American Fingerstyle Guitar

Hi,

Happy Holidaze everyone. Right now the smell of home made bread is in the air as I contemplate the end of a fabulous musical year; a year that exceeded my expectations. I played a bunch of new and old venues, new and old house concerts, filmed a half dozen TV shows, played at some great festivals, got to play with old friends and made a bunch of new ones too, oh, and I got to see a big part of this beautiful country on my Sea to Shining Sea and Back Tour. I’m excited to end the year at home with several shows to celebrate the holidays with my friend, cellist extraordinaire, Kristen Miller-check out the side bar to the right for up-to-date show information.

For the holiday concerts I’ll be bringing out the high-string guitar in addition to the baritone and harp guitar! The high-string is so perfect for the season, but after getting re-acquainted with it this fall, I think I can guarantee it a permanent place on stage as I move forward. It’s such a nice contrast to the other guitars with its music-box quality. I think you’ll enjoy it a lot. It’s very, very different, and I don’t think anyone is touring with a baritone, harp guitar, and a high-string. I’ll be proud to be the first.

I have been having a blast with the harp guitar. It’s the instrument I spend the most time with, and I’m writing with it almost constantly now. I’ll be featuring it on over half my material at the holiday concerts, and it’s getting more and more stage time in all my shows. Here’s my most recent creation. Enjoy!

I’ve finally got things figured out on YouTube and have my own channel. These are ‘home’ videos I record at my studio in Gloucester, and some are quite raw, shortly after I’ve written them. Check it out here. For more polished video click here, you can see individual songs recorded for a TV show in Salt Lake City, Brewin’ Bistro this summer. Please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel-you’ll be notified as soon as I post something new. Enjoy.

If you’re a guitarist, please consider a private workshop with me while I’m on the road.  Or if I’m not near you, consider scheduling a guitar lesson on Skype-we can use today’s technology to get you on down the road with your own playing.  I love doing 2-3 hour intensive lessons; just send me an e-mail at music AT kenbonfield.com and we can set something up.

Cheers, kb

So, about a month ago I posted some thoughts regarding the importance of strings to a guitar’s overall sound. As you may know,I’ve been playing Thomastik-Infeld strings on my guitars for over 15 years and have only used two other sets of strings out of necessity when I ran out while I was on the road. I’ve always loved them, they were perfect for my sound, and up until very recently they covered all the gauges I needed to do my work. And they take such great care of me, always getting me strings well ahead of my touring schedule.

But in last month’s Guitar Diaries blog I encouraged all guitarists to experiment with strings and I decided that I had to follow the same advice. What really tripped me into experimentation mode was a set of strings on one of Jeff Bamburg’s guitars on exhibit at the Montreal Guitar festival July 2-4. This guitar had been played by dozens upon dozens of folks in very humid conditions, and I’d played part of a mini-concert with that guitar under stage lights in extremely humid conditions. Death for most strings, especially for me, but when I got back home and played that guitar on July 6th they sounded rich in the low end with really nice sparkly highs; not quite brand new, but I’d have had no qualms performing with them. The strings in question are called Newtone, they’re hand-made in the UK by an ex-coal miner named Malcolm Newton. (continue reading…)

The past few months has had me thinking deep thoughts about a very under appreciated part of playing the guitar-the strings.

Most of us fingerpickers spend hours thinking about guitars, hours investigating and playing guitars in shops, studios, homes, and ultimately investing thousands and thousands of dollars on guitars. In addition, many of us spend time obsessing about our nails, or our pickups and preamps, or if we record in either the studio or at home we probably obsess about microphones, preamps, and A/D converters. The list is endless. But one of the things you don’t here many folks talk about are strings. Even pros. (continue reading…)