No. 345 March/April 2024
Special Focus: Vintage Guitars
Vintage expert Richard Johnston offers a guide to finding the right vintage gear for you; plus a feature on the Musical Instrument Museum’s Acoustic America exhibit, which celebrates the instruments and players that have shaped acoustic music.
Artist coverage includes a feature on the Austrian jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel’s explorations of both the Western tradition and the nylon-string guitar; a conversation with guitarist Willy Porter, who goes deep on his latest album, The Ravine; and a Guitar Talk with fingerstyle player-composer Peppino D’Agostino.
In the lessons department you'll find a Weekly Workout on how to use dyads, or double-stops, to spice up your chord and lead work; advice on how to evolve your musicianship now; the final lesson in a three-part series on how to sight-read in real time with a duo partner; a Woodshed centered on how to develop independence in your picking-hand thumb; and more!
Songs to play include a solo guitar arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”; a transcription of a rare solo version of the Joni Mitchell classic “Help Me”; a close-up examination of Bill Napier’s cross-picking solo on the ever-popular “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”; and a campfire rendition of the oft-covered Jazz Age standard “Blue Skies.”
On the gear front, James Volpe Rotondi checks out the new boutique-approved Taylor 814ce Builder’s Edition; Emile Menasché takes the new thinline acoustic-electric Fender Highway Series Parlor for a ride; Julie Bergman chats with British luthier Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars; and AG’s resident expert Martin Keith answers a reader’s question about the Nova Scotia climate and its effect on a guitar’s performance.
