GuitarZone.com FORUM > Some impressive Acoustic players

Full Version: Some impressive Acoustic players

GuitarZone.com FORUM > General > Acoustic Guitar Discussion

Audible

May 13 2009, 09:00 PM

http://www.acesandeighths.com/8ball_6.html

From the site:
" An individual's skill on the acoustic guitar is not just a matter of speed, although speed is impressive, it is more about their control, accuracy, and self expression, or their "finesse". The following is Aces and Eighths selection of our favorites, and while many of these performers are known to you, hopefully we can introduce you to someone new. This list is not compete by any means, as there are many phenomenal musicians out there today..."

DrumsFoDaSoul

May 19 2009, 06:39 PM

Tim Reynolds..... Check him out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0VVQcwpTms...feature=related (You Are My Sanity- Beautiful song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5KxZbrDufo (Betrayal- his song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAzLJF18jwo (Ohio cover)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQP9aZJbBPM (Buffalo Soldier cover)

regard13

May 20 2009, 06:30 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4qEzSz1JSc

That's what I call guitar-playing

Cornix

Oct 23 2009, 10:07 AM

leo kottke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tew_fIhz3eY&hl=de

andy mckee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddn4MGaS3N4&hl=de

paco de lucia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o8vszqVL2U&hl=de

myavi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEH7cphEODk...feature=related

sungha jung(freaky little bastard

)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgVqX0a49HM...feature=related

eric clapton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDx2oohQ-cc...feature=related

jack johnson (not difficult to play but his songs are quite good)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMaRDHqvhps

matt_theripper

Oct 23 2009, 10:34 AM

AcousticSmash

Oct 23 2009, 07:59 PM

Check out Sonny Landreth, probably one of the best living slide guitar players, he plays some mean acoustic slide on a song called Soldier of Fortune from the album Outward Bound, here is a demo of him playing a Terraplane Resonator guitar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnofC7KsX2o

eulogy

Oct 25 2009, 05:50 AM

Nowhere near the technical level of some of the players mentioned on here, but I've recently discovered Justin Townes Earle (son of...) He manages to make his self-accompaniment extremely "busy" and driving, despite using only his thumb and index finger. (I saw a youtube comment by someone saying that his "index could drive 16 gauge nails" or something like that - and man, if you saw him pulling on those strings, it makes me wonder how much longer those joints of his are going to survive. Then again, Reverend Gary Davis managed to get by for quite some time with that thumb and a very busy index...)

Anywhere, a few clips of this "upcoming talent":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjOkIlF_bGQ...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvNCr1heqY4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1GOG8Li7b8...feature=related (covers two TvZ songs - song starts at about 1m in.)

Again, nothing too fancy - anyone with a year of guitarplaying can do that stuff, but it's rare enough to see a 20-something play that sort of stuff in such an authentic way. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary, et cetera.

(Oh, and for those few acoustic players who have never heard the Reverend (shame on you!), here's a quick sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlQZwHcBqyQ...feature=related )

dadfad

Oct 26 2009, 08:29 AM

QUOTE (eulogy @ Oct 25 2009, 06:50 AM)

...Then again, Reverend Gary Davis managed to get by for quite some time with that thumb and a very busy index...)

(Oh, and for those few acoustic players who have never heard the Reverend (shame on you!), here's a quick sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlQZwHcBqyQ...feature=related )

A friend of mine who studied with the reverend asked him once why he never used any more fingers than his thumb and index when he played. He said Reverend Davis stared at him for a second like he was a dummy and then just said "Cuz I ain't never needed 'em yet."

A while back someone on this site asked me to do a tab for Reverend Davis' "O Glory How Happy I Am (Glory Hallelu)" (which is probably my favorite Davis-tune) (or maybe "Sally Where'd You Get Your Liquor") (depends on my mood

).

