AG acoustic-guitar-2015-06 AG_270.pdf

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AcousticGuitar.com 5

CONTENTS

38 High on BluegrassA flashback to Jerry Garcia’scollaborations with DavidGrismanBy Greg Cahill

42 Dead UnpluggedHow the kings of psychedeliafound their acoustic grooveBy Blair Jackson

46 Jerry’s WayMaster Jerry Garcia’s

influential acoustic styleBy Adam Perlmutter

10 From the Home Office12 Opening Act97 Ad Index98 Final Note

June 2015

Volume 25, No. 12, Issue 270

On the Cover

Jerry Garcia

Photographer

Jay Blakesberg

Special Focus Acoustic Dead

18 How to Get a FreeGibson J-45Sage advice from a Texas“outlaw” singer-songwriterBy Ray Wylie Hubbard

20 Keeping It SimpleCaitlin Canty finds songsin a 1930s flattopBy Jeffrey Pepper Rogers

22 In the AfterglowSinger-songwriter José

González goes it alone on hishit album Vestiges & ClawsBy Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

26 Parlor Pickin’Small-body guitars havecome a long way fromtheir Victorian-era rootsBy Adam Perlmutter

32 Roadside Americana IIICheck out our special guideto US guitar-factory toursBy Adam Perlmutter

Features Miscellany‘McPherson

insists that aguitar’s interiorbe pristine,

free of glue, water marks,scratches,or pencil marks.’P. 35

C O U R T E S Y O F M C P H E R S O N G U I T A R S






CONTENTS

1919 Ditson 1-45, p.NEWS14 The BeatA new album and book look at Woody Guthrie’sLA years; Mandolin Orange’s serene Americana;Steve Earle’s music camp

17 News SpotlightHollywood Anderson’s amazing

American Idol journey

PLAY58 The BasicsLearn the fundamentals of Brazilian bossa nova

60 Weekly WorkoutDiscover the myriad possibilitiesof open-D fingerpicking

Songs to Play64 Moonlight Drive The Doors’ moody classic

66 Stone Blind HorsesA new one from Ray Wylie Hubbard68 Shady GroveJerry Garcia and David Grisman’s take

AG TRADE74 Shop Talk Alister Atkin re-creates Buddy Holly’sGibson J-45; independence for Takamine;new Martin Ed Sheeran model

78 Makers & ShakersArchivist Dick Boak is Martin’shistory detective

82 Review: Gibson Bob DylanSJ-200 Player’s EditionThis vintage-inspired modelboasts an outstanding voice

84 Review: Bedell Blackbird VeganA parlor guitar that will appealto troubadours and blues players

86 Review: Mitchell ME1 & ME2CECAffordable series has much to offerentry-level players

88 Pickin’Larrivée jumps back into the ukulele gamewith the UB-40 baritone

90 Great AcousticsRevisiting the circa-1900Washburn White Rose parlor guitar

MIXED MEDIA92 PlaylistTom Brosseau’s strange and evocativePerfect Abandon ; also, A Wanderer I’llStay by Pharis & Jason Romero, SufjanStevens’ Carrie & Lowell , Charlie Parr’sStumpjumper , and six essential bluegrasstracks

95 Stage: Rock Bottom RemaindersLiterary rockers reunite at Tucson book fair

Martin Guitarsarchivist Dick Boak,p. 78



8 June 2015

GET GUITAR LESSONS, GEAR REVIEWS,ND MORE IN YOUR E-MAILSign up for Acoustic Guitar Notes and we’ll send you a guitar-related e-mailevery afternoon. Recent Notes include a vibrato lesson, an exclusive Don

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SAVE BIG ON VIDEO LESSONS, SONGBOOKS, AND MOREEvery Friday at 12PM we are sending a special Deal to thousands of guitaristslike you. Recent Deals include $2 back issues, 20% off our Rhythm GuitarEssentials Book, and our alternating tunings course, Explore Alternate Tunings for just $5 . Visit AcousticGuitar.com/Deals to sign up.

Enjoy a recent Acoustic Guitar Session episode with guitar-wiz and YouTubephenom Andy McKee. And visit AcousticGuitar.com/Sessions to check out inter-

views with and performances by Richard Thompson, Ani DeFranco, Seth Avett,Peter Rowan, Della Mae, Bruce Cockburn, Valerie June, Julian Lage, ElizaGilkyson, Preston Reed, and many others.

In the Studio: Andy McKee

AG ONLINE

Andy McKee

Emmy-nominated and Nat ionalFingerstyle Guitar Champion, PeteHuttlinger, tells the story behind hismost recent record, and plays the titletrack, McGuire’s Landing.

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10 June 2015

FROM THE HOME OFFICE

This year also marks the 20th anniversary ofGarcia’s death at a rehab center in NorthernCalifornia, not far from the rural Marin County

communities where he and his band mates,along with lyricist Robert Hunter, in 1969 and1970 conceived of the songs that would gracethe acoustic-oriented albums Workingman’s

Dead and American Beauty .So AG couldn’t resist the opportunity once

again to pay tribute to Garcia and the Dead’sacoustic roots. In this issue, you’ll find a recol-lection of my breakfast tea with Jerry, as hediscussed his love of bluegrass; an analysis by

AG managing editor, author, and Dead aficio-nado Blair Jackson; and an encore appearanceof a 2011 Adam Perlmutter lesson feature that

teaches the basic skills you need to master Gar-cia’s acoustic technique.Keep on truckin’.

—Greg Cahill

W hen you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jerry Garcia is never far afield. The

rock legend has even popped up, as a bobble

head, at AT&T Park, home of the San FranciscoGiants, which each year marks the late guitar-ist’s birthday with a special Deadhead promo-tional event (Garcia was a longtime fan). Onoccasion, then–Giants’ third base coach andsinger/songwriter Tim Flannery has joined BobWeir and other local rock notables to sing theNational Anthem and the musty smell ofpatchouli has mingled with the pungent aromaof garlic fries, a park delicacy.

And now the Dead are back, at least in spirit.In July, surviving members of the Grateful

Dead, along with guitarist Trey Anastasio of

Phish, among others, will celebrate the band’s50th anniversary at a three-day concert atSoldier Field in Chicago. That’s the site of theGrateful Dead’s last concert with Garcia.

AcousticGuitar.com • AcousticGuitarU.com

CONTENT DEVELOPMENTEditorial Director & Editor Greg CahillEditor at Large Jeffrey Pepper RodgersManaging Editor Blair JacksonSenior Editor Marc GreilsamerAssociate Editor Whitney PhaneufSenior Designer Brad AmorosinoProduction Manager Hugh O’ConnorContributing Editors Kenny Berkowitz,

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14 June 2015

NEWS

W oody Guthrie moved to Los Angeles in1937, just one among hundreds of thou-

sands of penniless Okies fleeing the Dust Bowlin search of a better life. By the time he left Cali-fornia in 1940 to move to New York City, Guthrie

was an es tablished songwriter, urban radical,

and successful radio host. A new album, Radio Songs: Woody Guthriein Los Angeles 1937-1939 , and forthcomingbook by Americana musician and folk-musicscholar Darryl Holter explore Guthrie’s forma-tive years in L.A. Holter says his historicalresearch, funded by the Woody Guthrie Fellow-ship, led him to a deeper understanding ofGuthrie’s musical and political evolution.

“We all have this image of Woody Guthrie asthe guy that rode on the rails during theDepression, as the guy who was in the folk-revival movement in Greenwich Village, as theperson who had a guitar that said ‘This machine

Woody on the Left Coast A new album and book exploreWoody Guthrie’s formative years in L.A.BY WHITNEY PHANEUF

kills fascists,’ as the person Bob Dylan emu-lated, but for me, the real question was how didhe get that way,” says Holter, during a phoneinterview. “It was in Los Angeles that Guthrietransformed from an amateur guitar player-singer to a professional person with a radio

show that had a following, and started to writehis own songs and evolve musically. And there was a parallel evolution politically.”

Much of Guthrie’s artistic development,depicted in Haskell Wexler’s 1976 film Bound forGlory , took place during the singer’s stint as aradio host on L.A. station KFVD. Guthrie per-formed traditional ballads and gospel tunes withhis co-host Maxine Crissman (known as “LeftyLou”), as well as such original songs as “Do ReMi,” “I Ain’t Got No Home,” and “Talking DustBowl Blues,” which chronicled the tough realitiesof being a down-and-out Okie in L.A. At the sametime, Holter says, Guthrie was introduced to

members of the American Communist Party andleft-wing activists who influenced his thinkingand introduced him to the local radical scene.

To capture the original spirit of the songsperformed by Woody and Lefty Lou, Holterenlisted a number of guest vocalists, including

Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins on “CaliforniaStars,” Ani DiFranco on “Looking for That NewDeal Now,” and his daughter Julia Holter on“My Flowers Grow Green.” They’re backed byguitarist Tim Young, pedal- and lap-steel guitar

vir tuoso Greg Leisz , fiddler Gabe Witcher,bassist Billy Mohler, and drummer Dave Kemper.

The album includes a 30-minute DVD ofHolter performing in and talking about variousL.A. locales that have historical significance toGuthrie’s songwriting. Also due sometime this

year is Holter’s Woody Guthrie L.A ., a collectionof 20 essays by various scholars about Guthrie’sstint in the City of Angels.

15Mandolin OrangeSerene Americana—Southern style

16Steve EarleFrom troubadourto camp teacher

17News SpotlightHollywood Anderson:Saved by a guitar

THE BEATCalifornia star:

Darryl Holter




recorded the [new] record and we were sohappy with the way everything came out that Ithink we carried a lot of confidence into thesecond half of the year.”

Frantz adds that she and Andrew Marlin , the duo’s songwriter and primary lead vocalist,

who plays guitar and mandolin, found solace in Ashevi lle’s Echo Mountain Recording Studio.“We spent a lot of time honing in on miking andhad a bunch of different acoustic guitars set up

throughout the studio,” she says.Self-proclaimed “guitar nerds,” Frantz adds

that the duo recorded primarily on a 1951Gibson J-45 and 1944 Martin D-18.

—W.P.

There’s no room for anxiety in MandolinOrange ’s style of serene Americana. The NorthCarolina-based duo broke through with 2013’sThis Side of Jordan —which landed on NPR ’sTop 10 Folk and Americana Albums year-endlist—and have been on the road since. Withtheir follow-up album, Such Jubilee, due onMay 5, guitarist and fiddle player Emily Frantz shares that recording new material “right in themiddle of all the craziness” of touring presented

its challenges. “As an artist, you have this kindof anxiety wondering if you’re ever going to doanything as good as the last thing you did,” shesays. “We were carrying around a lot of thatanxiety in the first part of 2014, but then we

GRACE UNDER PRESSURE

Mandolin Orange:Andrew Marlin

and Emily Frantz

BIG IN SWEDENCountry music star EmmylouHarris has been named as oneof two recipients of the 2015Polar Music Prize, often calledthe Nobel Prize of Music. Atpress time, Harris—a 13-timeGrammy winner and member ofthe Country Music Hall of Fame—was scheduled to receive herprize on June 9 from Sweden’sKing Carl XVI at Stockholm’s

Concert Hall. “I was bothsurprised and honored at thenews of this most prestigiousaward,” Harris wrote in astatement. “[I’m] now lookingforward to once again returningto your beautiful country whereI was rst so warmly welcomedthose many years ago.”

‘HARVEST’ TI METhe members of Blitzen

Trapper are channeling theirinner Neil Young —at press time,the Pacic Northwest rootsrockers were set to releaseLive Harvest , a cover of Young’s1972 blockbuster Harvest recorded during two shows atthe Doug Fir Lounge in Portland,Oregon. Live Harvest was duefor release on Record Store Day(April 18). The band was set toperform the album in its entiretyin April at a series of dates eastof the Mississippi.

Veteran folk art ist Tom Paxton —whose songsinclude “The Last Thing on My Mind,” “Bottleof Wine,” and “Ramblin’ Boy”—hit the road forone last time this spring in support of his newalbum Redemption Road on what amounts to afarewell tour. “I am leaving touring after 55

years because, well, 55 years is a sufficiency (toput it mildly) of airports, taxis, hotels, andcancelled flights,” Paxton explains. “I’ll still do

one-shots, but that’s it. I’ve been assured I’veearned a rest, so I think that’s what I’ll do.”

In 2009, Paxton earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for an impressive body of work tha t has inc luded pow erful songs insupport of 9/11 victims and decrying social andracial injustice. His songs have been covered byeveryone from Joan Baez and Johnny Cash tothe Kingston Trio and Gram Parsons .

RAMBLIN’ BOY NO MORE

Tom PaxtonRedemption Road

NOTEWORTHY



16 June 2015

Ask singe r and songwr iter Steve Earle , who will be supervising the second annual Camp

Copperhead this summer, about the rewards ofteaching, and he shoots straight from the hip.“Teaching is good for you,” he says during aphone interview from the airport at Austin,Texas, while waiting for an early morningflight to New York. “The stupidest words that

were ever uttered is ‘Those that can, do, and

those who can’t do, teach.’ All the great poetstaught—teaching keeps you on your toes.”

Earle’s camp at the Full Moon Resort in BigIndian, New York, is billed as “four days andnights of singing and songwriting—hard core.”He downplays that “hard core” tagline, butemphasizes that he embraces the full-immer-sion aspect of attending summer camp in theheart of the Catskills.

STEVE EARLE — A CLASS ACT

THE BEAT

“I wrote ‘You’re the Best Lover’ [from thenew album Terraplane ] at camp last year,” he

says. “I put the process on the board as I was working on i t. Of course, I wrote it a t a littl emore casual speed than I would normally writea song, but I did it in front of the class withsome input from them, though I made it clearthat they were not going to get a dime in royal-ties, so don’t even think about it. But they gotto see the whole process because I started it atthe beginning of the week and finished it justbefore they left camp.”

Camp Copperhead will be held fromJuly 20-24.

“It’s designed for people who are serious

about songwriting,” he adds, “and I got acouple of people who were really, really greatlast year and I heard some really great songs.These are folks that I think you’re going to hearfrom in the future.”

Learn more at camp-copperhead.com. —Greg Cahill

Troubadour turned

teacher: Steve Earle

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The Gift of a GuitarThrough Covenant House, American Idol contestant Hollywood Anderson found his callingBY PAT MORAN

Ander son went di rect ly to the Bedfo rd

Avenue L train station—ground zero of Brook-lyn’s fiercely competitive busking scene. Hissoaring vocals and emotionally direct playingmade an impression.

Anderson says the drums—his first instru-ment—influence how he plays chords. “I’ll s topand play arpeggios—quick and strong. I’mmashing chords and single notes together.”

“I think of him as a modern acoustic-bluesartist, like Robert Johnson for the 21st century,”Lotz says. “Being self taught, he plays what hefeels, and that speaks to people.”

Soon, Hollywood’s music caught the ear of Amer ican Idol ’

s producers. At the New Yorkaudition in January, Anderson broke with the

show’s tradition by singing his own composi-tion, the haunting “My Best Friend,” ratherthan a popular cover.

By the time of the audition, Anderson’sSquier had been “messed up” by the wear andtear of subway busking, so Covenant Housegave him a replacement—a Yamaha C40II clas-sical model—that he used on the show.

Lotz accompanied Anderson to the Idol TVstudio. “Most contestants are supported by theirfamily—their ‘true believers’,” Lotz says. “Hol-lywood doesn’t have that, so [the producers]

invited me to [attend the] audition. I’ll alwaysbe Hollywood’s first true believer.”

When Anderson was eliminated from Idol inFebruary after a rendition of Bill Withers’ “Ain’tNo Sunshine,” he broke down in tears. Speak-ing days after the event, he was thoughtful andthankful for the experience. “The beautifulthing is, I’ve learned so much about phrasing,melody, and arrangements from coveringsomeone else’s song,” Anderson says .“It’s taught me a lot as a songwriter.”

Anderson has also drawn inspiration fromhis sessions with Bootsy Collins, an experience

he calls transformative. He’s recently aug-mented his guitar collection with a CórdobaC5-CEBK Iberia nylon-string guitar, which heused in later Idol episodes.

Though he no longer lives at the shelter, Anderson remains a spokesman for CovenantHouse’s music program, which now includes anon-site recording studio. He hopes the programthat nurtured him will inspire and empowermore homeless youth.

“My heart will always be with CovenantHouse and particularly Norm,” Anderson says.“With a single gift, he opened the door to myfuture.” AG

NEWS SPOTLIGHT

“That guitar did more than change my

life,” Hollywood Anderson says.“It saved me.”

Anders on (h is re al na me is An ders onFootman) is talking about the worn FenderSquier steel-string acoustic that lifted him this

year off the streets of New York City and into the American Idol spotlight, where his high expres-sive voice and rich, fluid chords enchanted the

judges and the popular TV show’s audience.Though Anderson was cut from Idol ’s running inFebruary, his enthusiasm and talent remainundimmed. In recent weeks, he’s recorded withfunk bassist Bootsy Collins, and Anderson’s

debut album, due soon, is slated to include con-tributions from rapper Timbaland.But before the limelight found Anderson,

the 22-year-old singer, songwriter, and guitarist was living on the streets of New York City. “Any- where from 1.6 mil lion to 2 mil lion youngpeople will experience an episode of homeless-ness in the United States this year,” saysNorman Lotz, vice president of developmentand legacy-giving at Covenant House, a non-profit charity that serves homeless youth andthat gave Anderson his break.

The product of a troubled family in Florida, Anderson saved his money and st ake d his

future on a musical career in New York. When

expected support from friends fell through, helanded on the street. No one chooses that life,

Anders on sa ys , ci ti ng domest ic vi ol ence ,poverty, or the death of a parent as frequentcauses of homelessness.

“[Some] see homeless people as anotherrace, another nation . . . but we’re all part ofthe same society.”

Landing at Covenant House, Andersonfound shelter and community—and a career.

“I met Norm [Lotz] because he plays a215-year-old upright bass,” Anderson says.“He’d be plucking and jiving in his office, and

I’d just sit and listen.”Lotz, who also plays a Taylor steel-stringacoustic, recognized Anderson’s talent as a

vocalist , but he felt Hollywood’s development was hampered by relying on other musiciansfor accompaniment.

Lotz offered to teach Anderson guitar,gifting him the Fender Squier to get himstarted. It’s the first guitar Anderson has everowned. “Norm tuned the guitar in open D, andshowed how easy it is to change chords,” Hol-lywood says.

Adds Lotz, “I told Hollywood to come backfor lesson two, but that was all he needed.”

Street cred:HollywoodAnderson



18 June 2015

Texas outlaw singer-songwriterRay Wylie Hubbard offersa few thoughts on success,mechanical monkeys, and such

HOWTO GET

A FREEGIBSONJ-45(and other ironic advice)

ere’s another songwriting hint . . .wait . . . forget it . . . everybodyknows how to write songs. Seems

what everybody wants to know is how to getthem recorded by famous hot-shot singers, sothey can make a ton of money off royalties.Well, I can’t help you there—in my case, it’sbeen like shooting dice.

I’ve rolled a seven probably four times in mylife, as far as having one of my songs recorded

where it made a lit tle dough aft er yea rs of

shooting snake eyes on the other-people-recording-my-songs craps table. But the thingis, I never wrote songs with the intendedpurpose of having anybody else record them. I

wrote them because I had no choice. I wrotethem not thinking about what was going tohappen to them in the future.

I just wrote them.One time Waylon Jennings asked me to write

him some songs. I said, ‘‘What kind of songs?’’He said ‘‘Waylon goddam Jennings songs.

What else, hoss?’’I regret to this day that I was unable to

empathize in order to do that.

Now, I’ve heard some cats say that as far assongwriting as a full-time, getting cuts, collect-ing royalties occupation, that you should go toNashville ’cause “you must be present to win.”

That’s good advice, I would imagine, if you wanna do that. I don’t. I have a lot of respect

for some friends of mine that do that, but itain’t for me. I dig where I am, just rolling thembones and when the song is finished I get tosing it for people who come to hear me sing it.

Oh yeah, after I finish a song, I sing it, then

I sing it again and then I say, ‘‘thanks.’’ I don’tknow who or what I’m thanking, but I do wantto keep that who or what happy so the doorstays open for another song to come through.Weird, huh? I don’t care if it is; been doing itfor a while and it’s been working for a while.

Really?Big talk, Ray. But what I really wanna know

is this: I’ve written these songs. I got a family soI can’t start a band and then get in a van andtravel around and play bars and can’t get a giganyway since I don’t have a CD being playedanywhere. I’d really like to have someone hearthem. I can’t move to Nashville.

So what do I do? Right now would be agood time to write the word, “alas.”

So . . . alas.But here goes nothing. Some things to

remember:

1. There is a fine line that does not need to becrossed as far as getting your songs heard, andthat line is the difference between being persis-tent and being a pest.

2. However, it’s OK to promote yourself. Justdon’t let anybody see you do it on purpose.

Now, the music business is changing fasterthan I can keep up with it and I really am moreon the fringe of it, as in the past on my incometax form there have been years I have beenbarely above “hobby status.”

Hey, Ray, I forgot, I don’t have any money togo in a studio, hire musicians, record an album,mix it, master it, press it up, hire a radio pro-moter, hire a publicist...

Alas. Oh, alas.OK.

H

T O D D W O L F S O N




Here’s the deal then. Do a YouTube thing.Wanna get you songs heard? Might as well

have them seen. For example, I did the videosfor my “Coricidin Bottle” and “South of theRiver” videos for the total price of nine bucksfor the monkey and two dollars for the AAbatteries.

Hang on, I’m gonna go see how many viewsthey got: “Coricidin Bottle” . . . 13,262 views . .. well, 13,263 since I watched it again.“South of the River” . . . 12,816.

So there you go, a bunch of people saw ’em.I don’t know if any of the people who saw thembought the CD or even downloaded it, but that’snot why I did ’em. I just wanted to see if I could.

And over 10,000 people saw each one, so that’spretty amazing for the cost of 11 bucks.

