Happy New Year!!!

To ring in 2011, here's a clip of John McLaughlin performing on his nylon-stringed acoustic guitar, on The Tonight Show, backed by a Swing Band:

Please visit Acoustic Guitar Gear often in 2011 for regular posts and articles about All Things Acoustic

Have a Safe and Prosperous New Year!

Paco De Lucia - "la Barrosa"

Here's guitar great, Paco De Lucia, performing "la Barossa" on his nylon-string classical acoustic guitar:

He's accompanied by some enthusiastic handclaps for some authentic Spanish flamenco sounding jams!

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Al Di Meola - Libertango

Here's guitar great Al Di Meola playing Libertango on his Ovation Acoustic guitar:

Al appears to have a MIDI pickup mounted on the Ovation.  Although I can't tell for certain, it looks like a Roland GK model.

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear.

Merry Christmas - with Shane & Shane!

Here's Shane and Shane doing a jazzed up version of "O Holy Night", one of my favorite Christmas tunes!

Merry Christmas to all!

Some Gypsy Jazz by Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club of France:

Django's playing is especially impressive when you consider he played with only two fingers on his left hand (the other two were permanently damaged when his gypsy caravan caught fire)

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Susanna Hoffs & Matthew Sweet

Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet perform their version of Michael Nesmith's Different Drum:

This song was written by Michael Nesmith, of Monkees fame, and was originally made famous by Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Ponies.

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Sting - Message in a Bottle

Here's Sting performing an acoustic version of the classic Police hit, Message in a Bottle:

This is apparently from a VH1 Classics program.

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Dominic Frasca - 10-string Guitar

Dominic Frasca plays on the 10-string, and the 6-string acoustic guitars:

Pretty cool!

Jake Shimabukuro - Ukulele

Jake Shimabukuro performs George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

The ukulele is tuned like the first 4 strings of a six-string guitar, if it had a capo on the 5th fret.

The ukulele comes in four sizes (from smallest to largest):  Soprano, Concert, Tenor, and Baritone (baritone uke is tuned one fourth lower than the other three sizes)

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Shawn Colvin

Here the lovely Shawn Colvin plays her equally lovely song, "Polaroids"

I love her voice.  Here it's accompanied by Shawn's Martin & Co. six-string acoustic guitar, dropped D tuning, capo on 3rd fret.

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Black Prairie

Here's an acoustic band for your viewing pleasure today:

This Black Prarie performance features acoustic archtop guitar, standup bass, violin, dobro, and accordian.

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven

Clapton plays "Tears in Heaven" on his Martin & Co. acoustic six-string:

He's accompanied by a nylon stringed acoustic, and an acoustic bass guitar.

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Paul Simon & Willie Nelson

Paul joins Willie on stage for a duet version of "Homeward Bound"

Paul plays on his Martin acoustic six-string.  Willie takes a solo on his acoustic six-string.

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Lindsey Buckingham - Big Love

Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham performs his fingerstyle version of "Big Love" on his nylon-string acoustic:

Great Stuff!

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Bob Marley!

Here's the late Bob Marley performing "Redemption Song" on his Ovation acoustic six-string:

Peace Out!

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

John Mayer - Your Body Is A Wonderland

Here's a great version of John Mayer performing "Your Body Is A Wonderland" on his acoustic six-string, in Drop D Tuning:

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

David Gilmour - Pink Floyd

Gilmour - one of my favorites! - plays acoustic versions of "Wish You Were Here" and "Comfortably Numb".

David plays first on his Taylor acoustic (not sure the model), and then on what appears to be an Ovation, before switching to his electric guitar for the solo on "Comfortably Numb".  David is accompanied by a Takamine 12-string guitar, cello, standup bass, piano, and drums.

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Paul McCartney - Yesterday

Here's Paul performing his great hit song, 'Yesterday' on his acoustic six-string, strung for a left-handed player, of course!

This was the first Beatles tune to feature only one of the lads, accompanied by strings.

For All Things Acoustic, check out Acoustic Guitar Gear

Roger McGuinn plays Dylan

The Byrds' cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" was their first hit.  Here Roger McGuinn of the Byrds plays a solo acoustic version of the Dylan classic on his 12-string acoustic guitar:

The 12-string guitar helped define the Byrds' signature sound, and also inspired a lot of Tom Petty material.

For All Things Acoustic, check out Acoustic Guitar Gear

Something Different

Today I wanted to feature the great classical guitarist, Andres Segovia.  Here he is performing live in Spain on his nylon-stringed classical guitar:

Beautiful!

