THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO MASTERING ACOUSTIC GUITAR STYLES coustic Dave Hunter Dea re Peet ecm ta eed Dee mea nce mec aU cca tO Ld ean ae Ber ec ee een Used Cue eur oe De Le nat oen is outta anes cca roPlay Acoustic Edited by Dave HunterPlay Acoustic ad by LEE A BACKBEAT BOCK First edition 2005 Pubiiched by Backbost Books 600 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CASA107, US vw Backheathiooks.com An Imprint of The Music Player Network United Entertainment Media fnc. Published for Backbeal Books by Quiline Press Ltd, 2a Union Court, 20-22 Union Road, Londen, SwW4 6), England wan backbeatuk.com, ISBN 0-87930-853-2 Copyright © 2005 Balafon. Copyright © 2005 in the text and musical exarnples belongs to the authors of the individual sections, as detailed on the contents page. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews where the source should be made clear. For more information contact the publishers. © Rigel Osborne } Ress OH Tony Bacon John Mosrish Paul Couper Design Origination by Solidity Graphics Ltd and printed by Colorgrint Offset Hong Kung) 05 06.07 080954324al fear alae et ae) amiss lena ce aaa) aaa cattle) fees) aaa tae) fed Gelaaas Acoustic Guitar History Dave Hunter § ela LU Rem Oe mcd Getting Started Rikky Rooksby #2 Rock & Pop Rikky Rooksby @4% LNT aS) ee ALT Bottleneck Pete Madsen 128 Country Lee Hodgson ii Bluegrass Eric Thompson ‘tS4 aye a@ele Male came oe CCV) ase aie me eae eden Veg mae iPae td World Music 24% Le Later er La African Kari Bannerman Klezmer Michael Horowitz Advanced Fingerstyle 2%) minal CD Track Lists & Notes 2%INTRODUCTION From its distant roots as the unrespected accompaniment of travelling showmen, GI sts Lecce cel eel Lea MT ane: co Ue Mena instrumant in the world. And despite its death knell being sounded by electronic music Just 25 years ago, the acoustic guitar in particular is enjoying an unprecedented beom in popularity. Players today are enjoying z renaissance in both musical styles and types ant Ue Reco I Ro eRe ls oar Ug (ogre a ae eC MCR TOO ria Ras inPa nay acl ege cen ots SC he CCaL Mace Somme nee ciecn eae a eon ene nes itself came to be the versatile, emotive means of expression that we know it to be today. arene ecco ata Cae en erase seen aod European craftsmanship transplanted ta the New World, and influenced by the musical diversity of the great melting-pot. The instrument arrived fitted out for the needs of an antique music, and down the winding road of its next 150 years was adapted for the needs of everything fram Civil War rally songs to slave spirituals, cowboy camp songs to Ceres Ip ca Ue | ee tea nial ssa a gt ees Ie eel a ree Neos a ie ea Mtge) eesste Sec eC ee aE ery De a ae Lae eee aren ee eae) Ee ae cme Caen Reece Ae nr ae een oem el before in its history. For many years, and for the vast majority of layers, the guitar of yearning and Cesire could be summed up in a single wore: Martin. A small handful of other makes heloed! to fill the short list of acoustic brands to aspire to, headed by Gibson and followed, in the early part of the century, by the likes of Washburn/lyon & Healy and the Larson Brothers, or, later, by Guild or Ovation. In truth, the upmarket selections have always comprised a pretty narraw field (for archtop, this list has always begun with Gibson, running to Epiphone, Gretsch, D’Angelico and Stromberg in the classic Nee eae Ma ec ae eT ea ey BM Re Mee Men Meu RMU ec ccs Un ALCO Regal in the ald days, or a Yamaha, Aria, or Asian-made Washburn in the past few decades... while the Martins, Gibsons and Guilds remained the stuff of dreams Today there is both far more to dream about, and far more to get your hands on While some players and collectars yearn for great vintage acoustics of German Ten so a NWR t=ral Cosas ie scomte eNel eal een oCetn- ie Y=i before, and for less money. The luthier’s skill hes been elevated in the achievements of 2 surprising number of top-notch artisan guitar-makers, and Martin and Gibson have had to make room for the likes of Senta Cruz, Bourgecis, Callings, Gallagher, Frogoy Bottom and a dozen more builders af impressive breadth and talent. The Teme eet moan Rc MUM cen MU ae eRe mec ieeReA ERN Gooe ete eae em Cena RC eae ene ae Cee or eee shown a maturity and consistency that let them rival much of what the USA and Europe has to offer. Brands like Takamine and Alvarez Yairi have proved ae een el gr Tene Se (ne Sure, the players still dream, but more frequently than ever reality lets them get their hands on en instrument that plays and saunds like nothing their fathers or grandfathers could have afforded. These are high times in the acoustic cafes, for sure,MARTIN Nevertheless, it oll started wich the small-bodied, gut-strung, flat-copped instruments of a Getman immigtant, Christin Friedrich Martin, who was building guitars almost from the time he arrived in New York in 1844. Aged 47, a skilled luthier who had completed a long apprenticeship at one of Europe's most respected guitar-makers ~ Stauffer, in Vienna ~ C.F Martin came to the new world to escape the restrictive tmde laws of his hometown of Markneukirchen, Saxony (now Germany, though formerly East Germany). He was hell-bent on making his mark on the young country’s stringed instrament trade. He did char, ancl more. By the 1850s Martin was selling guitars designed along new fines that would revolutionise the performance of the instrument, and which arc still cchocd in the constructional details of the vast majority of Nat-tops available today. In the late 1830s, Martin had moved his family and his business to Chetty Hill Pennsylvani nd eventually to nearby Nazareth, which has been Martin's famous acllress ever since (despite the relocation, however, guitars were still labelled as being, made in New York until the end of the 1H0(s). Erom this time onwards, the maker's guitars came co luok more like che great flat-tops they would eventually spawn, and less like the old-world minstrels’ instruments that early 18th century European guiears may appear co us torlay co resemble. Marcin simplified his styling considerably, dropping the superfluous omameneal woodwork and elaborate inlays on all but the occasional display or cvstam-order model, while inside he evolved constructional details chac would pave che way for the modem. ‘The move from rudimentary ladder bracing co the fanned bracing of Spanish ‘classical’ guitars of the cime (abour che only Spanish guitars, really) made his smaller instruments more tuneful than most of anychiny clse that was available, while the evolution of his X- braced cops on the Jarger suitars had a more complex impact on these models’ capabilities Alchough che full potencial of che design would become fully realised only gradually, che seurdy crossed bracing format allowed both the braces and the guitar’s top to be thinner and lighcer, which in curm yielded more resonance and volume on the gut-scrung guitars of the day, When Marcin would evolve to predominantly steel-string production early in the next cencury, this X-brucing would be ready co take the scrain withour necessirating any rone- dampening thickening of the vibrating top or widening of the incernal braces. This really was a design for the future, and one of the many ingredients thar made Martin guitars, for many years, one of the most forward- looking makers in existence. When we talk about the ‘larger guitars’ of the period, these are still small-bodied acoustics by today’s standards, Martin's largest guicar of the 1850s was the 12%" wide Size La width that most playets today would expect Co see in a little parlour guitar. Before the end of the decade, however, body sizes and decorative styles still in use today were being established. The larger Size 0 — one of the smallest standard Marcins available today — was introduced and would remain che company’s largest ‘concert’ guitar until the arrival of the G0 some 20 years later. Mose models were available in a range of styles from 17 ta 42, numbers that indicated their oreosire mast int the beginning: a five- course guitar of about 1590, probably Portuguese. ror A Stautferstyte guitar by C.F. Martin, from 1829, eetow The early Martin family home and workshop in Cherry Hill, near Nazareth, Pennsylvania,wholesale prices at the time the system was established. They ranged from plain guitars with simple binding and few or no inlays, to guitars with fancier abalone purfling, position markers and rosettes, and included models with basic but elegant herringbone crim and snowflake inlays in beeween. Byen ar che upper level, however, Martin guitars were mostly Simpler and more austere in clecorarion than some of the pearl-packed showpieces of other makers. The emphi as always on sound and build quality, and C.F Marcin apparennly saw excessively ornate decoration as potentially getting in the way of these more importanc goals @x do many of codlay's top makers of both flat-tops and archtops, it is worth noting) Once in place, the look of these numbered styles would see few changes for the following 90- odd years, until the impace of World War I eventually forced some changes of ics own, In the early part of the following century che notion of scringing guitars wich steel started gaining popularity, but Martio was relatively slow co take up che crend. Before 1916 Martin manufactured the yecasional custom-order guicar co cake steel scrings, bur its fiestsuch consistent production models came in the form of che 'K’ series guitars (named for cheir koa wood construction) designed to be played in the Jap-sceel position, as used for che popular Hawaiian music of the time. In this way, the format chat would become Marcin’s stock in trade grew from the fringes of the market — though a popular ‘fringe’ in the day and in fact it would rise upward from the bottom, too, By the carly 1920s Martin was offering steel serings on thc lowliest of its standard ‘Spanish’ style guitars, the mahogany: bodied 2-17, and by the cad of the decade steel sctings had spread throughout the Tine as the seandard dress For Martin, it was probably an casicr conversion than for others, the sturdy X-bracing of the larger models being alrcady primed to take che greater strain that the tension of steel strings would put on the guitars’ tops and bridges ~ although certainly « considerable degree of adaptation was still required to make the new designs secure. Even so, on plenty of old guitars you can sce the strain of che application of stcel strings to a design chat still had its roots in the gentler pull of gut, in che form of a subtle arching, or ‘bellying’, around che area of che top just behind the bridge. Many newer guitars will exhibit che same sympcoms, especially those with particularly thin tops and light bracing — bur it’s not necessarily a cause for concern, As Norman Blake put it, “Never trust a guitar without a belly.” And while chose steel strings may appear to test a guitar's structural integrity, they also gee ic wailing with a far throaticr voice chan anything gut could ever manage, and can particularly help chose thin-topped, Having weathered both the mandolin and ukulele booms of the early part of the cencury, ightly-braced flae-tops sing sweetly indeed and in fact seen extra burses of business in cach craze that allowed the company to expand Martin was entering its heyday in the 1940s with che guitar flemly at che centre of its business. While the financial pinch of the depression upon musicians unsurprisingly meant the lower-end! models would remain the core of the business, the eta saw a continually wider acceptance of the yuitar as an instrument, while Mastin itself honed both new and existing models into guitars thar would become respected for all time. f | ‘oprasire pact urer 10 miant Three early Martinis: a 1-28 from e120; 2 0-42 from c1898; and a mahogany 2-17 from 1930, the first Martin to be offered with steel strings. usr The Moun City Blues Blowers, featuring Eddie Lang on a Martin guitar.Martin guitars were now settling inco certain conscructional and decorative standards that ve remained famous among aficionados, While the most affordable models remained all-mahogany guitars, the next sung up now had a mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, and a spruce top. Spruce was the standard throughout the tange for this tonally ceucial pare of che instrument, bur mid-range anc upper models generally were made with rosewood back and sides partnered with an ebony bridge and fingecboard. Jn addition to establishing certain standards, Martin also began to push the boundaries in ceucial ways, Fot a time the 000 — just a mic-sized guitar by today's standards ~ had been the company’s largest ‘concert’ model. Inicially at the tequese of ssuicarisc and ba jo player Perry Bechtel, this was adapted at che end of the 1920s ro carry a neck chat joined the body at the Ith fret eather than at the 12th, as was previously the standard, which resulced in the ‘Orchestta Model’ or OM design. Over the next few years, chis longer neck would become standarel on most Martin models. ‘This evolucion had also brought ¢o Iife the largest yer of the Martins, although a ‘non- Marcin Martin’ of significantly greater dimensions had existed for a few years already. In 1916 Martin had made a line of unusually large, thi swaisted, somewhat pear-shaped guitars at the request of instrument retailer the Oliver Ditson Company. These guicars, which approached 16" across the lower bout, were dubbed ‘Dreadnoughts’ for cheic resemblance to the profile of che large British warships of the same name. While chey Were 0 raging success, orders were steady enough to prove che idea had some meric. In the late 1920s che Ditson company changed hands and ceased co order guitars from Martin, so Martin cook up the Mag itself, and by 1931 was offering D-1 and D-2 Dreadnoughes under its own name, Av around the same cime, country music was becoming big stuff both om radio and in large dancehalls actoss the country, and these large instrumencs were near-instane successes wich many ptos serking the volume required co belt out this new music Dreadnoughes quickly set the standard for both bouming country thythm guitar and speedy bluegrass flatpicking, and che body style Few to become the most popular acoustic shape of all Having proved their place in che marker, these models finally appeared in the Marcio catalogue in 1935, in che full standard range of Styles 18 to 42. In 1938 they were joined by the D-45 as a production model, 4 guitar nearly as elaboracc as the abalone- encrusced L2-fret version of the same made for singing cowboy star Gene Autry five years before, minus the fancy engraved fingerboard. While chese pearl wonders would become many a collector's greatest ambition, it was the humble D-18 that always achieved the greatest sales, and in fact the more workmanlike styles throughout che range have usually proved the mose popular Ac the height of the big-band era of che 1930s and eaely 1940s, Martin flirted with archtops, which were proving so successful for Gibson, Epiphone, Gretsch and others. It seems the Martin company just never quite got the hang of the style, however, and models of the day look more like halfhearted adaptations of the flat-tops it was already doing so well with. When America entered World War Il in 1942, the archtops were dropped, hand in hand with plenty of other changes. This marks the end of the real glory days. Martin would not onlysurvive the universal clampdowns chat the war meant for American guicarmakers, but would thrive and remain the most respected acoustic brand che world over. The company would build! some great guitars again after che war, 000, but no model would again quice reach the epitome of its form — arguably uncil the historical reissues of che modern era sought to reproduce vintage madels in precise derail Wartime restrictions in various forms hit Mactin, and other makers, hard: steel could no longer be used for neck reinforcement, so the Jong-abandoned ebony reinforcement sttips were reinstated; for the same reasons, only inferior tuners could be sourced; and abalone could no longer be obtained in the quantities needed for the elaborate trim required by Seyle 42 and 45 guitars. Also, Martin had obtained its delicate herringbone trim from Germany since at least the middle of the previous century, but once stocks had dried up it could no longer obrain further supplics from the fallen European nation after the wat. And in a constructional change, a trend for using heavy gauge stecl sctings like those fitted co bie archtops forced Martin to stop scalloping irs tops’ support braces in 1944, leaving them thicker and better able to support the strain of a whopping 14" or .015" set. With che heavy strings these were still loud guicars — when hit hard enough to yet the entire shebang moving, that is —and the thicker braces did ar lease prevent cxcessive hellying and top distortion under tension, Whe many players returned to medium strings, however (which have become the mote po the post-war Martins didn’e quire have the life, sparkle and 1 gouge for larger flar-tops over time), chey found resonance of theit forebears Although its roster was significancly reined in from that great design boom of the 1928-42 period, Martin continued cc fare well with musicians once it — and the country — had recovered from the more immediate effects of che war years, A great number of counery & western artists continued to ser the pace on Martin Dreadnoughes, and the model's position as rhythm guitar mainstay carried over into rock'n'roll chroughout the 1950s, thanks in no small part (0 Elvis Presley's early use of @ D-18 and D-28. The folk boom of the lace 1950s and carly 1960s furcher boosted the sales of America’s pre-eminent acoustic guitar maker, and the increased business helped Martin co experiment once again with introducing new models Pare of the folk ethos of the 1960s was a general embracing of simpler things — times, musical styles, sche foremost brand of the movement, it was its models of 40 or guitars, what have you — and while Martin w. 50 years or more earlier chat were really the target of the folkies' longing. On the back of chis craze, the company successfully introduced the austere 0-16NY and then 00. 