See, I knew I wasn’t going to be on CMT orGAC or on television—I figured they were onlygonna be seen on a phone or a computer so it

didn’t have to be shot on 35mm film. So I justdid it on my phone.There you go: I did ’em with iMovie and

8mm. Most of the time, I did something, thenpushed a button, said, “Rats,” pushed “undo,”and then tried it again.

So do a video of one of your songs, but, hey,don’t post ’em on my Facebook page (see No. 1above)—just tell me you did one and I’ll go to

YouTube and watch it.Or at least 30 seconds of it—I have a short

attention span, so keep it interesting. No tail-gate parties in a country field, no trucks, no dirtroads, no girls in cut-offs and boots, no aviator

sunglasses, no backwards ball caps.It is OK to use a mechanical monkey.That’s great advice, Ray. You’re a most bril-

liant cat. You think that’s brilliant? How ’bout this? If

you’re a young, broke songwriter and don’t haveany money to get a good guitar, here’s what youdo: Go to your girlfriend’s dad and say, “If youbuy me a Gibson J-45, you will never see meagain.”

What?Wow. That’s cold, Ray. I can’t bel ieve you’d

say that.

Wait, think about it. Your girlfriend willhave a broken heart for a while, but she’ll findsomeone obviously better for her than you, and

you may miss her for a while, but you’ll have aGibson J-45, and in the long run, you’re betteroff with the blues and having a good guitar toplay ’em on.

It’s worth a few tears. AG

This article is excerpted from Ray Wylie Hubbard’s new autobiography, A Life . . .Well Lived , with Thom Jurek. You can find the

song “Stone Blind Horses,” from Hubbard’s lat-est album, A Ruffian’s Misfortune, on page 66.

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20 June 2015

KEEPING IT SIMPLEBY JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERS




Caitlin Canty nds songsinside a smoky 1930s attop

aitlin Canty never believed the songwriters’ lore about finding songs inparticular guitars—until she started

playing a funky old Recording King flattop fromthe ’30s. “It has a big V-neck like a baseball bat,and it has been dinged up for years,” she says.“When I opened up the case it smelled likecigars—it almost knocked me over. It feels likeit’s an old man and I’m having a conversation

with it, and there are lots of songs in that guitar.” Some of those songs can be heard on Reck-

less Skyline , the latest album by the up-and-coming Americana singer-songwriter. Tappinginto blues, country, mountain ballads, and rootsrock, Canty’s songs have an elemental sound—reflecting the influence of such songwriters asLucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Johnny Cash,and Tom Petty.

“I’m always simplifying,” says Canty. “If achord is not essential, I don’t want it in mysong.” In songs like “I Wore Your Ring,” shestrips the music down further, doubling the gui-

tar’s minor-blues melody with her soft, smoky voice. On her Recording King, she even prefersthe thumpy fundamental sound of old strings tothe shiny overtones of new ones—“The deaderthe better, in my opinion. That’s part of thedark tones and the charm for me.”

On Reckless Skyl ine, producer and fellowsongwriter Jeffrey Foucault expanded Canty’score sound with a seasoned acoustic-electricband, enlisting his frequent collaborators BillyConway on drums and Jeremy Moses Curtis onbass, plus Eric Heywood on pedal steel andMatt Lorenz (aka the one-man band the Suit-case Junket) on pump organ, guitar, and more.

CCanty has long been scheming to make a record

with a combo like this. Live, she nearly alwaysperforms with an electric guitarist and brings ina full band whenever she can. The knowledgethat she’d be recording with Foucault’s rhythmsection—which she loved on his recent solo andCold Satellite albums—influenced her song-

writing for Reckless Skyline , too. “Billy Conwayand Jeremy Moses Curtis, the way they play

gives you a particular swing and a groove without even hearing them,” Canty says. “I justhear them in my head.”

Born and raised in Vermont, Canty tried fora while to make music around a day job in New

York City, but about five years ago she jumpedinto the vagabond touring musician’s life. Withthe independent release of Reckless Skyline, bol-stered by a Kickstarter campaign that raisedover $30,000 (more than doubling her originalfunding goal), Canty is taking her music to thenext level—and relocating to Nashville, the hubof today’s Americana scene. That’s also the

home base of Peter Bradley Adams (formerly with Eastmountainsouth), with whom Cantyhas been writing and recording under the nameDown Like Silver. “Co-writing,” she says, “hasdefinitely opened up doors and carved a fewfriendships.”

Meanwhile, Canty has expanded her collec-tion of funky old instruments: Lately she’s beenplaying a single-pickup Kay Speed Demon hol-low-body electric from the 1950s, plus a littlefive-watt Kalamazoo Model 2 tube amp. Likethe Recording King, no doubt the Speed Demonhas songs in it, and Canty is already starting tofind them. AG



22 June 2015

IN THE AFTERGLOW

M A L I N J O H A N S S O N

BY JEFFREY PEPPER RODGERS




istening to Vestiges & Claws (Imperial), the new album by José González, feelslike entering a very private world. At

the center is his nylon-string guitar—cascadingarpeggios and bluesy bass lines—and his gentle

voice, sometimes multitracked with Simon andGarfunkel–esque harmonies. “Idle as a wave

moving out at sea / Cruising without sound,molding what’s to be,” González sings in thedreamy opening track, “With the Ink of a Ghost.”“Serene between the trails / Serene with thetime and ink of a ghost.”

The soundscape of Vestiges & Claws will beinstantly recognizable to anyone who’s discov-ered the music of this quietly commandingsinger-songwriter over the last dozen years.González, who grew up in Sweden with Argen-tinean parents, released his solo debut, Veneer , in2003 , reaching an international audience a few

years later thanks to an unlikely hit: a guitar-and-voice cover of the electro-pop tune “Heart-

beats,” by the Knife. Another solo album, In Our Nature, followed in 2007. Then González turnedhis attention toward a band project, Junip,expanding his instrumental palate with key-boards, bass, and drums. On Vestiges & Claws,though, González is once again very muchalone—making every sound (except for oneappearance of flute) with guitar, vocals, and per-cussion; recording most of the album himself inhis kitchen; and mixing it, too.

The resulting sound is intensely intimate.“Part of my ambition,” says González in a con-

ve rs at ion from hi s home in Goth enburg ,

Sweden, “was to have a sound that feels like it’shomemade.”

LNYLON-STRING ROOTSPicking up the Spanish-style guitar was naturalfor González, since it was central to thesoundtrack of his childhood. “The music that

we heard at home was Argentinean folklore,like Mercedes Sosa, and also Brazilian musicand [Cuban folksinger] Silvio Rodríguez—all of

that music was based around the nylon-stringguitar,” González recalls. “And when I startedplaying, I really got into the sound of nylon-string, through bossa nova. I was playingBeatles songs but on nylon-string guitar.”

González studied classical guitar, playing inthe traditional position with a footstool, buteventually shifted to the more casual feet-flatstyle when he started doing his own music. Theclassical training still influences the way heapproaches such technical details as the choiceof fingerings, but in his own songs, he says, “It’sin no way as methodical as it used to be withclassical guitar.” His guitar parts are simpler

than in classical pieces, too—and they don’t usethe sophisticated harmonic vocabulary of bossanova either.

“I’ve been more inspired by monotonousriffs and blues riffs,” says González. “Joel [Wäst-berg], who plays with me in the band, he’sgone to music school and plays saxophone, and

whenever I need to know whic h harmonies we’re playing or which melodies we shou ldchoose, he always mentions how I st ick mainly

with octaves, the fifth, and the fourth, but notso much the third. There’s not so much color-ation in my music.”

Though González is devoted to the acousticnylon-string, he is far from a traditionalistabout its tone. Throughout Vestiges & Claws, inmoments when the guitar rises in intensity and

volume, he often adds a tinge of unsettling dis-tortion—using plug-ins that emulate the analogtube sound (see page 25 for details). Acousti-cally, he achieves a similar overdrive effect attimes by playing hard enough that the stringsstart vibrating against the fretboard, as can beheard in his early song “Crosses.”

Singer-songwriter JoséGonzález’s latest albumexplores dream-likeimagery and pondersphilosophical questions

EXTENSIVE USEOF ALTERNATE TUNINGS

Another nont radi tional aspect of González ’sapproach to the nylon-string guitar is his use ofalternate tunings. On his first album, one of hisfavorite tunings was D A D F# B E—which hefound in part by listening to legendary English

songwriter Nick Drake, with whom González isfrequently compared.“Really early, with my first album, I not iced

how Nick Drake had E A D F# on ‘Cello Song,’and that was one of the reasons why I tunedG down to F#,” González recalls.

Beyond that discovery, though, Gonzalezsays he has not studied the use of tunings bycontemporary players, whether instrumentalistsor songwriters.

“I haven’t really played other guitarists,”says González. “I’m not aware of how peopleplay.”

His occasional covers tend to be of songs far

outside the acoustic guitar realm—for instance,he’s recorded Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us

Apart,” Massive Attack’s “Teardrop,” and evenKylie Minogue’s “Hand on Your Heart.”

Nearly all of the songs on Vestiges & Claws are in alternate tunings, with the third stringeither down to F# or up to A, and the sixthstring often down to D as well (see below for acomplete list of tunings). Playing around withtunings is central to his writing process.

“When I sit down and improvise, sometimesI find a riff that I like a lot, but I’m noticing thatI need to hold my fingers in a certain way to

make it sound good,” he says.“Then I might retune one of the strings tomake it easier to play. But in general it’s aboutstarting with a tuning and just jamming aroundthat tuning.”



24 June 2015

STANDARD“Open Book”

D A D G B E (DROPPED D)“With the Ink of a Ghost” (capo 3)

E A D A B E“Let It Carry You”“Stories We Build,Stories We Tell” (capo 2)

D A D A B E“The Forest” (capo 3)“Leaf Off/The Cave”

“Every Age” (capo 6)“Vissel”

D A D F B E“What Will” (capo 2)

E A D F B E“Afterglow” (capo 2)

INTUNE

WITHGONZÁLEZHere’s a complete rundown of the tuningsand capo positions that José Gonzálezuses on the album Vestiges & Claws .Notice that the only strings he retunesare the sixth and third—all the othersstay at the standard pitches.

WHATJOSÉGONZÁLEZPLAYSGUITARSSpanish-style classicals, includingan Esteve and a Córdoba Loriente

STRINGSD’Addario Pro-Arté EJ46LP(lightly polished, hard tension)

AMPLIFI CATIONFishman Prefix Pro Blend throughan ART Tube PAC mic preamp/compressor

that allows him to get distortion whenhe plays louder

ACCESSORIESShubb capo

RECORDINGAKG 414 and Neumann U67 mics through aUniversal Audio Apollo interface. He recordswith Apple’s Logic and uses plug-ins suchas SoundToy’s Decapitator and UniversalAudio’s TwinTube (for distortion) as wellas Universal Audio’s Precision Enhancer Hz(for adding low frequencies on percussiontracks).




THE MALI CONNECTION

While some songs on Vestiges & Claws recallfolk music of the UK and the Americas, othersdraw inspiration from another part of theglobe—West Africa. González’s love of the hyp-notic grooves and bluesy guitar figures of AliFarka Touré, Sidi Touré, and other musiciansfrom Mali is clearly audible in three tracks onthe album: “Stories We Build, Stories We Tell,”“What Will,” and “Afterglow.”

González has been listening to West Africanmusic for a long time and playing along with itat home for fun. In his own songs, he says, he’strying to tap into the feel of the music morethan the details of how it’s played.

“I’ve been able to tour with Sidi Touré, andI also watched Tinariwen live a couple of times,so I sort of know how they get the sounds,”he says.

“If I really wanted to make it sound morelike them, I probably could. But these songs areme being inspired by them and not really tryingto imitate too much.”

On the album, González enhanced thegrooves in these Mali-inspired songs, and othertracks as well, with percussion tracks created inhis home studio. For a kick drum, he tapped thebridge of his guitar, adding low frequencies onthe computer (specifically, he used Universal

Audio’s Precis ion Enhancer Hz plug-in to add70 Hz).

For a snare, he used the body of the guitar,and then he added handclaps, finger snaps, andshakers.

On tour in Europe and the United Statesafter the release of Vestiges & Claws, González isenlisting four musicians to create a similar

ensemble sound—with percussion, multipleguitars, and close vocal harmonies.

In the past, González struggled to find theright words to match his guitar compositions,but with Vestiges & Claws he feels much moresatisfied with the lyric-writing process and itsoutcome. In particular, he’s developed somestrategies, taking advantage of online thesaurusand rhyme sites, which help prevent him fromgetting stuck. “Usually when I have a song[idea], I get a feeling of how many verses I wantto have, how many choruses and bridges,” he

says. “Then I know the length of the song, and Iget a sense of how many syllables I need and

where they shou ld rhyme to make it soundmusical. I have brainstorming sessions where I

write down words that could fit into the song,and with those I find synonyms. I make lists of

words, basically, and make sure to have wordsthat rhyme. With these sheets of words and sen-tences, it’s easier to brainstorm a finished lyric.”

On Vestiges & Claws, González mostly steersclear of personal revelations—the customaryterritory of the singer-songwriter—to exploredream-like imagery and ponder philosophicalquestions. In “Afterglow,” he simply repeatsthree lines, overdubbing harmonies into hisown Crosby, Stills, and Nash blend above a

mesmerizing bass riff in 7/8 time.“All of this will be gone someday,” he sings.

“You and me and everyone we know / Leavingmemories and traces for the afterglow.”

Songs like this, too, leave a glow thatremains long after the track stops playing. AG

‘I had writingsessions whenI knew that theonly thing needed

for the song tocome together

was the lyrics.’

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FINDING THE WORDS

For González, songwriting starts on the guitar— with riffs and chords—and the vocal melodiesand lyrics follow. “Usually I have the guitar riff, Ido a demo, and then I do humming sessions,” hesays. “So I jam with humming and also some-times add consonants here and there just tomake it feel a bit more like real words. And thenespecially with this album, I had writing sessions

when I knew that the only thing needed for thesong to come together was the lyrics.”



26 June 2015

PARLORPICKIN’The humblest of small-bodymodels has risen from its

Victorian-era roots to becomeone of today’s most popularacoustic guitarsBY ADAM PERLM UTTER

n 2013, in the zero-gravity atmo-

sphere of outer space, Canadianastronaut Chris Hadfield madehistory when he reached for a floating Larrivéeparlor guitar to perform the early David Bowiehit “Space Oddity” for a video clip captured livefrom the International Space Station. The video

went viral—and Larrivée got the best publicitythe solar system had ever seen.

Back on Earth, interest in small-bodiedparlor guitars—precursors to the bulky moderndreadnought—skyrocketed. Earlier this year, atthe Winter NAMM music retailers convention in

Anaheim, California, a steady stream of curiousguitarists strolled past the Santa Cruz Guitar

Co.’s impressive line of stalwart dreadnoughtsto ogle a diminutive PJ model tucked away intoa crook in the manufacturer’s exhibit booth.

The little parlor guitar nearly stole the show.“The smallest guitar that we make today

was one of the biggest guitars available up untilabout 1870,” Santa Cruz owner Richard Hooversays. “The only reason they didn’t make largerguitars [in the old days] is that they didn’t needto. More volume wasn’t an issue until peoplestarted competing with other instruments inensembles, or with barking dogs and banjos in

vaudeville.”

Hoover says that today, advances in amplifi-cation and recording have rendered largerguitars less essential, resulting in the currentparlor guitar craze. “In the early 1980s, interestin smaller instruments began a steady inclinebecause people realized they didn’t need the

volume of the dreadnought,” Hoover says. “In1985, probably 70 percent of our guitars weredreadnoughts. Today, the majority of the instru-ments we make are OM, 00 size, or smaller, asmore people appreciate the quality of the

volume over the quantity.”Santa Cruz isn’t the only company experi-

encing growth in its sales of small-bodied

I

Martin

Size 1




instruments. Last year, Gretsch added the low-

cost G9515 Jim Dandy Flat Top model to itsRoots Collection and parlor guitars were inevidence everywhere on the exhibit floor at this

year’s NAMM show.The growing list of other companies that

have added parlor guitars to their productlines—including well-crafted instruments ataffordable prices—is a testament to the popu-larity of this model. Those include Alvarez,

Aria , Bedell , Breedlove, Bluer idge, Córdoba,Godin, Hohner, Fender, Grace Harbor, Ibanez,the Loar, Lowden, Luna, Martin, RainSong,Recording King, Simon & Patrick, Taylor, Tan-glewood, and Seagull, to name a few.

Meanwhile, parlor guitars are findingrenewed interest among a broad spectrum ofplayers, both professionals and those lookingfor small, lightweight instruments to take tobeach parties or campfire singalongs. “Theparlor guitar is light, easy, and fun to bring ontrips,” says Dom Flemons, formerly of the Caro-lina Chocolate Drops. “It’s a wonderful socialinstrument to have around for gatherings, vaca-tions, and picnics. Everyone usually knows atleast one song on the guitar, so it’s really nice tohave a parlor to pass between a bunch offriends”

PLAYERS ‘FLIP’ OVER PARLORS

In the modern era, parlor guitars are perhapsmost closely associated with folk singers,including Joan Baez and a young Bob Dylan, as

well as earl ier bluesmen such as Blind Blakeand Blind Lemon Jefferson. “I love to play theold styles on a parlor guitar,” says Flemons,

who played a parlor on his recent solo debut, Prospect Hill . “I use a medium-size parlor—aFraulini Loretta. It has a punchy sound whilestill having a delicate tone; it has a greatresponse for both fingerpicking and for using athumb pick and the fingers.”

Even in bluegrass, a genre in which most

guitarists prefer big dreadnoughts, someplayers favor small guitars. “Jody Stecherplayed bluegrass on a 1-sized Martin for years,travelled all over the place with it in its originalcoffin case, and it just sounded incredible,” saysEric Schoenberg, vintage-guitar expert and pro-prietor of the eponymous store in Tiburon, Cali-fornia, on the shore of the San Francisco Bay. “Isold Ronnie Earl, the [former] Roomful of Bluesguitarist, one of those really early Martins—aninteresting thing I’ve found is that electric bluesplayers have just flipped over these things on anumber of occasions.”

One of the most notable high-profile players

of the parlor guitar is Mark Orton, who uses theinstrument for his work in wide-reachingchamber ensembles, including Tin Hat (formerlythe Tin Hat Trio), as well as in films, dance, andtheater. Orton’s signature sound—the one thatresulted in being asked to score movies such asthe Oscar-nominated Nebraska —is made possi-ble by virtue of using a parlor instrument. “Mymain guitar is a Martin 1-21 from 1893 that I’vehad for years,” says Orton, who also plays a1913 Martin 2-17. “It’s my pride and joy, mysecond wife. It’s very comfortable to play, eveneasier than my Telecaster. It weighs next to

nothing; you could practically push a pencil tipthrough the face of the thing.“It’s so incredibly responsive,” Orton adds.

“It takes very little force to get great bass out ofthe guitar, and it works great for switchingbetween pick and fingerstyle. I have a D-18 as

well, but that guitar can get muddy-sounding,especially for doing stuff with more dissonanceand with smaller intervals—quicker fingerstylepatterns also really benefit from the clarity ofthe smaller guitar.”

Orton uses steel strings on his 1-21, but tomake it work he had the bridge reinforced, andhe uses very light strings—basically a gauge-ten

WHAT IS APARLOR GUITAR?The definition of a parlor guitarcan be a bit murky. Some con-sider any small-bodied guitar

a parlor; others point to a morespecific set of attributes.

For instance, Martin’s 0-size might be small by today’sstandards, but when it was intro-duced, the instrument was largerelative to other guitars —with its13 1/ 2 -inch-wide lower bout, the 0was built with the concert hall inmind, not the parlor.

Smaller Martins includedthe Size 1 (standard) at 12¾-inches wide; the Size 2 (ladies),12 inches; and the Size 2 1/ 2 ,(child’s), 11 5/ 8 inches. Sinceother makers have traditionallybased their guitar sizes on oraround those of Martin, manythink of a parlor guitar as havingdimensions comparable toMartin’s Size 1 or smaller, with a12th-fret neck-to-body junctionas opposed to the 14th-fretfound on larger and moremodernized guitars.

‘Quicker fingerstylepatterns really benefit

from the clarity ofthe parlor . . . . I play

this guitar every dayof my life and willnever sell it.’MARK ORTON

‘Everyone usuallyknows at least onesong on the guitar,so it’s really niceto have a parlorto pass betweena bunch of friends.’DOM FLEMONS



28 June 2015

set in which the first string is replaced with an11. He tunes everything down by a whole step

(low to high) D G C F A D. “A collector wouldcringe to see the things that have been done tostabilize the bridge, but I play this guitar everyday of my life and will never sell it, so I don’tcare,” he says.

DESIGNED FOR WOMENWith their distinctively narrow bodies and shortscale lengths, parlor guitars are the smallest ofall six-string flattop acoustics—as much asthree inches shorter than the modern standardof 25.4 inches. Often seen as a bridge betweenthe traditional Spanish nylon-string guitar and

the modern steel-string, parlor guitars served aspecific function when they appeared in theUnited States in the late 1800s. They wereoriginally built for women’s more compactframes, and they were named for their use asinstruments intended to entertain guests inhomes rich enough to include parlors.

In the mid-19th century, design distinctionsbetween European and American guitars wereminimal—both were compact by today’s stan-dards, and built delicately to accommodate thecomparatively weak gut strings. Near the end ofthe century, as European guitars becameincreasingly larger, some American companies,

including Martin, continued building smallguitar bodies while experimenting with struc-

tural elements—for example, X-bracing in placeof the traditional Spanish fan—that would givethem a heartier sound.