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Steve Hackett - Horizons

Steve Hackett was the original guitarist for Genesis.  This piece, "Horizons", is the lead-off to the epic "Supper's Ready" from the album Foxtrot:

Steve plays this on his nylon-stringed classical acoustic guitar.  Nice bolo tie, Steve!

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Michael Hedges - Ritual Dance

The late Michael Hedges was well known as an acoustic guitar virtuoso, and was definitely an innovator.  Here he is playing "Ritual Dance"

Michael had a unique style that included fingerstyle playing, percussive technique, and alternate tunings.

For more on alternate tunings and fingerstyle playing, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Multi-Effects Processor for Acoustic Guitar

There are hundreds of processors and "stomp-boxes" available for the electric guitarist.  Here's one for us acoustic players:

http://www.swapsets.com/zoom-a2-acoustic-guitar-multi-effects-pedal-review-best-price/

If I get a chance to check this out, I'll give you my personal review at Acoustic Guitar Gear

The Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead are known for their psychedelic improvisation.  Of course they also have lots of great acoustic stuff, such as 'Ripple'

In addition to acoustic and electric guitar, the late Jerry Garcia also played the banjo and the pedal steel guitar.

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Here's a cool "unplugged" version of Jason Mraz doing "I'm Yours":

Good stuff!

Jimi Hendrix!!!

Hendrix is considered by many to be the greatest [electric] guitar player of all time.  Here he is playing "Here My Train A-Comin" on his acoustic 12-string:

All I can say is . . . Yeah, Baby!

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

J.T. - Sweet Baby James

When it comes to Acoustic Guitar, we don't want to forget James Taylor!  Here he is performing his great song, "Sweet Baby James", live on BBC Television in 1971:

J.T. is well known for his fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing, and this song is no exception.

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

A Pair by Neil Young

Here's Neil Young performing solo at Massey Hall, Toronto, Ontario, in his home country of Canada:

Neil opens with "On the Way Home", previously released as a Buffalo Springfield song.  He then goes right into "Tell Me Why" from his classic album, After the Gold Rush.  This performance appears on the album "Live at Massey Hall 1971".

For All Things Acoustic, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear

Bob Dylan with George Harrison

Dylan and Harrison at the Concert for Bangladesh.  Okay, it's not entirely acoustic - there's some electric guitar, played by Harrison, and an electric bass guitar.  But Dylan's on his acoustic:

Enjoy it!

Pete Townshend - "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Here Pete plays his acoustic version of the great Who classic.

Pete's playing on his Gibson (not sure if it's a J200 or a Hummingbird).  Wonder if Pete's got a case for this Gibson?

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Richie Havens - "Here Comes the Sun"

Here's Richie Havens playing George Harrison's classic, "Here Comes the Sun"

Richie typically plays his Guild tuned to an Open D (D-A-D-F#-A-D).  Richie uses his thumb to form most of his chords, and he has only a handful of shapes that he uses for EVERY song he plays!

Check out more on open tunings at Acoustic Guitar Gear

Led Zeppelin Totally Rocked!

We all know that.  But of course they were also able to mellow things out with their acoustic numbers.  'Going to California' features Jimmy Page on Acoustic Guitar and John Paul Jones on Mandolin:

This is just one of many Led Zeppelin beautiful acoustic numbers.  Check back for more in the future.

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Steve Howe - "Clap"

Steve Howe is (in my humble opinion) one of the greatest acoustic players in rock music.  He combines elements of many styles, including classical, ragtime, bluegrass, and country.  Here he is giving a great close-up view of how he plays "Clap":

A live version of this tune appeared on The Yes Album.  A later released CD of The Yes Album also included a studio version of this song.  I've seen him play it live, and I never get tired of hearing it!

For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

David Crosby - Thousand Roads

Here's another great acoustic player!  David Crosby performing 'Thousand Roads' on his acoustic 6-string (probably a Martin).

Crosby is famous for using a variety of alternate guitar tunings, but here he appears to be playing in standard tuning.

For more on alternate guitar tunings, visit Acoustic Guitar Gear.

Leo Kottke - Fingerpicking Madman!

Leo plays this on his 12-string guitar, using a thumb pick and finger picks:

Leo usually tunes his whole guitar down 1-1/2 steps (6th (11/th+12th) string tuned down to C#, etc.)
For All Things Acoustic, go to Acoustic Guitar Gear

Stephen Stills - Treetop Flyer

Here's Stephen Stills performing his classic "Treetop Flyer"

This is a great song - Stills plays his acoustic 6-string, fingerstyle, using a Dropped-D tuning.