2INY (NY for ‘New York’, indicating guitars styled after the simple instruments produced under Martin's New York label in the 18003), and roduced a number of other 12-fret models, not precise teissucs as we know the term coday, but guitars that captured some of the image of models of the 1920s and 1930s. Models such as che D-188 and D-285, and other 00, 000 and OM types found favour with more than a few leaders of the falk scene — inclading the likes of Pete Yarrow and Tom Paxcon — aad the demand for these retro desigas was secured. The mid-1960s also saw the oevosite pace A Martin dleadnought of 1924, built For the cetailer Ditson. stow Elvis Presley was a prominent Martin enthusiast Wnice A Martin D.35 from 1968. cowme Yorn Paxton, with his Dreadnought, epitomisod the mid-19608 folic boom. ovrosire rac David Crosby and Graham Nash, showm in the Crosby Stills & Nash ara, favoured a pair of DaSs, incroduction of the D-35, with a return to lighter bracing and a three-piece rosewood back conceived as @ way of combating a shortage of Brazilian rosewood planks wide enough for the making of traditional cwo-picee backs. Martin's grandese dreadnoughe even recurned to the scene in 1968 with the rclaunch of the D-A45. Having sold more chan 22,000) guitars in 1971, Martin moved only around 8,000 units L978. A workers’ strike of more than cight months in 1977 was no doube parely responsible for this big dent in the company’s producrion levels, but the acoustic marker was certainly slowing. More pertinent fir coday’s players and guitar buyers — is che fact thar ir is universally agreed chac che company’s build {quality was slipping throughout these years. Fans of the brand nose this as one | of che lowest ebby in Martin's overall impressive achievement, At the scart of che decade, Martin had added a rosewood place beneath new guitars’ bridges. and also increased the thickness of the ends of che top braces, all in an apparent bid to acld further stability to the iaseruments’ cops. ‘The changes made 1970s M. sins even more cesistant co che problems of bridges pulling upward and tops distorting under the cension of heavier string gauges, but they also , clamped theic voices considerably, and plenty of players nociced a certain constipated sound andl feel in new cxamples of the day. Another factor, one that Martio could do nothing about, drew a line under the collectability of guitars from 1970 onward in y people's eyes. An embargo imposed upon exports of whole logs of Brazilian {, rosewood in 1969 found mose makers, Martin included, turning 0 Indian rosewood for their guitar backs, sides and fingetboards. Few players would have noted it at the time — and in fact relatively few at any time could realistically identify any great sonic difference P between the wo types — but Brazilian rosewood has become another indication of collectability in a vincage guitar Amid this general decline, Martin did at least one thing right. In 1976, for the first time in 41) years, players could once again lay their hands 0 4 gorgeous hetringbone-trimmed Martin in the form of the HID-28. Irs instaneChris Martin of Coldplay with a cutaway acoustic-electrie Martin in mahogany. oposite race A Gibson Style 0 frans 1905 success showed that many playets were more interested in looking backward than forward when it came to acouscic design and trim, and — after a few years of readjustment and recovery — the reissues progcamme would be one of the company’s more successfull business straregies. Not to say Martin got there all at once, and the recovery was indeed pretty rough going, for a few years. In 1982 che company shipped only around 3,000 guitars, less than 15 per cent of its achievement of just 11 years previous. This was pretty much the bottom; there \wos nowhere to go but up, and fortunately this is where Martin was gradually headed. The rest of the decade offered more hard times, but there were also lessons learned thar eventually saw a stronger Martin entering the 1990s. The company had experimented with new styles in 1981 in the form of a series of cutaway flat-tops, which a number of competitors had offered for years, and although these dicdn’e catch on terribly well, they opened the door for more contemporaty Martin designs to. come, Also, a Custom Shop programme, starced in 1979, further reinforced the thinking that more players were interested in old Martins chan in new ones, with orders coming fast and thick f guitars made with features thar had been abandoned for m decades. ‘These were just a crickle compared to the standard production models, bue once again they indicaced a way forward Alo: with homing in on owo strands of thioking —a pursuic of the new, bounded by a cecrieval of the old — a reorganisation of the executive ranks helped position Marcin co compece with the synthesiser revolution. Frank Herbere Marcin departed as president but his farher, C.F, Marcin II, cemained as chairman of the boaed, and his son, C.F Martin IV (known as Chris), was soon voted in as vice president, In the hands of a fifth generation Martin, the company was pulling itself together to move on M: 1 fortunes had improved by the early 19905, thanks eo boch che combined successes of some new standard and limited edition Custom Shop models, and to the surprising uptake of thi Mexican-made Martin Backpacker cravel guitars introduced at the start of the decade, Bur chere was more competition in the wings too, While acoustic guitars were enjoying a renewed popularity large bites of that cherry were being taken by more affordable but still high-qualiey guitars from the likes of Taylor, T amine, and others. The plain 16 Scrics guitar offered a Martin at the lower end of the upscale market, but that still meant @ high-end price tag as far as many players budgets were concerned. Martin's reply to the price war came in 1993 in the form of the D-L, # simple but elegant-looking Dreadnoughs. It saved costs by employing uminared sides — though with « solid spruce top and mahogany back — and less labour-intensive catalysed finish and mortise and tenon neck joint, in contrast to che traditional Martins’ nitrocellulose lacquet finish and doverail neck joint. ‘The differences in both construction and materials knocked a big chunk off even the D-16's price tag, and players took up the new, more affordable Martin in their droves A year later Martin homed in on a new ewist on the ecissues marketing, vintage-styled or custom-designed models under famous artists’ names and calling chem Signature Edition’ guitars, The new angle proviced limited runs of what were ofte: extremely precise and sometimes also custom-modded upmarket Martin reissues, and uthe star player associations to nudge pricing up a notch or two further than even a standard reissue might command. The line began wich an elaborate Gene Autry D-45, and progressed to include an Eric Clapcon 000-42 FC, a Marcy Stuart HD-40MS, Jimmie Rodgers 000. 45JR, Joan Baez. 0-45]B, Martin Carthy 000-18MC, two Paul Simon models (the OM-42PS | | and more affordable PS2), and many, many more — with cew Signature artists announced ewice yearly co this day. The perpetual interest in ole Mectins was further consolidated in 1996, when the | sporadic ‘vincage reissue’ type models offered through the years were given an official Tine as the Vintage Series. Over the next few years pre-war features such as vintage style tuners, V- shaped necks, aged-look lacquer, and — where appropriate — herringbone crim appeared on models such as the HD-28V, OM-28V, 000-28VS and HD-28VS (both with 12-fret necks), D-18V, OM-L8V, 00-18V, and 000-28EC (@ less fancy Eric Clapcon model, this time a ptoduction Vintage Series guitar rather than a limited Signature Edition). Others would follow through the years, and the series would become hugely popular with players, and an enormous success for Martin As the end of the century approached, Martin expanded at both low and high ends. A broader range of both I and 16 Scrics guitars was offered, joined by the spartan Road Scries uitars with laminated sides and backs, che all-mahogany 15 Serics, and eventually the even less expensive X Series models built with tops of composite woo! fibre. Meanwhile, furcher Vintage Series and Signarure Edition guitars were aclded, joined by the acclaimed Golden Era vintage-precise models, which included not only cops made of long-scarce Adirondack spruce, but Brazilian rosewood backs and sides on models in Style 28 anc 45 — che firge time i y such could be found on a Mastin i any numbers for son 27 years Having filled only around 3,000 ordets in 1982, and not many more per year through the middle part of that decade, Marein buile more chan 280,000 guitars through the course of the 1990s. In the new millennium, the company’s success appears 10 he continuing apace, and — while the competition in both high-end and well-made seucent level guitars is fiercer than ever — this 168-year-old company finally seems comforcable ancl conficlene at nearly every level of che marker. Players in their chousands scill dream of one day strumming @ ‘Marcin guitar — and more of chem are able to achieve chat dream today than ever before. GIBSON Where Marcin has continually failed co elecerily, Gibson has become even better known for its classic electric guitars than for its acoustics. But this fellow survivor from the 19th century has occasionally rivalled Martin in the flat-cop business, and entirely dominated the acoustic archtop marker during the years of that instrument's heyday. No surprise. really, when you consider that founder Orville Gibson actually invented the archtop guitar, and the company that carried on his name broughe the format to ics zenith in designs of the 1920s and 1930s. Despite its substantial legécy, Gibson is a couple of generations younger than Martin, Orville Gibson was born in Chateaugay, New York, in 1856 when C.F Martin was already setting the pace for the X-braced flat-tops of the furure in his New York City end then Pennsylvania workshops. After moving co Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the 1880s, however, Gibson pursued an entirely different course of acoustic instrument design, one far more influenced by the great violinmakers than by the new directions in large fretted instruments that were already proving successful with the makers thar woulel become his rivals Gibson hand-carved his mandolin and guitar cops and backs inco an arched shape from two centre-joined planks of solid wood — spruce for the tops, usually walnut for the backs and sides. The carved arch formed an inherently strong seencture for chesesuove Big Bilt Broonzy with a later Style 0, new featuring a cutaway, effectively the first of its kind opposite race 100 Ediefie Lang arc his Gibson £5, with Seger Ellis and his Embassy Orchestra. orrosits ease aicatt A Gibson L Artist made! from 1906. 16 snundboaris, so thae bracing could be kepr to a minimum and not overly impede acoustic vibrations. In another crucial dliffecence from the flac-tops of the day, chese archtop guitars were also fitted right from che start with sieel strings such as Gibson was using on his mandolins (far and away the most popular fretted inscrumencs of che day, as they would remain for a couple of decades more). These Gibson guitars carried round or oval holes, so from che front weren't radically dliffecent looking inyeruments, buc on clos¢ examination their design aod construccion differed from popular flae-eops in almost every decail The archtop guitars exhibited a slightly darker and warmer but more precise voice than the bright, lively, but potentially boomy Mlat-tops, but when taken to the size of many of Gibson's carly creations — which reached some 18” across che lower bout, nearly 4” broader than almost anything from Marcin, Washburn, or other significance makers — they became impressively loud instruments for theie day. The steel strings, body dimensions and resultant volume of “The Gibson guitars set the standards for professional instruments thar needed t0 be heard amid a crowded bandstand in the days before amplification, and this carried through into the jazz era when Gibson archtops entercel their golden age. Together, these factors gave Gibson a prominent lead in a corner of the guitar marker thar was barely threatened by another maker for @ good four or five decades Not long after attaining his first significant suecess as a maker, Orville Gibson parted ways with the company that would carey his oame on into the future, In 1902, with Gibson himself unable to mect the demand for his instruments, a consortium of music store owners and lawyers bought up the righcs to his name and formed the Gibson Mandolin-€ itar Manufaceuring Company Led, retaining Orville merely as a consultant. This relationship was short-lived, and he soon parted! ways with the new operarion. He retained a shareholding in the company until his death in 1914, bu had no farther hands-nn influence on the guitars that bore his name ‘The new company ramped up production, offering wo lines of guitars in chree sizes and a range of decorative styles, the round-holed Style © and oval-holed Seyle L. Tops conriaued archtop and flac- to be carved from solid! spruce ~ the most popular wood for both qualie top guitars to this day —and che backs and sides were still of walnur (though, oddly, chis was r setrled on actual maple in the Late 1920s, and chis remains che pre-eminent wood for the blicised as being maple). Gibson soon changed to backs and sides of bicch, and finally hacks and sides of archtop guitars, While che carved, arched spruce cop exhibics an inherently warm, rounded cunality, maple’s voice is tighter, brighter, and more defined. Tocther, they offer a full, rich sound with good nove definition, which — partnered with the impressive volume of che larger Gibsons — proved just the qualities chat many professional smusicians were seeking. Alehough Orville Gibson had invented che archtop guitar, he hadn't come close to perfecting it. His own designs incorporated an integral bridge with strings anchored behind the saddle piece in the same wooden plate, as on traditional flat-tops, and a fairly shallow neck pitch co allow an acceptably low string height over the length of the fingerboard, Having raking his carved-arch designs from the world of violin-making, it is surprisingupon consideration chat he didn’t follow this format further, employing the separate bridge and tailpiece arrangement of those instruments, coupled to a more sharply back-angled neck to achieve the necessary break angle of strings over bridge. Soon, his successors were doing just chac, and thanks ¢o che increased downward pressure of che strings on the bridge, and thus the top —a pressure required (0 really get a sturdy arched top moving — Gibsons swore becoming cven lousler and more toncful guicars, even though most of the largest models settled in at around 16” rathcr than the massive 18" of some of Orville Gibson's carly creations. While the mandolin was still Gibson's most popular procluct, the compeny quickly realised many advances in guitar design thar wouldn't be fully appreciated until many years later. Partnering what might be seen as an elaborately superfluous decorative clement, a carved scroll-like ‘horn’ at the upper bass hour of some faney Style O guitars of 1908 and after, was an extremely practical, even ingenious recession of the treble hour at che ocher side of the neck end. This was rhe First commonly seen ‘cutaway design — allowing players an unprecedented reach up eo the 15th fret Production curaway designs wouldn't reappear uncil later in che 1940s. Hut iy 1912, juse a few years after this Style O, anorher Gibson design, che L-4) incroduced a look chat is echoed far more in archrops down the years chan anything previously produced by Gibson (lchough it still carried the oval hole of the day rather than holes ~ this despite its I Series tag alongside the round-holed models). This 16” guicar had a more symmetrical body shape and 4 plainer dress, and appealed to players who were coming to appreciate the functional over the fanciful. The first Gibson-made flat-top guitar arrived in the late 1910s, in the form of the cheap and basic ‘Army Navy’ model, which was aimed primarily at servicemen stationed on duty at the close of World War I. Bue these are a mere footnote in the com Aaae solmceocisiataintiell history today; a far more significane development of around the same time was Gibson managers’ hiring of mandolin virtuoso and design dabbler Lloyd Loar in a bid to revive the fading mandolin craze, Loar went some way toward doing that with his refined creations (his F.5 mandolin is widely