American Fingerstyle Guitar

Hi,

Two new songs are available in TAB thanks to Mark Grover’s great transcribing: Rogers’ and Hammerstein’s classic Edelweiss from my album WinterNight, and one of my fans’ favorites Ella’s Labor Day Blues from my duo album with Joe Ebel, Kadotume. Edelweiss is performed in CGDGAD tuning and Ella’s Labor Day Blues is in open G minor tuning. Both are a blast to play, and the TAB is only $4!

To buy the TAB for Edelweiss click on the buy button directly below

To buy the TAB for Ella’s Labor Day Blues click on the buy button directly below.

You can watch a solo version of Ella’s that I recorded at my home studio here!

If you’re interested in buying CDs make sure to go to my CD Page, or if you’re a digital purveyor of music stop by the MP3 Page. There are great deals to be had at both places.

As is typical for me, I stayed close to home for the first quarter and I’ve got a bunch of new material on the harp guitar, baritone guitar and standard guitar, as well as some new takes on old material on all my guitars. I can’t wait to share it with you when I start touring again in April. Check out the side bar to the right-I keep adding new dates every week. If you’re in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Colorado or points in between and you want to host a house concert contact me at music at kenbonfield dot com.

As you may remember; Alan Carruth is building me a guitar of entirely domestic North American woods that are not endangered, can be sustainalbly harvested, are just as good as the tropical hardwoods and aren’t tainted by some of the questionable harvesting and importation issues now becoming associated with Brazillian Rosewood and others. I’ll be very proud to play and promote this guitar. Luthiers are more than willing to build with non-endangered hardwoods-its the players who need to be educated. Al has built gorgeous intstruments in the past with oak and cherry. Most players aren’t that adventurous.

As many of you know, I name my guitars. And she has a name. Officially she is Big Red. And here’s why; she’s gonna be big!. I just heard from Alan the other day and he’s made all his design decisions. The guitar will have a longer than usual 26″ scale, a 16″ lower bout commonly called a Small Jumbo with a deep body. The size of the body and the longer scale will allow me to tune it lower than a standard guitar: D-D in standard intervals instead of E-E, as well as play in a multitude of alternate tunings that employ lower than normal pitches.

The top will be Redwood salvaged from stump wood. Redwood is noted for having a big bottom end, but with a lot of clarity. The back and sides will be made from Walnut. Walnut is noted for having a lot of clarity, crisp but beautiful trebles, and lots of detail in the bottom end. Both woods should be perfect for the alternate and slack-key tunings I use, as well as playing it as a baritone guitar tuned in standard intervals a whole step lower-this is increasingly a voice I’m coming to enjoy on the guitar. The body will be deeper than normal, 4 & 3/4″ at it’s deepest, but it will have a wedge shape-the treble side will be 1/2″ deeper than the bass side which will be 4 & 1/4″ in depth. The wedge is an ergonimic design that will allow me to play this relatively large guitar in safety and comfort. The depth and larger body are designed specifically to deal with providing enough oomph to the drive low end I’ll need for the tunings I rely on.

The guitar will also employ two other ergonomic features: cherry bevels. One to create an arm rest and one to create a cutaway allowing me easy access to the upper frets. Al’s bevels have become a trademark work of art, and aside from allowing me to play the guitar more effeciently and more comfortably, they are beautiful appointments that speak to a modern influence on what is in so many other ways a very traditional design.

I continue to have 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. Here’s a piece I wrote while thinking about how fractured our political climate has become, and I’m “Longing for the Day” we can get back to a civil discourse regardless of whether or not we agree or disagree. 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

Hi, thanks for visiting.

I’m really excited as I get ready to head out on the road for some really fun shows this weekend with Kinloch Nelson.  I’ve got my new site all bright and shiny, I’ve got all my music back under my control, you can buy it right here (which help$ me the most), or you can find it on iTunes, Amazon.com, eMusic, Napster, and Rhapsody if those are your preferred options. The multiple-CD bundles, such as 20th Century Guitar are only available from my store.

I’ve also just added a video page and will be adding to it over the coming days and weeks. Right now you can view a couple of older tunes, Mystic Morning and Renaissance, arranged for high-string guitar, as well as one of my favorite oldies Steel String Surprise.

I’ve also just added a page of tablature. I’ve got three books available, Artistry of the Guitar Volumes 1 and 2 with 8 songs in each, and an Alternate Tunings Guide with over 200 chords diagrammed in DADGAD and CGDGAD.

You’ll notice that I’m offering a free song to anyone brave enough to join my mailing list. I send out about 4-6 mailings a month depending on my activity, and I won’t share it with anyone else.  This month’s free track is a bouncy ragtime piece, Mesa Rag, from my EP Harbor Town.

Make sure to check out Upcoming Shows, and if you come make sure to say hello.

Peace, kb

Hi all, I got back from the Montreal Guitar Show last week and I was glowing with the energy from that show-still am. I got to play some amazing guitars in mini-concerts for Charles Fox, Jeff Bamburg, Alan Carruth, Sheldon Schwartz, and Josh House, and played some other great instruments made by new friends George Lowden, Brian Galloup, and Paul Woolson and some old friends Bill Tippin, Joe Yanuziello, and Kathy Wingert. For those of you interested in the custom guitar world, mark your calendars for the first weekend of July in 2011 when the next Montreal Guitar Festival takes place. The guitars are incredible, the city and people are phenomenal, and the food is exquisite. Thank God it’s a great walking city so you can burn some of the calories off. (continue reading…)