Popularity of parlor guitars waned by theearly part of the 20th century when guitarmakers began designing larger-body sizes struc-turally reinforced to handle the tension of steelstrings. After Martin introduced the biggerdreadnought in 1931, to compete with otherbluegrass instruments, parlor guitar sales beganto wane. Today, thanks to modern sound rein-forcement and recording technology, getting

volume from a small instrument is no longer a

big concern. And in the past decade, as guitar-ists have become more drawn to old music and vintage inst ruments, fasc inat ion with parlorguitars is on the rise. Guitar companies haverolled out new models across the spectrum ofaffordability—from high-end Martins to budgetWashburns—for contemporary players drawnto the look and feel of the little instruments.

Grace Teague, of Grace Harbor Guitars,agrees that one reason there’s an increase ininterest in parlor guitars today is that the smallbodies are friendlier to women than jumbosand dreadnoughts. “Anything we can do toencourage women to play guitars is a good

thing,” she says, adding that a parlor model was a natural for the new line just launched by

distributor Dana B. Goods.

MODERN PARLORSCompanies large and small now include parlorguitars in their product lines—instruments

without the problems of playability inherent to100-year-old guitars. In some instances, the riseof parlors has come from a demand for detailedrecreations of golden-era instruments frombefore World War II. In the 1990s, Martin, forexample, began revisiting small-bodied guitars

with per iod detail s such as tapered slott edheadstocks.

“Years ago, I asked Martin’s Custom Shop ifthey could build a 000-42 exactly like a 1930smodel, but they didn’t have the fixtures, so theyturned my order down,” says Martin historianDick Boak. “Then, in the mid-’90s, I worked atthe estate of Jimmie Rodgers and got to knowhis historic 1927 000-45. Martin finallyretooled its fixtures to create a replica of thisguitar, and this now allowed us to build guitarsin the Vintage and Golden Era series.”

The instruments in Martin’s standard linethat most closely resemble parlor guitars arethe 0-28VS, the company’s smallest full-sizeguitar, and the slightly larger 00-28VS. Both are

PARLOR GUITARS

1

2

3

4

Companies largeand small now includenew parlor guitarsin their product lines.Here’s a select sample.

5




1 FENDE R CP-100

With its 24.75-inch scale length,

the CP-100 is designed for thebeginner with smaller hands,but it’s a fun guitar for a musi-cian of any ability and mitt sizeto play.Price: $329.99 list/$199.99 street

2 RECORDING KING RPH-05

The RPH-05 is a neat littleguitar, inspired by classic1930s flattops, with a full-scale-length neck, a solidtop, and a modest price tag.Price: $266.99 list/$199.99 street

3 ALVAREZ APA 1965

With its slotted headstockand AA Sitka spruce top,the mid-priced APA 1965cuts a handsome figure.Price: $749 list/$499 street

4 WASHBURN R314KK

This guitar looks more than

100 years old but boastsmodern sturdiness andplayability.Price: $712.90 list/$399 street

5 CÓRDOBA C9

Available with a Europeanspruce or Canadian cedar top,mated with mahogany backand sides, the all-solid-woodC9 is Córdoba’s nylon-stringtake on a parlor guitar.Price: $990 list/$799.99 street

6 MARTIN 00-42SCJOHN MAYERSTAGECOACH EDITION

Martin’s ultra-luxurious newsignature model is John Mayer’sinterpretation of a late-1800sparlor guitar.Price: $9,999 list/$7,999 street

7 FRAULINI LORETTA

The Loretta is luthier Todd

Cambio’s tribute to the parlorguitars built in Chicago in theearly 1900s by companies likeWashburn and Lakeside withtheir traditional ladder bracing.Price: $3,000 base

8 SANTA CRUZ PJ

Santa Cruz’s elegantly simplePJ is a modern parlor classic.Price: $4,800 list

9 FROGGY BOTTOM MODEL L

After Froggy Bottom’s founder,Michael Millard, repaired an oldMartin 1-17 by replacing itstrashed top, everyone in hisshop was so impressed by theguitar’s stunning voice that thecompany incorporated the par-lor-sized Model L into its line.Price: From $6,560

10 LARRIVÉE P-01 PARLOR“FIRST IN SPACE”

Here’s a nifty replica of theguitar that visited space withCommander Chris Hadfieldaboard the InternationalSpace Station.Price: $1,349 list/$1,012 street

11 MIKE BARANIK RETREUX

Nineteenth- and 21st-centuryguitar design and a midcenturymodern aesthetic are mergedin this fine guitar handcraftedby the luthier Mike Baranik.Price: $4,500–$7,000

6

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equipped for steel strings. But Martin’s CustomShop has made detailed recreations of 1800sparlor models. Most recently, the company builta slightly fancier version of a mid-1800s style2-24 for the Metropolitan Museum of Art

exhibit Early American Guitars: The Instrumentsof C.F. Martin . “We’re seeing requests from

vintage dealers for size-2 instruments made inthe old way, just as they began asking for OMsa couple of decades ago,” says Boak.

In other cases, companies offer parlors asinexpensive and fun guitars, built with modernconstruction techniques for greater durabilitythan their original counterparts. Washburn’s

Vintage Series includes decently built parlors wi th tradi tiona l-l ook ing appoin tme nts and wal let -fr iendly pri ce tag s. Lar riv ée’ s par lorguitar was originally conceived as a travel

guitar. But with variations using several otherall-solid tonewoods—including Italian spruce,Indian rosewood, and genuine mahogany—theparlor also happens to be an excellent instru-ment for performing and recording.

At the other end of the spectrum, high-endindependent luthiers and boutique makers havegotten in on the fun. Stunning modern interpre-tations of the classic parlor form include SantaCruz’s aforementioned PJ and Style 1, andFroggy Bottom’s L, P-12, and P-14. And ToddCambio, the builder behind Fraulini Guitar Co.,patterns his Loretta model after the ladder-braced guitars made by Lyon and Healy. Cam-

bio’s Loretta not only looks traditional but isbuilt in an old-fashioned way, assembled withhide glue and finished with varnish—althoughit does include a truss rod. “The Loretta is verylight in weight, comparable to the old ones,”Cambio says. “The last one I made was only twopounds, ten ounces. I try to build it delicately,like the originals, but with structural integrity.It’s a balancing act, and I love the challenge.”

Meanwhile, other luthiers are working tocreate something new with smaller body sizes.

About ten years ago, Michael Baranik, based inCalifornia’s San Luis Obispo County, scored a

turn-of-the-century parlor guitar on eBay andhad used it as the basis for his Retreux guitars with mid-century-inspired cosmetic s. “I bor-rowed the shape and the back brace placementof the old parlor, but redesigned just abouteverything else,” he says. “I decided to increasethe scale length, from 24 to 24 ½ inches, and

went with a 13th-fret neck joint and solid head-stock, rather than a 12th-fret and slotted head-stock. For the soundboard bracing, I used atraditional X with one tone bar. I also increasedthe depth of the guitar and use a domed bracedsoundboard, as well as a small oval sideport thatreally adds another dimension for the player.”

THE MARKET FOR VINTAGE PARLORS

Vintage parlor guitars can be pricey, but certainoriginals by companies like Martin, Lyon andHealey, and Washburn can be found for a rela-tive bargain—it’s not uncommon to see a

late-1800s Martin with Brazilian rosewood backand sides for several thousand dollars, or acomparable Washburn for a bit less. But whilethose prices might be attractive to collectors,there are some obstacles in preparing theinstruments for modern playability—especiallyconsidering that many of the guitars were origi-nally built for nylon strings.

For instance, not only is the typical 1800s orearly-1900s parlor guitar insufficiently sturdy toaccommodate a medium-gauge or heavier set ofsteel strings, the footprint of its bridge is toosmall to house the slanted saddles needed for

the spot-on intonation of steel strings. But theguitars can be transformed into great players.“We tend to make these older guitars quite play-able by resetting the neck angle and getting thefrets perfectly leveled, the action set just right,”guitar dealer Schoenberg says. “Most of themdo fine with pretty light steel strings, unlike thetypical modern guitar on which heavy stringsare needed just to pull the sound out of it.”

Provided that it’s r eceptive to a modernsetup, a good parlor guitar will have a sweetsound that is well-balanced between the regis-ters, and even a healthy amount of volume andprojection. “Practically every day we have cus-

tomers who are absolutely blown away by thesounds that emerge from these instruments,”Schoenberg says.

“But the truth is, with such a small size, it’seasy to drive the top and enjoy a greater fre-quency range, especially in the high end. People

just assume that a small instrument will make asmall sound—even though a Gibson mandolin,for instance, is incredibly loud. The nicestparlor guitars actually have a big, full sound—1800s Martins are some of the best-soundingsteel guitars ever made.”

With Brazilian rosewood being used less

often and costing much more on new instru-ments, finding an old parlor guitar might seemlike a great way to access this prized tonewood.But old or so-called good wood doesn’t neces-sarily make a fine-sounding instrument, as evi-denced in the varying sonic merits of thosesmall early guitars made from Brazilian rose-

wood. “It’s interesting how Washburn and othercompanies used what we now consider to bereally fine materials on cheap guitars,” Schoen-berg says.

“Many of them were just sort of student-grade, and they can really run the gamut. Somesound great; others, not so much.” AG

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32 June 2015

There’s nothing like the smellof freshly sawed spruce to perkyou up. Check out our guideto ten US guitar-factory tours

BY ADAM PERLMUTTER

ny guitarist who’s ever bought a newinstrument knows how exciting it isto receive a shiny, unblemished steel-

string, smelling freshly of seasoned woods andfinishing compounds, and promising musicalcompanionship for years to come.

But getting to know a new instrument canbe even more thrilling with a visit to its birth-place. Companies large and small offer guidedfactory and woodshop tours, open to the public,

wher e vis ito rs get an up-c lose look at theirinstruments coming into being.

The ten factory tours surveyed here encom-pass a range of guitar styles and buildingapproaches, but all show every step a guitartakes on the path to becoming a playableinstrument, from having its components fash-ioned from raw materials to receiving its finish-ing touches. All are open to the public, and bestof all, are free of charge.

A NORTHEASTBOURGEOIS GUITARSLewiston, MaineTour hours: Once a month,on a Friday, at 1:30 PM

bourgeoisguitars.net(207) 786-0385

Master luthier Dana Bourgeois is a pioneeringfigure in the arena of steel-string boutiqueguitars.

In 40 years of building, the luthier and tonewood expert (who’s also a contributor to Acous-

tic Guitar ) has refined vintage designs to arriveat new models of all shapes and sizes, cele-brated for their unusually high quality of toneand construction. Bourgeois works with a selectteam of luthiers in his shop in Lewiston, Maine,

ROADSIDESANTA CRUZ

NATIONAL RESO-PHONIC

LARRIVÉE

TAYLOR

COLLINGS

MCPHERSON

PR S

C.F. MARTIN & CO.

FROGGY BOTTOMBOURGEOIS

AMERICANAPART III

a quaint town about 35 miles from the coastalcity of Portland.

Because Bourgeois only gives tours on arotating Friday each month, it’s necessary tocall the shop to find the date of the next tour

and to place a reservation. Though anothermember of the staff normally gives the hour-long tour, if he’s in the shop, Bourgeois alwaysenjoys meeting and chatting with his visitors.

Rather than watching the luthiers inrespectful silence, Bourgeois encourages visi-tors to talk with them while they work. And sotour-goers get a better sense of what goes intoall facets of production than by passivelyobserving the proceedings.

Another special aspect of visiting the shop isthat visitors are able to select woods for customorders to be placed through dealers—and evenreceive completed orders in person.




FROGGY BOTTOM GUITARS

Chelsea, VermontTour hours: By appointment onlyfroggybottomguitars.com(802) 763-0100

Michael Millard, the owner and founder ofFroggy Bottom Guitars, has been building

custom instruments for more than 40 years,often in collaboration with clients. His companyis headquartered in a fairly remote location, thesmall town of Chelsea, Vermont, 150 milesnorthwest of Boston.

Unlike any of the other tours profiled here,Froggy Bottom’s shop is open only to players

who are in the proces s of ordering ins tru -ments—something Millard encourages, butdoesn’t require, of all his clients. Visitors toFroggy Bottom are shown all aspects of guitarmaking (save for the finish work) that Millardand his team of four other luthiers do in their

modest shop, such as building guitars with theirsoundboards face-down, in the manner of anylon-string builder, or crafting the classical-inspired three-piece necks engineered with sta-bility in mind.

But the most exciting part of touring FroggyBottom guitars happens when a musician playsa handful of guitars in the shop, talks withMillard and company about his or her goals interms of sound and feel, and selects the woodsthat will be set aside for use in a custom instru-ment. Then the customer goes home and waitsin eager anticipation, as if for a baby, for thearrival of the new creation.

MID-ATLANTICC. F. MARTIN & COM PANY

Nazareth, PennsylvaniaTour hours: weekdays between 11 AMand 2:30 PM, first come, first servedmartinguitar.com(610) 759-2837

A pilgrimage to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where

Martin has made guitars since 1839, is abso-lutely compulsory for the guitar connoisseur.The sleepy town of Nazareth is about 85 miles

west of Martin’s original location, Manhattan,and 75 miles north of Philadelphia, making itan easy day trip for visitors to those big cities.

Martin’s factory is a 200,000-square-footbehemoth, employing 600 workers who maketens of thousands of guitars per year using acombination of centuries-old building tech-niques and cutting-edge technology, such asCNC machinery and PLEK fret-dressing equip-ment. Visitors take guided tours, receivingheadsets so that they can hear about what’s

going on over the din of the factory’s machin-ery. The tour takes 45 minutes to an hour, start-

ing with a look at rough-milled lumber andending with finished guitars, like the flagshipD-28, and such custom editions as theCS-00041-15: a process requiring severalhundred steps in all.

As part of the tour, visitors are encouraged toaudition a selection of guitars in a small sound-proofed room, and as an added bonus they cancheck out the company’s museum, featuring arotating inventory of historic and significantinstruments ranging from guitars made by C.F.Martin’s mentor, Johann Georg Stauffer, to aprewar D-45 to the Backpacker that traveled on

a mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia.

PRS G UITARS

Stevensville, MarylandTour hours: Tuesdays andThursdays at 10 AM and 1 PMprsguitars.com(410) 643-9970

Since the mid-1980s, Paul Reed Smith has beenTaylor’s analogue in the electric world, its high-performance solid bodies and hollow bodies

built using computerized equipment to consis-tently elevate levels of craftsmanship. It’s onlyin recent years that PRS has been offeringacoustic guitars, like the select high-end modelsbuilt within its massive electric complex, in Ste-

vensvi lle , Maryland, about 40 miles east ofWashington, DC.

The bulk of PRS’s factory tour is, of course,devoted to its electric offerings, and visitorsenjoy seeing every part of their build, from rawcuts of wood to finished guitars and amplifiers.But the penultimate stop of the tour is theacoustic-custom shop, which is presided over by

the master luthier Michael Byle. It takes about 30 minutes for Byle to walk visi tors through the 4,300-square-foot shop, where a team of eight luthiers works largely byhand. They fashion Adirondack spruce, curlymaple, Peruvian mahogany, and other prizedtonewoods into sleek instruments like the

Angelus and the Tonare Grand, with their fancycosmetics and hybrid Torres-style and Xbracing. In contrast to the high volume of PRS’electric-instrument output, the acoustic shopproduces between 16 and 20 instruments permonth, giving tour-goers a fascinating glimpseof old-world lutherie in action.

TopTerri Fethermandemonstrates howto shave a brace

MiddleBourgeois ts a woodenbinding to a headstockveneer

BottomThe PRS factory inStevensville, Maryland



34 June 2015

ASanta Cruz GuitarCompany buildsheirloom-quality

acoustic guitars.

BAdd the Collings tourto your Austin itinerary.

CLuthier Bruce VanWartmeasures sprucetop thickness duringthe voicing processat Collings. Each topis individually handvoiced based on itsweight and stiffnessto bring out the mosttone and volume fromthe instrument.

DA McPhersonluthier cleansglue squeezefrom the braces.

ROADSIDE AMERICANA III U.S. FACTORY TOURS

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C O U R T E S Y O F M C P H E R S O N G U I T A R S

C O U R T E S Y O F C O L L I N G

S G U I T A R S




SOUTHWESTCOLLINGS GU ITARS

Austin, TexasTour hours: Fridays at 3:30 PMcollingsguitars.com

(512) 288-7776

Collings, the premier midsized company, isknown for its classy interpretations of golden-era guitars, acoustic and electric; mandolin-family instruments; and ukuleles. The shop issituated in Austin, Texas, a little over 15 milesfrom the Sixth Street entertainment district thatput Austin on the map as a destination formusic lovers.

As Collings only hosts tours on Friday after-noons, the company requires advance reserva-

tions. After gathering in a living-room-likereception area, visitors are walked through theshop to check out every step of the buildingprocess. They admire the shop’s stashes ofexotic and domestic tonewoods, Brazilian rose-

wood and stunningly curly maple, among manyother species.

On occasion, it’s possible to see the labor-intensive carving of an archtop’s soundboard,or the application of the delicate but tone-enhancing varnish finish that Collings appliesto select instruments. And recent visitors havehad the pleasure of checking out Collings’s newline of Waterloo guitars, inspired by Great

Depression–era instruments, in development.The Collings tour also offers of evidence of

the iconoclastic nature of the company’s owner,Bill Collings. There are the innovative jigs andfixtures that he’s built for the factory—not tomention, as a bonus to automotive enthusiasts,his hotrod shop inside the facilities.

MIDWESTMCPHERSON GU ITARS

Sparta, Wisconsin

Tour hours: During shop hoursbetween 6:00 AM and 4:30 PMmcphersonguitars.com(608) 366-1407

With their offset soundholes, “overpass-under-pass” bracing systems, and cantilevered necks,McPherson guitars are rather unorthodox.These high-performance instruments are madein limited numbers at luthier Matt McPherson’sshop, in Sparta, Wisconsin, a small city alongthe La Crosse River, about 115 miles northwestof Madison.

The shop is a tiny operation—just twoluthiers working on McPherson guitars andthree others working on a series of KevinMichael instruments, which share design ideas

with McPherson but are made from carbonfiber.

Just as McPherson and his staff enjoy build-ing custom orders, they like to tailor tours oftheir shops to visitors. That’s why they askguests to call in advance of a tour, so that theycan select an optimal time for showing as muchof the building process as possible.

The tours are open-ended, generally lastingas long as a visitor likes. It’s a relaxed atmo-sphere, too, with guests encouraged to takephotos of the luthiers at work and to chat withthem about their craft.

Visi tor s are genera lly most int rigued by watching luthier Eric Pelton work on building a

body—a feat of craftsmanship considering thatMcPherson insists that a guitar’s interior bepristine, free of glue, water marks, scratches, orpencil marks.

WEST COASTLARRIVÉE GU ITARS

Oxnard, CaliforniaTour hours: Weekdays before 11 AMlarrivee.com(805) 487-9980

Larrivée guitars, the brainchild of the luthierand auto mechanic Jean Larrivée, were formany years made in Canada, first in Torontoand then in British Columbia. In 2001, thegrowing company opened a second factory inOxnard, California. While 14 years later Lar-rivée’s wood milling operations are still basedin Canada, its instruments are now all built inOxnard, a small coastal city 60 miles north ofLos Angeles and 35 miles south of SantaBarbara.

The staff of Larrivée gives factory tours of

its 16,000-square-foot facilities during week-days, usually before 11 AM, as the second halfof the day tends to get hectic. They prefer that

visitors make reservat ions, though tend not toturn away drop-ins. Tours generally last 45minutes and include stops in every department,from the raw wood processing to nut andsaddle fitting.

The focus of a Larrivée tour is on its line ofsmart modern flattops, made from all-solid

woods. As the tour travel s within inches ofbuilders’ workbenches, visitors have an inti-mate look at the specialized bracing patternsfound on these guitars. They also see the

company’s other acoustic instruments—mando-lins and ukuleles—in progress, as well as itselectric guitars.

NATIONAL RE SO-PHONIC GU ITARS

San Luis Obispo, CaliforniaTour hours: Weekdays between 9 AMand 3:30 PMnationalguitars.com(805) 546-8442

The building of an entirely different type ofacoustic guitar can be witnessed at National Reso-Phonic, the maker of iconic metal-bodied resona-tor guitars, as well as the Scheerhorn brand of

wooden-bodied resonators. National instruments were first made in the Los Angeles area in 1927

and are now built 190 miles to the north, in SanLuis Obispo, on California’s Central Coast.

National is a small and laidback company.To arrange for a tour, visitors need only call aday or two in advance, to make sure thatsomeone will be available to show themaround. Despite the shop’s modest size, it pro-duces a staggering assortment of models, manyof them replicas of 75-year-old tricone andsingle resonator models and some moderninstruments with cutaways and electronics.

The staff of National prefers to give tours when the builders are at work, giving visitor s

the best window into the specialized techniquesin making these instruments. True to vintagestyle, pretty much all of the work is done byhand, and the craftspeople are keen on explain-ing how they build the instruments, forexample taking the time to show how certainmodels incorporate a bolt-on neck whoseattachment screws are concealed by positionmarkers at the upper frets, or demonstrate howa biscuit bridge is carefully slotted and fitted.

SANTA CRUZ GUITAR CO.

Santa Cruz, CaliforniaTour hours: 2:30 PM on Thursdaysand 10 AM on Fridayssantacruzguitar.com/tour-the-shop(831) 425-0999

In 1976, long before boutique guitars were allthe rage, the luthier Richard Hoover set up asmall shop in Santa Cruz, California. In thissunny coastal town, about 75 miles south ofSan Francisco, Hoover and a small team stillbuild heirloom-quality acoustic guitars, madefrom reclaimed or responsibly harvested woods.



36 June 2015

The company produces only about 700 guitarsper year, and these coveted instruments areoften snatched up as soon as they’re built.

After visitors are greeted by the three dogs who mill about at Santa Cruz, Hoover himselfnormally leads tours of his company on Thurs-day afternoons and Friday mornings. Reserva-tions are recommended. A tour lasts about 90minutes, though Hoover is known to allowmore time for a particularly inquisitive group of

visitors—apparently, he doesn’t closely guardany company secrets.

