018 - Tony’s New Guitar, Jill Andrews & How to Create Nick Drake’s Sound

Cheers on this magical morn of acoustic wonderment! Happy Acoustic Tuesday fellow guitar geek, let me be the first to tell you that this Acoustic Tuesday is the last of it's kind...

Sorry, I don't mean to scare you, but it's officially the last Acoustic Tuesday of 2017 and my oh my will we send off this year with a #guitargeek salute!

Acoustic Tuesday presented by http://tonysacousticchallenge.com

I have another 5 items for you to place on your #guitargeek radar, so here goes nothin'

A vintage tone master that gives you the recipe for one of the most signature acoustic guitar tones of all time... Nick Drake. Guitarist, Josh Turner has distilled the secrets of Nick Drake's infamous acoustic guitar tone, and he gets down to the nitty-gritty. I'm talking an in-depth study of what makes up Nick Drake's unique sonic fingerprint. I also want to point out that Josh Turner is a fantastic player who communicates in "guitargeekese"... you know, the official language of guitar geeks. 

https://youtu.be/EzdQE3fJW2E

Some tips to break the sound of silence... Playing guitar and singing at the same time is a seemingly easy task, but I know once I tried it, I found out that this was no easy feat. There were a plethora of problems I experienced when trying to do the guitar version of patting my head while rubbing my stomach. So last week I released a video that gave a 3 step process showing how to break down any song and use a system to play and sing it in no time. This is one that will bring some serious enjoyment to your playing, even if you just want to give it a spin and see how it goes. 

https://youtu.be/ttSjXUlsuxA

This week I went down a bit of a musical rabbit hole and discovered something rather unexpected. I started listening to Jill Andrews at the recommendation of a friend and discovered an absolute treasure trove of great music. The album I am currently hooked on is her album The Mirror which was released in 2011. My favorite tune off of that album is called "A Little Less"

http://amzn.to/2BimTKp - The Mirror

https://youtu.be/bIIQxQhUvGc - A little less w/ Josh Olliver

http://jillandrews.com/

But there's more...

Upon searching I found she is on the cusp of releasing a new acoustic duo album with John Groenwald. This new project will tour under the name Hush Kids and you can actually get a sneak peak of their new stuff and even pre-order the album on their pledge music campaign.

https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/hushkids

Another Beard on Acoustic Tuesday? Is there even room?

The answer is yes... Beard Guitars that is. Located in Hagerstown, MD Paul Beard and his small crew are making some absolutely stunning resonator guitars. Both round neck and squareneck instruments are coming out of this shop and they sound absolutely magical. Their attention to detail and function is unmatched and the quality of their setup is absolutely ridiculous. I know this first hand as I just ordered a guitar from them (a custom Belle Beard Squareneck) and it is truly magnificent. It rings like a bell and sustains for days (cue Spinal Tap reference). Seriously these instruments are the real deal and if you have any interest in resos specifically wood bodied spider cone style resos you need to be acquainted with this fine group of artisans on the East Coast. 

http://www.beardguitars.com/

http://www.resophonicoutfitters.com/

https://youtu.be/n6lsvg1l_VU

https://youtu.be/CHYvk6VZFUY

Alright it's official, that is the last Acoustic Tuesday for 2017 thank you for an awesome year and I can't wait to share with you what 2018 will have in store...

Let's just put it this way...

Guitar Geeks will continue to unite in a major way

Cheers,
Tony