considered the finest such instrument ever made), but this little cight-setinged instrument's era was still on the wane. More significant ¢o any history of the acoustic guitar is Loar’s development of the L-5 guitar of 1922, originally conceived as the largest member of che new mandolin line, but soon put forward as a Gibson Aagship in ies own right, A custom-built Gibson ‘Hick Lucas’, with “Flarentine’ decoration, from 1928. tucas was @ By employing a pair of f-holes in place of the L-’s oval soundhole, the L-5 rook the chtop guitar yet unother step towards the violin thar had inspired Orville Gibson neatly ) years before, and it incorporated other refinements besides. A new cone-bar bracing system, featuring ewo parallel braces running under the top from body end 10 neck joint guitarist of the day, famous for ‘Tip-Toe Through The Tulips’. offcred a livelier response; a floating, height-adjustable bridge allowed playets to determine both string length and height, for optimum (well, nearly) intonation and action; and a radical new acljustable cruss-rod allowed, for the first time, player adjustment of neck how These new Gibsons were rh most fine-tunable, preciston-adjustable guitars ever made, and in the new gently gradoaced ‘Cremona brown’ sunburst finish, they looked the business, tae Pros like Eeldie Lang and Fred Guy were already playing Ls, and ehese and many others took up the advanced new L-5 in droves. While Gibson was fast establishing, ieself as che brand of choice in the jazz world, the guitar as an instcument seill didn’t have cnough popolarity to keep che company afloat, so mandolins, Hawaiian guisars, andl banjos (never « Gibson strong suic) also helped co pay che bills ¢ burgeoning As its archtops sectled in as che marker leader, Gibson bowed to anc market and released its first ‘proper’ flar-cop guitar in 1926 in the form of the simple, now arch-less L-I. The company still clearly didn’t believe in the vircue of the flar-top as aserious inserumenc —as the L-1's rigid cross bracing and lack of a truss-rod make clear — bur servicemen, college students, blues beleers, and even a few counery and cowboy singers were playing these flac-tops, so Gibson must have thought ic had bercer jump on che bandwagon, Just two years later Gibson accepted thar a quality flac-cop was a viable product, and signed up Nick Lucas, the firse recorded guitar stat, as a signature artist. The Nick Lucas model debuted with he Ll, b che same body size and shape as mt was significantly deeper, so produced a rich, loud sound for its size. This guitar reached its epitome in 1933, with a slightly larger and still quite deep body, a [4-fret neck, and back and sides of solid rosewood Although the company was aggling, like so many other guitar makers, merely to survive the Great Depression — and achieving this partly by making ulera-cheap Kalamazco-branded guitars and even wooden toys — the carly co mid-1930s proved a time of major development, in design terms at least. In 1934, a0 doubt partly in response to competition from newcomer Epiphone, Gibson boldly advanced the bodies of the four largest of its six-strong archtop range from 16" co 17". This made the cutting maple-bodied archrops even fonder and better able to compere in the volume wars on thi bandstand For ati the two companies chased each other: Epiphone ‘advances its body sizes, and Gibson pushed ehe envelope even Further by returning, va the mammoth 18” body size occasionally seen way back in the 1890s, and introduced the superb, high-end Super 400. So ir went... until Gibson trumped che bid once and for all with ity Premier models of 1939: L-5 and Super 400 guitars 18with rounded cutaways, and available in an optional natural (blonde) fisish. In 1957 G would win this batde hands down by purchasing Epiphone, but for now the company had ined its position as leading archtop-maker by virrue of design and quality Meanwhile, Gibson's most serious and long-lasting foray inco the flar-top market ha come in 1934 with the introduction of the cound-shoulclered dreadnought shaped Jumbo, with 2 16" lower bour, This ene model was ceplaced by ewo in 1936, the J-35 and the Advanced Jumbo. ich carried the same body shape and 16" wideh, bue the Lacter feacured rosewood back and sides for the first time on any Gibson, making ic as cich as it was loud wich irs smaller L-1, L-) and L= All che while, the company was having reasonable succes 00 flat-rops, bue its most serikking model of the breed came in 1937 in che form of a custom instrument originally made for singing cowboy Ray Whitley (no doubt a response to Martin’s coup with the Gene Autry D-45). This 17” Nat-top had rounded bouts chat made ic more curvaceous than the thick-wasted Dreadnought look, and was a striking instrument on stage. Production models were introduced as the Super Jumbo, later Super Jumbo 200 or merely SJ-200, Made with roscwood back and sides before the war, and maple after, this guitar proved the only eval rival to Martin’s D-45 as the instrument that declared a councry singer had made it, Through the years the cwo rivals would seek t0: outdo each other in pear! trim and fancy scripe fingcrboard name inlays as the custom orders rolled in from one country & western staf or another. World War II slowed Gibson's production, but didn’e hale it entirely as it did that of some other makers. Seeel shortages required guitars ro be built without truss-rods, but Gibson introduced several new models nonetheless, notably the J-45, J 50, and Southern Jumbo. With guitar amplification now firmly entrenched as the gigging guitarist’s savivut, the era of che grear acoustic archtops was over (no such beast would ever surpass che whopping Super 400 in che company’s catalogue), and Gibson's own examples of the breed were emerging more and more often as factory-spec electric models carrying one or oo built-in or Hoating pickups. The company had segued relatively smoothly into flat-rop production, and its position as a market leader ravely seemed in any great danger In 1944 Gibson was taken over by the huge Chicago Musical Instruments corporacion (EMD), but this did little to disrupt the Dow Post-war introductions came only in dribbles, and included che J-185, in appe very much a smaller 16" version of the $]-200 (which was now simply the J-200), the CJ- 100 wich pointed curaway aod optional pickup, and J-160 with standard pickup —a Lame performer as an acoustic, but made famous for its use by The Beatles on many early recardings. A maple-bodied Dreadsoughe called the Dove arrived in che early 1960s. followed by the Hummingbird, and an Everly Brochers signature model wich che rounded contours of a J-185. Sales of Gibson's Jumbos and smaller L Series flat-tops (now ‘LG’ for Licele guitar’) ticked along nicely, but just when Martin was capitalizing on the folk boom of the late 1934s and carly 1960s, Gibson executives decided to ‘upgrade’ many models in sways that would ultimately only make them less desirable both to players and collectors: This seemingly pointless decline in design integrity persisted through much of the next three decades. Ir is worth noting chat Gibson archtaps were made to a range of scale-lengths, some © whar is commonly considered the ‘full length’ 25%" of the Marcin standard (some even « lirele longer), and some quite a hit shorter. For its Mat-tops, however, the company sectled in on a 24%" scale-lengeh (nor quite the 244" thar is usually quoted), which offers a slightly casice playing fecl than che longer string length of Martin and many others, but with « litele less power and volume, all else being equal, and sometimes a touch fess harmonic sparkle as well A height-adjustable bridge firted ro many flat-tops in 1957 served mainly just to deaden 19lr re be cscee le rechoser hell these instruments’ tonal response, while other efforts to strengthen tops further choked off acoustic resonance. In a strange parallel to Martin’s ill-advised introduction of heavier bracing and a reinforcing rosewood bridge plate in 1971), Gibson — under new owners Ecnadorian Company Lrd (ECL), soon renamed Norlin — began doubling its X-bracing in L97L to create sturdier, but conally dead soundboards. Quality declined rapidly in the late L9GIIs and 1970s, along with (he company’s reputation as an acoustic maker, Noble but misguided cfforts to redesign the Gibson flac-rop in 1977 in the form of che Mark Series fixsled. Certainly the quality of Gibson clectrics suffered too under Norlin in the 1970s and early 1980s, but the regime nearly sooffed or the company’s preat acoustic legacy entirely. Norlin had opened offices in Nashville, Teanessec, in 1970, followed by some manufacturing facilities in 1974, Ia 1984 Gibson production left the Kalamazoo plane entirely. By this time, however, Norlin was eunaing into difficuleics, and Gibson soon wene the way of other musical inserumenc divisions the company hac been selling off Rather chan heralding, the death of the 100-yearold brand, the change probably spared Gibson acoustics, A team of friends who had met ac Ha J Business School applied cheir srudies ro che ailing company, trimmed and refined it, and were soon seeing @ profir, In 1987 chey boughe che Flatiron mandolin company in Belgrade, Moneana, and transplaneed many of its skilled makers co a new Gibson acoustic guitar plane opened i nearby Bozeman soon after char. Bozeman, Monrana, was even fusther from Kalamazoo chan Nashville, but the opening of chis facility marked B the salvation of Gibson acoustics, and soon che finest such inscrumencs in 30 or 40 years were coming out of the new western workshops In the early 1990s innovative Star and Starburst cutaway models in Gully acoustic and electro-acoustic variations showed that Gibson could indeed apply its name to technologically advanced acoustic guitars, while rosewood-bodied J-60 Dreadnought and the affordable Working Man series red competition ar both ends of che ‘quality’ price bracket. Meanwhile, the greatest renewed interest in ‘new’ Gibson acoustics was offered to precisely detailedreissues along the Lines of the J-45, J-200, Blues King, (a revised 1-00), Nick Lucas and a stream of others. This revision of pase glories even grew confident enough to include the return of two models of a type many players probably thought chey’d never see again: fully acoustic archtops, In 1995, the Nashville Custom Shop broughe out a reissue of the 1934 L- 5, which was followed in 2003 by an 1-7 cutaway from the Bozeman factory Gibson's renewed success in the acoustic market is nothing like Martin's rejuvenation at the end of the lase century, bur has brought a number of great models back from che brink and offered some ggaod-sounding new designs besides. And of course che acouseie branch is only a portion of che efforts of a company chat has increasingly concentrated on the electric markec since the dawn of amplification, and certainly since che arrival of che first Les Paul model in 1952, Even so, if the quality concinues to reach the standards achieved in Bozeman over the past 10 years, Gibson acoustics should be here vo scay peosmTe FAGE LEFT An SJ-200 Custom model, built in 1937 for country artis Ray Whitley. opposite maz ron The Everly Brothers in 1963, with a pair of 1-200s, px.ow Sheryl Crow with her prized 1962 Country Western 21THE CHICAGO MAKERS Even with Martin locared in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and Gibson in Kalamazoo, Michiga the centre of the American guitar industry in che early co micl-1900s was Chicago, Illinois, in mass manufaccuring terms at least. And although no derailed records exist to back op such a claim, it's a fair bet to say that more guitars were made in Chicago between around 1890 and 1960 than in che rest of the country combined ~ if not the rest of the world. Some of the oames will not sound familiar to players of raday who haven't yet dabbled in che history of the instrament, but giants like Harmony, Kay, Washburn and parent company Lyon & Healy, the Larson Brothers, and Regal combined to make the Windy City a veritable clearing house for the burgeoning six-string, During this great midwestern city’s boom years there mighe srill have beem more cattle in Chicago than guitars, bur ic wasn'r for wane of crying. Washburn is Known today as a quality Asian-made brand, bur from the 1880s co che Lyon & Ik c) Martin's biggest rival in che quality flac-cop market. They also provided 1920s guitars bearing the George Washburn label and oher brands of che company forn many more affordable instruments to buyers wich shallower pockets. The company was founded by former Ditson reps George Washburn Lyon anc] Pacrick Healy in the late 1860s, initially to retail insrruments bought in from other makers, buc by the early 18808 was offering guitars anc] other items manufactured at ies own new Facility. Washbur were never as well made as Martins; chey were extremely Ite with most models in moving from cross-bracing (also known as ‘ladder’ bracing) to che serong yee musical X-bracing patrern, and made a virtue of cheie factory-buile origins versus Martin's ;,and they came hand craftsmanship. But chey were better guitars chan many others of the da: in a range of curt shapes and decorative styles that could equally lure any player who wasn't aware of the fine points of acoustic construction. Oucwardly, most early Washbuens bote « resemblance to the popula Martins, too, which were clearly seen as design leaders even 120 years ago. They were mainly small bodied instruments with rounded lower bouts, narrow waiscs, and proportionally narrow shoulders of che scyles ranging from what we would today consider ‘parlour guitars’ to 00 or smaller ‘concert'-sized guitars, and were often made from good stocks of solid spruce and Brazilian rosewood. Some collectors coday get excited about highly decorerive eatly Washburns such as the Grand Concert model 309, with elaborate fingerboard inlays of pearl and silver, but che vast majority of the maker's instruments wete simpler affairs thar coulel be sold across the country in general scor che 309's lof . music shops, teaching: studios and via catalogue houses for far less than y $155 retail price ‘Models in familiar plainer styles and small to medium sizes were Washburn's stock in trade through the brand's first cra, and were also the main offerings of other Lyon & Healy brandis such as College Line, Jupiter, Lakeside and Amecica Conservatory, although a few forward-looking, larger insteamenes were oceasionally offered, such as the 15” wide Washburn Conrra Bass of 1889 (with a 27%" seale-length), or the jumbo-sized Lakeside Bass Guitar of 1912, which beat the Martin/Ditson Dreadnought co the marker by four years, ancl was a Little larger besides. These were fringe effares, however and never caught on in any numbers Wasbburn's model offerings were trimmed down after World War I and were geoetally less elaborate besides, bur che quality of chese guirars increased if anything, thanks largely wo a wider employment of che X- bracing that had been a Marcin standard for more than 50 years by chen, a move whieh alyo made chem easily adaptable vo the newly popular sceel serings. Players aod collectors alike are occasionally thrilled co discover a cop Washburnmodel of che 1920s chat easily rivals a Martin 0-18 or 00-28 for sound, construction quality and materials, but sells for a fraction of the price In che Late 1920s the Washburn brand underwent a sumber of ownership and managerial changes, and chis generally marks the end of the yreat first era of the American- made guitars, J.R. Stewart bought Lyon & Healy's manufacturing facility in 1928, Although Lai continued for a time to marker the guicars, ir sole off its encite diseribution business to Chicago's ‘Tonk Brothers just « year larer. Tonk marketed JR. Stewart-buile Washburns until the onsee of the Great Depression sent thar manufaccurer our of business, then farmed our 1 production to the rather more downmarker Regal. Regal was founded in Indianapolis in 1896 and moved to Chicago in 1904, after which i¢ was purchased by an expanding Lyon & Healy. Through the years that followed, however, it mainrained a line orally separate to L&H's Washburn guitars, and Regal was agaic. a separate entity from char mpidly dissolving company by the time it took on the building of Washbura-branded guitars for Tonk Brothers, Regal guitars were markered under a wide range of other names (including many ocher ‘Tonk Brothers brands, Bacon & Day, Slingerland, Recording King and others), and were mostly workmanlike but well-buile instruments. Even prior to 1930 they rarely strecched the quality of the becter Washburns ~ nor certainly anything like what Martin was curaing ‘out ~ but were nevercheless solid, playable, good value guitars made with all solid woods and popular with a wide range of scudents and shallow-pocketed professionals alike Regal-buile Washbuens weren'c bad guitars ay such, bur were generally lesser instruments than they had been throughout most of the make’s preceding history. Having swelled to massive proportions by the late 1950s, Regal suffered badly during the war years and emerged mainly offering downmarket flat-tops and archtops, Washburo-hranded guitars had continued to slip down the quality seales and vanished in all but oame at the outset oF WWI, while their manufacturer of some ten years didn't survive much pase it In 1974 Beckman Musical Industries of Los Angeles purchascd the rights co the Washburn name