Here’s an interesting one I got from a violin shop I was working in as an instrument repairman in the days of Bush I—they were almost going to throw it out. I like these kinds of guitars (the ones that almost get thrown out) for their individuality. It’s definitely a box with strings on it, but it doesn’t sound like any other one. This is my desert island guitar—plywood, paint, and all that jazz.
I have been playing acoustic guitars since very late in Jimmy Carter’s administration when I played my first C chord on my sister’s beautiful Alvarez guitar. My high school buddy actually did me a huge favor when he ran over my truly awful all-plastic and metal acoustic guitar with his car. It was back to the pawn shop later that year for a bolt-on neck Epiphone acoustic that still smells like pipe tobacco and the kerosene from the heater in the store.
I play with a pick as well as in hybrid (pick and fingers) style. I often use a thumb pick for traditional fingerpicking styles (after Maybelle Carter, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Robert Johnson, Roscoe Holcomb), using 2-, 3-, and 4-fingers and thumb. I most often use standard tuning, but dabble in alternate tunings when the music calls for it.
I have taught the techniques listed above as they apply to many popular songs by Neil Young, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, Bon Jovi, James Tayor, Pink Floyd, The Everly Brothers, Gillian Welch, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, and many, many others. I enjoy teaching students the basic mechanics that apply across the board from Hank Williams classics to those Bruno Mars pop songs. Tell me what you want to learn and we will go from there.