Acoustic acrobatics

[Grub]

the best indication of guitar greatness is what can be done on an acoustic, without the need for dubbing, fancy effects units, whammy bars and things you can only do on an electric e.g. double tapping. For true genius the top players in my book are

Leo Kottke - just check out the 'armadillo' album or 'Greenhouse'
Adrian Legg - sounds like 3 players.
Paco de Lucia - his finger style playing is faster than most shredders sweeping.
Martin Taylor - the way MT can play fast walking basslines, chords and melody lines simultaneously is something else
Tommy Emmanuel - TE is an Australian guy who does a lot of live solo shows. check him out and be gobsmacked. He will inspire or make you give up.

comments?

[chris mood]

John Williams can make the most complex passage sound like it's easy.
Paco and Leo are amazing, I know the others only by name.
Keller Williams has been on my "favorite acoustic players list" now for the past year.
Your right about acoustic vrs. electric, with acoustic there's no place to hide, especially when your playing solo instrumental.

[Edited by chris mood on 04-09-2003 at 09:28 PM]

[mc9mm]

Who says you cant tap on an acoustic?
It works fine, you just have to press a little harder.

[Grub]

Sure you can tap on an acoustic, but unamplified it doesnt sound much. After all, Michael Hedges amplified his guitar.

[toolfreak001]

I totally agree with you guys. I started on acoustic, and even though I've fallen in love with the electric, it seems that every now and then I always come back to where I started, the basics. The fundamentals of guitar ARE the acoustic, and that's a great place to start or stay, in my mind. You can't hide behind effects (most of the time), and it makes pretty much everything you do THAT much harder. It makes me sick to see these player wannabes that start out on electric, realize they can make a high pitched squealing noise when they turn it up to 10, then they think they can play the guitar. You give 'em an acoustic, and they don't know what to do.

Granted, there's a certain art behind the electric. Tom Morello does some crazy stuff that he'd never be able to do on an acoustic. And he's known for it. But he doesn't limit himself to that. And I think that's where a lot of people make their first mistake.

[u10ajf]

OK, Spannish Fly, years since I heard it but isn't that on a steel? Nuno Bettencourt's "Midnight Express" (from the album "Waiting for the punch line" which has some great lyrics and some blistering soloing) certainly is, I don't know if that's tapping or not but it scares the **** out of me.
Best Acoustic guitarist I have ever seen was a classical guitarist called Galina Vernigora, an eastern european who happened to be touring low key venues like my local theater. That's kinda like finding Alain Robert* on your bungalow roof! Totally world class player, totally ridiculous venue.Here's a site with a bit about her.
http://www.classicalguitar.freeserve.co.uk/gvale.htm

*The guy who has climbed Canary Warf, Empire state building etc without ropes)
http://www.funadventure.com/members/alainrobert/indexuk.htm