Visi tors to the shop get to watc h its 16luthiers in action, carving tops, tap-tuning,

voic ing, binding, inlaying, sanding, bendingsides, carving necks, filling pores, and more—all by hand. Hoover does, though, demonstratethe company’s single CNC machine, which isused only to help prevent repetitive stress inju-

ries, or for tasks that don’t require any artistry.

TAYLOR GUITARS

El Cajon, CaliforniaTour hours: Monday through Friday at 1 PMtaylorguitars.com/contact/factory-tours(800) 943-6782

Taylor has long been at the forefront of modernacoustic guitar building, with such innovationsas bolt-on necks, specialized onboard electron-ics, and ultraviolet-cured finishes. Visitors to

Taylor’s sprawling U.S. headquarters, in ElCajon, California, 20 miles east of downtownSan Diego, get a revealing look at these detailson guitars in progress.

The 75-minute tour begins with a walkthrough Taylor’s extensive stash of neatly col-lated tonewoods, and an explanation of thecompany’s thoughtful approach to sourcingthese precious timbers and to seasoning them.Taylor, for instance, owns a mill in Cameroon,

Africa, the world’s largest lega l producer ofebony, and the company has a deep commit-ment to responsible forest stewardship.

Particularly compelling are the high-techaspects of Taylor’s tour. Visitors witness computer-controlled machines shaping necks and excavat-ing pockets for inlays, lasers cutting soundboards,and robots finishing and buffing guitars, amongother cool displays of ingenuity and efficiency. Atthe same time, the tour travels through areas

where craft speople are busy doing intensivehandwork, like inlay art and brace gluing. Thetour wraps up in the final assembly department,

where fans of Taylor tend to swoon at the site ofso many gleaming 300- through Presentation-series guitars, lined up in neat rows, awaitingpreparations for shipment to dealers. AG

ROADSIDE AMERICANA III U.S. FACTORY TOUR S

RightGlossed guitar bodieswait to have theirnecks pocketed ona Fadal CNC machineat Taylor Guitarsin El Cajon, California.

D A N I E L K N I G H T O N P H O T O S

AboveA Taylor craftsmaninlays an abalonerosette into a Sitkaspruce top.




SPECIALFOCUS

ACOUSTICDEAD

THEY’RE DEAD AGAIN . . .

for reals . . . well, sort of.The four main survivingmembers of the Grateful Dead(guitarist Bob Weir, bassist PhilLesh, drummers Mickey Hartand Bill Kreutzmann), withPhish guitarist Trey Anastasio,keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, andpianist Bruce Hornsby in tow,will stage a reunion July 3-5 atSoldier Field in Chicago. The eventmarks the 50th anniversary of theiconic San Francisco band’s forma-tion and the 20th anniversary of theband’s last gig, also at Soldier Field.The “core four,” as they’re sometimescalled, claim this will be their final liveappearance playing in a band together,but you know how that usually goes (therumor mill already is working overtime).

AG celebrates the Grateful Dead’s acousticside —a major influence in the emergenceof acoustic-guitar music in the pop culture —with a special section spotlighting Garcia’sbluegrass and country roots, his longtimeassociation with mandolinist David Grisman,the Dead’s landmark acoustic-based albums,including 1970’s Workingman’s Dead and

American Beauty , and an encore appearanceof a popular 2011 Garcia lesson feature.

B A R O N W O L M A N P H O T O / I C O N I C I M A G E S AGAIN



38 June 2015

SPECIALFOCUS

ACOUSTICDEAD

HIGH ONBLUEGRASSSHARING A CUP OF TEA WITH JERRY GARCIAYIELDED REFLECTIONS ON FRIENDS HIP

AND HIS COUNTRY ROOTS BY GREG CAHILL

[ Ed itor ’s note : In 1992 , on a ra iny wi ntermorning, I had the opportunity to interview JerryGarcia at the Grateful Dead’s office in a two-storyclapboard Victorian in a shaded residentialneighborhood near downtown San Rafael, Cali-

fornia . We sipped hot tea and Gar cia cha in- smoked as he spoke affectionately of the acoustic guitar, hi s love of bluegrass, and his long rela-tionship with mandolinist David Grisman. ]





Breakdown1997

Shady Grove1996

Old & In the Way 1975

That High Lonesome Sound 1996

fiddler Jim Buchanan, and bassist Jim Kerwin.Their working friendship would be captured

in the film documentary Grateful Dawg ,directed by Grisman’s daughter, Gillian. Towardthe end of the film, Billboard noted in a 2001review, the mandolinist and Garcia are shown

working through an old-timey song in the livingroom of Grisman’s Northern California home:“With the sun pouring in the room from anearby sliding glass door, Grisman is pickin’

away on mandolin, and Garcia is doing thesame on acoustic guitar. Grisman is loose andplaying off of Garcia, who seems totally oblivi-ous to Grisman’s dog and children walking inand out of the room. They finally take a breakand Grisman gets up for a sandwich. Garciastarts to do the same, but stops, seeming almostto have had an epiphany. He grabs his guitar,sits back down, and with his head down,returns to work on the song.”

“That’s like my favorite spot in the movie,”Grisman told the magazine. “That was just acamera left on a shelf. Nobody staged that.”

Added Billboard : “The moment captures theessence of Garcia and Grisman’s musical rela-tionship, which, as the movie explains, wasbased on a true passion for everything frombluegrass and folk to jazz and blues.”

There’s no question it was a productive rela-tionship. In 1992, Garcia and Grisman hadteamed up for a gorgeous self-titled duo albumfeaturing bluegrass-inflected renditions of B.B.King’s signature song, “The Thrill Is Gone,” theDead’s “Friend of the Devil,” and Irving Berlin’s“Russian Lullaby,” among others.

“For me, that was a rich experience,” Garciasaid of the recording, while puffing on a low-tar

cigarette and showing satisfaction at being “oneof the guys” during the no-frills sessions.

The Grisman/Garcia projects clearly wereclose to Garcia’s heart, coming at a time whenthe Grateful Dead had ramped down its acous-tic material. “He’s a real livewire and kind of aperfectionist,” Garcia said of the notoriouslyfinicky Grisman. “We fire each other up in a

way that I t hink is very interesting—and i t’sinteresting for the audience. But it’s one ofthose things that doesn’t bear too muchanalysis.

“After all, musical chemistry doesn’t yield to

a rational yardstick.”

A C HAN CE EN COU NTE R

Ironically, the pair had first met by chance in1964, when Garcia was on a pilgrimage to theEast Coast in search of authentic bluegrassmusic. At the time, Grisman was leading agroup of upstart bluegrass players called theNew York City Ramblers, still fresh from theirupset victory at the prestigious Union Grovefiddle competition in North Carolina.

“I had my banjo, he had his mandolin,”Garcia explained of their meeting at a BillMonroe concert at Sunset Park in West Grove,

Garcia / Grisman1991

The Pizza Tapes2000

t was one of the most celebratedbootleg recordings in pop history. In1993, mandolinist David Grisman

invited his old pal Jerry Garcia—then enjoyingsome of his most commercially successful daysas the Grateful Dead’s guitarist—to join himand bluegrass picker Tony Rice for a laid-backafternoon session at Grisman’s home studio inMill Valley, California. The result was an inti-mate gathering that evoked a friendly front-

porch feeling.Some months later, Grisman heard that the

jam session had found its way onto WBAI radioin New York City, and Deadheads were swap-ping the tapes at shows. The recording evenpopped up in a shipment of bootleg CDs thatthe Dead confiscated.

Perplexing.But then Grisman discovered that a pizza

delivery boy had lifted a cassette copy of thesessions from Garcia’s kitchen counter.

That episode is immortalized in The PizzaTapes (Acoustic Disc), released 15 years ago on

Grisman’s label. It’s a real gem, sometimes bril-liant, sometimes not, but filled with warmth.The recording retains the banter—and falsestarts—that took place during the session. Thetrio tries its collective hand on Lefty Frizzell’s“Always Late” (a hit a few years earlier forcountry star Dwight Yoakam), jams on GeorgeGershwin’s “Summertime,” and noodles its waythrough Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’sDoor.” There’s even a rare Garcia rendering of atentative “Amazing Grace,” sung at the requestof Grisman’s wife.

The closing track, on which Garcia sings“The House of the Rising Sun,” alone is worth

the price of admission.

RAISED ON THE OPRY

For Garcia, the sessions at Grisman’s markedanother return to his country roots. “My grand-mother was a big Grand Ole Opry fan,” herecalled, adding with a sly smile, “Yeah, I grewup in San Francisco listening to the Opry everySaturday night on the radio without knowing

what I was hear ing. In fact, my firs t 45 was aHank Williams record, a song called ‘The LoveBug Itch.’ It was a really stupid song,” he added

with a belly laugh , “bu t, hey, it was Hank

Williams.” At the time of the interview, Garcia—longregarded as one of rock’s most innovative elec-tric guitarists—had started nurturing his affin-ity for bluegrass breakdowns and spirituals,playing occasional concerts with Grisman andrecording with some of the hottest countrypickers this side of Kentucky (he consideredhimself a neophyte acoustic guitarist). Grismanhad just released Bluegrass Reunion , the first ofsix Acoustic Disc recordings featuring the duo,to which Garcia contributed two tracks. ThatCD was a traditional outing with Red Allen andalso featured banjo player Herb Pedersen,

SOMEGARCIA-GRISMANCLASSICS

I



40 June 2015

SPECIAL FOCUS ACOUSTIC DEAD

Pennsylvania. “We cranked a little bit and hekind of tested me. I guess he wanted to see ifthese guys from the West Coast could play.”

Returning to San Francisco, Garcia frettedover the lack of good bluegrass players in theBay Area and found himself hampered by whathe perceived as his own lack of virtuosity. “I

wanted the bluegrass stuff to be perfect, and I wasn’t happy if it wasn’t,” he said.

Instead, he passed his time in MotherMcCree’s Uptown Jug Champions, a local jugband he formed with guitarist Bob Weir—thena rebellious 15-year-old kid who’d beenexpelled from high school—and blues harmon-ica enthusiast Ron “Pigpen” McKernan.

In 1965, the band went electric, changed itsname to the Warlocks, and added drummer BillKreutzmann and bassist Phil Lesh (who three

years earl ier had taped the Eng lish ballad

“Matty Groves” and other tunes with Garcia ona home recorder). In December of 1965, theband changed its name again, this time to theGrateful Dead, moved to the Haight-Ashburydistrict in San Francisco, and began playing atBill Graham’s psychedelic emporium, the Fill-more Auditorium, and other local venues.

Yet bluegrass continued to influence Garcia.With their prominent acoustic instrumentation,three-part vocal harmonies, and narrative lyrics,Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty , bothrecorded in 1970, marked a momentary shiftfrom the band’s trademark freewheeling jazz-rock jams. “For me, it was one of those things

where I didn’t want to spend the rest of my lifemaking records that are too fucking weird foranybody to listen to,” Garcia said. “Besides, werecorded [ Workingman’s Dead ] around the sametime as Live/Dead , which gave us a chance toscratch our itch for the weird shit.”

Coincidentally, Amer ican Beau ty featuresGrisman playing mandolin on two tracks:“Ripple” and “Friend of the Devil.” Two yearslater, he settled in Stinson Beach, an artist com-munity, near Garcia and fellow musician PeterRowan. Grisman and Rowan soon persuaded a

moonlighting Garcia to pick up his five-stringbanjo for the first time in a decade for theshort-lived Old & in the Way.

On October 8, 1973, that band—whichincluded fiddler Vassar Clements and bassistJohn Kahn—recorded a live album, at the oldBoarding House nightclub in San Francisco.

In 1975, the Grateful Dead’s Round labelissued that album of live sessions, also calledOld & in the Way —widely regarded as a seminalevent in the progressive bluegrass movement.In 1996, Grisman released the stellar collectionof outtakes called Old & in the Way: That High

Lonesome Sound , following that the next year with Old & in the Way: Breakdown, also culledfrom the Boarding House performances.

More recently, Grisman released the com-plete October 8 concert along with anothershow at the same venue from October 1.

Despite what would become a long breakbetween projects with Grisman, Garcia main-tained that bluegrass remained “a vast reser-

voir” to which he returned time and again. “Ithink of this as an ongoing thing in my li fe,” hesaid. “And as long as it’s comfortable for both ofus, I’d be happy to keep doing it part of every

year.”Fittingly, Garcia’s last known recording,

made just two weeks before his death in 1995, was with Grisman, at his friend’s modest homein Mill Valley, in the small basement studio in

which he had found so much peace and con-tentment and comraderie. AG

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quickly morphed into the Grateful Dead in late1965 at the dawn of the psychedelic age,Hunter and Garcia had both played traditional

American acoustic music. Garcia, especial ly,had devoted his every waking moment to learn-ing various folk and blues guitar styles. Then,

with his typically obsessive focus, he became ahot five-string-banjo picker for a couple of

years.

COUNTRY LIVING

In his final proto-Dead acoustic group, MotherMcCree’s Uptown Jug Champions (which alsofeatured future Grateful Dead members BobWeir and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan), Garciamoved back to acoustic guitar—the same 1940D-18 he’d bought in 1962. According to DavidNelson, his bandmate in a few short-lived early’60s acoustic groups, (as well as co-founder ofthe country-rock New Riders of the PurpleSage, for which Garcia played pedal steel fortwo years), that Martin “had been used by somecountry outfit and had two little holes drilledthrough the top where one of those old ’50s

Left to rightGrateful Dead, 1971:Jerry Garcia, Ron“Pigpen” McKernan,Bill Kreutzmann (rear),Keith Godchaux,Bob Weir, Phil Lesh

electric pickups had been installed,” he told Acoustic Guitar in 2002. “The finish was wornand most of the top was bare wood. [But] it

was just incredible-sounding.”That acoustic didn’t get much use during

the Dead’s first few years, but when he andHunter moved into a house together in semi-rustic Marin County (across the bay from SanFrancisco) near the tail end of 1968, he started

writing more and more on the D-18 and also

another Martin—a D-28, Bob Weir says—andmany of the songs that came out of the duoduring this immensely fruitful period leanedheavily toward folk and country antecedents.

Among the new Hunter-Garcia songs that foundtheir way into the Dead’s still very jammy setsduring the middle of 1969 were the dark buttuneful campfire sing-along “Dire Wolf,” thecountry ballad “High Time,” and “Casey Jones,”

which, like “Dupree’s,” was the pair’s uniquetake on a classic American folk story.

By year’s end, they had finished “UncleJohn’s Band” and “Black Peter,” and added anacoustic segment to a few of their shows to

properly showcase some of their new material. Additionally, Garcia and Weir used the acousticsets to play a wide variety of cover songs—everything from the Everlys’ “Wake Up LittleSusie” to Bill Monroe’s “Rosalie McFall” to JesseFuller’s “The Monkey and the Engineer” to thetraditional gospel string-band tune “ColdJordan,” to name just a few.

By the time the spring of 1970 rolled

around, they had added a few more Hunter-Garcia gems to their acoustic outings, including“Cumberland Blues” (co-written with bassist

Phil Lesh), “Friend of the Devil”and “Candyman”—the last twodestined for their American Beauty album, released in November1970, just six months after theirremarkably radio-friendly com-mercial breakthrough, Working-man’s Dead .

Bob Weir says that Garciausually played his Martin D-28

during the acoustic sets (whichturned up at shows sporadicallythrough 1970), while Weir favored a Guild: “Onthe occasions that someone put an archtop inmy hands, I was taken by how well they pro-

jected,” he told me in a 2005 interview, “andthough I wasn’t about to go with an archtop forthe style of music we were playing, the sheer

volume was pretty impressive, so I said to MarkDronge [of Guild, who had a close relationship

with the Dead], ‘Why don’t we do a flattop withan arched back? It’d be loud and have a beauti-ful tone.’

“There were three of them made—one for

me, and [Dead roadies] Ram Rod and RexJackson each got one. It’s an F-50 archback

with an oversized peghead, which improves thesustain. It’s one of the prized guitars in my col-lection—the first one I ever designed. I used itin the ’69-’70 acoustic sets and played it a loton the Festival Express [a trans-Canadian traintrip in the summer of ’70 featuring the Dead,the Band, Janis Joplin and many others].”

It was during that Canada trek that Garcia wrote the music for what is perhaps his andHunter’s most loved acoustic classic, “Ripple,”another American Beauty standout that found

its way into the Dead’s acoustic sets in the fallof ’70. That album’s best-known song,“Truckin’,” also turned up initially in the acous-tic sets that autumn. By year’s end, however,the Dead had dropped their acoustic sets, andfor the next decade, both in the studio andonstage, the band was almost exclusively elec-tric, even as Hunter and Garcia continued totap into folk/country/Americana roots forinspiration. (Material from the 1970 acousticsets was captured on such archival CDs as

Bear’s Choice , Dick’s Picks Vol. 7 , Road Trips Vol.3, No. 3 , and Family Dog at the Great Highway,San Francisco, April 18, 1970. )

Garcia usuallyplayed his MartinD-28 during theacoustic sets,

while Weir favored a Guild.

R E D F E R N S / G E T T Y



44 June 2015


ENTER THE ’80S

It wasn’t until 1980, during the group’s celebra-tion of their 15th anniversary, that the Deadfully embraced acoustic music again. Whereasin 1970 the acoustic sets had been largely dom-inated by Garcia and Weir, with the other bandmembers making more minimal contributions,the 1980 sets were ensemble affairs thatincluded percussionists Mickey Hart and BillKreutzmann on every number, then-new key-boardist Brent Mydland adding piano and (onone tune) harpsichord, and Phil Lesh steppingforward in the instrumental mix (on his electricbass). A few of the cover tunes they’d played in1970 reappeared in the 1980 sets—such as“Deep Elem Blues,” “I’ve Been All Around ThisWorld,” and “Dark Hollow”—and there wereexciting new choices, too, such as GeorgeJones’ “The Race Is On,” the Memphis Jug

Band’s “On the Road Again,” and Elizabeth Cot-ten’s delicate “Oh, Babe, It Ain’t No Lie.” Butthe group also took the time to rearrange anumber of their electric songs for the acousticgroup, such as “China Doll,” “Cassidy,” “It MustHave Been the Roses,” and “Bird Song.” Appro-priately enough, every ’80 acoustic set endedon a warm note with “Ripple.” (The full rangeof the group’s 1980 acoustic repertoire can befound on the exquisite 1981 live release, Reck-oning ; highly recommended.)

By 1980, there was nary a Martin or Guildin sight during the acoustic sets. Instead,

Garcia, who said he never much liked playingacoustic guitars exclusively through micro-phones onstage because they sounded boomy,feedback-prone, and imprecise, switched to aTakamine F-360 with a built -in piezo pickup.That guitar was closem enough in style to aMartin D-28 that some nicknamed it the“lawsuit dreadnought” (after a false story thatMartin had sued Takamine over the similari-ties). Later, Garcia played a single-cutawayTakamine electro-acoustic. Weir flirted withusing a Martin 000-21 with a FRAP (FlatResponse Audio Pickup), “but I couldn’t get thefeedback down to an acceptable level,” so he

went with an Ovation, “which were all the ragefor a while.

“They’re good guitars, too; they work. Thatone had a nice, rich, full sound, and it blendednicely with Jerry’s guitar.”

Despite the popularity of the 1980 acousticsets, the group abandoned them once again(and for good) after their New Year’s Eve1980-81 concert. However, a couple of yearsafter that, Garcia and bassist John Kahn startedtouring as an acoustic duo between Dead tours,and Bob Weir went out with bassist Rob Was-serman doing acoustic shows across thecountry.

Acoustic music would remain an importantpart of their lives outside the Dead for the restof the group’s existence. In addition to his duo

with Kahn, Garcia also formed the Jerry Garcia

Acoust ic Band in the late ’80s (with his early’60s folk-scene pals David Nelson and SandyRothman), and in the early ’90s he teamed up

with mandolinist David Grisman for a numberof productive recording sessions and Bay Areaconcerts.

For Garcia’s and Weir’s later live acoustic ventures, both played different-sized customsingle-cutaway Alvarez-Yairi guitars with graph-ite necks, a piezo bridge pickup, and internalmic; in fact, both became Alvarez endorsers.(Alvarez this year released a pair of GratefulDead tribute guitars.) Weir also brought one ofhis Alvarez axes into the Grateful Dead mix intheir last two years, typically employing it for asong or two at each concert.

Weir has continued to champion acousticmusic in the two decades since Garcia’s death,even doing a couple of completely solo acoustic

tours for the first time, a few years ago. He hasa wall of acoustic and electric guitars fromnearly every era of his career in his sylvanMarin County A-frame home, and he’ll speakfondly of each of one. They’ve all been part ofan amazing journey that, for him, is s till rollingalong. AG

Acoustic Guitar managing editor Blair Jacksonis the author of 1999’s Garcia: An AmericanLife and the forthcoming This Is All a DreamWe Dreamed: An Oral History of the GratefulDead with David Gans.

Acoustic set at theFillmore East, May1970, left to right:Mickey Hart, JerryGarcia, Bob Weir

A M A L I E R

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46 June 2015

SPECIALFOCUS

ACOUSTICDEAD

he lengthy, imaginative improvisedexcursions that Jerry Garcia called forthon his electric guitar inspired legions of

devoted fans to hit the road with the Grateful

Dead during the band’s heyday. While disserta-tions have been written on this work, Garcia’sacoustic side warrants consideration, too. A highlypersonal take on all sounds Americana, Garcia’sacoustic guitar can be heard on such GratefulDead songs as “Uncle John’s Band” and “Ripple,”as well as in Garcia’s music outside the Dead withmandolin virtuoso David Grisman and others.

