job as guitarist for Dream Guitars where he test drives beautiful custom and vintage instruments and often records with them so the inquiring customer can hear how the guitar sounds when played by a pro.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 04:51:00 +0000

February 17, 2013

Hold on to your pants acoustic guitarists, you probably ain't seen many (if any) like Mark Kroos. Using a double necked guitar Mark taps different rhythms, leads and harmonies simultaneously on both necks.
From his website: "Mark Kroos plays 2 guitar necks at the same time. Originally from Lansing, MI but currently based in Williamsburg, VA he is one of the only people in the world touring his trade." Talk about the left hand knowing what the right hand's doing!

Now watch this guy closely, his hands don't leave his body.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 00:33:00 +0000

February 16, 2013

For many the name Dion DiMucci doesn't mean much unless you're of the generation where Doo-Wop was the hip musical style of the day. Dion and the Belmonts had hits with I Wonder Why, Teenager In Love and Where or When but soon after split to go solo. As a solo artist he had major hits with The Wanderer, Ruby Baby and Runaround Sue.

Though normally backed by a band, Dion toured for many years with just his guitar after coming off years of heroin abuse as a Christian singer. In 1968 he was given the song Abraham, Martin & John to record accompanied by his guitar, a harp and backing vocals which took the song over the top and earned him a gold record and re-started his music career.

Dion was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and continues to write, perform and record. His last couple of cd's have been blues based with his latest being Tank Full of Blues.

Please do me a favor and mute the extra curricular crap going on in this song and listen to his finger picking. The video isn't the best but Dion's talent shines through.

An interesting story about Dion; He was on tour with Buddy Holly, Richie Valens & the Big Bopper on that fateful day. Buddy had offered Dion a seat on the plane and when Dion asked how much was told $39.00. Not being able to justify paying the price that his parents paid in rent for their apartment, he declined the offer.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:44:00 +0000

February 15, 2013

It's Friday and I'm back. I hate when works gets in the way of everything else I'd rather be doing.

There are a few guitarists that I'd like to bring forward that I really like. The first is Mr. Pat Donohue of A Prairie Home Companion fame. Is parodies are unequaled, his songwriting is superb and his blues guitar playing is just downright good.

I had the good fortune in 2002 to have Pat try out my guitar at our camp in Winfield, Kansas at the Walnut Valley Festival. Here Pat sings his Parody of Willie Nelson's tune Crazy.

But wait, there's more (as Ron Popeil would say)! A few years back I was given a cd of some music written and played by Doug McClain. Great stuff but for the life of me I couldn't find any of Doug's recordings. I searched and searched and the only thing that I knew about him was that he was from England and played Celtic style guitar. Not so! It turned out he was from Scotland and his name was Dougie (pronounced Doogie) MacLean.

I wanted to hear Dougie but understood that he primarily toured the British Isles and when he did tour the states it was usually the east side of the country. So in 2011 when I saw he was going to appear in Denver, I made the 120 mile trip to see him in a small church with an audience of maybe 300 or so people. A concert well worth the trip and my $20 or so dollars. It was hard to understand him at times because my English got in the way but he was funny and gave a great performance. Here's Dougie playing one of my favorites Ready For The Storm.

Herb Pedersen is primarily known as a banjo player, singer and songwriter. Also a gifted guitar player he has toured with The Desert Rose Band, Chris Hillman and a number of other country/bluegrass groups. This is a pretty good version of Wait A Minute that he does with Chris & band. It's just a great tune.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 04:40:00 +0000

February 8, 2013

Well, it's Friday again. I've been looking around the web for some interesting guitar stuff and came across this video made by Banning Eyre of the African guitarist Aboubacar "Badian" Diabate.

I would venture a guess and say that for most of us African guitar music was first introduced into our lives via Paul Simon's Graceland, Johnny Clegg and Savuka or maybe Jonathan Butler. The native sounds and incredible speed in which Badian picks one finger runs is something to watch. His guitar style is certainly a continent away from what we usually see in America.

