Soldier Of Fortune, Deep Purple and Blackmore's Night.

I'm totally into the gorgeous tune Soldier Of Fortune, by Deep Purple, originally - but not the original version of Deep Purple, more, you know...the David Coverdale version of Deep Purple. Not that there's anything wrong with David, he's a pretty decent vocalist - he can sure sing better than I can; and before folks started calling him a Robert Plant clone he was already a great vocalist and a writer that came up with some pretty good tunes here and there as well - one of those, the best one that I know of was...of course, Soldier Of Fortune.  In fact, I'm betting that that's a song that will not only last, but pass on into some sort of future English Folk Tune....and likewise, and American one as well. And that's all well, good, pretty, and cool - but it's absolutely nothing on...

Read more »

Paco De Lucia -Flamenco and Philosophy

Paco De Lucia I've read that many of the most educated in music think that Paco De Lucia is the most advanced guitarist of any genre of music anywhere in the world. I can't claim to second that notion, or dispute it in any way. I only claim that Paco De Lucia is an astounding musician that few can compare to on several levels, but I think what is important here is to hear what Paco De Lucia has to say about himself: "I am a flamenco player. I travel around the whole world giving concerts. So when I meet musicians anywhere, I want to know what they are doing, what music they are playing. I want to make music with the ones that interest me - so I make fusion music in the natural course of my life. I have played with many fusion artists...

Read more »

Flatpicking In Italy

The art form known as flatpicking, i.e., the playing of a steel string acoustic guitar with a pick, and primarily playing either traditional fiddle tune songs on that instrument, or creating songs from the genres of music that had been dominated by fiddles or violins - is not and never was a purely American music form. It didn't even start in America.  So far as the past one hundred years are concerned - it was started in Europe, and by a Gypsy Roma Frenchman named Django! But the point of this particular post is to show that what has been a musical form with it's hotbed in Appalachia in the USA, is also very present in all parts of Europe. Today I want to do a bit of promotion or awareness of flatpicking in Italy. http://blog.ebma.org/2010/06/flatpicking-guitar-and-mandolin.html The...

Read more »

Jimmy Page and the Martin D 28

Though the earliest Led Zeppelin albums were recorded before Jimmy Page ever owned a Martin D 28, he did, obviously, acquire one, and you can see it in the beautiful rendition of That's The Way featured up above.  No, I don't know much else about it, or his specific guitar, but I recall reading about him getting one in The Hammer Of The Gods, a book that page basically loathed, and didn't approve of in the least. The powers of Google, however, allow me, and you - the opportunity to find out any damned thing we want, and so now I've got a link all about Jimmy Page's Martin D 28: http://www.led-zeppelin.org/joomla/studio-and-live-gear/242-martin-d28-acoustic And of course, images of him playing one too. The D 28's,...

Read more »

The Red Haired Boy.

The first song that I'd ever learned to play was The Wildwood Flower.  I could not see a guitar in fifteen years, and still pick one up and flub through The Wildwood Flower.  Now, The Red Haired Boy wasn't the second song that I ever learned how to play, but it was one of the first songs that I really loved that I could play. This is a song with some true Celtic flavor to it, everyone in the world knows it, and it's never going to go away.  It's something with all kinds of ability for interpretation, and should be played using variations whenever possible.  You like to state the melody, and then show off a bit with a song like this. Why? Because everyone has heard it already a million times - so you use a song like The...

Read more »

Wildwood Flower.

I don't know if I was eleven years old, or twelve years old - there is no possible way that it could matter at all.  I started learning to play the guitar at one of those numerical figures representing age in this particular human being.  I strummed chords along behind my grandfather as best as I could.  I don't know how he could sing, keep time, and stand all of my fumbling around with the fingers on the fretboard, but he did, and that's how I started off on the acoustic guitar. You always start off with chords - that's just the way that it goes, and that is the way that it should be.  If you can't play rhythm, then you have no business playing with other people.  What happens if you ignore chord changes is that eventually...

Read more »

Blueridge Acoustic Guitars

Now, I'm going to be totally honest here, and that's the way that I strive to be all the time, and with everything that I've ever published online.  If all you're seeing is this account or these "D 28 Guitar" blogs....you've not seen much of my output.  It's all over, and it grows almost every day. First statement of fact here is that I've never so far as I recall seen and laid my hands upon a Blueridge guitar.  I'd love to get to fool with one, and I'd love even more to own one.  I own a very nice Fender F 65 dreadnought, it supplements my Santa Cruz Dreadnought very well, and in a lot of situations.  I don't see taking my Santa Cruz around to places with me that I'd more readily take the Fender. Why? The Fender...

Read more »

Black Mountain Rag.

Black Mountain Rag is one of the most well known flatpicking tunes in the world, and like most all other flatpicking tunes, it was originally a fiddle tune. I could be made as a statement, and be completely factual that flatpicking the guitar came from transcribing and playing fiddle tunes, or music that had originally been composed and played on a fiddle, or violin, on a steel string acoustic guitar.  Doc Watson was one of the first flatpickers, and one of the first tunes that Doc Watson made famous on a steel string guitar was Black Mountain Rag. Flatpicking is also, as are the playing of fiddle tunes, something most associated with Bluegrass music, and one of the earliest pioneers of bringing this music to the fore of American consciousness was banjo player Earl Scruggs. So I'm...

Read more »

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Online

If you are interested in these subjects of fine acoustic guitars, or flatpicking acoustic guitars, or if you are just a fan of acoustic guitar music - then Flatpicking Guitar Magazine Online is definitely a website that I would recommend to you. It's a social networking site, where you can interact with persons who are into playing steel string guitars with picks, or plectrums, and who do so playing all kinds of music.  It should be obvious, however, that most flatpicking is going to be centered around the type of music that originated the genre, and that's folk, bluegrass, and old Celtic tunes that crossed the Atlantic Ocean with the American immigrants that settled this place way back when. Also, I'd be very remiss were I to fail to...

Read more »

Dan Crary

I've met Dan Crary, and on more than one occasion too.  No, he in no way in a million years would ever recall the name of Wesman Todd Shaw, and nor should he. I doubt that I ever gave him my name - I was pleased to be talking to the man in the first place, and more than a bit intimidated. You see, to me, Dan Crary is a bit of legend.  He's one of the founding fathers of flatpicking the acoustic guitar.  What is flatpicking?  It's simple, it's just playing Celtic oriented tunes that originated on either the mandolin or the fiddle....the violin, but with a pick, and on a steel string acoustic guitar. Where did I meet Dan Crary? Well, the best place to meet Dan is to ...be one of his students, he's a professor...

Read more »

The Taylor 810

The Taylor 810 is the Martin D 28's number one competitor in the US market for a full sized, solid wood construction, rosewood and spruce guitar. ....and I don't care what the Martin nuts, or anyone else says about Taylor guitars - they DO compete, and they do it very, very well. I do NOT consider this guitar to be a copy of a Martin D 28, it's dimensions are different, and Taylor has it's own unique bracing system, and so their guitars are voiced differently than are Martins, and they do have their very own unique tonal characteristics (as do, in fact, every single last guitar ever made...) - and folks like myself can actually hear the difference between a Martin and a similar or competitive model by Taylor. I've known about Taylor guitars...

Read more »