Named after the composer Jerome Kern,Jerome John Garcia was born in San Franciscoin 1942 to a musical family. Garcia studied thepiano as a child, but having lost most of hisright middle finger in a wood-chopping accidentat the age of four made playing difficult. It

wasn’ t unti l he was 15, upon hearing ChuckBerry, that he took up the electric guitar. In theearly ’60s, after a brief stint in the Army, Garciabecame obsessed with folk music and got into

acoustic fingerpicking, then picked up a banjoand dove headlong into bluegrass for a coupleof years. In 1964, however, he went back toguitar (mostly) and started the irreverent acous-tic group Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champi-ons with future Dead members Bob Weir and“Pigpen” McKernan (and a host of others).Those three, with the addition of drummer BillKreutzmann and (eventually) Phil Lesh on bass,morphed into the Warlocks, the electric barband that preceded the Grateful Dead.

With its freewheeling approach to music-making and life in general, the Dead became theband most emblematic of the hippie era, and

continued to record and tour until Garcia’suntimely death of a heart attack in 1995 at age53. As one of the primary architects of the Dead’smusic, Garcia played a pivitol role in creating

the band’s uncanny synthesis of psychedelic folk,blues, country, and jazz, and his electric andacoustic guitar playing has been an influence onlegions of jam band lead guitar players, fromPhish’s Trey Anastasio to the String Cheese Inci-dent’s Bill Nershi.

This lesson feature examines the trademarksof Garcia’s acoustic approach, which incorpo-rates strumming and flatpicking in both accom-paniment and lead roles, all imbued with a fairamount of improvisation. In the process, wehope you will gain an appreciation for Garcia’scontributions to American music, as well assome new ideas for your own playing.

JERRY’SWAY

T

A LOOK AT THE GRATEFUL DEADGUITARIST’S INFLUENTIAL ACOUSTIC STYLEBY ADAM PERLMUTTER

F R O M T H E

A R C H I V E S





SINGLE-NOTE LEAD LINES

In an extraordinarily productive single year,1970, the Grateful Dead released two stagger-ingly good albums, Workingman’s Dead and

Amer ican Beauty . These albums showcase a wide range of Garcia’s acoust ic lead concepts,and we’ll start by looking at several of his tech-niques featured on these classic recordings.

One of Garcia’s most identifiable lead tech-niques features a breezily descending series of

triadic arpeggios on the top two strings, as heardin the beginning of “Uncle John’s Band,” fromWorkingman’s Dead. In Ex. 1 , a typical Garciaarpeggio lick follows four bars of a syncopated Abarre chord. To play the arpeggios, whichoutline the chord progression A–C m–D–E, start

with your index, middle, and little fingers on theninth, tenth, and 12th frets, respectively, shift-ing down to seventh, fifth, and fourth positionsfor the C m, D, and E chords. As Garcia would

when playing a phrase like this, let each notering as long as possible.

Garcia also often took a more scalar approach

embellished with chromatic passing tones, as inhis bright single-note solo on “Uncle John’sBand.” Ex. 2 sticks mostly to the A-major scale,

with a couple of ascending chromatic passingtones in measures 2 and 5. Notice that theD note, bridging the D and E notes, imparts a

jazzy flavor to the line. Garcia tended to stay in

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one position for a while before moving on toanother, so, when playing through thisexample, keep your fingers in ninth positionfor the first four measures, then shimmydown to sixth position for the last two bars.

Also, Garc ia often used art iculations likehammer-ons to keep the music from soundingstiff, so to really get inside his sound, bemindful of all the slurs in this example.

In addition to arpeggios and scalar pas-

sages, like most rock guitarists Garcia oftenreferenced the blues, heard for example, onhis soulful lines behind the vocals during“Black Peter” (from Workingman’s Dead ). The

verse sections of “Black Peter” are based on aI–IV progression (A7–D7) in the key of

A major. To play the chordal bit in measure 1of Ex. 3 , barre the seventh fret with yourindex finger and quickly hammer on to the Eand G notes with your middle and ringfingers. In the next measure, move down tofifth position to play the triplet-based fill.Notice the use of descending chromatic

passing tones, E and G, a Garcia trademarkthat lends a bit of sophistication to the lick.The move at the end of measure 3 leadinginto measure 4 might be a little tricky. Fretthe G and E notes with your middle and ringfingers and slide the shape up while ham-mering on from the open B string to C with

your index finger, making sure that all the notesof the second chord sound simultaneously—asubtle ornament that captures Garcia’s bluesyside.

COUNTRY STRUM MING

& UNUSUAL HARMONIES

The country-western-influenced “Dire Wolf”(from Workingman’s Dead ) features Garcia onpedal steel above a bed of strummed acoustics.

A close lis ten to the acoustic parts reveals thatdifferent voicings are used to fill out thechords—a smart arranging strategy that Garciaand Grateful Dead co-guitarist Bob Weir oftenused to stay out of each other’s way. In Ex. 4 ,the lower part sits squarely in open positionand decorates the chords with bass lines, whilethe upper part s ticks to closed-position F-shape

vo ic ings embell is hed wi th the suspendedfourth. While keeping the basic chord shapedepressed, add this ornament with your littlefinger. When you get to the G chord, make sure

you barre the top three strings with your index

finger; this will allow you to efficiently play theB –B hammer-ons in measures 5 and 6.Garcia often used a basic strumming

approach to create colorful music. While theacoustic right-hand pattern he played on “Box ofRain” ( American Beauty ) might not be all thatinvolved, it is harmonically compelling and even



48 June 2015

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a bit disorienting. The progression in the firsttwo bars of Ex. 5 toggles between G and Cchords, setting up a G-major tonality. In measure3, the tonic, or home chord, seems to move to C,but the subsequent harmonies—Gm, Dm, B , and

F—suggest a modulation to F major. Thisexample may be harmonically unusual but it isstraightforward to play—use up-and-downstrumming throughout, and in the final measure,use assertive downstrokes to play the bass linethat will lead back up to a C chord. In the firsttwo measures, keep your ring and little fingersanchored on the sixth and first strings, respec-tively, and play the C chord by adding your indexand middle fingers on the C and E notes.

A BLUEG RASS INFLU ENCE

Garcia was not just a fine guitarist and pedal-steel player, but also a sturdy banjoist. In the

early 1960s, he showed up, banjo in hand, toaudition for bluegrass founding father BillMonroe, but at the last minute lost his nerve. Hisbanjo playing can be heard in the bluegrass bandOld & in the Way, which Garcia formed in the

’70s with Peter Rowan and David Grisman, anda bluegrass influence is evident in a number ofGrateful Dead tunes, in particular, “Friend of theDevil” ( American Beauty ), its old-time soundreinforced by Grisman’s mandolin playing.

Ex. 6 is inspired by a banjo-like guitarpattern that Garcia used as the foundation of“Friend of the Devil.” Be sure to emphasize thebass notes moving up the G-major scale anddownplay the surrounding pitches.

Pick each accented note with a downstrokeand the two notes that follow with a singleupstroke, letting everything ring as long aspossible.

In the instrumental chorus of “Friend of theDevil,” Garcia and Grisman play lead linessimultaneously; Garcia plays in a style indebtedto bluegrass flatpicking legends Doc Watson andClarence White, both of whom influenced Gar-

cia’s acoustic playing. InEx. 7

, just as in Exam-ples 2 and 3, you’ll find chromatic notes thatlend spice to the music. There are some fretting-hand shifts to be aware of here, too. While theexample is largely in open position, it starts offin second (play the notes in measure 1 on fretstwo, three, and four with your index, ring, andmiddle fingers, respectively) and climbs back upthere in measure 5.

Notice also that this example is not crammedfull of eighth notes. If you listen to the originalrecording, you’ll hear how Garcia creates gapsin his solo, so as not to overwhelm Grisman—agood lesson in musical generosity.





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WHATJERRYGARCIAPLAYED

While Jerry Garcia cycled through dozens

of electric guitars throughout his career —everything from Fender and Gibson solid-bodies to a custom-made Doug Irwin instru-ment —he played only a handful of acoustics.For Workingman’s Dead and the AmericanBeauty sessions, he used a Martin D-18 anda D-28 —instruments he also played onstage.

By the early 1980s, Garcia was playing aTakamine F-360, which, rare for the time, hada built-in piezo pickup. He played Takamineacoustic-electrics throughout the 198 0s andin 1992 endorsed an Alvarez Yairi DY99 Vir-tuoso Custom with a Modulus graphite neck.

Toward the end of his life, Garcia’s prefer-ences in instruments veered back to thetraditional. For Not for Kids Only, a recordinghe made with David Grisman, Garcia playeda 1939 Gibson Super 400N —an ultrarareblond archtop —and used a D-18 anda D-28 as well. — A.P.



50 June 2015

“Ripple,” also from Ameri can Beauty , fea-tures some rootsy chord work from Garcia in asort of embellished-chord approach he oftenused on acoustic guitar. Play through the figurein Ex. 8 , letting everything ring as long as pos-sible. Add emphasis to the melody notes, whichtend to fall in the odd measures, withoutplaying them too forcefully. If you like, try sub-stituting G and C chords in place of Em and Am.

JAZZY STRAINS

Due to the improvisatory nature of Garcia’sapproach, it should come as no surprise that

jazz—a style born of spontaneity—often figuredin his playing. “Bird Song,” which Garcia firstrecorded on his 1972 solo debut, Garcia , and

which was long part of the Grateful Dead’s setlists, was influenced by the modal jazz thattrumpeter Miles Davis pioneered in the 1950s.

In fact, in 1993 Garcia, along with DavidGrisman, recorded several versions of Davis’most well-known modal number, “So What,”and also performed it live at a few shows.

One of the most salient features of modal jazz is harmonic stasis, and in the verse of “BirdSong,” Garcia hangs out on D7-type chords for

long stretches at a time, between vocal phrases,adding licks from the D Mixolydian mode (D EF G A B C). Ex. 9 shows a similar approachbased on the E Mixolydian mode (E F G A B C D). Fret the E7sus4 and E chords with a partialbarre at the seventh fret and your ring and littlefingers, respectively, on strings two and four;play the single-note lick with your index, ring,and little fingers on the seventh, ninth, andtenth frets.

Garcia worked with saxophonist OrnetteColeman on the free-jazz pioneer’s 1988 albumVirgin Beauty , but he was also drawn to earlierexpressions of jazz, which is evident on thealbums he recorded with Grisman in the early1990s. “Grateful Dawg,” from the duo’s self-titled 1991 debut, sounds in places as if it could


have been written during the swing era. On thispeppy number in the key of A minor, Garciademonstrates his fluidity in a more traditional

jazz context . Ex. 10 is inspired by Garcia’simprovisations on “Grateful Dawg.” The firstthree measures are based around the D-minor-pentatonic scale (D F G A C), dressed up withchoice chromatic notes—C and G —in measure1. The second half of measure 3 anticipates the

A7 chord in measure 4, fl irting with both themajor and minor thirds of the chord (C ] and Cbefore landing squarely on the major third onthe downbeat of measure 4. The major third isalso seen in measure 4 on the and of the fourthbeat, where it leads smoothly up to the D notein the last measure. Be sure to play the exampleusing alternate picking, taking things slowly atfirst and stopping to hear how the notes relateto the chord changes—something that Garcia,

in his wide-ranging and thoughtful style, waskeenly aware of. While Ex. 10, like all of theother examples, offers a small étude on a par-ticular strain of American music, it also demon-strates the way Garcia used familiar sources tocreate his own idiosyncratic voice on the acous-tic guitar. AG

Due to the oftenimprovisatory natureof Garcia’s approach,it’s no surprise that

jazz figured in tohis playing.

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52 April 2015

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J O E L B R O D S K Y

The Doors, p. 64

60Weekly WorkoutDiscover thepossibilities ofopen-D fingerpicking

64Acoustic ClassicThe dark andmysterious journeyof ‘Moonlight Drive’

PLAY68Acoustic ClassicLearn Jerry Garcia’sunique approachto this folk classic

58BasicsLearn Brazilianbossa novafundamentals



58 June 2015

root, or the root and fifth on beats 1 and 3,similar to Travis picking. You’ll later add synco-pated chords on top, creating a rhythmic juxtapo-sition against the simple half-note bass pattern.

Ex. 2 shows those syncopated chords to bepicked with the fingers (index, middle, andring). This rhythm can feel a bit tricky at first,so be sure to practice slowly. In the firstmeasure, you have chords placed on beats 1

THE BASICS

I t’s so enjoyable to learn and play bossa nova,the relaxed yet complex style of music from

Brazil. Bossa nova is a style of music based on therhythmic language of samba and the harmoniesof traditional Brazilian folk music and American

jazz. It took America by storm in the 1960s withthe release of popular recordings by AntônioCarlos Jobim, João Gilberto, and Brasil ’66.

At the core of bossa nova is the guitar, tradi-tionally a nylon-string played with fingerstyletechnique. This is the gentle engine that keepsthe lightly propelling syncopation of the songmoving, while defining the harmony withsophisticated chord voicings.

PICK-HAND PATTERNSFirst, explore the use of syncopation with apicking pattern. Bossa-nova guitarists usepatterns that emulate a samba drum ensemble.The surdo bass drum plays on the first and thirdbeats. Ex. 1 shows a typical bass line for aC chord, picked with the thumb. It is simply the

Brazilian guitaristsalso love the soundof extensions suchas ninths, 11ths,and 13ths in their

voicings, and rarely

play simple openor barre chords.

Blame It onthe Bossa NovaLearn the fundamentals of this cool Brazilian style

BYSEAN McGOWAN

and 2, followed by chords on the “ands” of 3and 4. The second bar is almost a mirror imageof the first; chords are placed on the “ands” ofbeats 1 and 2, while 3 and 4 are squarely onthe beat. Try the pattern with and without thetie on the “and” of beat 2 in the second bar.

Now play Ex. 3 , which combines the bassline and the chords. Be sure to notice when thechords and bass are played simultaneously andseparately. Ex. 4 is identical to Ex. 3, but withthe bass line moving between the root of thechord (C) and the fifth (G)—again, think Travispicking. A general guideline to bossa novaaccompaniment is to play a root-fifth pattern ifthe root is on the A string, and the root only ifit is on the low E string.

VARIATIONS & CHORD VOICI NGSExamples 5 and 6 illustrate variations from

your original pattern. Skilled players improvise

freely between these different figures in thecontext of a song. Ex. 6 uses the same patternin the key of A, adding open strings. Brazilianguitarists love using open strings in voicings;the Amaj9 and Am13 chords feature the ninth(B) and fifth (E) on the top two open strings,creating a beautifully ringing texture.

Brazilian guitarists also love the sound ofextensions such as ninths, 11ths, and 13ths intheir voicings, and rarely play simple open orbarre chords.

Ex. 7 features a progression that illustratesthe use of extensions in chords. Instead of just

playing a C to D progression in the first fourbars, you can play Cmaj9 and D9 to color thesound. The progression concludes with a Dm9–G13–G7 5 cadence back to C6/9, anothersound favored by bossa-nova guitarists. TheG13 to G7 5 is a classic jazz-guitar move, withcolor added by a quick shift from C6/9 up toDb6/9 before resolving to a Cmaj9 11 chord atthe end. AG

Sean McGowan (seanmcgowanguitar.com)is a jazz guitarist based in Denver, where hedirects the guitar program at the Universityof Colorado.

João Gilberto

http://embed.wistia.com/deliveries/b9941fbc862fc3bd8d36a6bddd9bbeb38d2eac6e/file.mp4








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60 June 2015

I f you’re new to fingerpicking, or just brushingup, it can be advantageous to learn the tech-

nique in an alternate tuning such as open D,allowing you to pay special attention to yourpick hand. As the open strings are tuned to achord, D major, it’s possible for you to play satis-fying music without even using your fret hand.

Then, once you get the hang of playing a simplefingerpicking pattern, you can add all sorts ofcool ideas using scale tones, double stops,pull-offs, and other embellishments.

To get into open D (low to high: D A D F AD), begin by tuning your sixth string down a

whole step, to D from E. Leave your fourth andfifth strings alone, as these notes (A) and (D)are members of a D chord.

Tune your third string down a half step, toF from G, and your second string down a

whole step, to A from B. End by tuning yourfirst string down to D from E, so that it’s twooctaves higher than the sixth string. Your openstrings are now tuned to a D chord.

WEEK ONEIn this lesson you’ll be picking the strings 6–4

with your thumb (p) and strings 3, 2, and 1 with, respectively, your index, middle, and ringfingers.

Ex. 1 —a simple alternating bass pattern,played in octaves on the open strings 6 and 4—

uses the thumb exclusively. The bass pattern isessential to keeping a steady downbeat rhythm,so tap your foot and make sure you count inquarter notes.

WEEKLY WORKOUT

Open-D FingerpickingSimple patterns allow for infinite possibilities

BYPETE MADSEN

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http://embed.wistia.com/deliveries/61f2fd0297872dbc901fe7f3f0cc1b7536b1c467/file.mp4










After you’ve established the bass pattern, youcan add melodic notes on the higher strings. InEx. 2 you’ll play treble notes between the bassnotes—in Ex. 3 , treble and bass notes simulta-neously on each beat. Ex. 4 is a common finger-picking pattern that combines the rhythmicideas in the previous two examples.

Next, run through the D Mixolydian mode(D E F G A B C) on string 1, as shown in Ex. 5. In Ex. 6 , this pitch collection is plugged into

the fingerpicking pattern from Example 4.Go slowly, making sure that your bass notes arefalling squarely on the downbeats. In the begin-ning, it might be useful to use only one fingerto fret the notes of the mode as you focus onthe fingerpicking.

BEGINNERS’

TIPWork on these exercises afew minutes every day. Thetechniques you are learningare developing musclememory, and this is betteraccomplished over weeks

and months, rather than alot of practice at one time.

1

WEEK TWO

Once you’ve become comfortable with playingthe D Mixolydian mode in a fingerpickingpattern, you’ll be ready to add a harmonizedline. In Ex. 7 , that mode is played on strings 1and 2 in major and minor thirds. The fret handis more involved in this example. Your firstfinger will be your guide on the first string. Thesecond-string note for each pair of thirds willbe fretted with either your second or third

finger; be sure to follow the fingerings indi-cated above the staff.

WEEK THREE

In Ex. 8 , your fret hand will be even busier, as itadds a pull-off on the first beat of each measure.Not only does this provide a cool-sounding lick,in conjunction with the alternating bass pattern,the abundance of ringing Ds makes for a nice,fat sound. I find the term pull-off to be a bit of amisnomer, as the actual physical action is morelike pull-down-and-off. When learning pull-offs,


BEGINNERS’

TIPTry other scales —major,minor, and pentatonic —using the same fingerpick-ing pattern.

2The term pull-off is a bitof a misnomer, as thephysical action is morelike pull-down-and-off.

4

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62 June 2015

WEEKLY WORKOUT

BEGINNERS’

TIPJump around the scale tonesin a random fashion, butmaintain the fingerpickingpattern.

3

BEGINNERS’

TIPUse pull-offs and slidesbetween the two treble

strings; these slurs willadd textural interestto your playing.

4

many players simply lift a finger off the string, which produces a weak tone. If you pull downand then off, you get a much fuller sound fromthe pulled-off note.

WEEK FOUR

Now, build on what you’ve learned in the

previous examples, adding some double stopsas well as a couple of quick changes throughsome of the harmonized thirds. In each of thefirst four bars of Ex. 9 , alternate betweenplaying a double stop and using a pull-off. Also,in the first four bars, ascend the fretboard,

while in the second four you’ll descend.In bar 5, jump up to the ninth and tenth

frets and play descending double stops on eachsuccessive beat. In bar 6, after you do anotherpull-off lick, descend through some moredouble stops as you progress down to the openstrings. Try to keep a good balance between the

sound of the bass and treble strings, especially when playing the double stops—some playershave the unfortunate tendency to over-pick thestrings.

There are plenty of other fingerpickingideas to explore using any open tuning—somany licks and phrases based on differentscales and approaches. You can also add a bot-tleneck slide into the mix. Using a simplepicking pattern will allow you to explore aninfinite number of melodic and harmonic pos-sibilities. AG

Pete Madsen is an AG contributing editor.

Rock On.

ALL THE TIPS AND TECHNIQUESTO UNPLUG YOUR ROCK AND ROLL

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Ten Great RockStrumming Patterns ACOUSTIC ROCK ESSENTIALS

Add ten popular rock rhythms(and their variations) to yourstrumming vocabulary.

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By Andrew DuBrock

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64 June 2015

ACOUSTIC CLASSIC

“ M oonlight Drive” is one of the Doors’earliest songs, written before the group

was even assembled. But it didn’t appear on analbum until the group’s sophomore effort,Strange Days , in 1967. This bluesy song is drivenby Ray Manzarek’s piano and Robbie Krieger’selectric-guitar riffs, including a smart slide solo.But as you’ll see here, it translates nicely into an

arrangement for acoustic guitar (check out theacoustic-guitar version on James Lee Stanleyand Cliff Eberhardt’s 2011 album All Wood and

Doors , which featured Krieger, Laurence Juber,Paul Barrere, and others).

The song kicks off in the key of G major with a piano riff that’s reinforced by bass guitaron the first beat of each measure, as well as the

“and” of 4. An approximation of this part isshown here in notation. Play it either finger-style or with hybrid picking, and if you’d like,shift the dyads on strings 1 and 3 to 2 and 4.For example, on beat 3, play the notes G and E

at frets 6 and 5 on strings 4 and 2, respectively.While this might be more demanding of thefretting fingers, it makes it easier to cop therhythmic bounce heard on the originalrecording.

Whichever approach you choose, you canuse the same riff for the G7 portions of the

ver se, and wher e you see a D7 symbol , tryimprovising variations on a basic down-and-upstrum in steady eighth notes.

After the first verse, the song modulates up a whole step, to the key of A majo r, where itremains until the end. Here, you can play the A7

chords with the basic open grip shown in thegroup of four chord frames, or you can use thetwo-bar repeating pattern that’s indicated in thenotation. Either way, play along with the record-ing to get the proper rhythmic groove. AG

Let’s Swimto the MoonThe Doors’ ‘Moonlight Drive’takes you on a darkand mysterious journeyBY ADAM PERLMUTTER

MOONLIGHT DRIVE WORDS AND MUSIC BY THE DOORS

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Let’s climb through the tide

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City sleeps to hide

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Let’s swim out tonight love

It’s our turn to try

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Parked beside the ocean

On our moonlight drive

. . . .

