The acoustic guitar remains relevant because of the people who continue to do meaningful work with it. That’s why we make this magazine: to document and celebrate that work, and to keep the conversation going between musicians, makers, and listeners.
Interest in small-bodied parlor guitars—precursors to the bulky modern dreadnought—is skyrocketing. Learn all about these guitars, why players love them, and which model could be right for you.
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If there’s a thread running through this issue, it’s not reinvention for its own sake, but the idea that familiar forms still hold new meaning.
Julian Lage shows how to turn a single melodic line into a layered, expressive statement—with just one subtle move.
Much like Van Ronk himself wasn’t concerned with strict adherence to societal norms, the version doesn’t follow the original chords exactly.
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Meet the team behind Acoustic Guitar's new Teaching Artists series.
Singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy demonstrates some of the guitar parts from her first solo acoustic effort—‘The Sun Doesn’t Think.’
In this lesson, Foley demonstrates the Maybelle Carter-pioneered Carter scratch, and the rhythmically rich, idiosyncratic fingerpicking style of Elizabeth Cotten.
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The guitar has an uncommon resonance and complexity, thanks to the harp’s extended arm, soundboard, and back
The transcription here is based on the version Flemons recorded for his 2018 album ‘Black Cowboys,’ which highlights the African American experience in country music.
We look back at some of the year’s most exciting guitars, accessories, and amplifiers, as well as albums that captured the diverse voices of acoustic guitar music.
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This fingerstyle Christmas medley includes “Angels from the Realms of Glory” and not one but two versions of “Away in a Manger.”
Metheny manages to capture the wistful vibe of this Beatles classic while casting it in a bossa nova–inspired setting and updating it with his intricate sense of harmony and phrasing.
This tune from Traum's last album exemplifies the late guitarist's signature steady bass groove and complex picking.
The GM25 Guitar Master Stool isn’t just a seating solution; it’s an ergonomic design that doubles as a guitar stand and adds a touch of style to any space.
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This mellow 1974 tune features an acoustic solo that requires a bit of dexterity and finesse to play convincingly.
It wasn’t until a recent solo acoustic tour that Glaspy played for a public audience with just her steel-string guitar for the first time in her professional life, a format she found freeing both literally and metaphorically.
Learn to play “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” first released on the 1964 album ‘Another Side of Bob Dylan,’ a defining piece of Dylan’s catalog.
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“Green, Green Rocky Road” is a traditional song that originated in the American South. Learn a dropped-D arrangement inspired by Dave Van Ronk's seminal version.
While he is known for using DADGAD tuning, this fingerstyle arrangement is in standard tuning
Mississippi John Hurt (1893–1966) was one of the great country blues singer-songwriters, and a superb, subtly eccentric guitarist whose work was teeming with colorful details. One of his most well-known recordings, “I’m Satisfied,” related to the Memphis Jug Band piece…
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Hoover enlisted the most skilled luthiers in his workshop to build a series of instruments that would represent the state of the art of the steel-string guitar.
Learn a fingerstyle arrangement of this ballad; a tune interpreted by Paul Brady, Bob Dylan, Aoife O'Donavan, and countless pub session players.
This lovely piece is played in a nonstandard tuning, with the sixth and fifth strings tuned down to C and G, and a capo at the second fret.
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This arrangement is based on the original studio recording, which spotlights a fingerpicked acoustic guitar.