and applied it ¢o a range of basic Japanese imports, But the brand was soon passed back to Chicago, and in the hands of a small company called Fretted Instruments Gatcr Washburn Inrernarional) began to ascend the quality scales once again, with becter and bettce imports coming in from Japan through the 1980s and inco the 19903 and beyond. Guitars in the Festival Scries, Narive American Series, and the wide-ranging D series of Dreadnoughts have contained respected models, including the likes of the D-61 ‘Wildwood with a solid spruce tap, all solid rosewood back and sides, and chony bridge and fingerboard Harmony was founded ia Chicago in 1892 by yee another German immigrant, Wilhelm JF Schultz, and soon afzer cha beyas the association with the geowing Sears caralogne and | xkolee clrtais opcome vase A Lyon R Healy Washburn style 108 from 1892. seiow A Harmony Monterey from 1948 sariom Harmony’s catalogue from 1959, al | eoinnnmssnessemnnenesimananse asin‘a 24 deparement store company that enabled it to grow into the world’s largest manufacturer of guitars. The build gualicy of Harmony instruments rarely matched those of Gibson or ‘Martin, or even of Washburn’s more elevated models, bur they were generally much better than their later reputation might lead you to believe today. Harmony was building guitars for steel strings as early as 1899; Gene Autry, Roy Smeck, and Bradicy Kinkaid numbered among its endorsement artists: and unril the passing of the brand in the mid-(97Is to a rebadging’ importer selling Korcan-made instraments, all its American-made acoustics wete constructed of all solid woods. On rap of all this, Harmony had the pricing that enabled it to land guitars in the hands of playcrs chat Gibson or Marcin just couldn't reach The Hawaiian music craze of rhe 1910s and 1920s provided one of Harmony’s first big sales booms, and the Supertone brand eame — acquired by Harmony in 1916 — was a mainseay of bud, ct and mid-range instru ‘ots in that genre for years. All-koa and all- mahogany Hawaiian guitars appeared under che Supertone brand, and the name shifted to a range of other Harmony models over the years. Orher popular Harmony teademarks would include the Vagabond and Patrician flar-rops anc Cremona archtops of the early 1930s, the Vogue, Monterey and Marquise lines of the lare 1930s, the budyet Stellas of the late 1930s and carly 1940s, and the unusual aluminive-rrimmed Holiday Colorama series of the 195s, And in an unusual Lateral shift, rhe seemingly ubiquitous Sovercign Dreadnoughts of Harmony’s later years had acquired their name from a series of resonator guitars of the 1930s, Inceeasingly cheap and well-made Japanese imports of the carly 1970s offered competition that Harmony juse couldn’r fighe, Sales fell away, and in 1976 the name was sold off. It has changed hands a few cimes since, only to appear om vatious ranges of Asian import, never with any lasting success in che market The Stella name had, along with che Sovereign brand, been a standby of the Oscar Schmide company of Jersey City, New Jersey, which was also a Sears supplier from che early 19005 uncil the sale of its guitar factory in 1955, which esulted in the names being acquired by Harmony in 1938, Oscar Schmidt was a respected maker, much in the Washburn- Harmony range, that had been manufacturing stringed inscruments since 1879. Some of the company’s parlour guicars of the early 20th century were decent enough instruments, bur never atrained the fame of che generally less well-built — bur larger, and louder ~ Srella models such as the 12-string guicar famously played by Huddie ‘Leadbelly’ Ledbetcer, ancl the six- and 12-strings played by Blind Willie McTell, Charlie Pacton, Blind Blake and many others, None of the Oscar Schmidt-made guitars have achieved A-list (or even B-list perhaps) status with players or collectors, but these Stellas have risen above the crowd ~C lige at least — thanks to their classic acoustic blucs associations For decades, Kay wes slugging it out nearly blow for blow with Chicago budger rival Harmony, and never achieved quice the same sales numbers, but made a mighty dent in the market nonetheless. If anything, chough, the brand probably achieved a slightly better reputation for quality during much of its S0-plus-yeor run as an American instrament, maker, alchough from as carly as the 1920s construction of some of the company’s guitars often included che use of durable laminates rather than the solid woods that Harmony universally employed. ‘The Kay name itself, however, only came about in the 1920s when Henty Kay Kuhemeyer joined the Stromberg-Voisinet Company, which had evolved ont of the Groeshl company founded in Chicago in 1990. (Note thar thar Stromberg-Voisinet was 4 completely different company from the Stromberg chat made high-end archtop guitars.) A range of jumbo flat-tops appeared] around 1926 under the Kay Kraft name, and by the carly 1950s the success of the brand had inspired a company mame change «0 Kay Musical Instrument Company. By the late 1930s Kay was well established as a brand name in itself Despite the depression, the 1930s were a big time for Kay in a number of ways’ the company offered everything from high-end archtops with carved spruce tops to budlget-line Hawaiianand Spanish guitars for the Oahu company. Becween che war years and che carly 1960s, Kay acchtops were often che nexe choice down from cop-range makes like Gibson, Bpiphone, Stromberg or Gretsch, while a range of flar-tops continued to fill student and novice needs. n 1967 Kay was sold co Valco, che Large electric guitar, amplifier and resonacor pufacturer and coyecher chese great Chicago manufacturers folded in 1968 THE NEW YORKERS ‘Through the middle 60 years of che 20th century, another pair of American guitar manufacturers managed occasionally to knock on Gibson's and Martin’s doors in terms of quality and reputation and sceal more than a few customers from both of ehese great makers. These manufacturers succeeded each other in the same factory. From the 1930s ro the mid 1950s, Epiphone proved a tival mainly to Gibson, excelling in quality archtops in particular; over Epiphone’s former New York in 1953, a fledgling guitar company named Guild too factory, and achieved surprising success with each of the thece very different popular types of acoustics: classical, archtop and flar-top. The Epiphone company’s roots stretch back ¢o Anastasios Stathopoulo’s fiddle and lute The Five Spirits of Rhythm, featuring Teddy Bunn on the Epiphone Deluxe Masterbilt guitar. 25a workshop in [870s Turkey. He brought the business to New York in 1903, and his son Epaminondas ~ known as ‘Epi’ — took over upon his death in 1915. In 1928 the House Of | its name to the Epiphone: Banjo Company on the back of irs success in char marker following World War J, but it soon grew to be a cop maker of acoustic ancl eventunily electric archtop guitars — and remained so through che years when this {GH instrument was king of the six-strings Epiphone seemed to be almost erernally following Gibson, and irs designs were usually nor far off chose of the inventor and ackauwldged premier maker of such instcumencs. But the New York co: \pany’s growing: list of star players soon indicated chat many were willis to choose an Epi over a Gibson. Over the years, Epiphone archtops would be played, « in cheir clectric form, by Al Caiola, Jor Pass, George Van Eps, ‘Tony Mou nla, Harry Volpe and many others. When Epiphone moved from banjos to guivars, the assaulr on Gibson's dominance came in a big way. The Mascerbile line of 1931 carried seven models, all with carved arched cop and back, ane che largest ~ the De xe, Triumph and Spartan — were nearly half an inch bigger than Gibson's largest mode] of the day, wich lesser models such as the Blackstone offering midpriced options further down the market, As described in che Gibson section above, the companies slugged it out throughout che decade. In 1936 Epiphone introduced wide Fmperor, which soon became « pupular cop-notch pros’ choice and by the nexr year had upped the size om its next chree biguies by another inch, Epiphone’s famous Frequensacor tailpiece arrived in 1939, and many models became available in blonde in 1940-41, All of che uppet-range models of this period were made co very high standards tops aten't remembered as well as are the archtops, but the and FY210 Deluxe Cutaway Barly period Epi company made some fine models. The FT Deluxe of 1939. of the early 1950s are excellent large flat-tops made in roughly ‘jumbo’ and ‘super jumbo" styles respectively, although the Frontier and Texan of the 1940s and carly 1950s — while perfectly decent guitars — aren’e nearly as soughe by players or collectors, Epiphone’s ‘golden cra’ really mitrored that of the archtop itself, and when these guitars’ popularity waned, so did Epiphones’ fortunes The company had success with some electric versions of its acoustic archtops, bu labour disputes and the inability of a new owner overcome them (or to offer any further competition to Gibson and the others) finally did in the name as an independent entity. C.G. Conn purchased Epiphone in 1953, and cransferred production to Philadelphia until 1955 Gvhen the Stathopoulos cook avcr again) to get away from troubles with the New York workforce. In 1957, Gi on parent company MI purchased Epiphone and 1 red production t Kalamazoo, the brand appeared mainly on more affordable va of existing Gibson acoustic and electric designs, which did remain US-built until 1969. ‘Today, the name resides somewhat further downmarker, gracing ‘budget’ Asian-made versions of Gibson mexlels, which have served to give pl who might never afford the originals a form of access to a few classic Gibson flat-top models, as well as to some sewer designs. Meanwhile, however, Epiphone’s abandoned New York factory had given bireh co another great American guiter name Polish immigeane Al Deonge was the man behind Guild, and he guided the company very ably from irs founding uneil his deach in a plane crash in 1972, after which former vice presictent Leon ‘Tell cook the helmIn 1956, Guild changed locations ftom New York City to Hoboken, New Jersey, and chen in 1969 it moved again to Westerly, Rhode Island. Meanwhile, in 1966, ownership passed co Avner, Inc, (with Dronge staying on as as president), then to a group of investors in 1986, then co the FAAS Corporation in |989, and finally to Fender Musical Instruments in 1995 — which signalled the closure of the Westerly plant ancl a shift of production to Fender's faecory in Corona, California. Bue despice all che upheavals, Guild never underwent the appreciable dip: in quality chat its ewo larger competitors are well documented as having orposite ence A 1949 Epiphone Emporor. sc.ow A Guliel F-SOR-NT 50 that ably rivalled Gibson's J-200 for many years, to the jumbo-sized F-40, the O40-sized flot-top from 1975. Guild's very rst offerings comprised a range of lac-tops, from the large 17" Navarre F- 30 and che small-bodied F-20. Their spruce cops and maple sides were of solid wood, but their backs were made from kaminared maple pressed inte an arched shape, which therefore had enough seruccural rigidity to make back braces unnecensary. While some people may consider che use of laminated woods to be a “downmarket) conssructional technique, Guild was definitely using it for advanced desiga purposes and not for any appreciable savings in macerials or labour. In terms of sound, performance, and stability, the technique proved a success, These were soon joined by che Stuart A-550 archtop with a catved spruce top (soon joined by a similar Johnny Smith Award acoustic-clectric archtop when that top jace player's endorsemenc was secured). These and! others took hold with players immediately, and Guild's repuration spread quickly. Many players found Guild offered a ‘bese of bok worlds’ alcernacive, straddling desicable Gibson and Marcin feacures: they carried Martin's longer 2514" scale lengch and more musical bracing, Gibson's adjustable cruss-rod and slimmer neck, and che moze frequene option of rosewuod, a more Maccin-like feacure Guild’s Mark Series of classical guicars arrived in 1961, an further important models were added to the line in 1963, including che D-40 and D-30 Dreadnoughs and the F-212 and E-312 12-string flat-tops, which were joimed a few years Later by the big 17" 12-sering models that would become the most popular of their type on the marker, G Series Dreadnoughes arrived in the 1970s, while che acoustic archcops dlisuppeared in a declining market for that breed. Lines expanded and chen concracted over the years, and Guild suffered along with many acoustic snakets in the electronic music boom of che late 1970s and early 1980s, and wasn’t aided by che swift ownership changes chat followed. Under Fender production and quality seem to haye stabilised again, and the Guild brand now provides shat hiscoric clectric instruments company with its own rival to Gibson and Martin acoustics, something it could never manage with its own effores. Acoustic archtops are even back at the top of che marker — albeit mostly with floating magnetic pickups — in che form of a number of Guild-branded models designed by the great contemporary archtop. maker Robert Benedetto, and other acrual Benedetto models hand-built in the Guild Custom Shop under close supervision from their namesake A third New York maker, which wonld eventually make its biggest impression with electric hollow-bodies in the rock'n'roll years, seemed for a time to be able to run with the two leading American archtop makers. Gretsch had been making drums and banjos in New York City since 1884, and in the early 19508 the company began manufacturing, archtop and flar-rop guitars when thes appeared to be raking the limelight frum the banjo. Models like the big 18*-wide Synchromatic of che early 1940s, with its cat's-eye soundholes, stairstep bridge and deluxe binding and position markers, had the power and grace of any of the big Gibsons or Epiphones, and became the choice of Counc Basic guitarist Freddie Green for one. But the Greesches were never 4s well made as the archtops of the “big owo!, nor those of Stromberg, D'Angelice, or a handful of other big builders in the genre ‘They are impcessive guitars, certainly, and possess all che eight ingredients, bur telatively | | Zefew have survived in great playing condition. Gretsch flat-tops didn’t fare much berter in the quality stakes, though some have become callectible for acsthetic or historic reasons, such as the G-branded Rancher of the L9590s GYPSY JAZZ GUITARS The continuing, even booming popularity of guitarist Django Reinhardt and the sprightly, melodic ‘Gypsy jazz’ style of which he long formed the centre, has spawned a perhaps surprising cottage indusery building a type of guitar that has only really excelled at chis single style of playing. Rob Aylward, John Le Voi, Maurice Dupont and Shelly Parks all offer instruments in the approximate Selmer-Maccaferri design, as pioneered more ehan 75 years ago, and taken up by Reinhardt almost immediarcly after ies arrival on the scene Maccafeeti was an Fealian-born luchicr anil concert (classical) guitarist, whose relatively radical design ideas were caken up by London music store manager Ren Davis and promoted to Henri Selmer, head of the enormous French saxophone maker, as a sound basis for a guitar of the same brand. The Selmer factory in France began limieed production of the instruments in Jare 1951, and the first models arrived for sale in London in 1932. ‘They were taken up mostly by jazz players, although Maccaferri himself favoured che gut-stcing variants, as did a few other classical players of che day. But the steel-sering models were unlike anything the majority of jazeers were strumming at the time. They were ~ and remain —a different breed of guitar entirely. Selmer-Maceaferci instruments ate large-hodied, flac-top guitars, often with a D-shaped of round soundhole placed under the strings and a deep, “flattened” looking curaway. Many models were originally buile wich circular wooden ‘resonators’ counted under their cops, intended to aid projection and volume, If anything, chese usually damaged the cone of the guitars to which they were fireed, and players simply removed them, or cuscom-ordered new Selmers without resonators. The steel-scring Orchestre is the real classic of the carly years of the Selmer-Maccaierris, bur others existed, such as the cutaway-less Hawaien, and gut-string models such as the Concert (with the curaway), Bsponol, and Classique. All — both secel and gut models ~ were made with laminated back and sides, noe as a cose curting exercise, but for well-defined tonal considerations researched by Maccaféerri In 1933, only shorely before the instrument's most famous endorser cook up ehe brand, Maccaferri parted ways with Selmet after a contract dispute, He returned briefly to his playing career, which itself wa cut short after he fractured bis wrist ina swimming accident For a cime he cook up the manufacture of reeds for musical instruments, and dabbled in other types of guitar design, before being hooked by che possibilities of injection-moulded plastic instruments. Experiments with plastics led to his founding of Masteo Industries which introduced a plastic ukulele in 1949, and the famous Maccaferri plastic guitars in the early 19508, Despite theit appearance and their general perception today, instruments such as the Maccaferti G-30 flat-top and G-40 archtop — moulded from a material called Dow Styron — were presented as serious instruments, and were even taken up by a number of pros in cheir day, The plastic image could never quite cut it credibility-wise, however, and Maccalerti gave up applying the process to erious’ instruments just a few years into the cffort, Mastro concinued to offer a number of downscaled plastic guitars through rhe 1960s, but these were no longer intended as professionel-grade players’ instruments. In the 1970s and L980s Mario Maceaferti occasionally returned to lutheric, and even produced his Selmer-style wooden Gypsy jazz guitars again, firse as the CSL Gypsy (in partnership wich Englishman Maurice Summerfield, and manufactured in Japan at the Hoshino factory, where Ibanez yuiears were made), and later in collaboration with high-end New York maker John Monreleone. Maccaferti died in 1993 ar the age of 92 | : | Lar PLASTIC GUITAR omosire pace Fraddie Green, guitarist with Count Basie, pictured in 196% with his Gretsch Synchromatic 409, oove A plastic Maccaterri Romancer from 1960 and a 1955 advertisement for the revolutionary instrument. 