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Let’s climb through the tide

Surrender to the waiting worlds that

Lap against our side

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Nothin’ left open

And no time to decide

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We’ve stepped into a river

On our moonlight drive

You reach a hand to hold me

But I can’t be your guide

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Easy I love you as I watch you glide

A 7 Falling through wet forests

On our moonlight drive baby

Moonlight drive

Outro

A 7

Come on baby gonna take a little ride

Down down by the oceansideGonna get real close

Get real tight

Baby gonna drown tonight

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U S E D B Y P E R M I S S I O N O F A L F R E D M U S I C

. A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D



66 June 2015

O n the surface, Ray Wylie Hubbard’s guitaron “Stone Blind Horses,” from his new

album, The Ruffian’s Misfortune (Bordello),might not seem particularly striking. But uponcloser listening, the accompaniment on thissong and elsewhere on the new album isteeming with the sort of details that make it a

textbook example of great rhythm work. The song finds Hubbard making the most

out of five simple open chords—Am, C, G, D,and Em, which, due to a capo at the second fret,sound a major higher (Bm, D, A, E, and F m,respectively) than fingered and written. Glance

through the chords before you dive in to thesong. Note that on the C grip, wrapping yourthumb around the neck to fret the chord’s fifth(the third-fret G) will add fullness to the sound,but if this feels too awkward, you can just playthe C chord in the more standard way, omittingthe sixth string.

Throughout the song, Hubbard’s strummingis both relaxed and in the pocket, meaning thestrums fall in exactly the right places withoutseeming mechanical.

A good strategy for accomplishing a feel likethis is to add open-string strums before chord

changes, so that the act of switching gripsdoesn’t disrupt the timing. This approach isdepicted in the accompaniment pattern heard inthe verse and harmonica solo.

Another benefit of strumming the openstrings is that they add a subtle hint of color tothe proceedings. Adding rolls to select chords—

articulating them with a single downstroke insuch a way that you can quickly hear the indi-

vidual notes , lowest to highest , one pitch at atime—also adds vibrancy. Try this technique

where you see the squiggly vertical lines in thenotation. AG

The ‘Ruffians’

RhythmRay Wylie Hubbard’s ‘StoneBlind Horses’ is a textbook songBY ADAM PERLMUTTER

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STONE BLIND HORSES WORDS AND MUS IC BY RAY WYLIE HUB BARD

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They say there’s a heaven it’s somewhere above the yonder

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Where there’s no more crosses to bear

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And there’s storms out on the sea

My only hope is somewhere in that heaven

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Never seen a reason to believe

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. A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D



68 June 2015

T he late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Deadhad a deep connection to rootsy idioms,

as is particularly apparent in the work herecorded with mandolinist David Grisman.Case in point is “Shady Grove,” the title trackfrom the posthumous 1996 compilationrecorded between 1990 and 1993.

“Shady Grove” is an 18th century folk songthat’s made its way into the bluegrass repertoire,having been interpreted by luminaries like DocWatson and Bill Monroe. Garcia flatpicks in thismode, with lightly attacked but propulsive chord

work during the verses and mandolin solos, andmore prominent single-note lines during his threeguitar solos. Use the first four measures of Verse 1(bars 20–23) as a loose guide for approaching the

accompaniment throughout the song, playing alldownstrokes except on the “ands” of beats.

Garcia’s three solos form a neat arch. Theouter two stick to the open position, making

good use of the open strings, while the secondone ventures up to the middle of the fretboardto generate exci tement . The gui tar is tapproaches these passages like a skilled jazzmusician, not plugging in pet licks to the i–VII(Dm–C) progression but spinning compelling variations on the original melody.

The odd or perhaps inadvertent note choicehere and there—like the B n bar 57 that con-flicts with the song’s D Dorian (D E F G A B C)tonality, or the F over the Dm chord in 107—are the sort of details, defying textbook expla-nation, that you might find in a classic bebopsolo.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to learn the solosnote-for-note, slowly at first, until you can play

them at the song’s brisk tempo. But better yet,get the solos under your fingers—and in yourears—so that you can use them as springboardsfor your own explorations. AG

Boundfor ‘ShadyGrove’Learn Jerry Garcia’sunique approach tothis popular folk classicBY ADAM PERLMUTTER

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SHADY GROVE TRADITIONAL, ARRANGED BY JERRY GARCIA

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70 June 2015

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Shady Grove my little love Shady Grove I know Shady Grove my little love I’m bound for Shady Grove

3. I wish I had a needle and threadFine as I could sew

I’d sew that pretty girl to my side And down the road I’d go Shady Grove my little love Shady Grove I know Shady Grove my little love I’m bound for Shady Grove

4. Some come here to ddle and dance Some come here to tarry Some come here to ddle and dance I come here to marry Shady Grove my little love Shady Grove I know Shady Grove my little love I’m bound for Shady Grove

5. Every night when I go home My wife I try to please her The more I try the worse she gets Damned if I don’t leave her

Shady Grove my little love Shady Grove I know Shady Grove my little love I’m bound for Shady Grove

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74 June 2015

AG TRADE84New GearBedell’s tastyVegan Parlor

Not Fade AwayEnglish builder Alister Atkinre-creates Buddy Holly’s iconic1943 Gibson J-45 for Paul McCartneyBY MARC GREILSAMER

78Makers & ShakersMeet Dick Boak,Martin’s archivist

82New GearGibson’s SJ-200Dylan model

88Pickin’Larrivée reconnectswith its uke roots

B uddy Holly’s “banner” Gibson J-45, factoryorder number 907-31, remains one of the

most iconic fretted instruments of the pastcentury. This past October, a replica of thislegendary instrument landed in the hands ofanother icon, Paul McCartney , courtesy ofEnglish luthier Alister Atkin and the BuddyHolly Educational Foundation .

About five years ago, the Buddy Holly Edu-cational Foundation (formerly the Buddy HollyGuitar Foundation) embarked on a massivereplica project focused around Holly’s originalguitar. Luthier Rick Turner , who’d done repair

work on the original in 1990 (and salvaged 18of its frets), created the first replica of theseries, “Rave On,” which was given to GrahamNash. The foundation, with the help of found-ing board member and “banner-era” Gibsonexpert John Thomas , then recruited a handfulof acclaimed guitar builders to continue themission, including Howard Klepper , MickJohnson , Daniel Roberts , and Tony Klassen .

“Because of Buddy’s popularity in the UKand the foundation’s recruitment of UK-based‘ambassadors’ like Sir Paul [who owns Holly’ssong catalog], Mick Jagger , Keith Richards ,Pete Townshend , and Brian May , I wanted torecruit a UK-based luthier to build some of thefoundation’s guitars,” Thomas explains. “Inselecting luthiers, I based my decision on the

luthier’s reputation in the custom-guitar com-munity, the luthier’s interest in vintage-styledinstruments, and my overall [feeling] about theluthier’s fit with the foundation’s goals. Alister

Atkin was a perfect and easy choice given theseselection criteria.”

Atkin had already spent many years studyingbanner Gibsons, so when the Foundation firstapproached him, he was “sure we could do it

justice.” Unlike the other replicas, which boastleather covers in honor of the one Holly hadhand-tooled himself on the original, Atkin’sMcCartney model (called “That’ll Be the Day”)took a different route. “When we built Paul’s

guitar,” Atkin explains, “we decided that it wouldbe wise to re-create the leather cover in paint,because of his involvement with animal rights.So, I worked with an artist friend of mine called

Andy Howe, and we managed to get the feel andlook of the original cover, I think.”

McCartney’s left-handed version boasts amahogany top and even mahogany bracing on

the top and back. “I had hit upon this combo acouple of years ago and was blown away byhow well mahogany works for top bracing,”

Atkin notes. “You can build it nice and thinbecause it’s so strong. Now we use it on some ofour spruce tops, too. People are amazed howgood it sounds.”

Through the foundation, Atkin has alsocreated replicas for Albert Lee and DollyParton , among others. What’s more, thanks tothe positive response his Holly replicas havegotten, Atkin decided to permanently add thebanner-era J-45-inspired Forty Three line to hisHistoric Series. “One of the biggest things that

SHOPTALK

AboveCommissionedby the BuddyHolly EducationalFoundation,Paul McCartney’sAtkin J-45 boastsa faux ‘leathercover’ paintedby Andy Howe.

R A P H A E L K L A T Z K O




Back in 2013, C.F. Martin & Co. and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran collaborated on a signa-ture model, the LX1E Ed Sheeran SignatureEdition. Production of that special guitar waslimited to 4,000 units, and it sold out worldwidein just four months. This year, the company hasrevealed a second Sheeran collaboration, the Ed

Sheeran X Signature Edition, and once again,Sheeran is donating 100 percent of his salesroyalties to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (each.org.uk), a UK-based charity in his home-town that provides care and support for youngpeople with life-threatening conditions. By thetime the new model was released in February,Martin had already booked orders for 7,000instruments.

Like its predecessor, the new model is0-size, with 14 frets clear of the body, a 23-inchscale length, and Fishman Isys T pickup system.However, the just-released Ed Sheeran X Signa-ture Edition will feature an entirely new wood

combination: solid spruce top with laminatedkoa back and sides, and laminated birch neck,as opposed to the original’s sapele top with “jettblack” laminated back and sides and stratabondneck. Also of note: Instead of the “+” (plus)sign that graced the first model’s headstock, thenew model will feature an “x” (multiply; the

title of his most recent album) sign on theheadstock, along with an inlaid koa “x” on theguitar’s top.

“I’ve had the chance to bring the new modelon the road with me already,” Sheeran says,“and I’m excited that my fans will be able to pur-chase one of their own, with all the proceedsgoing to EACH, a charity very close to my heart.”

Adds EACH chief executive Graham Butland,“Not only will the guitar raise much-neededfunds for the charity, but it will also greatly raisethe profile of EACH and the vital care andsupport we provide to life-threatened children,

young people and their families.” — M.G.

MARTIN UNVEILS SECONDED SHE ERAN SIGNATURE MODEL

4 FAMOUSBANNE R J-45

PLAYERS

GREG BROWN

jumps out at me when playing and working onthose old guitars,” he says, “is that they are inno way perfect, but if you get a good one itoozes personality, and that’s what we are

aiming to achieve.” Made from 1942 through 1945, Gibson’s

World War II-era “banner” flattops (named inhonor of their headstock emblazoning) are con-sidered among the finest acoustics ever made.Though no “official” record exists—Gibson wassupposed to have been making war materials—Thomas says more than 9,000 “banner” Gibsonsswere produced, mostly by young Michigan

women who’d stepped in for Gibson employees who went off to war.

Holly’s original “banner” J-45, which, basedon its order number, was probably started in late

1942 and shipped in early 1943, might well bethe most revered “banner” Gibson of them all—not bad for $75, which is what it cost Holly whenhe found it in a Lubbock, Texas, pawnshop.“Encrusted in dead animal skin and sportingdecades-old, sticky strings,” Thomas writes in his2013 book about banner-era Gibsons, Kalamazoo

Gals , “this guitar may have the best bass responseof any guitar that I’ve ever encountered.”

Martin’sEd Sheeran X

SKIP JAMES

RUSS BARENBERG

CISCO HOUSTON





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The J-15

Introducing the J-15.

Handcrafted from solid,North American tonewoods with a price youwon’t believe. Play one

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78 June 2015

MAKERS & SHAKERS

originality, talent, and ability to work witheveryone have long been his trademarks, andhe’s helped Martin Guitar remain a thrivingcompany in a big way.”

Ren Ferguson, vice president of R&D andmanufacturing for Guild Guitars, amplifies

McCreary’s assessment of his friend. “He’s con-tinuously pushed forward the envelope atMartin, taking things to new levels all the time.

And he’s been such a loyal and supportive friendto so many luthiers in the guitar-buildingcommunity.”

DUAL DOMINANCEBoak’s entree into music and woodworkinghappened early. He became enamored withrock ’n’ roll at the age of six, when Elvis Pres-ley’s “Hound Dog” was released, in 1956. Later,he taught himself guitar by playing along withBeatles records. He also took up the autoharp—

a family Christmas present that had beenneglected by his three brothers, and an instru-ment he still plays today. “I’m, in fact, workingon an album right now with a modern instru-ment that’s light years beyond the old OscarSchmidt,” Boak says of the autoharp.

One Christmas, Boak’s father, a skilled woodworker, set up a basement shop with sepa-rate workbenches for his sons, and this is whereDick first got into lutherie. “Around the age of12, I started making little instruments out of thebalsa wood I could buy at a hobby shop,” herecalls. “I obviously didn’t know what I wasdoing. There weren’t any books, and if youapproached someone who knew how to makeguitars for advice, you’d get turned awaybecause of guarding secrets.”

In one frightening childhood episode, Boakpunctured his right eye while flicking the metalbristles that had fallen off a street cleaner. He

I n the mid-1970s, Dick Boak had the habit ofcruising into the town of Nazareth, Pennsyl-

vania, and rummaging through the dumpstersbehind the Martin Guitar headquarters. Hestuffed the back of his yellow 1969 FordMustang with discarded portions of rosewood,

ebony, and spruce, which he would use formaking furniture and fretted instruments.Boak made no secret of gathering these

materials, and one day, when a foreman askedhim what he was doing with the wood, heretrieved a pair of his instruments from the carand handed them over. The foreman then disap-peared into the factory, where the head of thecompany, C.F. Martin III, happened to be millingabout. Suitably impressed by Boak’s eccentriccreations—a mandolin-guitar and a drone banjo

with a doorknob for a tuning machine—Martintold the foreman to have Boak apply for a job.

In those days, with his long, unruly hair and

ragged clothes, Boak wasn’t exactly poised tobe a job applicant. Yet he wandered into thefront office and tossed his hat into the ring. “Ibrushed the dirt off my clothes and straight-ened myself up as much as I could. The recep-tionist said, ‘I don’t think we have anythingopen for you , but we do have one opening fordesign drafting.’ I managed to speak tosomeone in personnel, though, and showedhim some of my work. He asked if I could startthe next day, but I told him I couldn’t because Ihad to go to a Dylan concert. I started the dayafter that.”

Boak is in his mid-60s now. Sporting button-front shirts, unwrinkled slacks, and orderly white hair, his outward appearance suggests aBaby Boomer’s renunciation of an iconoclasticpast. But the unorthodoxy of his youth hasresounded continuously in his work at Martinover the last four decades. From drafting newmodel designs to managing the company’smuseum and archives, Boak has approached his

work with boundless creativity.“Trespassing does not always turn out so

well for folks , but it was a fortuitous event forMartin,” Steve McCreary, general manager atCollings Guitars, says of Boak. “His kindness,

History

Detective Archivist Dick Boak servesas the institutional memoryof C. F. Martin & Co.BY ADAM PERLMUTTER

MAKERS & SHAKERS

J O E Y L U S T E R M A N

Dick Boak: C.F. Martin’s

historian-in-residence




was lucky to recover from this injury, whichcould’ve easily caused him to lose sight in theeye, but he acknowledges that his accident actu-ally benefitted his professional life. “Poorer sightin my right eye forced me to work in very closeproximity to my drawings and, more important,to study objects with an almost neurotic obses-sion for detail,” he says. He also speculates thatthe injury helped him achieve dual dominance,

an equally analytical and creative mind. After he graduated from Blair Academy in

1968, Boak set off for Gettysburg College, aliberal arts school in Pennsylvania, where hebecame a self-described “instantaneous hippie”and immersed himself in the “whole TimothyLeary thing.” He started as an English major butquickly took to the visual arts. In his junior year,

when his father refused to continue financing hishigher education unless he got a haircut, Boakdropped out—but not before completing a pro-

vocative conceptual art project . “Inspired by aFranz Kafka story, I built a cage,” he says, “a

living sculpture that I occupied on campus forthree days until it was unceremoniously disman-tled by fraternity boys.”

Upon exiting college, Boak rambled for a bit.He lived in communal situations on the Easternseaboard, working crappy odd jobs while illus-trating on the side. He drove cross-country andsettled in the Morningstar Commune, in ruralSonoma County, north of San Francisco. “It wasthe utopian dream,” he says. “I was living with abunch of hippies and building dwellings anddomes while enjoying my most fruitful period asan illustrator.”

In 1973, Boak returned to the East Coast and

made a go as a lathe turner, luthier, and perform-ing artist. At the same time, he slid into a teach-ing position at the Stowe School, a boardingacademy in Vermont. “Because of my prolificillustrating, I was given an exhibition there,” heremembers. “At the time, the art teacher washaving a terrible time relating to the hippie stu-dents, and since the school saw I had an immedi-ate connection to the students, they offered me a

job. I really loved this reentry into society.”

EARLY DAYS AT MARTIN

Boak thrived in his first year at Martin, drafting

models in the factory by day and working lateinto the night at home on his own experimentalguitars, including eight- and nine-stringmodels. But then, suddenly, he was fired.

“Martin brought in an engineer who didn’tknow much about guitars to be my boss,” hesays. “I was working on drawing the compo-nents for Vega banjos when he came over andsaid, ‘I want you to move this braze joint overthere.’ I argued that it would break. He said it

wo ul dn ’t , an d I re lu ct an tl y ch an ge d th edrawing. Then I went to the personnel managerand let them know the company was about to

waste tens of thousands of dolla rs. The next

In 2000, inspired by the photo-graphic negatives he scoured ona light table in the Martin Guitararchives, Dick Boak designedthe Negative Guitar: a blackD-28 with white pickguard, her-ringbone purfling, white Micartafretboard, and black tuners. The

limited-edition black-and-whitemodel was specially designedfor Acoustic Guitar ’s 10 th anni-versary: One was given to AG reader Clarence “Leo” Roehl,the other resides in our office.When the giveaway wasannounced in the magazine,Bob Dylan saw an image ofthe Negative Guitar and askedMartin to build one for him. Boakphoned AG for approval . . . er,yeah, Bob Dylan can have one,he was told. —Greg Cahill

NEGATIVITYDON’T PULL

YOU THROUGH

morning, the boss handed me an empty boxand said, ‘You don’t go over my head.’ I justcried, having lost this dream job.”

After he was canned, Boak completed a largepen-and-ink drawing of Martin’s venerable D-28and published a limited-edition collection ofguitar prints. He signed and framed one for C.F.Martin III, with the inscription, “Please considerthis my reapplication for employment,” and

delivered it in person to the factory. Martin wasas delighted by the gift as he was dismayed byBoak’s dismissal, not having been told of thesituation. And so the next day, Boak was back at

work. “The company had been unionized, and workers were on strike,” he recalls. “I returnedas a scab, gluing on bridges and shaping necks

while trying to avoid my former boss.” On the strength of his drafting and guitar-

making experience, Boak was soon asked tosubmit design ideas for a line of electric Martinguitars. He sketched hundreds of different

variations of body, headstock, and neck styles,

and with a complete run of the machine shop,he went to work on prototypes of solid-bodyguitars and basses. It was then that his ex-bossreappeared, modifying Boak’s original designsin lamentable ways.

“He saw my sculpted and ergonomic cre-ations and said it was all ridiculous, and he justdestroyed my project,” Boak says. “I almostcame to blows with him.”

In 1978, Boak was reappointed to the 1833Shop in order to avoid further contentious epi-sodes. The small factory gift boutique sold such

wares as Martin t-shirts, belt buckles, and keychains. Under Boak’s watch, the shop began

offering guitar kits with woods that might haveotherwise been relegated to the dumpsters.Sales grew tenfold in just a few years. Aroundthat same time, Boak’s nemesis got his comeup-pance. “Quality control started seeing manybroken banjo rims from the project I’d gottenfired for,” Boak explains. “This time, it was theex-boss who had to pack his box.”

Building an 8-StringEbony Acoustic, 1980.



80 June 2015

TO BOLDLY GO . . .

As the 1833 Shop cont inued to thrive, Boak was offered a chance to start a new shop inMartin’s old North Street factory, where it hadproduced instruments between 1859 and 1964.On the first floor of the factory, Boak openedWoodworker’s Dream, a retail space for theexotic timbers that Martin had been importing,as well as for guitar-making kits and compo-nents. Given his success in that venture, Boak

was able to seize another opportunity. “I was appointed as the head of Martin’s

wood products divis ion and put in charge ofrunning the sawmill and the acquisition of all ofMartin’s woods,” he says. “I’m not sure howqualified I was, but I got to be a wood expertand even began writing for woodworkingmagazines.”

In 1985, Boak landed a position with

Martin— director of advertising—that he’d longcoveted, one that pushed him in an entirely dif-ferent direction. In that role, he was instrumen-tal in creating such memorable campaigns as theNASA-themed “To Boldly Go” ad that introducedthe Backpacker guitar in the early 1990s.

“I dove right into that job,” he says. “Agen-cies that we’d worked with didn’t really have agood handle on what Martin was all about, so Ifired them. I also started attending the NAMMshows, for which I was in charge of designingthe trade-show booths. I got to know prettymuch everybody in the entire industry, estab-lishing many close friendships outside of busi-ness in the process.”

After Eric Clapton played a 1939 Mart in000-42 and a 1966 Martin 000-28 with45-style appointments on a 1992 episode ofMTV’s Unplugged , Boak started fielding a lot ofinquiries about these long-out-of-productionguitars. He convinced Martin to run a series ofClapton signature models, but not everyone

was sold on the idea. “A sales manager can- vassed the dealers without mentioning that it was an Eric Clapton edition, and the response

[for this $8,000 guitar] was negative,” Boaksays. “But we made 461 of them, a reference tothe album 461 Ocean Boulevard . And whenthey all sold in two hours at the 1995 winterNAMM show, I joked that I wish we’d made4,061 instead!”