You must throw western musical logic aside to fully appreciate the music he's playing and being a guitarist to appreciate his unique picking.

This video of Banning Eyre and Badian is a 15 minute mini documentary on the two of them meeting in the 1990's to a recent reunion where Badian visits the home of Eyre. This is a fun video to watch.

Keep it Acoustic...
Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 05:09:00 +0000

February 6, 2013

I heard a few days ago that the lead singer of The Troggs, Reg Presley passed away last week. The Troggs were the group that originally did Wild Thing. But they did better than that. In 1967 they charted with the love song Love Is All Around. Now in 1967 I was 16 years old and had recently gone from singer in my junior high rock & roll band to playing acoustic guitar. The first guitar I bought with my own money was a Goya G-10 which I bought at GI Joe's pawn shop in downtown Denver. The very first song I played on that guitar to see if it would cut the mustard was Love Is All Around. Forty six years later I still own that Goya and like me it has many weather checks, some bumps and bruises and a few cracks.

That's me on the left in 1967 or 1968 playing my Goya G-10

I tried to find an acoustic version of the Troggs or Reg Presley doing the song but couldn't come up with any. I did find an acoustic version of REM performing the song. So in tribute to Reg Presley and my Goya G-10, here's Love Is All Around.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:46:00 +0000

February 5, 2013
One of the best finger style guitarist around. Pete Huttlinger was second guitarist for John Denver prior to John's passing. He has made quite a name for himself as a solo artist.

Here Pete plays a Steely Dan tune Josie.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 22:51:00 +0000

February 2, 2013

Aloha style music, music from Hawaii, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, regardless of what you call it, it is beautiful guitar music. After the Spaniards and Mexican vaqueros left the islands in the 19th century many of the guitars that they brought to the islands were given to the locals.

The islanders kept the Spanish tuning that is known throughout the world (E-A-D-G-B-E) but others who didn't learn the fingerings for Spanish tuning detuned their guitars to an open major chord by slacking the strings, thus the name. The most popular tuning is an open G Major tuning known as "Taro Patch." Tunings that include a Major 7th note in the chord is known as "Wahine" tuning. There are literally hundreds of Slack Key tunings and many tunings are kept as family secrets and, like recipes, and are passed down from generation to generation.

Slack Key Guitar pieces often are beautiful, laid back melodies which, for me anyway, remind me of laying of the beaches with the palm trees swaying, sun beaming down while the trade winds blow.

Leward Kaapana, one of the masters of this style, picks up the tempo a bit on a song called Opihi Moemoe or Sleeping Shellfish.

There are many great Slack Key players who have cd's out and a number of compilations that can be found for the uninitiated wanting to explore this beautiful and exciting form of guitar playing.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 04:46:00 +0000

February 1, 2013
I'm not quite sure how the week got away from me so I'll try to make up some time with a few more of my favorites.

Two flatpicking guitar giants are Tim Stafford of Blue Highway and Jim Hurst. Here they pick the bluegrass standard Forked Deer.

I've seen Tim a number of times and I always get a kick out of his right hand position. Still the man can play some amazingly nice licks.

I have always thought that Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton should do a duet cd together. I believe their taste in music particularily the blues is very similar and their voices and guitar playing would certainly compliment each other.

We don't have that but we do have her playing Love Has No PI have always thought that Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton should do a duet cd together. I believe their taste in music particularily the blues is very similar and their voices and guitar playing would certainly compliment each other.

We don't have that but we do have her playing Love Has No Pride with David Crosby and Graham Nash singing background harmonies.

Just found out that James Taylor is now doing free online guitar lessons. How sweet is that? You can find out more about it at his website at http://www.jamestaylor.com/guitarlessons/ . To celebrate this momentous occasion let's have Sweet Daddy James play us a selection. So I'll close out today with You Can Close Your Eyes... I'm going to bed.

