Acoustic Guitar
I've been studying and playing the music of Leo Kottke on the guitar for a long
time. Leo Kottke was the best American
acoustic guitarist of the last half of the 20th
century. He still tours hundreds of dates a year and
if you can get a chance to see him, go. He's as much
an entertainer now as a guitarist. Now in his mid-60s,
he's slowed his style of playing down quite a bit.
For a long time I
thought I'd never hear a guitar player better or more
interesting than Leo Kottke. Recently, however, I have. His
name is Andy Mckee. When I listened to his
music for the first time I remember reacting the same
way I did when I first heard Kottke in High School.
Shock and awe. Stylistically, Kottke and McKee don't
have much in common, but they attract the listener
just the same.
It's been a long
journey for me with the guitar. I remember getting my first
guitar as a teenager and playing it for months before I
knew you had to tune it. By the way, I'm a lefty player,
which makes procuring quality instruments a little harder.
Before the internet, getting a quality left-handed
instrument was an impossibility. Now you can get a good one
if you search the web for a few months. I'll tell you a
little about my guitars in the following pages.