It is the early 1960s, in New York City’s Greenwich Village, a burly yet underfed guitarist fusses over a record player, the smoke from a lit cigarette curling around his head. He drops the needle again and again on a scratchy 78rpm record. As the strains of a turn-of-the-century piano rag Saint Louis Tickle warble forth, he is creating one of the first guitar arrangements for a classic ragtime piano piece. Once other musicians hear it, it will kick off what will become a movement of ragtime guitarists.
Archive | Fingerpicking RSS feed for this section
Garrin Benfield – Unbound
I’ve known San Francisco based singer-songwriter Garrin Benfield for some time. In the mid ‘oughties’ (this century has turned out sucky for decade names so far,) we were booked on the same bill at a local SF acoustic music showcase night. At the end of the evening, Garrin and I jumped onstage for an impromptu [...]
Obsessed With Guitar
For thousands of years humans have plucked things. Today as ever, the guitar inspires and is an obsession.
The focus of this blog is on fingerstyle acoustic guitar, with an emphasis on old-school fingerpicking and and folk-blues styles originated by the great bluesmen of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
Find Music by Mokai Online
Download Mokai Tracks on ITunes