29Asove A 1932 example ef the Seimar. Maccaferri Madole Qechestre, anove nicitt The Rosenberg trio epitomise the Gypsy jeze style on their origin Setmer instruments. orposiTe poe toP Julian Cope with a 12-string Ovation Adamas. Prose mace mesa Kaizeeo Vath produces fing guitars ike this AR00 from his workshop, oposite race norrom Alvarez Yairi, endorsed by Ani DiFranco, ig a factory line produced in association with him. 30 Meanwhile, Selmer had continu nly to manufacture guitars eo the style initiated hy Maccaferei, bur in fact make impressive progress in perfecti 4 the breed. The company's remaining luchiers dic) away with che internal resonaror, changed che soundhole from D- shaped co round and finally co oval, and swapped the 12-fret neck for L4, The model was newly dubbed the Modtle Jazz, and wich this shape and name the Selmer jazz guitar 2 —a thil achieved its ultimate tually quite distinct from anything chat ever graced the deawing board of its ‘originator’, whose name was of course by now removed from it 2, by which time only a anyway, Selmer closed its guitar works in 1 ‘ound 900 guitars bad been produced, a good half of chem che Modele Jazz A BOWL-BACKED WONDER Ovation’s revolutionary bowl-backed shape was born in 1965 when helicopter company owner Charles H: Kaman returned co his first love, the guicar, and struck upon a favourable desig departure from for a fibreglass composite body structure. For such a rad tradicional design, the protorypes received a surprisingly enchusiastic response from the pr wae From 1966 AL Di Meola and Adrian Legg heve all ployed Ovecions through much of their carcers, players Kaman who saw chem, and the production models char co gained a swift and wide acceptance. Charlie Byrd, Larry Coryell, Jerry Reec bar Glen Campbell's carly endorsement of a shallow-bowled model in 1968 — since dubbed che Balladeer and his use of che insteument on his papulas TV show, gave che brand ics bigeest carly nd smooth performance of models such as the Classic, Legend, Custom Legend, Pacemaker of Martin tring, and aylon-stting Country Arcist rivalled even ¢h and Gibson in the carly to mid-1970s, when the quality of those guitars was declini many playets were clearly willing co try something aew. They were probably helped a in doing so by these: Ovations’ mid-level price tags, too. In 1973 Ovation introduced more affordable Applause line, in an effort to pre-empe the Asian copyists who wer plaguing other big brands, and was soon reaching the entry and lower-mid level players as well. The company ascencled to the other end of the scale in 1976 with the Adamas lin Disproving che general rule chat anything less than fully solid-wood consecuction means a downmarker resulr, the Aclamas guitars carried rops made trom a thin carbon-graphite!birchlaminate, with 22 small soundholes of various sizes located around the upper bass hour. These also found their mark, and soon became both the choice if many pros, and a model for enchusiascic amateurs to aspire co. While some pl followed in 19% yers found the sound of chese guitars a little ‘syncheric’, che Elites tha actied solid spruce cops for a warmer, more traditional cone, bur still displayed the Adamay's multi-soundholed look, At around the same cime, the ollector’s ries gave the company something to promote to guitar collectors who had craditionally pursued the vintage-associated brands, and helped farther establish Ovation as a maker that was here to stay. In addition to their space-aged shape and construction, Ovation guitars also revolutionised the notion of electrification of an acoustic instrument. They were the first mass production models to come from the Factory in a number of electronacoustic options, and became many players’ firse road co plugecd-in ac tic guitar playing. Having weathered the general acoustic slump of the carly 1980s, Ovation expanded both in sales and model selec ction in the years thar followed. Today it remains one of the largerselling US makes, and a strong alternative brand chae plcacy of players continue to favour THE FAR-EASTERN COMPETITION While the acoustic guitar market was declining in che lare 1970s and carly 1980s, many improving Japanese imports were offering competition to long-standing American brands panez is best known for its broad range of electric guitars, which flest came ew prominence as qualicy * opis’ of many American designs in che carly 1970s, but the company has bee making acoustics since the 1930s. Ibaner flac-tops first became knows in the US mainly as decent ‘copies’ of Gibson and Marcin desir har shadowed che company’s electries of that fume. Bur more original revene lines, such as the all solid-woods Naturalwoods, acous 31asove Bruce Springsteen pictured is 1993 with his Yoraha in an unusual black finish, orroste sage A Taylor 315CE from 2002 32 nd series of the 1980s, or the innovative electric AE, Ragtime, and solid-topped Arc MASA or Talman models of today, offer good alternatives to players looking for something «lifferenc. Most Ibanez production shifted ftom Japan to Kotea in 1992, and has remained there since Alvarez and the upmarket Alvarez Yairi have long histoties in Japan, and have produced a range of quality entry and mici-level acoustics for many years — topped by some high-end, all solici-woods models made to totally original designs by AY that rival almost anything produced in the USA or Europe. Another Japanese maker, ‘Lakamine, has provided yet another quality alternative that has even hared many pros away from classic American brands. Regardless of sales numbers, or any arguments about copies v originals, Yamaha has probably forged a more solid and long-lase place for itsclf in western markets than any of the other ese makers Yamaha began making pedal organs in Ja was manufacturing pianos by 1904). Ie was making its wa guitars by 1946, bue didn’t become well known ip the USA until the mid-L960s when its good-value classicals and, a little lates, stcel-string flat-tops made student, amaccur folkie and campfire scene. By the 1970s these stecl-sering PGs and classical Gs setilarnonysshe beeeer owerrait-level pul mectevailable and were finding @ plice for themselves largely on the strength of original design rather than being the copies chat most Japanese makers were still offering. Hand-made L Series and luxuriously ornace N Series models followed, ind the brand quickly earned che respect among many more accomplished amaceurs and some professionals that it had enjoyed with stuclene and novice players for ten years ‘The company’s guitar lines have borh expanded and advanced over the years, without their popularity ever having waned. Over the past decade and a half, lines such as the chinline el. APXs, solid-topped GD classicals and DW Dreadnoughts, decorative ai le CPX Compass Series, and CSF parlour guitars heve won lots of fans. Meanwhile, Korean maker Samick has put guitars in almost as maay players’ hands als, though s any of its Japa Frequently under other names, such as Hondo, While the quality eastern imports that have been pervasive since che 1970s seemed lestined to wipe out US-made entry level acoustics, plency of home-grown alternatives have pitched solid competition for any upmarket model chat Gibson, Guild or Martin ca produce, in terms of sound and build quality, if not in numbers. WESTERN PROMISE Even for production volume, however, one US maker has put up an ascounding fight in the upper mid-tange bracker since che mid-1980s, Born out of an easy-going the early 1970s, centred around a cooperative Southern Califoraia lucherie wi . Taylor Guitars has grown into an amazingly efficiene and prolific maker, eurning out around 2 inseruments per day by the early 2ist century, which rivals any current American guicar manufactures, Taylor's success with labonr-saving production techniques such as che use c computer numeric control (CNC) curting and routing machines and bolt-on neck joines hasalso dragged other latge, long-established makers inte modern manufactory by dint of their need to compete Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug, two of the original chree Taylor founders, have forged their success largely through a combination of Taylor's design sense and Listug'’s business acumen, but the pair certainly traced a strenuous learning curve co pet from the company's birth in 1974 to where they are today. Through the course of the carly 1980s che company evolved from building rather standard jumbo and Dreadnought style guitars to producing a range oF sizes in original new shapes devised mainly by Bob Taylor himself. ‘The first of these appeared in the form of a geand concert-shaped, small-badied Size 2 model, two of which were displayed at the 1984 NAMM show in the form of a mahogany-bodicd 512 and rosewood-hodied 812. By this cime Taylor's numerical naming system was well established, denoting wood types, body size and shape, and styling, but variations and changes over the years make it difficult co offer a quick, easy guide to all of these By the early 1990s Taylor hadl a growing List of endorses, ane of whom way Leo Kortke, whose Signature Model [2-stcing — with ‘flattened’, Selmer-like cutaway and a design Intended to maximised dropped tui entre. A W8 — rapidly earned a lot of respect in that few years Later in 1996 Taylor made further waves by eroducing the 400 series, the most affordable American-made all solid-woods guitar ar that time. By now, you'd beteer believe that Marcin and plenty of other makers were taking notice In che lite 1990s and early in the following decade Taylor offered a number of special issue lines char were fancier than almost anything the maker had produced previously The 25th Anniversary XXV-DR Dreadnought and XXV-GA grand auditorium of 1999, and the Commemorative Series guitars chat followed were made with deluxe wood choices (including Taylor's use of some Brazilian rosewood for the first time since 1977) and exotic inlays. Following these, the Gallery Series extended the inlay themes to a range of underwater designs ‘Ac the other end of che market, ‘Taylor’s affordable three-quarter size Baby guitar has been a major bit with everyone from young players to travelling guitarists and slack-key stylists, and is one of the main models to have helped spark a far-reaching craze for small- bodied and travel-sized aeustics. Ar the time of writing, Taylor's staff of nearly 400 turn our close to 30,000 guitars a year, making che company one of the acknowledged leaders im the quality acoustic market After Taylor and Martin, the Tacoma company, founded in Seartle, Washingcon. in 1997 can already lay claim to being the third largest guitar manufacturer in the USA. The company’s roots stem just a lictle bir further back than this, as the Tacoma facility was established as a wood processor and occasional maker of comtzacted-out acoustics for other brands, primarily Washburo, Two of ‘Tacoma’s first offerings, the medium-hodied C1C Chief and travel-sized P1 Papoose, gained immediate attention for theie offset, ceacdeop-shaped soundholes positioned at the bass-side upper bour, their plain artite, and their impressive sound and build quulity at the price, Tecoma also offers many more traditional designs, and has since unveiled an impressively wide range, including the florentine-cutaway M16 and EM10, the Laurence Juber designed E Series, the EBZ24 with Brazilian rosewood back and sides, and many more, cotalling more than 70, instruments in the range. Since 1998 Tacoma has also offered the foreign rade Olympia by Tacoma line of more affordable guitars built to the US maker's designs Other independent quality North American makers bloomed mainly in workshops offering Martin-style guitars in wood options, appoincments, and build standards that many players felr Marcin itself coulkn’t clcliver at che timc, Many of these have moved on to produce more original designs, but most arc still paying homage to 33ISTOR 34 thac granddaddy of che American fat-top, and often topping it, as their reviews and star endorsement lists continually prove. Companies like Mossman, Gurian, Traugoct, Bourgeois, Frogey Boctom, Collings, Gallagher and Santa Cruz were all born of this echos ~ although, co be fair, many have moved on to include (or even scarted out including) more original designs. And the last of chese can certainly no longer be filed under ‘small maker Richard Hoover, Bruce Ross, and William Davis formed the Santa Cruz Guitar Company in — yep ~ Santa Cruz, California, in 1976, and quickly buile up a steady roster of clienes from the Local acoustic scene who were looking for a little more than the traditional brands were offering. Early koa-bodiced Santa Cruz D Style Dreadnoughts became popular with fingerpickers on the scene in particular, thanks in part to cheir wider than standard 14." fingerboard width at the nut. Other models had subtly innovative ewists on classic design thar made them just that extra bic more appealing co serious players: the small but deep bodied (3-fret H, the PTC with its flat top but carved arched back, che Tony Rice model based on a Martin Dreadnought with enlarged soundhole, the FS model aimed ac fingerstyle players, and many others. Not all were great successes in sales terms — and in face che classic Martin/Gibson-style models that followed would prove Santa Ceuz’s real bread'n’butter buc they showed what this maker could do, and caught the attention of more than a few name players. And by offeriny: heaucifully-made guitars like the 00, 000 and Dreadnought models, with slor hendstocks and 12 frets clear of the body, or che beautifully appointed, prewar-styled Vintage D, Santa Cruz (now solely owned by Richard Hoover) is once again providing a beced of vintage acoustic chat can’t easily be obtained elsewhere. None of these independent makers is a “budger’ option, of course, and some ~ the smaller workshops in particular, where cach guitar is likely fo receive some attention from the company founder — wear price tags that are higher than all bur che most elahorate of limited edition Marios. Bur more and more players have come to appreciare thar there's plenty of worth to be had in a well-made, hand-crafted acoustic insttument, and that the realm oF juscifiahle ‘expensive guitars’ extends to more than just vintage Martins and Gibsons. IF nothing, else, the lise of star players who have sole aff their “M? of 'G® branded acoustics to play something from the above list of makers attests to the success of these smaller luthiers. CANADIANS & EUROPEANS Qur space here is limived, ar we have stuck mainly with the major historical American makers, the modern upstart, J cheir Asian rivals. Bur great guitars have been coming out of Canada for decades, and of course many of che founders of the American art of stringed inscrumenc-making, brought their ccaft from Europe in che first place, and many fine inscrumencs are seill being, buile chere. Beeween che makes of Robert Godin's LiSiDo company, which covers the lower to mid range price brackecs (which includes La Pacrie classical guitars, and Seagull, Norman, and Simon & Patrick Luchier flac-tops), and che mid- co high-end instruments of Jean Larrivée's self-named company, the major Canadian builders have got the market well covered, Since founding his Harmony Lab cuscom guitar workshop in Montreal in 1968, Godin has been responsible for launching an impressive number of different brands and designs, mainly with che aim of providing good sounding and playing guitars to beginners and students ~ or just anyone whe doesn't have @ lot co spend, but seeks an instrument that oucperforms its price cag. The results have paid off, and cach of the makes under the LaSiDo umbrella provides outstanding value for the money. Larrivée is an equally independent-minded guitae-maker, who also founded his company in 1968 — in Toronto chis time ~ to manuficture only classical guirars ar the searc. Local demand for quality steel-string guitars led him into that cealm in 1971, bur his beginnings left an impression on his design sense, and his first and still most popular L Styleappears co be very much a classical guitar adapted for steel-string playing. Which is not to say they are half-baked conversion jobs: the early versions of these were upmarket, custom made instruments that performed