After the success of the initial Claptonmodels, Boak was reappointed as Martin’sdirector of artist and public relations, where hespearheaded other signature editions, includingreplicas of guitars played by Joan Baez, JohnnyCash, and Willie Nelson. Martin now had morethan 150 models. “Some very compellingstories came out of these collaborations withsome of the greatest artists of our time,” saysBoak, adding that the yarns are collected in hisbook Martin Guitar Masterpieces .

When luthier Mike Longworth, Martin’s long-time staff historian, passed away in 2003, Boakeventually shifted to his current position asdirector of museum and archives, special proj-ects. In the process, Boak has pored over about500,000 documents and images, including thosehe recently discovered in the attic of the NorthStreet factory wrapped in burlap and covered

with ancient Brazilian rosewood sawdust.“It’s been a huge task,” Boak says. “And I’m

happy to say that the archives of what is argu-ably one of the greatest companies in the US, ifnot the world, is now starting to tell a completestory.” AG

MAKERS AND SHAKERS

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82 June 2015

NEW GEAR

E ven if Gibson’s Bob Dylan SJ-200 Player’sEdition hadn’t been designed in collabora-

tion with the iconic singer-songwriter, it’d stillbe a special guitar. The instrument, whichunderwent a lengthy design process, is deeplyresonant and has a rather commanding voice—brawny and bright, but not overly so. Its thick,round bass notes are particularly impressive,and natural harmonics all about the neck, eventhe notoriously weak ones at the fourth andninth frets, ring vividly and clearly.

CLASSIC DES IGNSThe SJ-200/J-200 has been Gibson’s premierflattop since its introduction, in 1937 (the Jstands for jumbo and the S for super). Themodel was called SJ-200 until the early 1950s,after which it was simply labeled J-200—possibly to distinguish it from Gibson’s dread-nought-sized Southern Jumbo line, a verydifferent guitar with its own decorative style.Starting in the 1990s, reissues made with orna-mentation closer to the earlier model werelabeled SJ-200, and since then Gibson has

produced both SJ-200 and J-200 models that

are extremely similar, with only subtle cosmeticdifferences.

Such players as Pete Townshend, JimmyPage, George Harrison, and Neil Young havefavored this large-bodied guitar for its excellentpresence onstage and in studios. Bob Dylan hasowned a handful of Gibson jumbos, includingone he purportedly received from Harrison,

which is seen on the cover of Dylan’s 1969album Nashville Skyline . And Dylan played adifferent SJ-200 when he performed acoustic

numbers at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival’sContemporary Songs Workshop (the same yearas his infamous gone-electric controversy).With its twin pickguards, that version is theinspiration for this new creation.

The Player’s Edition includes many of thesame specs you’d find on a vintage example. Asopposed to the Sitka spruce currently used onGibson’s standard SJ-200, the soundboard ismade from Adirondack spruce—the speciesfound on most golden-era guitars, prized for itsstrength, stiffness, and tonal brilliance. Theback and sides are made from AAA figured

maple, and the set used on the review model is

The Bard’sGuitarThe vintage-inspiredGibson Bob Dylan SJ-200Player’s Edition boastsan outstanding voice

BY ADAM PERLMUTTER

Customengravedpickguards Adirondack spruce top




BODY Adirondack spruce topwith scalloped X bracing

AAA amed mapleback and sides

Rosewood “mustache” bridge

Custom engraved pickguards

Vintage sunburst nish

(nitrocellulose lacquer)

GIBSONBOB DYLANSJ-200PLAYER’S

EDITION

AT A G LANCE

VIDEO REVIEWACOUSTICGUITAR.COM/GEAR

NECK Maple neck withrosewood stringer

Rosewood fretboard

25.5-inch scale length

1.725-inch bone nut

Gold Gotoh 15:1 tuners

Dylan eye logo on headstock

Nitrocellulose lacquer nish

EXTRAS

Gibson light strings (.012–.053)

L.R. Baggs Anthem electronics

Certicate of authenticity

Custom Shop hard-shell case

PRICE $6,448 list; $4,999 street

Made in the United States

gibson.com

perfectly book-matched, with the flamesrunning uninterruptedly across the back.

The guitar also sports the details historicallyfound on a super jumbo: compound dovetailneck joint, adhered with hide glue; the distinc-tive, mustache-shaped rosewood bridge, inlaid

with mother-of-pearl shapes; and an L-5–stylescroll at the upper end of the fretboard. Nitpick-ing for sure, but it would have been nice for theneck to have been studded with vintage-correcttortoise side dots, rather than black dots.

Then there are the details unique to this sig-nature edition. Silkscreened on the headstock isDylan’s eye logo, whose meaning is still open tointerpretation. The fretboard is embellished with

what Gibson cal ls Bel la Voce inlays , the floralshapes of which depart from the crown motifson most jumbo examples vintage and new.

TOP-NOTCH BUILD

The review model is beautifully built, to say theleast. The handsome Vintage Sunburst finish,

which appears not just on the soundboard buton the neck, back, and sides as well, is evenly

applied, ranging in color from a rich, dark

brown to a warm amber; the guitar’s clear coatof nitrocellulose lacquer is applied thinly and

without any apparent flaws. The fretwork isimpeccable, the nut and saddle are perfectlycut, and the guitar ’s innards betray nosloppiness.

The Player’s Edition is as impressive to lookat as it is to play. Its C-shaped neck profile is onthe slim side, accommodating of barre chordsand speedy runs alike.

At 1.725 inches, the nut is a hint wider than

Gibson’s standard of 1.6875 inches, giving thefretting fingers ample space while not discour-aging the thumb-fretted chord shapes some-times impossible on a wider nut.

It felt only natural to play Dylan fare on thePlayer’s Edition, and the guitar sounded sorobust when I strummed the main chord pro-gression to “Lay Lady Lay.” It also responded

well to “Girl from the North Country,” both the version in G that Dylan recorded with JohnnyCash (on Nashville Skyline ) and the earlier solo

version, capoed at the third fret, from The Free-wheelin’ Bob Dylan . In other words, the guitar

works just as well for strumming as it does for

fingerpicking, and that’s definitely not alwaysthe case with such a large instrument.

Having recently heard the adventurous gui-tarist Nels Cline use a 1962 J-200 in a series ofduets with the young jazz wizard Julian Lage, Ialso played through a few standards in a fakebook, adding a little free improvisation as well.The guitar performed well in this context,thanks to its evenness of tone, not to mentionits detail and clarity—a sound that’s nicely pre-served when the guitar, with its L.R. Baggs

Anthem elect ronics system, is plugged into aFender Acoustasonic amplifier.

At about $5,000 street, the Bob Dylan SJ-200Player’s Edition might be a bargain relative tothe Autographed Collector’s Edition, which coststwice as much, but it will no doubt have alimited audience. For those with the means, theinstrument is an excellent choice for the per-forming or recording guitarist—and an absolutetreat for the diehard Bob Dylan fan. AG

Contributing editor Adam Perlmutter transcribes, arranges, and engraves music

for numerous publications.

Maple neck withrosewood fretboard

Dylan eye logoon headstock

http://embed.wistia.com/deliveries/4a725cd429dcffbf25cfa5a41bcd0b3941fee79d/file.mp4





84 June 2015

NEW GEAR

Listen to theSustainabilityBedell’s tasty Blackbird Veganparlor guitar offers a lotto feel good aboutBY ADAM LEVY

BODY

12-fret parlor size

Salvaged Sitka spruce top

Western big-leaf maple backand sides

Nitrocellulose nish(gloss top, semi-gloss backand sides) over a translucentblack burst

ELECTRONICSK&K Pure Mini pickup system

AT A GLANCE

BEDELLBLACKBIRD VEGANPARLOR

O regon-based Bedell Guitars recently intro-duced its new Blackbird series, with

dreadnought, orchestra, and parlor modelsavailable. All three are built entirely from treesethically harvested in the Unites States and are

vegan-friendly—util izing no animal products(no bone nut and saddle, no hide glue, noseashell inlays). If you’re passionate about thefate of our forests and the well-being of all crea-

tures, you’ll be hard pressed to find a moreconscientiously crafted line of instruments. You don’t need to know the Blackbirds’ righ-

teous backstory, of course, to appreciate theirrobust tones, excellent craftsmanship, and sleek“black burst” finish, but it is rare to find aninstrument that can give you a warm, fuzzyfeeling before you even pick it up and play it.

MARRIAGE OF S UBSTANCE AND STYLEThe petite 12-fret parlor model, with its lap-friendly dimensions, will appeal to fingerstylists,troubadours, and old-timey blues players. Themoderate string spacing (nut width is 1 11/ 16

inches) accommodates chording and single-noteplaying with equal ease. The parlor’s neck profileis comfortably curved—not unlike those found onGibson acoustics from the mid- to late-’60s.

The tonality of the Blackbird is balanced, with burnished upper frequencies, sal ty-sweetmids, and a focused bottom end. Open-positionchords sound harmonically rich and complex,

wi th cl ear st ring- to-st ring defin it ion. Thi squality is even more pronounced when jazzier

voicings are played up the neck. The smallishfrets are expertly finished.

Some modern-minded players may find theparlor’s 12-fret neck limiting, but on the upside,there’s not a bum note to be found anywhereon the walnut fretboard.

The smoky look of the Blackbird parlor isnicely matched to its voice. Bedell’s unique“black burst” finish showcases the tonewoods(Sitka spruce top, big-leaf maple back andsides) in ways you’ve never seen. Imagine

taking a photograph of your favorite sunburstacoustic, then processing the pic with a sepia-tone filter. That’s what the Blackbird looks likein real life.

Among the notewor thy nitty-grit ty here :brass dot inlays and position markers (insteadof abalone), an all-wood rosette, and open-gearWaverly tuners.

NECK

Eastern hard-rock maple

Walnut fretboardand peghead overlay

TUSQ nut and saddle

25-inch scale length

111/ 16-inch nut width

Nickel Waverly open-gear tuners

EXTRAS

D’Addario EXP16 coatedphosphor-bronze strings(.012–.053)

Bedell deluxe hard-shell case

Limited lifetime warranty

PRICE$2,490 list

Made in the USA (only theTUSQ is Canadian made).bedellguitars.com





AND T HI S BI RD CAN SI NG

While the parlor-size Blackbird is louder, acous-tically, than you might expect from such adiminutive guitar, most performance situationsrequire amplification.

No sweat—the Blackbird comes factoryequipped with an excellent K&K Pure Minipickup system. The Pure Mini offers no built-incontrols for volume or tone, but its dynamic,

mic-like signal is easy to shape via your favoriteoutboard preamp and/or at the mixing console. Another quality that helps make the parlor a

stage-friendly guitar is that it balances evenly inthe hands.

Whether you’re a sit-down or stand-upplayer, you’ll have no trouble cradling theparlor in playing position. It’s also lightweight,

which can make a real difference to your neckand shoulders on longer gigs.

Parlor guitars, generally, are designed witha particular musical attitude in mind. Most suchmodels aren’t likely to suit every player or everyidiom (see the “Parlor Pickin’” feature on

page 26).That said, the Bedell Blackbird Vegan parlor

guitar is remarkably versatile. On top of that,it’s handsome to behold and eco-friendly.

Perhaps black is the new green. AG

Adam Levy is an itinerant guitarist based in Los Angeles, where he is the chair of the guitardept. at Los Angeles College of Music. His guitarwork has appeared on recordings by Norah

Jones, Tracy Chapman, Amos Lee, and Ani DiFranco, among others. You can read moreof Levy’s writing and hear his music at

adamlevy.com.

Western big-leaf maple back

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86 June 2015

NEW GEAR VIDEO REVIEWACOUSTICGUITAR.COM/GEAR

Boutique Inspired,Budget PricedMitchell’s affordable new Element Serieshas much to offer the entry-level player

BY ADAM PERLMUTTER

A s the prices of high-end, US-made acousticguitars head toward the stratosphere—you

can expect to pay around $10,000 for an instru-ment with Brazilian rosewood back and sides—

Asian-bui lt budget inst ruments are enjoyinggreat gains in craftsmanship while becomingeven more affordable. Case in point is MitchellGuitars’ new Element Series. The ME1, a non-cutaway dreadnought, and its counterpart, theME2CEC, a cutaway dreadnought with Fishmanelectronics, each sell for well under $500, and

with solid soundboards, they certainly pack a lotof bang for the buck.

The ME1 and ME2CEC share similar cosmet-ics but have different tonewood configurations.The ME1 is made with a spruce top and sapeleback and sides, while the ME2CEC features a redcedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides.(The ME1 spruce/sapele combo is also availablein a cutaway acoustic-electric dreadnought, theME1CE, and in a cutaway acoustic-electric audi-torium, the ME1ACE.) The soundboards of bothguitars incorporate a shifted scalloped-X bracingpattern and open-pore satin finishes, each said

to enhance resonance and projection.These smart-looking guitars have someboutique-style appointments as well. Wrappingtheir bodies and necks is flamed maple binding,instead of the customary plastic. Other appeal-ing touches include small, left-justified fret-board position markers in abalone, rosewoodheadstock cap, and ebonite keys.

Overall, both instruments display decentcraftsmanship. The fretwork is clean, with justa hint of jaggedness at the edges; the NuBonenut and compensated saddle are well notched.However, there’s some sloppiness in the finerdetails: You can find a bit of sawdust and glue

traces populating the innards, and the bridgeon the ME1 could’ve been more carefullysanded and glued.

Weighing in at around four pounds, each ofthe Mitchells is comfortable to hold. Their slimC-shaped necks have low, easy action and feel

very playable in all regions, though just a tad stiff.(They probably just need a little breaking in.)

Neither guitar can be considered a cannon.When strummed, the ME1 has a fair amount ofprojection, though the low-E string buzzes

when really pushed. With decent note separa-tion and a respectable balance between regis-ters, the guitar responds well to stylisticapproaches from Carter strumming to swing-

inspired soloing.The ME2CEC boasts a stronger voice thanits companion. It sounds warmer and morecomplex, and it doesn’t suffer from the buzzingsixth string. It, too, has reasonable clarity andbalance—attributes that translate well whenplugged in, thanks to the onboard Fishman INK3 preamp system, with its three-band EQ.

Far superior to the budget guitars of thepast, both the ME1 and the ME2CEC mightserve as worthy beginner guitars, though giventheir credible playability and sound, they mightalso be appropriate for more-skilled but frugalplayers. AG

These new modelsare far superior tothe budget guitarsof the past.

Songwriting Basics for Guitarists.


Download 21Songwriting Tipsfrom the Masters and you’ll learn towrite better songswith advice fromfrom Pete Seeger,Joni Mitchell,Jakob Dylan, ElvisCostello, and more!

© 2012Stringletter SONGWRITING BASICS FORGUITARISTS • 21Songwriting Tipsfromthe Masters 3

6 TWEAK THE CHORDS. “It’s amazinghow much cooler it gets when you

changeonenoteina chord,”SeanWatkinsoncesaidina conversationwithhis then-band mates in Nickel Creek. His guitarparts often use modal chords (with nothird) and suspensions that add a niceopennesstothesound.Checkout thedif-ferences between Examples 1a and 1b ,andbetween Examples2aand2b ,tohearhowaone-fingerchangeina chordmakesabigimpact.

7 UNCHAIN THE MELODY.

An insightabout chords and melodies from a youngDavidWilcox—interviewed20yearsago—stillringstrueforme.“Ilearnedfromlistening to James Taylor that you don’t

want your melody to be the root of thechord,”Wilcoxsaid.“Youwantthemelody tobean interestingnoteinthechord.Andifyouhavea givenmelodynote,therearedifferentchordsthatgowithit,so pickone

wherethemelodyisa fifthora seventhorathirdora ninth,butnotthetonic.”

To make this concrete, take a look atExamples3aand3b (playthesameaccom-paniment—showninExample3a—forbothexamples). Notice that in Example 3a themelodynotes arethesameas theroots ofthe chords, while in Example 3b the mel-odyis shifted ontoother notes. In this ver-sion, themelodylifts freeof thechords andhas much moreimpact.

B

4

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2

23

00

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30

330

02

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02

020

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2

020

20

B

4

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203

00

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3

0

030

3

2

G 6add9

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02

030

2

A7sus4

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œ0

2

030

3

0

B

4

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02

21

22

1

Am

Ex .2a

œœœœ œœœœ

3

00

0

00

0

G

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1

32

1

32

1

F

œœœœ œœœœ

1

32

1

32

1

B

4

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02

20

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0

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Ex .2b

œœœœ œœœœ

3

20

0

20

0

G 6

œœœœ œœœœ

1

32

0

32

0

Fb5

œœœœ œœœœ

1

32

0

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0

B

44

Œ

œœ œ œ

3

000

00

00

G

Ex .3a Melody

Accompaniment.

œœ œœ

0

102

10

2

Am7

.œœ œœ

0

232

23

2

D

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232

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0

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.

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0

4 ŒG

Ex .3b Melody

œAm7

.D

ŒG

œEm

œœœŒD

SONGWRITING BASICSFOR GUITARISTS

By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

21SONGWRITINGTIPS FROMTHE MASTERS

http://embed.wistia.com/deliveries/69af2bee3d442d8ffbf0bd58fbf02a6ee76696ce/file.mp4






BODY

Dreadnought body

Solid spruce top

Sapele back and sides

Rosewood bridge

AT A G LAN CE

MITCHELLME1

BODY

Dreadnought body

Cutaway solid red-cedar top

Indian rosewood back and sides

Rosewood bridge

AT A G LAN CE

MITCHELLME2CEC

NECK

Mahogany neck

Rosewood fretboard


111/ 16-inch bone nut

Chrome die-cast tunerswith ebonite keys

EXTRAS

D’Addario EJ11 80/20Bronze Light strings (.012–.053)

PRICE

$599 list; $299 street

Made in Chinamitchellguitars.com

NECK

Mahogany neck

Rosewood fretboard


111/ 16-inch bone nut

Chrome die-cast tunerstuners with ebonite keys

EXTRAS

D’Addario EJ11 80/20Bronze Light strings (.012–.053)

Fishman INK 3 electronics

PRICE

$799 list; $399 street

Made in Chinamitchellguitars.com

Mitchell ME1 Mitchell ME2CEC



88 June 2015

PICKIN’

A bout 20 years ago, Jean Larrivée found asweet spot in the Japanese market for high-end ukuleles, and by his own estimation, hiscompany produced “several thousand” of thefour-stringed instruments. However, whendemand softened in the early 2000s, Larrivéeleft the uke behind in favor of other projects.

Today, the demand for high-end ukes isstronger than it’s been in years, and so Larrivéehas decided to re-enter the market in full force,

with four new uke model s (soprano, concer t,tenor, and baritone) joining the company’sLegacy Series of instruments. After years oftooling development (accompanied by rampant

rumors of a return to the uke field), thecompany began production of its new line ofukes late last year, basically deciding to startfrom scratch. Completely re-designed from

what they’ve done in the past, the new ukesfeature what Larrivée calls “more of a tradi-tional American design.”

“We wanted to create a line of ukuleles thatdidn’t suffer from ‘ukulele-itis,’” Jean Larrivéeexplains. “So many ukuleles that are out thereon the market have body shapes that looksquished and malformed. We wanted to createours to look more like a miniature guitar—spe-

cifically like a mix between our parlor and 000bodies—and we think the result is exactly that.”

GUITARISTS WELCOMEThe all-mahogany UB-40 baritone ukulele—tuned DGBE—is an ideal transitional instru-ment for guitar players who want to explorethe tonal possibilities of the uke while retainingsome of the feel and sound of their six-stringedinstruments. In fact, the dark, brooding tone ofthe baritone displays little of the “tinkle” thatmost ukuleles have. Thanks largely to its all-mahogany construction, the instrument is mostsuccessful projecting the midrange, while the

copper-wound D and G strings help support thelow end. High-end tones, in contrast, are a bitmuted and dusky, especially when engaging inopen-position strumming, although the use oftitanium for the B and E strings helps mitigatethat issue. (The model also is available with aspruce top, which would help even further toproject the upper register; an all-koa version

will also be available in limited numbers.) Though open-position strumming may not

be its ideal function, the mahogany UB-40excels as you move higher up the neck. Intri-cate chord melodies take on an elegance andrefinement that’s often hard to find in the

ukulele world, and jazz voicings reveal a warmth and grace that will delight the ears. Inthe end, this instrument may get a tad lost in aspirited hapa-haole ensemble, but it’s abso-lutely ideal for solo jazz and classical readings,thanks to its sophisticated and stylish tone.

In terms of craftsmanship, the uke deliversthe level of quality and care for which Larrivéeis already well known as a guitar maker. Thesoundboards and arched backs are individuallyplaned and voiced using AAA woods, and thehand-fit dovetail neck joint is superior. Theebony fingerboard is a joy to play, and the ultra-

thin acrylic satin finish feels like a dream. Cos-metically, the uke is tasteful and understated,thanks to the handmade rope marquetrypurfling and rosette, flamed maple binding,and ebony headstock cap.

Though many ukulele enthusiasts will oftendismiss the baritone size as “nothing more thana small guitar,” Larrivée has turned that notionon its head, instead relishing the similarities theuke shares with its six-string cousin. For guitar-ists who wish to join (or can’t escape) thecurrent wave of uke mania, Larrivée’s UB-40makes for a safe landing area—and, perhaps, acure for ukulele-itis. AG

SmallWonderJean Larrivéeand companyjump back inthe ukulele gameBY MARC GREILSAMER

AT A GLANCELARRIVÉE

B-40BARITONE

KULELEBODYMahogany soundboard

Mahogany back (arched)and sides

Sitka spruce bracing

Maple binding

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Bone nut and saddle

Acrylic satin nish

NECKMahogany neck

Ebony fretboardwith maple binding

Ebony head platewith inlaid logo

Dovetail neck joint

Grover tuners

Acrylic satin nish

EXTRASD’addario EJ87B TitaniumStrings (.028, .033, .030W, .035W)

PRICE$1,200 list; $900 street

Made in the USAlarrivee.com


http://embed.wistia.com/deliveries/3693397bfff51277f251a6c4e6762b77dc1f4e4e/file.mp4





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90 June 2015

T his beautiful parlor guitar was built by theWashburn Company circa 1900. It was

custom-ordered by Col. John Hancock III,great-grandson of founding father JohnHancock. The instrument represents a purely

Amer ican craft that depa rts from Europeanideals of beauty and construction. The deli-cately intertwining lines in the rosette aremade of pearl, ebony, and red and green wood

marquetry and are based on designs found inancient Apache pottery that was excavated inthe Southwest at the turn of the last century.The inlays in the headstock, fingerboard, androsette were custom-made at the Washburnfactory in Chicago, not acquired through Euro-pean vendors.