So have a good weekend everyone, enjoy the Super Bowl and always remember kids,

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:24:00 +0000

January 29, 2013
It was a month ago on December 29th that we lost dobro great Mike Auldridge.
Mike was key in the evolution of the resophonic guitar with his work with the bluegrass band The Seldom Scene and later with the group Chesapeake. His smooth slide stylings and jazzy tunings inspired countless slide guitar players and he can be found playing on the who's who of country and bluegrass greats.

Mike will be missed but luckily we have recordings and videos a-plenty to view of his great playing.

Playing the classic Till There Was You from the musical "The Music Man," Mike shows his skills on his signature model Beard Resonator.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:47:00 +0000

January 28, 2013
Harry Nilsson is probably best remembered as a singer/songwriter of such hits as One (Is the loneliest number), Me and My Shadow, Coconut, Jump Into the Fire and others. His big hits, Everybody's Talkin' and Can't Live (If Living is Without You) were written by others.

Harry was a pretty good guitar player as well as it turned out. Here he is performing his song Without Her.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 13:36:00 +0000

January 26, 2013
I forgot just how good this guy was. Known for The City of New Orleans, Steve Goodman was one crazy guitar player too.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 21:01:00 +0000

January 25, 2013
It's Friday again and time for a little more humor.

Cheryl Wheeler is a great singer/songwriter/guitar player and her ability to turn a phrase or write satirical lyrics are among the best. We all have moments when we wonder if we're just a little bit crazy a realization Cheryl discovered a long time ago.

Here Cheryl shares with us how she's moved into that peaceful place with her wonderful tune, Is It Peace or Is It Prozac?

Keep It Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:37:00 +0000

January 24, 2013
First I want to say hello to my newest follower, Darrell Jennings. Glad to have you on board! And thank you Bob Harris at Acoustic Guitar Videos who gave me a shout out on his great site. I'll post some on AGV once I figure out how!?!

In 1997 I got to watch, along with hundreds of other attendees as Todd Hallawell took first place in the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championships in Winfield, Kansas. Now I don't claim to know too much about Todd personally but one thing is quite evident as a guitarist; Todd is one of the cleanest pickers I've ever heard. Todd has three cd's out and if you love finger style guitar I think you'll love Todd's playing. His third cd "Ear Candy" is a great duet album with flat picker Robin Kessinger.

Here is Todd performing his original Leola Kay.

Keep it Acoustic...
Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 05:17:00 +0000

January 23, 2013
The song The Water Is Wide is an old English folk song dating back to the 1600's. It is a love song or, more correctly, a broken heart song whose lyrics compare the jilted love of the narrator with that of wide too deep and wide to cross over without a boat.

The water is wide, I can-not cross o'er

And neither have I the wings to fly.

Build me a boat that can carry two,

And both shall row, my true love and I.

A ship there is and she sails the seas.

She's laden deep, as deep can be;

But not so deep as the love I'm in

And I know not if I sink or swim.

I leaned my back up against a young oak

Thinking he were a trusty tree

but first he bended and then he broke

Thus did my love prove false to me.

O love is handsome and love is fine

Bright as a jewel when first it's new

but love grows old and waxes cold

And fades away like the morning dew.

There are many versions of this song but the most moving version I've ever heard is the instrumental arrangement by guitarist Ed Gerhard.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:43:00 +0000

January 22, 2013
My first serious guitar concert was in the early 1970's when I went to see flamenco great, Carlos Montoya at the Denver Auditorium Theatre. Already in his 70's, his performance was thrilling and powerful. Often scorned by flamenco purists due to his forays into "popular" music, Montoya was loved by his audience and put on a great concert.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 00:17:00 +0000

January 21, 2013
Happy MLK Day!

Today I'm featuring 14 acoustic guitars played by programming a computer with cables and fabric. I'm not sure whether you'd call this performance "great" but interesting, for sure.

One might call this performance art and the idea of playing an instrument with no human intervention other than setup and programming not music at all. It is interesting nonetheless so you decide. What do you think? Music, art or both?