stunningly, and the production models thar have followed are still impressive performers, with ¢ snappy response and full voice. The company also. offers Dreadnoughts, jumbos, 00 models with 12 frets to the body, and a petice parlour model that has won a lot of admirers. The 04 Series of 1997 became the most affordable all solid-wood flat-top made in Nocth America ac the time of its introduction, and further good value models have followed, all aligned with the Lastivée clesign ethos and the good sound and petformane thot goes with it The ever-decreasing cost of good entry-level guitars manufactured in North Ametica and of course the constant competition — and ever increasing quality — of the Asian impores means that importing guitars from Lurope to the US and Canada bas tarcly been an appealing, proposition. But plenty of guitars from across the water are deserving of respect Continental makers such as Héifner, Levin, Goya, Eko, Pramus and Hagstrom provided European and British playcrs with the fall range of acoustic types for decades, though they are little seca outside Europe. Germany's Lakewood, Finland's Landola and the Czech Republic's Fureh are larger builders worthy of a lot of respect today, but among the mid+ to high-end makes, Northern Ireland's Lowclen probably has the best ceputation Over the course of its 30-year history, Lowden has growa steadily into a recognised brand in the acoustic world, and gathered a number of pro endorsements along the way, inclucling players like Richard Thompson, Pierre Bensusan Jan Akkerman, Jacques Stotzem, Michael Hedges, David Gray and others, After 1 number of custom-built efforts, George Lowden got running as a production maker in the proper sense io the lare 1970s, In 1985, after some years in which the guitars were built in Japan, George searted a factory in Bangor, Northern Ireland, Unfortunarely, ic ran into money trouble alter only three years and changed hands, George gave the new company 4 License co build his designs, Bur in 2003 that agreement came to an end, At che start of 2004, whac had been the Lowden Guitar Company changed its name co Avalon Guitars Avalon has now dropped the Lowden designs, including his distinctive bracing, and started again with a new range. eorge Lowden, meanwhile, is once again producing his own designs in a small, six-person atelier under his own direce supervision, He also hand-builds custom instruments himself George's role in producing che guitars that bear his name has varied over the years, but mosc Lowden instruments are along che lines of 4 number of his original designs. Never one co follow ceadicion, Lowden has stecred away from the classic Martin X-bracing since 1976, using instead his own modified A-beacing system that, for one thing, helps to prevent boominess in Dreadnoughts and other large-bodied guitars. His otiginal O Series (also ‘Original Series Jumbo’), a rounded, medium-lurge-bodied shape, continues to be the company’s most popular range. The F Series ‘Midi Jumbo’ and $ Series ‘Small Bodied’ are also popular, while the 1D Series comes as close as anything the company does to the original Martin Dreadnought shape. ‘The high quality of a number of great British luthiers working today warrants greater coverage than space here allows. The craft has really blossomed in the UK in recent years, and with guitars from the likes of Manson, Brook, Fylde, Dave King, Thm Mates, Moon and | | Ed Robertson of The Baronaked Ladies with his Canadian-built Larrivee, 35others available on a homegrown hasis, without shipping costs or impore duties added to their cost, more and more British players are finding they don’t have ro urn to North America to hunt down a first-class, high-end acoustic guitar bcLOW A National Style 0 square-neck RESONATORS resonator guitar from: 1935. ovposire pact San House, master of Betta blues, with his trademark an electronic amplifier, they wore pumping it out through the spun-aluminium speaker National. before guitarists wore broadcasting theic playing throngh a paper speaker cone coupled cones of National guitars’ unique built-in acoustic amplification system. The principle is just the same, in acoustic terms: a moving cone thar enlarges che vibrational energy transferred inco it, ancl thereby amplifies « sound. A simple thing, but in the days of drowned our flat-tops and arehtops on increasingly fonder bandstands, chis self-peojecting lesign was a revelation Born out of an idew devised by Hawatian-style player George Beauchamp, and made a reality by Loy Angeles inventor John Dopyert, the first production resonator guirar was feleased in [927 hy Dopyera’s own National company, which had been founded juse a year before to build banjos. In face the success of Nacional’s tri-cone resonator guitar, and che single-cone designs thar would soon follow from Dopyer's breakaway company Dobro. would serve to pur more than a few banjos into storage, chanks co the incredible improvements in volume thar they offered over traditional guitars. Of course by only che middle of the next decade the increasing prevalence of electric amplification for guitars would equally pat plenty of resonator guitars inwo storage... but chat hauncing, mecallic, reverberant sound would survive down che years, and is more popular eoday chan ever before The first resos had bodies of “German silver’, which is accually a nickel alloy (ochers would soon also be made of bell brass), and carried chree chin spun-aluminium cones that opened cowaed the inside back of che body, wich cheir apexes resting on a three-point bridge piece for transference of string vibrations. National's original Silver Hawaiian came in four styles of increasiny decoration, numbered from Sryle 1's plain body to Style 4’s elaborate floral engravings, and each was available in round or square neck, che Llattce far moe popular in the days when most were played lap-style with 2 sreel slide. The o {ginal Dobros, on the other hand, had wooden bodies and a single, larger spun-aluminium cone that opened outward. Boch were aimed ac roughly the same target market in the late 1920s and early 1930s, bur down the years the steel-hodied Nationals have evolved to become the Delea blues players’ fayourice, while che Dobro has generally been the bluegrass slide player's guitar of choice, In ch ¢ of this wood-bodied tivalry, National quickly stepped in co make irs own more affordable single-cone models in beth wood and metal —as well as many more decorative versions of the type — and over the years there has been na end of confusion between the cwo makes among players less than totally immersed in the details of cheir parallel histories National offered resonator guitars until 1941, but during the war years the company evolved into the wider-reaching Valco of Chicago, which concentrated more heavily on the electric guitar market. The Dobri name has cropped up under a range of owners in the intervening years, but these resos have been made by the Original Musical Instrument company since 1970. Meanwhile, both wood- and metal-bodlied tri-cone and single-cone resus in many original National types are again being macle to a high standard by the National Reso-Phonic company, founded in San Luis Obispo, alifornia, in 1989. A range of smaller makers arc alsn currently producing similar designs, while budget versions of borh metal and wood resonator guitars are available from Asian import brands like Ozark and Vintage. All can take a little practice ta gee the hang of, but the hecter of chem will sound gorgeous with the right touch and technique — and scill offer the louclesc acoustic performance of the unplugged worldNotation & ! Tablature }}) Rolls Ce all recognition. Not CGE CR ck eat oe Pincus cent) eet Me 1 eet ci SCM NUL Ime Let ae Pee tenet Cuma eases ance CS of technique: Over the past decade and a half, acoustic guitar has ex Cola AER alata esol eee ML ital Rete) folk and ‘unplugged’ music in recent years, it has also rock and jazz. Acoustic-only players are no longer ch doing far more than just strumming. Given the n in order to become a complete musician. Hold otost players will always want to specialise to some extent in one type of music or nother, however eclectic rheir understanding of the bigger picture. But che ES degree of cross-fertilisacion herween penres today is immense. As a guitarist you stand! «© benefit cnosmously from the inspiration offeres! by previously unfamibar forms, Jaze can influence blues, country can influcace rock, Latin can influence pop, African ean influence jace and on it goes, in 9 near-infinite variety of combinations The following chapters offer » grounding in 11 of the mast crucial Furms of guitar playing toda with the aim of helping you to hone your skills in your chosen style while breadening your ability to encompass a whole range of musical moorls, Newcomers co guitar playing, will have a chance tw make a start wich some of the more basic lessons in the “Getting Started chapcer chat opens the book; ic is che only one aimed at the absolute beginner, Otherwise, each chapcer carries a range of lessons suited co players ranging from novice co advanced, Byen the most skilled pro should be able co cake away a few new cricks and useful licks from these pages Given the space allowed, none of these chapters pretencis to be ‘the final word! on « style eicher, although cach offers the skills needled co make you confident in the genre. If une — or « number ~ of the new styles really grabs you, you will be well equipped to begis: deeper study Or you can just rake a few new klezmer and Celtic licks to your next blues sig, and blow your ‘own boundaries. GUIDE TO NOTATION SYMBOLS If you're not familiar wich the symbols used in scanclare music notarion and tablature ¢eab), this section provides on introduction to most of what you will encounrer, As the range of musical symbols is vast, this primer wor't be exhaustive, but it will give you enough to get you chrough the following chapters. You'll find further guidance on any new symbols of instructions you encounter — particularly in more advanced nocation — within the explanatory text accompacying the exercises themselves Allexercises, other than these of pre rhythm notation, will be represented in both stanclard notation and fab, while some symbols are com mon ro both systems, others are used only 0 one went below the or the other. While many exercises will include suggested chords For accompan hotram cab line, chord boxes will nor always be piven, unless the chords themselves are the point of the study, of the author feels ic woul! be par ‘ularly helpful to provide some guidance about unfamiliar chords. Note also that indications of rhythm will be given only in the staridand notation, through the use of traditional note values. READING TABLATURE A complete course in readings music in standard notation would cake more space than is available here, Buc cablacare ~ cab, for shore ~ is easily explained, ‘Tab is essentially a mechod af showing finger placements thac correspond co che notes shown on the stave of music directly above it. IC enables guiarises with no cradicional music-reading skills co play exercises regardless. If you're new to tab, the key points to noce are that it uses no tradicional ‘notes’ as such bur casrics numbers in their place, thar ie is made up of six horizontal Lines instead of five and chat ic carries no clef or key signature, Fach of the six horizontal Lines repsesents a string on the guitar beginning with che lowest line, representing the low E-string Yo help you remember which way is up, the notes of che open strings are written alongside the tab lines (see figure 1, top). For exercises in “alrernace’ cunings, the altered string-note values will be given instead, as in the exercise in DADGAD caning (figure 1, bottom), Numbers on the lines indicate the fret at which to hold down thac seeing, while a ze10 (() indicates that an open string is to be played 39 Bh at 5 Figure 1“The majority of notacion symbols are used 10 instruct you in che nuances of linger movement requited to play a piece with the correct “fee The notation —or string/free number combinations in the tab — cells you which ores co sound bur without che symbols ir would be nearly impossible to determine che subcleries of playing, techaigue that make a pacticular seyle of riff secoynisable. Bends Siring bends are indicated by 2 scart small ‘arch’ syrobol Linking ic to a second nove Gomecimes i uote co be played befire che bend occurs, and a parencheses), which is che note achieved at the peak of the bend, Jn tals, che arch Links che starting note to che fret number whic! ‘equates co the second nore, even though the bending finger stays ac che same fret BU” instructs you to ‘bend up’ (Figure 1), Bend releases are signified in the reverse, ‘BLY relling ‘you to ‘bend clown’ (Figure 2) Shee a = AS toate roca | Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 When the pre-bend note is not to be sounded but merely provides a starting fret posicinn to bend from, it will he in parentheses, with PLS for ‘pre-bene! (helow-right). LIO’ means ‘let down’ (igure 4). You will also see an upside-down arch below notes where the symbol would otherwise clash with an un-hent note on a higher string (figure 5), Where an up-bend is incended as more oF an inflection, withour a concloeling note a ful rane higher, you will see che initials “BSS’ for “bend semirane shar Fingerings Some exercises offer fingering; guidance in the form ef small numerals alongside the ores in che scave, telling you which finger co use for fretting, chat nore, where 1 =index (figure 7) Ifa riff is repeated, chese fingerings willl generally only be given for che first example co avoid Clorrering the stave GlisS Gliss is short for ‘glissanio’, the vcem uscd in classical music wo ineeate a steady slide betwcen notes, [n more contemporary forms the technique is olten relerred w as 2 ‘slide’ or ‘linger slide’, but still indicated as ‘yliss’ in che notation. A gliss can yo up or down (Higures 8 and 8), ‘With a uliss trom one note tm another, an arch symbol similar co char used co indicace a bend — appears in che seave, with an arch or adjoining line in che cab. The vechnique involves simply playing che first note, chen sliding along the required number of frets to reach the second nove A uliss symbol placed before or after a single nore (Figures 9 and 9a) tells you to slide to or from an unspecified picch, but to land on the nove given Hammer-ons and Pull-offs Novws generated by hammering on or pulling off a string aca particular fret are indicated with a linking arch and che absence of a picking symbol. Other runs are generated with a picked note to start, wich those following hammered or pulled Figure 7Inrerpreting which is required is based! on the diteccion of the musical line, Ascending notes are hammered, and descending noses are pulled oll. This applics whether a phrase is totally hammeripull generared (igure 10) or is launched wich a pick stroke (igure 11) Harmonics Nocural harmonics — chose achieved by damping a string directly over the 12th, filth or seventh free for example — are indicated by a diamond-shaped nore in the stave accompanied by a ‘Nar harms’ direction and a broken Line extending the length of the harmonics duration, The same is indicaed in the cab by che Letters ‘Nib followed by a broken line (fire 12). Arcificial harmonics — chose performed by fretting a note and damping the same string, 12 frees higher ~ are indicated in che stave wich che fretted note in parentheses and che damped (harmonic) noce in the shape of a diamond, an octave higher, and accornpanied by the Letter ‘T’ followed by che rot number (Gigure 13). In che cab, this is indicared by using 4 number for the frectex! nore followed by one for the damped note an octave higher, given in parentheses, along with che “Ah’ symbol | Figure 10 Figure 11 9 Symbols Pick strokes are indicated with two types of symbols. They are noe universally given in all exercises, bur are generally included where picking direction is critical cu the feel of the picce ¢figure 14). = = downstroke ‘ = upstroke Rake A rake — wheve the pick is drapged smoothly across che strings, hitting each scring individually but in swilt succession — i indicareel by a wavy vertical line ending. in. an arrow indicacing the way the pick should flow (usually from low noveisering to high in these chapters) This is generally accompanied by che wor ‘rake’ between the stave anc! tab Line dfiguee 15% Rhythm Patterns Lines cepresencing pure rhychm patterns, without note values for pitch occur in 2 couple of different focms (particularly in the “Worle Music! chapter) where non-melodic thychm paccerns played by drums andor percussion are crucial ro the genre. ‘These may be represenced as one-line ‘Staves! with beat values given per insceumene (figure 16), oras normal f line staves with bear values given bue no picch indication o ordinary nores falling, all on the same space (0 indicate a lack of pitch value (figure 17). ‘Uhe corcect interpretation of each will be explained within che relevance individual chapters. Triplets Wharever che rhychmic value of their constituent notes (which, af course, is always the same for cach note in a cheee-nore grouping), triplets are indicated by the number '3' and linking brackets above or below the appropriate notes in the stave ¢figuce 18} Similasly, where sexeuplets occur — though a rarity — they are indicaced by che number 