The White Rose is a large-bodied guitar forits era, with a lower bout that’s 14 inches wideand a scale length of 25 inches. It features aspruce top, a mahogany neck, and Brazilianrosewood back and sides. The fingerboard isinlaid with copper and pearl, and the rose vine

design dates back to the Roman Empire. Although most American guitar manufactur-ers did not be gin building steel-strings until theearly 1900s, Washburn was already doing so by1880. To handle the added tension of the steelstrings, Washburn included a metal-reinforcedtruss rod, a bolstered X-brace, and a fortifiedDurkee patented bridge. These innovative con-structions would have a profound influence onthe playability, tone, and soul of Americanguitars for a century to come. AG

This article was first publishedin the September 1999 issue.

Purely American

Washburn’s White Roseparlor guitarBY BIANCA SOROS

GREAT ACOUSTICS F R O M T H E

A R C H I V E S

C O U R T E S Y O F H A N K R I S A N

, W A S H I N G T O N S T R E E T M U S I C



PLAYLIST

MIXED MED

92PlaylistTom Brosseau’s‘Perfect Abandon’

93PlaylistSufjan Stevensamps up the gloom

95StageRock BottomRemainders return


Sufjan Stevens p.93



92 June 2015

“T here’s always a bit of pressure aroundcreating something that will be able to

reach the stretches of land beyond yourdomain,” North Dakota native Tom Brosseaurecently told AG. “You want to be able to writesomething that enables other people to look

through it.” To a certain extent, that statement illus-trates what makes Brosseau’s songs so engag-ing—they are deeply personal tales thatmanage to, well, reach far beyond his owndomain. Brosseau’s latest, Perfect Abandon , ischock-full of these penetrating tunes. Producedby John Parish and made in Bristol, England,the album was recorded directly to one mic,

with Brosseau’s acoustic s teel-string enhancedby David Butler’s two-piece drum kit, JoeCarvell’s double bass, Parish’s organ, and BenReynolds’ Stra tocaster color ings . Theunadorned musical backdrop allows these

Great PlainTom Brosseau’s strangeand evocative new albumfinds depth in its simplicityBY MARC GREILSAMER

songs of love and loneliness to truly shinethrough, Brosseau’s fragile, slightly unsteady

voice leading the way. The opening “Hard Luck Boy” does well to

set the mood: This peculiar talking blues, aboutbeing abandoned by his mother at a depart-

ment store, somehow ropes you into its crookedemotional landscape. “Landlord Jackie,” anodd, rambling reflection about a former placeof dwelling, deftly balances colorful detailsabout a particular time in his life with the kindof existential musings that always seem to bepercolating in Brosseau’s brain.

Backed only by his own gentle acoustic flat-picking, the enchanting “Island in the PrairieSea” is a stark and arresting meditation on ado-ration and isolation distinguished by its vividlyrical imagery. Best of all is the broodingclosing song, “The Wholesome Pillars.” With itsghostly organ creeping underneath, the tune

recalls in some ways the sounds coming fromearly-’60s Greenwich Village. “Keepin’ on thebright side may be the best for you, like manyothers here, can be hard to do,” he warbles.“One little dark thought to enter your domain

will build an empire if given sun and rain.” A

spiritual anthem on barbiturates, this track willhaunt you long after it’s ended. No matter how unassuming the veneer

might be at times, there’s no doubt a woozyundercurrent of tension, if not dread, that per-meates this striking, shambling album. Bros-seau’s delicate and disarming singing style ishard to resist, and his songwriting has neverbeen more powerful—intensely moving, full ofhumor and pathos, plainly direct in someplaces, twisting and wandering in others. It allmakes for a compelling little journey throughthe back roads of his psyche, and very likelythrough the alleyways of your own.

PLAYLIST

C A R E Y B R A S W E L L

Tom BrosseauPerfect Abandon

Crossbill / Tin Angel




Folk duo delivers handcrafted duetsthat mix tradition with modernityHailing from the hamlet of Horsefly, BritishColumbia, Pharis and Jason Romero spin a webof restlessness, loneliness, and discovery on AWanderer I’ll Stay , their third collection ofduets. With a mixture of instruments both

vintage and new—the couple builds banjos fortheir family business in their woodland work-shop—the Romeros entwine rough-hewn tradi-tion with cut-crystal modernity in a dance sotightly coiled, it’s impossible to distinguishtheir rustic originals from antique covers.

Jason’s percolating J. Romero banjo is teth-ered to the railway rhythms of Pharis’ 1943Gibson J-45 on “Ballad of Old Bill,” a canteringair that balances regret with the relief of lettinggo. The cold bite of the final line, “I believe inthe natural way of man, oh kill or he be killed,”

jostles the tune’s gentle uplift.On “There’s No Companion,” Pharis’ lyrics

mine the tension between down-home storytell-ing and trenchant observation. “There’s nocompanion like the misery of an unfilleddesire,” she sings, as smooth as the current of astony brook, while Josh Rabie’s fiddle wheelsoverhead.

The Romeros aren’t always balancing back-porch intimacy with a mordant outlook. On“Backstep Indi,” Jason takes his heirloom gourdbanjo for a solo spin, celebrating his daughter’sfirst steps with an effervescent do-si-do. WhenPharis and Jason jump-start the Alan Lomaxfield recording “Goodbye Old Paint,” the rejuve-nated ramble soars like wind scouring the pinetops. And the closing Civil War-era lament, “TheDying Soldier,” releases the tension gathered inthis collection with harmonies as sturdy as

wrought-iron scroll work, and as delicate as lace. —Pat Moran

Pharis & Jason Romero A Wanderer I’ll Stay

Lula

Far-ranging folkie pares downhis sound and amps up the gloomThere’s a moment on Sufjan Stevens’ new album,during the fourth track, “Drawn to the Blood,”

where he sounds like he’s about to give up, hisstrumming so delicate that you strain to hear hisacoustic guitar over his pained falsetto as he

warbles, “What did I do to deserve this now?”The ambitious Brooklyn artist—who toyed

with weird electronics on 2010’s The Age of Adz —returns to stripped-down bedroom folkfor his seventh album, Carrie & Lowell , a sobermeditation in the wake of his mother’s death.

His mother (Carrie) abandoned the family when Stevens was an infant, but came backinto his life when he was five, during her briefmarriage to his stepfather, Lowell Brams(Stevens’ steadfast parent figure and the co-founder of his label, Asthmatic Kitty).

The 11 songs on Carrie & Lowell areinformed by Stevens’ longing to mourn a parenthe barely knew and whose demons—depres-sion, addiction, schizophrenia—haunt him inhis grief. Opener “Death with Dignity” kicks off

with bright, lilting fingerpicking, but the simplemelody gains a gauzy texture from Stevens’double-tracked vocals and builds into a hymn-

like pedal-steel outro. Stevens continues to play with juxtaposition

throughout the album, pairing fragile acousticguitar with ethereal synths and mournful pianoon “Should Have Known Better” and foldingominous atmospherics into the second half of“All of Me Wants All of You.” The spare arrange-ments elevate Stevens’ startlingly raw and per-sonal lyrics—the weightiest of his career.

If it all sounds dramatic and melancholy, wel l, it is, but it never feel s sentimental orindulgent. When music is this beautiful, it’s

worth the pain. —Whitney Phaneuf

Sufjan StevensCarrie & Lowell

Asthmatic Kitty

1. PIG IN A PEN Haven’t heard enough of Gillian

Welch and Dave Rawlings oflate? You’ll squeal with delight(sorry, couldn’t resist that pun)as they team up with countrylegend Dr. Ralph Stanley on hishit duet album Ralph Stanley &Friends: Man of Constant Sorrow (Cracker Barrel). 2. BIG RIVER ROLL Doyle Lawson & Quicksilverserve up a bluegrass masterclass on this frisky track from InSession (Mountain Home), whichlives up to its admittedly cornysubtitle: 33 Strings + 6 Pickers+ 6 Voices = Reading, ’Riting& Rhythm. It all adds up. 3. 99 YEARS FORONE DARK DAY Robert Earl Keen lends aWestern swing vibe and blue-grass icon Peter Rowan picksa storm on this standout fromHappy Prisoner: The BluegrassSessions (Dualtone), maybe

the best bluegrass album of2015 so far. 4. THAT’S WHAT MAKESTHE BLUEGRASS BLUE Singer Rhonda Vincent joinsNu-Blu on this mid-tempolover’s lament from All the Way (Rural Rhythm). Love the title. 5. LONG HARD ROAD Dobro dominates this openingtrack from country-star Alan

Jackson’s The Bluegrass Album ,still riding high on the chartsafter 80 weeks—hmmm, do youthink the world was ready for anAlan Jackson bluegrass album? 6. JULEP“Heaven’s a julep on the porch,”the Punch Brothers croon onthis languid made-for-summerballad from their lushlyproduced album The Phospho-rescent Blues (Nonesuch).Drink deeply. —Greg Cahill

BLUEGRASSCLIPPINGS6 ESSENTIALTRACKS



94 June 2015

Charlie Parr Stumpjumper

Red House

Heartland folk-bluesman cuts to

the core of the new American Dust Bowl

Charlie Parr is steeped in the roots of the heart-land. Raised amid stockyards and soybean fieldsin the Hormel meat-packing town of Austin,Minnesota (where Spam is manufactured), thisgifted singer, songwriter, and folk-blues pickerhas his finger on the pulse of Old Weird America.

Stumpjumper , his Red House debut and firstalbum with a full band, delivers ten originalsand a cover of the murder ballad “Delia.”Switching between acoustic guitar, Dobro, andbanjo, Parr lays down mesmerizing, trance-liketracks that bring to mind the bluesman OtisTaylor and the fire-and-brimstone of 16 Horse-power (“Resurrection”). But there’s a gentle-ness to these performances, spiked as they are

with simple hooks, dark ruminations on life anddeath, stiletto slide guitar, and foot stomps.

Influenced by Charley Patton, Lightnin’Hopkins, Blind Willie McTell, Spider JohnKoerner, and Lead Belly, Parr has alignedhimself over the years with Low, Trampled byTurtles, and other fiercely independent bandsthat cropped up in the progressive-bluegrassscene of Duluth.

For Stumpjumper , he traveled outside hisMinnesota home to record with Phil Cook(Megafaun, Hiss Golden Messenger) in NorthCarolina, setting up in an old outbuilding atDown Yonder Farm, and that locale informs thespirited, freewheeling nature of the album.

Parr is a folk artist for the new AmericanDust Bowl, a resonator-ready troubadourarmed with a well-worn satchel of troubledtales that cut to the heart of a nation mired infear and in dire need of a roots-music revival.

—G.C.

PLAYLIST

GETMOREFROMYOUR

GUITAR

Understanding ChordProgressionsACOUSTIC ROCK ESSENTIALS

Start writing your own songsusing diatonic chords.n Learn how related chords

fit together to form chordprogressions

n Create your own songsand transpose them intodifferent keys

Includes20 minutes

of video

By Andrew DuBrock

WEEKLY WORKOUT

MOVE ITON UP

By Scott Nygaard

GOSPEL SONGS FORFINGERSTYLE GUITAR

GO TELLIT ON THEMOUNTAIN

By Steve Baughman

SONGWRITING BASICSFOR GUITARISTS

By Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

BLUES/ROCKCHANGES

Discover how to turnfamiliar chord shapes intoexciting improvised linesin the style of Joe Pass.

n Use different scales tosteer the sound of achord or progression

n Move seamlessly betweensingle-note melodies and

jazzy chord inversions

By Sean McGowan

Includes18 minutes

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Chord-Shape-BasedImprovisation

FINGERSTYLE JAZZ GUITAR ESSENTIALS

LEARN A NEWSONG, STYLE,OR TECHNIQUEShop Acoustic Guitar Guides





I t felt so good to the bookish fans crowded ina ballroom at the University of Arizona in

Tucson to hear the reunited Rock BottomRemainders do what they do best, when they’renot writing bestsellers: play always rousing, ifnot boldly off-tune, renditions of classic oldies,

with the caveat that whatever they cover hasthree chords or fewer.

Which explains their choice of Van Morri-son’s classic “Gloria” as the finale.

Advised Pulitzer Prize-winning Dave Barry,co-lead guitar and a Remainders veteran,before the March 13 gig at the Tucson Festivalof Books—and by way of explaining whysimpler is better—“If you throw a guitar on the

ground, it’ll play ‘Gloria’ by itself.”Renowned for self-deprecating marketing—“We pride ourselves on our mediocrity,” saidBarry—the band is equally famous for the spiritof just plain fun its literate musicians bring tothe stage. “We play with abandon,” Barry adds.“We have no clue if we’re good or bad.”

Granted, for the most part, acoustic was notthe style of choice for the star-studded bandmembers on stage that evening, who betweenthem have sold more than 350 million books:Barry, Ridley Pearson, Amy Tan, Mitch Albom,Greg Iles, Scott Turow, and early Saturday Night

Live writer Alan Zweibel, who noted, “I told

Dave I didn’t play or sing and he said I’d do justfine.”

But the real guitarist of the enthusiastic lot isacoustic man Greg Iles, the other co-lead guitar-ist, who thrilled with the bluesy “I’m a Big BestSeller, Baby.” Author of Natchez Burning and the

just-released sequel, The Bone Tree , Iles cut histeeth in a “real band,” Frankly Scarlet, and he’s aproud owner of two handmade Lance McCollumguitars. “I know what it’s like to work your assoff, loading and unloading equipment. This is a

wonderful experience. You can pretend you’vemade it,” said Iles, adding that full-time rocking

would’ve been a fine career choice. It’s the lovefrom the audience that excites, he said, “a feed-

back opiate loop” of instant gratification that thelonely craft of writing lacks.Literary alumni have included Stephen

King, Barbara Kingsolver, Roy Blount Jr., GreilMarcus, and Matt Groening, to name a few. AlKooper once served as “rock star in residence.”

Formed in 1992 and on hiatus since 2012,the year founder Kathy Kamen Goldmark died,the Remainders will probably pack it up forgood now, said manager Ted Habte-Gabr. Theygo out on a sweet note, receiving the festival’sFounders Award for the $2.6 million theirimpassioned musical abandon has raised overthe years for literacy programs. AG

The Good, the Bad& the Rock BottomRemaindersLiterary rockers reunite at Tucson book fairBY KAREN PETERSON

STAGE

Greg Iles

Guitars in the Classroomtrains, inspires, and equipsclassroom teachers tomake and lead music thattransforms learning into acreative, effective, andjoyful experience for k-12students from coast tocoast and beyond.

to learn more and check out GITC's firstpublication: The Green Songbook

Available now from Alfred Music Publis hingat www.GreenSongBook.com .

Please vi sit

Thanks toMartin Guitarsand the C.F. MartinFoundation, OrioloGuitars, the BillGraham Foundation,and D'Addario & Co. forhelping us launch thelatest round of GITCprograms!

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Guitar – Mandolin – Uke – Dobro –Slide

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96 June 2015

MARKETPLACE

ACOUSTICCONNECTIONS.Microphones and pickups

for guitars, violins, mandolins,banjos, and other stringedinstruments. Brands include:MiniFlex 2Mic Soundhole Microphones;GHS Soundhole mics; McIntyre,L.R. Baggs, and B-Band pickups;Elixir strings and Homepsun Tapes.International orders are welcome.On the Web at www.acousticon.com

BULK GUITARSTRING SETS

Phosphor Bronze $2.30

80/20 Bronze $2.21Electric $2.13Details at

hotworship.com/euphononor call 1-888-517-4678

Euphonon Co. Luthier SuppliesOrford NH www.zimnicki.com (313) 381-2817

Gary Zimnicki Guitars

S F F

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MARKETPLACE

LUTHERIE INSTRUCTION

GUPTILL MUSIC(714) 556-8013www.guptillmusic.com

AVAILABLE AT YOUR FAVORITEMUSIC STORE OR CONTACT:

Now you can get the samepure sound of fingernailsand fingertips from alight weight metalfinger pick • No fingernails to fuss with

• Fingertips touch string as you play • Large and medium sizes available

Introducing Finger-Tone ® FingerstyleGuitar Picks by ProPik ®

ADVERTISER INDEX Acoustic Guitar Guides, store.acousticguitar.com . . . . . . 80, 86

Acoustic Guitar Sessions, acousticguitar.com/sessions . . . . 85

Acoustic Guitar Subscribe, acousticguitar.com/subscribe . . 89

Acoustic Image, acousticimg.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Alvarez, alvarezguitars.com.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Bourgeois Guitars, pantheonguitars.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Breezy Ridge Instruments, Ltd., jpstrings.com . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Collings Guitars, collingsguitars.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

D’Addario & Company, daddario.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30, 31

Janet Davis Acoustic Music, jdmc.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Elixir Strings, elixirstrings.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 8

Elliott Capos, elliottcapos.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Ernie Ball Music Man, ernieball.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

G7th, Ltd., g7th.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Gibson, gibson.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Guitar Center, guitarcenter.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Guitar Intensives, guitarintensives.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Guitar Workshop Plus, guitarworkshopplus.com . . . . . . . . . . 40

Guitars in the Classroom, guitarsintheclassroom.org . . . . . . 95

Hill Guitar Company, hillguitar.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Homespun, homespun.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Ibanez Guitars, ibanez.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Steven Kaufman Enterprises, Inc., atpik.com . . . . . . . . 50, 68

Kyser Musical Products, kysermusical.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Luthier Music Corp., luthiermusic.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

C.F. Martin & Co., Inc., martinguitar.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Masecraft Supply Co., masecraftsupply.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Memphis Acoustic Guitar Festival, memphisguitarfest.com 56

The Music Emporium, themusicemporium.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

P.K. Thompson Guitars, pkthompsonguitars.com . . . . . . . . . . 65

Paul Reed Smith, prsguitars.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Radial Engineering, radialeng.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

RainSong Graphite Guitars, rainsong.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Original Guitar Chair, originalguitarchair.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Red House Records, redhouserecords.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Saga Musical Instruments, sagamusic.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Shubb Capos, shubb.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Stewart-MacDonald’s Guitar Supply, stewmac.com . . . . . . 68

The Swannanoa Gathering, swangathering.com . . . . . . . . . . 68

Sweetwater Sound, sweetwater.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Yamaha Corporation of America, yamaha.com . . . . . . . . . . . 99

LEARN TO PLAYFINGERSTYLE JAZZ GUITAROur comprehensiveguide, Fingerstyle JazzGuitar Essentials, isavailble now atstore.AcousticGuitar.com

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Learntheartof fingerstyle jazzguitarwith12lessonsaimedatbuildingchordvocabulary,separatingbassandmelodyvoices,andimprovisationinthestyleof

jazzguitargreatslikeWesMontgomeryandJoePass.Alongtheway,you’llstudy

jazzinterpretationsof traditionalsongsandchordprogressionsbasedonclassicjazz-standardrepertoire.Eachlessonincludesvideo,standardnotation,andtablature.

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Fingerstyle JazzGuitar Essentials

THE COMPLETE EDITION

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Learn to position the picking

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98 June 2015

FINAL NOTE

Acoustic Guitar (ISSN 1049-9261) is published monthly by String Letter Publishing, Inc., 501 Canal Blvd., Suite J, Richmond, CA 94804. Periodical postage paid at Richmond, CA 94804and additional mailing ofces. Printed in USA. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns to be sent to Pitney Bowes International Mail Services, P.O. Box 32229,Hartford, CT 06150-2229. Postmaster: Please make changes online at AcousticGuitar.com or send to Acoustic Guitar , String Letter Publishing, Inc., PO Box 3500, Big Sandy, TX 75755.

THERE HAVE BEEN

OCCASIONS WHEREI’VE WANTED PARTSTO DO DIFFERENTTHINGS THATWERE IMPOSSIBLE.

AND THEN YOU HAVE TO DELIB ERATE,‘SHOULD I REALLY DO THIS?’

AND THE ANSWER IS, ‘YEAH,OF COURSE, IF YOU CAN DO IT;THE MUSIC IS WHAT COUNTS.’

JOHN RENBOURN (1944-2015), ACOUSTIC GUITAR, MARCH 2007



Yamaha’s high acclaimed A-Series acoustic-electric linenow has new limited models in the mix. All models featurethe familiar fast and comfortable neck profiles, cutting edgeS.R.T. (Studio Response Technology) preamp systemsand stage-ready good looks.

The new A6 & AC6 models are handcrafted in Japanand feature nitrocellulose finishes and hi-grade all-solidtone materials.

The A3R, AC3R, A1R and AC1R models are now availablein a stunning Translucent Black finish.

These new Yamaha A-Series guitars are all available for avery limited time. Get them while you can…

Handcrafted.Limited Edition.

©2015 Yamaha Corporation of America.All rights reserved.

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signature edition

Contact your Authorized Martin Dealer to order yours today!

Introducing Ed Sheeran X Signature Edition | Designed incollaboration with award-winning artist Ed Sheeran, this SignatureEdition Little Martin® features platinum-selling album’s logo inlayedin solid koa on a solid spruce wood top. For every guitar sold, all of Ed’sproceeds will be donated to the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices.

www.each.org.uk | edsheeran.com

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Documents

AG acoustic-guitar-2015-06 AG_270.pdf