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 21:23:00 +0000

January 20, 2013
Sometimes all it takes is a great song,a well strummed acoustic guitar, some vocals, good harmonies and maybe a saxophone to get you tapping through your day.

Today we have Roger Hodgson of Supertramp playing a big ole Guild 12 string strumming his hit Give A Little Bit. When I first heard this song, for some reason, I thought it was Peter Frampton!

Timothy B. Schmit was with Poco when he originally did this song. He's since moved on to a lesser known group called Eagles. Somehow Ringo Starr picked him up for a season and along with a few friends like Todd Rundgren, Joe Walsh, Burton Cummings, Nils Lofgren and a few others, he sings his hit Keep On Tryin'.

Basic acoustic, great music.

Keep it Acoustic...

Stew

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:50:00 +0000

January 18, 2013
Well it's finally Friday and I think it's time for some acoustic guitar humor. I remember back in the 60's seeing a couple of crazy guys on TV called the Times Square Two. I don't remember what show they were on, possibly Rowan & Martin's "Laugh In" or "That Was The Week That Was." Anyway, what I do remember is that the two guys played one guitar at the same time and did a lot of stupid schtick. Hey, I was in my early teens and I loved them. Anything more than that was a blur not remembering how they looked, dressed or what they played.

For some reason these two guys popped into my head the other day so I decided to see if I remembered them correctly and if there was anything on them on the internet. Here is what Wikipedia writes about them;

In early 1964, Michel Choquette, a singer-guitarist-performer from Canada, found himself stranded in Vancouver, when the owner of the coffeehouse he was to play there went bust. Among the other performers in town was Peter Elbling, a 20-year-old British folk singer who Choquette had met in Calgary several months previously. Their mutual interest in 1920s music and vaudeville and music-hall led to the creation of comic musical act called The Times Square Two. Elbling became "Mycroft Partner" and Choquette "Andrew i." (This allowed them, if asked their names, to reply, "My Partner and i." "Partner" sported a goatee, claimed to have been born of a Malayan princess on a rubber plantation and radiated a dominant, pompous Oliver Hardy persona. "I," who affected slicked-flat hair, large rimless glasses and a high-pitched voice (in which he asserted he had once hoped to play football for Notre Dame), became his flightier, subservient Stan Laurel. (They told interviewers they had met while sitting out an avalanche in an Alpine hut with a goatherd and some lusty peasant girls.) They created an imaginary world of entertainment that hovered between 1880 and 1930. They came to inhabit this world in dress, conversation and manner so completely whether on stage or off, that they acquired a liveried chauffeur, who drove them about in a 1930 Model A.

Their act opened with both men dressed in 1920's blue pin striped suits sitting on straight-back chairs, staring fixedly ahead while holding guitars parallel to the ground. They would begin a song like "Just a Gigolo" or "I wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate," rise like syncopated toys and kick like demented Rockettes. They would juggle fruit, read minds, perform acrobatics, hypnosis, a botched escape bit and achieve climax by dancing together while playing "Ain't She Sweet" on opposite ends of the same guitar, never losing the beat or missing a note.

After perfecting their act in Vancouver, they journeyed to L.A. and San Francisco, where they performed at The Committee Theater and then shared the bill at the hungry i with Woody Allen, Noel Harrison and Dick Cavett. In 1966, a Newsweek reporter caught the show at Chicago's Mother Blues. His story ran the same week they made their debut on national television on The Merv Griffin Show. A surge in bookings followed. For the next three years they performed in coffee houses, nightclubs, and concert halls appearing with such luminaries as Sarah Vaughn, Paul Butterfield, James Cotton, Stan Getz, The Chamber Brothers, Morgana King, Jose Feliciano and others. They appeared on numerous TV shows including Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Mike Douglas, David Frost, Dean Martin, the Kraft Music Hall and the Smothers Brothers. They had a three-week run off-Broadway and toured the U. K. with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention.

So, my memory served me correct and YouTube even provided a clip of their appearance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy the silliness of the sixties as I remember them and, as always,

Keep it acoustic...

Stew