6" and linking brackers above or below che appropriace notes in the stave (figure 19), As for septuplers and ‘fiveruplers’ (quintuplets) — yes, they exist — che same applies, bike egg Pye ens area peter ‘he vow > C ty Sonclave23 : Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17Lodi a Getting Started. Smee Mee elle Mc Me (Me CCM ttm c crt ciel) introduction to playing. It is intended to provide a thorough grounding in what many players would ‘acoustic guitar’ style; the rest of the book will take you a lot further. think of as the guitar playing in general — and that usually means acoustic guitar Hundreds of thousands of people the world over have gained a lifetime’s enjoyment from the instrument without progressing past what this chapter offers; but it is also the perfect preparati Teele MUR ORM Rye car cee i Rees el aa Pee eae Reese ent Reraas earn Ol eee Tae Oar mete Seca acoustic guitar is where they begin, Generations of would-be rockers have heard their parents say they should start on an acoustic before thinking about an electric, and plenty of guitarists never find a need to move on from this incredibly versatile box of tricks. Of course much of what is learned on an acoustic guitar can be transferred to an electric vice versa. Despite their different appearances, boch types of guitar are tuned the same and the same configurations of notes laid out on the fingerboard. If you know how to play an eee eee eo ere nea Buc working first with an acoustic can build more strength into the hands. An in Oneness oe Che aches eel ered ee eg ee teary ce Peete TOO RS es ee OT Ce restr eae a metre ant erred acoustic properly set up, to have its action checked, so the initial phase of learning is corte itt Pores net ae ORO stearate see tater Nee eee eee eee ae ea Rona eer ete cen eet ete Reet me ere eTy SoCs Rance earch Cen teeter ee Dat ant tr PR Re eR eas ee Ses om ceo eta ene mcereri 215 SEU a eC oe ero eo Re Re cm a ea aes aes ence eee tae Smee eee nese cee ns Pes forming unfamiliar chords around a wide, flat neck, as experienced particularly, with ‘classical’ type nylon-strung guitars, Steel strings might inicially be harder on the fing a enced of such guitars are usually easier to wrap your hand around, and you can alw: r roa| | : strings co ease che effort. Plenty. Rien eee emt acct) Acoustic guitar has always been doesn’t need electricity of an changing chord shapes unt Ream aihd Sg a earai ery e fee Pe eae fee age ce a ere iitsas 2 Beant yn guitar is to be able to finger-p EAI ccon Ghee Ciccomu caer ee See ee pee Ssiors Peete ceive Pemer tageMAJOR AND MINOR CHORDS Ie makes sense to seart with some cliords, so here sre the shapes for che most-used major and minor chords. Notice that in comparison to che majors, the minors sound sad, ‘The emutional contrast of ‘brijtht’ major with ‘sad’ minor is crucial to the vase bulk of Western music As you tackle the shapes check char each sceing that should be sounding ér sounding. When we Hingers are in che right place, play each scring individually. IF noces do not sound, the usual causes are: a finger on che metal fret, a finger too far away frum the metal fret, not pressing hard enough, oF a freeting finger touching and therefore muting an adjacent string. A special word must be suid about che shapes for B, Bm, ¥’ and Him, These involve playing a barre, bue you can use the version without the full barre for now, unril your fingers ger used to the required positions. With B and Bn the buss note on the Fifth string: is therefore opeional MAJOR AND MINOR CHORDS | | qeSeteaes SeS3 5 eee ee er Sebel F @ Dm Em ooo xo xxo 90 Wea eee eee ws 1435 1:5 1035: 150 ee Master the chords on this page and you will have the most common major and minor variations at your disposal, along with some barre shapes you can move up and down the neck to create different chords. The numbers beneath each of the chords show the role each note is playing, A basic ‘triad’ has a root note (1) which gives it its name. The other two notes, the third (3) and ‘the fifth (5), occupy the third and fifth steps in a scale built on the root, More complex chords add extra notes from the scale. 135 15175354 44SEVENTHS The next most common group of chords is the sevenths, ere are tive types formed by adding 2 single no.e 10 the major chord, Don't worry if you can’t play the B7 and FT barre chords ally. ‘The B? barre version will give you a different AT if you take off the barre and move the fingers wo frets toward che nut, The hetle finger with The major seventh chord has a richer sound than the first type. Again, leave the Bmaj? and maj? if you find them difficult. The Bilrma)7 has the advantage of heiny « movable chord that docsn’c have avbarre, Make sure that all the strings that should he sounding are, otherwise you SEVENTHS al aT a? 1 At t t 1 t AUSSIE NSIS Vopr 35: fez aT 15% 3 ASR! These seventh and major seventh || expand your vocabulary considerably, and add richness to your playing. They are simple variations on their major counterparts and relatively easy for the beginner to form. 4546 USING A CAPO In onder co make playing in difficulr keys easier, guitarists use a device known as a ‘capo This may look Like a medicval instrumenc of rorture bus, as & guitarise, it’s one of your best friends Te acts as « first finger substitute when holding a barre, or alternatively i¢ cao be chougshe of as @ movable nut. Ifa key would normally mean lors of barre chords (and an aching hand) the capo will allow you to tum most of the barre chords inco open string shapes. Here’ an example: you necd (0 play a song thar was recorded in A, major and uses As, Byrn, Cm, Dj, By and Fm — all batte chor, If you par the capa at the firse fre each chord cam be played with the shape of the chord a semitone below it Actual pitch: Bm Cm D, — Fm Capo shapes «= Gs Am Bm ©) OD OEM Much casicr, and it sounds better toa! And that's nor ehe only way we could do it... Actual pitch A Bm cm D, EB Fm Capo TV sha: «= EB Fam Gém AB Cm Or, for an extreme conerase Actual pitch A Bm cm D, E& Fm Capo Villshopes, © Dm Em FG Am You will norice thar as the capo yoes up the neck che timbre of the guitar will change, This is somethi thar songwriters use deliberately. They also use a capo to shift. a chord sequence up or down a key co better suit eheis voice, which saves learning new set of chords, Lastly, if you play guicar with a friend, using a capo high on one of che guitars can ezcate ® resonant sound with che e¥o guitars playing the same chords high and low: Actual pitch G Am Bm Cc D Em F Guitar L Open chords G Am Bm Cc D Em F Guitar 2 Capo Vilshayes = «Dm «Em FOG Am B, MINOR 7, SUSPENDED 4, SUSPENDED 2 CHORDS By merely moving beyond the hasic major chords — where appropriate — to other shapes that arc’ much more difficult to play, simple songs can take on added tension and atmosphere Here are three other types of chord that are often found in songs, and can be useful mood builclers. The minor sevenths are the minor yersion of the A7, B7 and so on previously shown ‘The Bm? will yield an alternative Am? if you take off che barre and move the Fingers two frets down toward the nut. The little finger with FAm? is optional The suspended fourth chords axe often used co inject deama into song, accompanimentbecause of their cension, In the case of Asus’, su: anc] Fsus4 all char is required is to add a note to @ simple major chore shape. The Asus? and Dsus? are popular because the reverse happens: you just lift a finger off a string that would! usually be fretted for A or D. The sus2 is ot as conse and has an open, ‘hollow’ sound A MISCELLANY OF EFFECTIVE ACOUSTIC CHORDS Here are 16 chords that sound great oo an acoustic guitar. Some are created by either lifting a finger off x noce with a common barre shape (Bmadd4, Eim7add 11, FmajTaddl 1) or moving, a chord shape up (D6/9, Amaj?), of are unique ‘voic ss" — Hike che © which has a 12-string resonance because within it there are rwo Gs and nwo Es at che same pitch Also included are two first inversion chords — G/B and DEH — chac often feature in acouscic songs. First inversion simply means chat the ror note is noc che lowese in the chord, che ‘chire shove it is played instead ~ che nore char is ewo tones higher than the roar ina major chord. Try chese out and learn che anes you like for your own playing, MINOR 7 AND SUSPENDED CHORDS Dsus Esust 4748 | EFFECTIVE ACOUSTIC CHORDS Fem7addl! p%add"! Bm add? c eer er er ee er ee é t e || |e e oo @ ee G Em? Amadd ? Bm? i 1 Titer i @ J \¢ ® | | [ee 6 Hi | @ | e| AN jno 3rd) Wadd? fo] é el eo Ge DiFE cadd? Amaj? e e\4@ @ | e @ @| |e)STRUMMING PATTERNS ‘Now you have plenty of chords to play with. So let's cum our attention to the hand that hits the strings. Although it is possible to scrum with your thumb or the upperside of your fingers, the best cone for straight-on rhythm playing is produced by using. a pick, or plecerum, These smal] pieces of plastic are held beeween thumb and forefinger (don't use your second finger because you might want to phuck a string with it at the same time as holding the pick). The thumb: crosses the finger at approximarcly a right angle. Most of the pick should be gripped — ehete doesn't need to be much showing co hic che steings. Picks come in various shapes and thicknesses, For acoustic stramming,@ thin one is easiest to beyin with and might give the best tone for jangly bur nor-too aggressive chythm playing. Thick picks par up more resistance against the strings and cake a little more effort, while also inducing a licrle more volume. The ing, action is mostly from the forearm as it hangs off che cop of che guitar but the hand sometimes contributes a little for emphasis ‘The essence of good strumming can be summarised as follows: evenness of tone, avuiding hrass strings chat are not meane co be hic, the ability co strum up and down with equal facility, controlling che volume, and keeping steady Cime. Icalso means knowing when and how to leave Exercise 1 eis us started). Hold down an B major chord. Tap your foor, coune so yourself, of see a metronome xoing ac a medium cempo (around 80 to 90 bpm). This exercise is in 4/4, ‘which means four beats ro €ach bar. Strum downwards every other beat, then on each beat, then twice on each beat (cighth-notes of quavers), then four times on each beat (1 6th-notes oF semi quavers). Depending on how fast or slow you're going you may find that secumsming twice and for times to a beat is too difficult just going downwards. The answer is to strum down and up, alternating, Exercise 2 gives nine strumming patterns. The first is a strum in straight cighths. Notice how with each cxample some strums are taken away; the chord is allowed ¢o ring. ‘The rule is the fascer the tempo the longer a gap you can leave. With [V there is the introduction of a ‘tie This is the line joining the fifth quaver to the fourth. A tie means you strike the first of the joined pait but not the second. Instead, the first lasts for the length of time of both notes, In any song you could use any one or 2 mixture of strumming pacccrns. Your choice will depend ‘01 mood, tempo and “grvove! id 3 eo8 By a 4 8 44 ft ade Jinn om! ae wee wiee Ween tet jaa tad YE ta od ot Sete lpia. allel Talend MI 1 t 2 tt ar 1 yt J LITT] dd a FT] i . needOne way to make your strumming more interesting is to pick some of the bass nores of the exert chords individually and then hit the chord, as @ 3. This style is known as pick’n’scrum, The bass nore is usually: che roor nore of the chord. Here is 2 well-known chord sequence that lends itself co this approach In exercise 4 the bass nores are not all roor notes, though che cechnigue is the same Introductions to songs and Links between choruses and verses someticnes feature a phrase played in single notes, with chords in hecween, as in @X@WEISE 5. A song like ‘Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd or the incre ro Led Zeppelin’ ‘Over The Hills And Par Away’ acc examples of this popular approach to pick’n’strum, el] abel wl shat oll eal all ea mini ae a oR - 2 1 ae 1 —— 3 3 0 3 —-{ 2 2—-o 0 0 3 = am c > G1 TRACK : + - i >} 4 F Fy F aS 2 2 = 3 a 3 i FS toto = Fim Bm Do BASIC FINGERPICKING PATTERNS Exercise 6 shows 14 differenc finges-picking pattems. Notice how the thumb looks after the bass notes. In cach case che mores of the chord are sounding bur in a different manner to the simultancous effect of scrumming, Fingerstyle playing generaces ics own chythm, too, You can easily adapt the patterns for 6/8 co 3/4, Most of the examples use a € chord, a five-string chor! with its root on the fifth string. You can find variations of chese pacterns for chords with heir root notes on the fourth of sixth strings. Obviously the more strings in a chord the more patterns you could devise to play them, Let's continue by trying some slightly more complex fingerpicking exercises. Examples XT- XIV take « bit more work before you can do them unconsciously because of their syncopated! rhythm. Remember to work out the thumb pattern first and then fit the uther nows to it Example XIV is « two-bar blucs pattern in swung thythoy — each beat divides into che feel of three rather than two,‘a 4 TRACK con) T= a—o0- =e aliss 2 : : WV vl i b ; : ; Se a & vit | x xi oa f + = x eT b ata Ot =Exercise 7 is a simple ascending fingerpick applied co a popular chord progression with a descending bass-line, The 6/8 time signature means cwo beats in a bar, each divicling into cheee 123, 456. Take ic slowly ac first, chen build speed and play ad infinicurs uncil you yer the hang, of it. Te will feel repetitive, certainly, bue chis is che sore of exercise that really buildls your flogexpicking skills Exercise 8 also scars an A minor but in che lacer bars moves up the neck. Novice the way the open B-string is used. Inicially che noces are in ascending, order, bur from bar three that pattern is broken up and the pitch order is less peediceable, Jeou C4 TRACKB Am 6 prt DmiF Em oe.In exercise 9 « simple ascending finger-pick is applied ro a chord sequence in which a number of inversions are used to join up ront position chords, This is common in folk playing, DPA and C/E ae first inversions; che note after the forwacd slash sien ()) is the lowest in pitch. The Bm7/F# and Am/E are second inversion chords, in which the fifth of the chord is ac the bottom. Exercise 10 also uscs some common inversions but the direction of picking is reversed. Notice also that two notes are sounded together for each group of quavers in bars 1-3 Like 3/4, 6/8 eime lends itself 0 up-and-clown patterns like this one, Exercise 11 is another common progression with a descending bass line. EX@reise 12 (over the paye) is a syncopated piece wich an alternating thumb playing, the bass notes (marked p). The progression is similar to Buercise 7. Let the notes ring for as long, as possible COT TRACKA A f coasts as ae al ad +4 La 2 2 2 | = E c ——____ { _ 5 ° St & 2 2 © ° ° 2 > ; e 3 2? ° 2 = 6 1-86 — er === S=— "aa S ee ae aj a + 3s? z a 2 } ce a 3 4 o 1 Jos 1 0 —o oo | of z oo 0 | ss 2 a 2 3 ' c oe Am ee © on FIA Em | cD TRACKS e a ie Ss } e+ t ° —————= 3 st 2 © ° \ 5 0 ea ° : 2 — Dadeoret Em ar€Ot TRACK? hyp a hy fee —* 7 t ro = or re mee ea r f ea iz 1 i 3 la 0 1 rs ate? ai ; eee Pe. 8 > oe 6 p & 6» $8 »® :ALTER! TUNINGS Standard cuning ~ EADGBE ~ is a wonderful compromise that allows a guitarist to work io many keys, despite its bias coward E minor. Many acoustic guitarists, however, have searched for new tones by altering this tuning. Some players scumble on alrered tunings by default — no-one showed them how to cune the guitar ‘properly’ so they simply used their ear and tuned the sttings co an open chotd (Richie Havens anid Joni Mitchell spring te mind). Others chased new tunings consciously co emulate che droning effects of non-Western inscrumenty such as the sitar, ot to make it casier co Keep a bass going and improvise a melody: An altered tuning can ercate beautiful new chords and stimulate your creativity. These new musical tersitories come at a price, however. Fitst, there is the caning in and out of them, with the attendant risk of broken stsings and iffy intonation. Sccond, if you find some beautiful chords you had better write them down, Remembering chord shapes in cen different tunings is okay if you play the pieces regularly, but once they slip from the mind it can be a frustrating job crying to recall what they were! SINGLE STRING ALTERATION ‘The simplest way co begin playing, around with new tunings is simply ¢0 change one string. For chis hook I've invented a runing in which the 1D string is detuned by @ semitone to C4, giving us FA C#G BE. Todo this, fet C4 on the fifth string at che fourth fret and lower the open D uncl the ewo are in rane (to get back to standard reverse the process). This implies an A dominant ninth chor. I've supplied eight chord shapes and two short exercises you can play in this tuning. Exercise 13 is a riff wich a bhnesy swing rhythm bne some unusual chords. Try to keep the bass note steady and fic the bighcr parrs aroucdd it. EX@reise 14 is simple upward picking. The idea is to play i slouely and Let the strings ring. so you can hear the unorthorlen chord tones caused by che altered caning. IF ehese give you some new ideas, you ean make up your own. EAC/GBE CHORDS “© These chords provide a quick guide to some easy shapes in the tuning of EACHGBE, which itself makes a simple introduction to altered ‘tunings, having only one string - the D - changed from standard tuning.