Anyway, I did a tab for him as well as two sound-file links on SoundClick to go with it on the basic approach to doing the tune using some Davis-licks, a few of my own, etc. I posted it in a topic in this forum awhile back (probably about two pages back) for anyone who might be interested in the tune.

Oh, and I liked that Justin Townes Earles stuff. Thanks, Pascal.

eulogy

Oct 27 2009, 04:52 AM

I went back a few pages and found your transcription of "O Glory (...)" - printed it out, and I'll have a go at it this evening (contrary to you, I'm not fortunate enough to have a guitar in my "office"

).

Glad you liked the J.T. Earle videos, I thought you would. That sort of old-school country (?) playing is one thing I've become interested in over the last year or so. Most of those guys aren't particularly ... hmm... "smooth-voiced" singers (now there's an understatement), but they wrote some good songs. And they come up with more interesting ways to accompany themselves than, say, strum an open Am every once in a while. I sort of got into the style by learning a few Townes Van Zandt songs - I think the first two songs I learned were "Waitin' round to die" and "If I needed You". "If I Needed You" has that nice little repeating figure on the treble strings, and "Waitin'" - despite just being a typical Am/Dm/Am/Em progression - has a lot of interesting little "flourishing touches" added to it (here's an interesting version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGKzWDakK8). Hammering on to the G on the low E string, pulling off on the A on the G string, et cetera. Again, it's just little things that can really enhance a tune, and it sure beats strumming your way through a boring progression.

Sort of unrelated, but it just popped into my mind: I'm still working on Police Dog Blues, heh. The pointers you gave me in a previous topic helped a ton, but what helped even more is simply accepting the fact that unless I quit my day job and start playing for 7 hours a day, there's no way I'm ever going to be able to approach Blake's playing. That man was really out of this world...

dadfad

Oct 28 2009, 09:22 AM

Pascal, I don't know if you noticed them but on the tab were links to a couple of SoundClick audio-things where I tried to explain a little as I went along which may (or may not!) help make it a little clearer. Anyway I hope the tab works for you.

(By the way, I can do the same sort of thing for "Police Dog" if needed. Yeah, that was a real tough one for me too. Even with John Jackson's help. (He played it flawlessly, having learned it from Blind Blake's "leader-boy" when he was young.) I worked with it off and on for a long time. He always said someday it would just sort of "fall into place" for me and I'd be playing it. He was right. Of course I can't play it like Blake or him, but I do pretty fair. I also add a few licks and runs of my own while still trying to keep it pretty authentic to Blake's style and using his theme-licks. Someone had also asked me for "Diddie Wah Diddie" before. I started to tab it, but finally just decided it would be better and easier if I just did it as a four-part SoundClick audio-thing. Another good Blake-tune. Not too easy a tune, but I think quite a bit easier than Police Dog.)

Funny when you think about it... Someone like me or you, we work and work on a tune like that for a long time and even have help like tabs or someone else helping us, etc. And we still can't come close to being able to play it like he did. And he started with just an idea, wrote it and played it to perfection (and was blind yet!). Yeah, no question about it, Blake was a true master.

I've liked quite a few VanZandt tunes. I used to do "Poncho and Lefty" sometimes, that being one of his more popular ones if someone requested something by him. I liked his version of the tune "Dead Flowers" (the Stones' tune). Someone told me once that it was actually originaly a Townes VanZandt tune that he used to do, and that the Stones while on a tour caught one of his shows in a little club and recorded it as their own. (They had a history of doing that. Going into little clubs and finding some "nobody" doing a great tune and then "borrowing" it as their own!

) (A couple others I can think of off hand were "The Last Time;" "It's All Over Now" and "Prodigal Son" where they were eventually forced to credit the original authors.) Anyway Van Zandt never copyrighted it or anything, and while he did have some evidence like old tapes, etc, that he'd been playing it long before the Stones published it, he didn't wanna go through the hassle of trying to sue and all that (probably never sober long enough

), but he made it a point of playing it frequently at his gigs after that.

This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.