‘The mose famous single-stcing alteration is known, somewhat confusingly, dropped D’. More accurately, ehe bottom E is “dropped” — chat is, tuned down a tone co D. This cuning is popular wich cock players because the bottom three strings makes power-chord and the low 1 is good for launching heavy riffs. Folk players like it because it provides an octave open sering DD with the fourth siting for an aleemating chumb technique. The fretting hand is thus free to move wherever ir wants on the neck, This cuning produces much deeper sounding six-string 1D and Dam chords In exercise 15 the fourch and sixth open strings are played by the thumb. Above these, ‘series of thirds and fourths move up and down. This is one way of crcatinig an accompaniment fora voice. The thumb only aleernaces on the bear in the 12/8 picec in exercise 16. Above, the fingers fret a single-note melody with some decorative hammer-ons and pull-ofls. Again, xet your thumb working tight first, then fit che melody to the steady pulse of the buss notes, cot the other way around, D4 TRACK® tt chi TRACKAOOPEN G MAJOR After the single-string alteration we have open runing proper, where the strings are enned to make a simple major or minor chord. Each of che six strings is tnd ro one of chive chord rones The most popular open tuning is open G (also one of che most popubir cuoings for Five-steing, banjo). The notes of a G chord are GBD. Standard tuning already has those chtes notes on strings four, three and cwo, so the rning is created by lowering strings six, five and one down until they come to the nearest of thase three Pores. The di E A D G B E 2 2 - - - 2 D G D G B D The immectiate practical effect of this tuning: is that a barre placed across the top five strings at any fret will create a root position major choral. ‘The three chords needed for a 12-bar pregyression and many other songs will be found on che open strings, ar the fifth and sevench frees, wich che 2th fret giving an octave higher. Strang, harmonics are also available ar frers five, seven and 12 by laying a finger across the seri right over the meral free bur nor pushing them ayainse che fretboard. Surike che serings and yencly pull che floger away and you will hear the ghostly, bell- like tones of harmonics. Open G makes a very full sound if strummed. Ha barte is hell down various nores can be added by che other fingers. The first chree chord boxes below indicate how chis is done. The tuning is also used co provide drone noces, as octaves or sixths or chircls are moved! up che neck “Try holding down che second fret on the firse and fourch si wss (an oecave) and move this up and down as you scrum all che serings. Open cunings also lend] themselves to slide playing, Keith Richards used open G on Rolling Stones classics such as “Brown Sugar’ and ‘Start Me Up’, Use a capo with an open tuning if you ‘wish (0 change its key. Open G wich a capo at the chird fret becomes open By major, OPEN G CHORDS Mast accomplished players can quickly pick up some refreshing new melody lines by changing to an altered or open tuning, but finding and remembering new chord shapes can take a lot more work. These chord boxes make a handy compendium of fingerings to get you started in open G. Some even make useful ‘movable chords’ to take you to new positions. me at? ae Smal? € Am add? entity eet gs cs ° x B i é ] e a 1 a + | f Pe HE de | @@ Uf {oee é ee | | me al Em" Em D G | | E | | bieDADGAD Altered cunings need not make a simple major or minor open chord. (DADGAD is one of the most popular examples of a more complex tuning. Ir has misleadingly been called a ‘modal tuning, In fact, it’s a Dsus chord. DADGAD was introduced into the world of folk guitar in the eafly 1960s by Davey Graham, a key figure in che English folk scene. Tt has been used by many playets since, including Pietre Bensusan, for whom ic is now ‘standard caning’ and in a rack context by Jimmy Page, who used it for che mighty Led Zep epic “Kashmir Here are some DADGAD chord boxes for you to strum of finger-pick Yo conclude, @X@rCise 17 is a composition entitled ‘Postcard To Denys) a fun piece with lots of bends and decorative hammer-on/pull-off figures cypical of the style known as folks baroque’. It should be played with a slightly sloppy touch. In keeping with its humorous spirit the intro alludes t» “Purple Haze DADGAD CHORDS oo o7 Dmaj? 6 E add? Em 2020 00 oo o 99 ° Ko xo oo eer 0: @—)—9}-8 —— 9-3-8 4—5—4 a { — - fo — 3 6 0 282832 gliss Se ww 2 * x ooo Sh 5 at - : © 433086 a i 10,14,36,40 58pS ‘| ‘ ii a L aie e 5 = | KF ef op Hold bend v au Pou es P i p30 + 4 owe tO 3 6 a2 ° Ht ee eee a re ee : —— * Sag cae oes 2 oiet at Tog SS = = =) [ i G to 3 f of 2nd time rail — a ee a g $ Sse oa — 8 7 8 5 ‘ 2 oe oa 8 =) 2—0-|-3 — 3 ° 288 a a a e230 © + + = é = o 0 — B oa peas ao —-s + 3 32 as 3 = ~ - Nt harm + = i to, eS if oo Na ° -2 8 8)-2)-(0y + se 6 eee OEE gE agg a z mleU, A (12) ee 3 -—? ° SS 7)Caw Rock & Pop Bc eMuemale Meer Cina eRe mcele ae it amon tea tT Telcc akties ea) L playing a range of musical forms across the two styles, from the late 1950s to the present; in short, the bulk of the most popular music played and enjoyed today. There’s =~ nothing to stop you playing most pop and rock styles on the acoustic guitar, although <- ees can be difficult, and of course distorted styles won't sound the same. Plenty of people enjoy playing popular tunes in this style, or writing their own, whether they eventually eventually take it electric with a full band set-up, or keep it unplugged for their own enjoyment. ore aah estar eer ateste uh ca haefome ty: term ect tater ese rad Coe gs aR cee nc ce a am ce aa See ae sce aca differences, of course. Rock guitar tends to make more use of distortion, but even in full-blown Free eer eater ve ea eet terete ate ren te ge te Sie aeons ences Efe a recreate art Ces as geri ae ta ee Cat a ct Nac se ee aE ee pop the guitar basics remain quite stable. Eddie Cochran and Kure Cobain might have had 30, Povene aaNet ata nomi eatr Cesena tear sca sag TCR Rett eacer 34 Dee ie eater lo meence aM Mt ceae eVect a ceita grat somes toSconeT tect Col eT Buddy Holly, and Eddie Cochran that the guitar really came to fame as a popular i (reinforced by the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s). Accompanying d Frere ee epee ar te arerce Te ee tam Cee teseee eeeee re earris aetrecretretatemcecrey te electric bass and drums, This quarcet was easy co form among your friends, and the eee uc nee tate nete Rare wetter ce mur ceric our a thick, resonant harmony, underpinned by the bass (up to 16 strings soundin, Prcomrumcrtt tc ces tothe ction haart tae Pee Serie cht tate ea eosin ty easily take both roles on a single acoustic guitar, or get together with other # unplugged approximation of the classic set-up. ‘ Pree coe ech am bend trem cea actin ur a oete act) Frinton cer cme eat eee Mss er Un ace cnc ate act eC rar Sees ard eee eset aa Siem Ce ached tem coteets ola eret cnt ernest etn IVES ee te ei ante SU Ton eT) cag Toa ArTog Ta int) Prec teate tena e a ete sat eect estima eaten == B a a 2 rec featseRe n c eee Oe nA cee! raeV@ Near iceca cui tara, Ra marae erecta syst Pera een cr trcn sc bOrtamomautcanee nya yaa eee) Sar Pere et Pee eae exe iuani crt isfying tone, The most common pechon pert “Getting Rees mend Tete ere We eee rs RON Cece ose tare ne nC a eee De SOUR Ra argc ne ee Brenan sa ests ec y Buia eer saa a . % »@ ts | es fi ea gE fp tet | , el liques and ideas used in a Cee ee Bu eae —- te 2THE EXERCISES A tempo indication in ‘beats per minute’ (bpm) is given for each exercise. With a mecronome of drum machine you can hear how fast i¢ should be played, Chord indications are given below the stave, These do not necessirily apply to the notes of the exercise, They may be implied chords of chords for a bucking. ‘Yo hear the full tone-colout of these exercises wet a friend ty play the chords for you, of record them on cape and then play along, RHYTHM Let's begin with an easy-to-play tock figure that has been around since the 1950s and almost defines the word ‘boogie’, [e's important to mastce this playing feel for all sorts of mu might want to tackle, Vor @X€I 1, play toa steady chythm, at first with cownsrrokes of the pick. Larer ery alternate down/up picking for a somewhat different rhythmic feel. (The A, a 62shuffle’ variation of this figure can be found in the ‘Blues’ section } This popular rhychm has powered great rock playing from Chuck Berry to Oasis. Exercise 2 is a variation where the nore on the freeted string goes a further semirone up. Notice also the change from B to A comes an the last off-beat of har one. This syneopstion with its distinerive ‘pull! across the har-line, is ¢ypical of rack. Remember to try co ger each pair of notes the same volume Exercise 3 shows 2 subtle yer distinctive shire variarion on this theme, where rwo nores are introduced that temporarily eclipse che root nore in each bar. Syncopation is once again present on the lase ofF- bear Ik iy also possible cu use this chyshn figure in a new way by ruming ic into a sec of single notes inyread of scriking nwo nores ar 4 time, as in exercise 4. Watch our for the teunsition in bar four from hiring the sixth string «o hiceing che fourth seeing bs oe: SSS 4 a a a or —" = J a SS 2 4 63Exercises 1-4 work well in the key of A major. Bue whar if we wane to play this ehychm figure in other keys? The answer is to convert it into. fretted figure with no open strings. Don’t worry if you find chis a bit of @ stretch at fist. Drop your thumb well behind the neck. That will help your fretting hand open out. Exercise 5 shows the boogie figure following a common chord progression (chords I, IV and V in B major). Exercise 6 displays the sume idca in E major starting. on the fifth string. Starting on either che fifth or the sixth strings enables you to play it in any major key, and 0 pitch it higher ot lower. Songs like Status Quo’s ‘Papct Plane,’ Queen's "Now I'm Here’ and Super Furry Animals Rings Around The World’ feature this To help you memorise the pattern that governs the LIV-V changes, EK@FCISE 7 isolates the foot noxes, Bars 1-2 give the pattern for starting om the sixth string; bury 5-4 for searting on the filth, Exercise B shows how orig wl effeers can he had with this thychm figure by moving, between less related roor nores. Chord Vi in E major should be C# minor, nor C#, and there is ny AY in the key of B, which is whar rhe boogie figure demands. You can hear his change in T Rex's ‘Mambo Sun’ from the album Electric Warrier (1971), A further innovation is co flaccen the expected! note, as in bar four. C27 TRACK 42 1-105 ——— T [SES = 4 . 1 ae 2 — e oe oe oe @ 3 - - rr | ® : 9 19 9 9 a a GS | et =r 717+ Ee = == a 5 11s 1s 153 8 411} 9 19 19 A ye eS Se a 7 a C = Ft E 64| = Tepe rr fe 2 | a | | a 5 4 | Eat ete Ee p He er ey i . on be on . + fi oF delete i Lope te eo Kt Vy 1 ih ° + oO % e fe ie ele wh ° Hel ¢ | 7 eT} on re ms ak THe }]}2 ee - | | nina | | | i is ge Pte ste eo] ° a aa | i. ° ref Fr Awe rh mi » rio 4 pate ce oye an 4ee || ot . ° | l| aw gr tere on | is ele hit ae + on | TT) o pee on =e Hae =e rte ° We Er on + on Hee 4 we on on| w ye on | w T tte oe Tee | uw xe % 2 ht al 3 [B+ | iS | T E | 1 Ue Sy l * Nee TTL » Soe Ll. ° a S .A relared version of the thythm figure we have heen playing, occurs on the higher strings andl is based on a major triad hekl by the fisr finger. Play @xereise 9 co cry it io C major Exercise 10 is variation related! eo Exercise 2 where the finger goes up one additional fire. The note you added ro each chord in Exercise 9 is known as the sixth of che chord. If we add the fourth as well as the sixth we ger the rock rhychin figuce displayed in exercise 11. Bars 1 lack a roor note. This is sugested in bars 3-4, Te is possible but awkward: che Licele finger muse bold down the root and damp the fifth string, In exercise 12 a cclatcd figure adds the foucch snd the nich cu the basic criad Notice the A chord in bar awe hus a powerful sound because the oor noce is merely the open filth string. This figuce on A is very popular for this reason Exercises 9-12 will remind you of the Rolling Stones, the Faces, and the Black Crowes — good- cime rock'n'roll. They are standard cuning versions of figures that occur in open tunings (the ‘Getting Started’ section deals further with open G). «100 a = ¥ ———— re | 5 5 . 319 19 19 19 —1@ 49 9 a9 {| 3 : s—}— 8618 18 16 18 st 3 SSS Se E : — os sane 1Apart com the A chord in the last example, the other open-string chord that yields excellent results with these 4/6, 4/9 shapes is G. In exercise 13 bar one adds just the sixth, bar two the sixth and fourth, bar three the ninth and fourth, and bar 4 shows a common pull-off fill making good use of the open strings, Listen to ‘John, 'm Only Dancing’ by David Bowie, or ‘If It Makes You Happy’ by Shery] Crow. CB 4 TRACKAB = —| — 10° 3 1G 3--- 5 # e J-10 Se rise $8 e ‘ $4 $e se = * i a2 atest oeee soe ee et 3 e 4 . ¢ lars | SoS ee iy A ae z mo od : p33 spy | aa ae : see ee ; = 3 8b =} 88 3 Ot) eu 3 36) 333 —-3-0)— : et 67 CEE 1. uetl | | be oi neo Ne he Mm iol NL | ? p | Teer one TT ne FI mane l HEewyty awe ° ‘. k {see ene Hee ub Cer |e | ry 7 * yet on 1 LL A 4 VW | | | hl (" | #0 Ls P Hires || lade 1K Ute my 7 Ty - +e ll ite ond tal g There pane Hl | | [i dala baka i Teer ane ae rH (rr) TI] o bate. ne] oe WTS: | oho § [bo] © 4 \ wo} 1] at | np rh. ° 1° Ta ome 7 L i | TA no 7 io ata! rf 4 | Cs one yee rT ree hg > mah PPh T te + he a8 Au Wy | [rem eae! | ao we eo 00 th Hee ao pwns a of E S has np id ° ee ° - be toot pd TIE [ied | tho rr Jain bas ppb 0 8 oe poe fal 0 : # : al + il - ge 4 ete LH, NE ki ° I a”Exercise 14 shows bow new effeces can be liad by giving these shapes a less predictable twist Bar two has an E where we would expece an By, and bar cheoe has an F where we would expect Fé, This is now less Keith Richards and more Jimmy Page RHYTHM FIFTHS ‘Many of the above exercises are dominated by che interval of a perfect fifth (seven semitones) from B-B, AB and D-A. The perfect fifth is crucial ro rock guitar. It has a bate, tough, assertive sound and tolerates any amount of distortion. You may already know it under the name commonly used by rock guitarists, the ‘power chord’, and it is essential to master for ‘comprehensive rock playing, While these are employed by many players as a means of keeping heavy, distorted sounds from overwhelming the mix — as can happen with a distorted fall-barre chord, for example — they are also surprisingly effective on acoustic Strum chis soquence in exercise 15 wich open-sering chords. Then play it as fifths, es written out, Notice the difference. Even on an acoustic guitar the fifths coughen up the progression if « second guitar plays full chonds. Played at various spceds, with or without damping (to give mote ‘thud’), rhythm fifths are a surprisingly diverse rool which occurs in rock, metal, punk, new wave and grunge — heard in rhe music of everyone from Sousdgarde to Devo. Tf you play any form of cack, you'll find a use for chem sooner of Lace In @xercise 16 damp all the strings on bears ewo and four. IF you use your Little Finger eo fret the higher of the two notes in each pair it will lic flac enough to stop most of the secings sounding when needed. To damp rhe lower nore just ler the string come oll the fingerboard but keep your first finger on ie. Notice the FS occurs in bar four an octave lower than in bar ewe. 6 Ss 69ifths can be foun! in the same shape om all string pairs except chree and ewo. Exereise 17 shows how U2's guitarist The Edge mighe use high filth wich an open G-sering, which is characteristic of his guicar playing, and a significane factor of his banc! sound in general Exercise 18 sives us. fitth wich an open G-string insicle ic. As you move the fifth che open G forms different relationships with che other nores, with a moauly effect Fifths on four and three cas be moved up and down in che key of E or E minor to combine with the top (vo open strings. Notice the cesonance in bar one of exereise 19 where there are evo Bs ac the same pitch, As you move the fifths ery eo let che open scrings rin for as long as possible Fifehy also combine well with sixchs. A sixth is produced when you move either the first finger down a fret or the lite finger up a fres, as in @xercise 20. his is an idea frequently explored by Paul Kossoff, the late cuitatist of Frve If you invere a fifth you get a fourth: AE ( fifeh) becomes L-A (a fourth), Fourths combine swell with fifths. In exercise 21 fourths appear in bar four, but watch out for the way open ould be Eddie Cochran, Mick Ronson or Grees Day. bass strings add extea interest; this » Hi > === === == 10 Tr 7 ba as — e 5 T= meee we —s v v 3-8 8 1 38 8 ¢ se co 7 ——* f 70 gs Fous2 cs& 1 re 0 ath Loe 4 ila es i , ( rr) v9 bh 4 i * ajo 4 pul | rr] e iw oo hi > ° ts polo Ae bh] oe HFT the ae, LH HT i \ (|) ia vy) We ola é | | fs & w8 es e ot HH LL jz aie \ < AL ibe 49h) Dg I Hy | il rp AR th hela Tes te 8 Wie ofa Milli Ue g | | } {Ht} 6 - | my ° ae woo 4h Ul Hi oe ot et +e, os Shee 36 ere ut eI I(T) w 1 lye bbe A | AED)» hee ||| |b ] Hote 4h 7. 0 sheet Ls sts er § it oA bbe 6 ‘i (7) we | [las - = | Nea! VL ) 4] rere oF * pl | I ', ree or Spare ses jer or al af Tele 5 “es t 2 i ee (i) 3 lh tl Witt °° - Tere at | Neel 7o we TINY Bil PN fe apse ew jee || Nes ee z 2 2 aff] 3 4 a 3 a unoaeu wegacu a waseau” uaeoeu weca

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