There are no shortcuts to sight reading. It's simply a high-level reading skill that takes practice. Image: Guitarist Dave Illig with cute music stand.

I receive many questions on sight reading. The implication is that it is a special skill with tricks. The reality is that sight reading is nothing but a high level of reading.

Guitar players are infamous for their lack of reading skills. Starting with sight reading is akin to wanting to go for your Doctorate before your Bachelor’s degree. Reading on the guitar encompasses the following skills:

• Note Recognition and Execution
• Note Location
• Fingering Solutions
• Rhythm Recognition and Execution
• Ability to follow the “Roadmap” – a series of written instructions that moves you from one section of a piece to another and indicates something of the interpretation of the piece.

Putting these together is reading. Putting these together without preparation – just as you would read a book or magazine – that’s sight reading!

Ed. Note: Read some great tips to help you get started with sight reading here. And read more on the topic of reading music and guitar players:

• With Practice, Reading Music Becomes Like Reading Words
• Reading Roman Numerals on Lead Sheets
• Note to Guitar Players: Learn the Notes on the Neck
• Guitar Tab Too Limited

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan.

Many people have a relationship with their guitar that is longer lasting than any they've had with a person. Painting: Fireworks Guitars by Hugo Sandoval.

There are many reasons why the guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. It’s portable, inexpensive to own, and easy to play – at least in the early stages. It’s also massively versatile and above all – cool!

Its musical potential is virtually unlimited since you can play chords, notes, and everything in between. It dominates country, bluegrass, rock, pop, folk, blues, etc. Even in the jazz and classical field, guitar continues to make inroads into territory formerly controlled by more traditional instruments.

The guitar is the instrument of choice for songwriters and performers in all musical idioms. It can be strummed, finger picked or played with a combination of all of these techniques and more.

From very simple beginnings, the guitar can grow into an instrument of tremendous subtlety, sophistication, and complexity. But only if you want it to. Like a faithful pet, it never complains and lets you decide how far you want to go with it. For many, the relationship they have with their guitar is longer lasting and deeper than any relationship they’ve ever had with a person!

There is always a new place to go with the guitar. The jazz guitar often offers the next plateau for players that have been involved with rock, pop, or blues for many years but are looking for something more. That something more could be more advanced chords, scales, and techniques than are typically available in contemporary music. Certainly, it was the instrument’s unlimited potential that drew me to it and kept me involved in it and with it for my entire career.

Although the guitar has been around since the 1500s, it has undergone several big transformations during its history. The development of the electric guitar is an obvious mutation and has had a huge effect on its popularity.

Research has shown that more children under the age of 11 are playing the guitar than any other instrument. In fact, in Britain, it is the instrument of choice for more than 50% of all males that play an instrument (and 17% of all females).

Here are a just a few of the reasons that guitar playing is so popular all over the world.

• Guitar playing is typically relaxing for the player.
• Guitar music is equally relaxing and enjoyable for the listener.
• Many people begin to play in order to join a band. This is an ideal way to make friends and expand one’s social circle.
• Guitar playing is ideal for campouts, singalongs, or for entertainment at a wide variety of functions.
• Guitar playing improves hand-eye coordination and motor skills in general.
• Guitar playing can also help you gain other skills such as reading music and listening skills. Most people don’t realize how many skills can be learned by playing the guitar – you would be surprised.

Guitar Center, MTV Games (Rock Band), and Activision (Guitar Hero) have collaborated on a national survey of 7,000 respondents to see how the players of Rock Band and Guitar Hero felt about playing an actual guitar.

Here are some of the interesting findings in the study:

• 67% of Guitar Hero and Rock Band users who do not currently play an instrument say they are likely to start playing one in the next two years
• 72% of musicians that play Guitar Hero or Rock Band report using their own instruments more frequently
• 80% of Guitar Hero and Rock Band users would like to receive an instrument as a holiday gift this year
• The last one might have been a bit of a loaded question from Guitar Center in the survey, but nonetheless this is definitely encouraging news. Guitar Center reported spikes in sales of entry-level guitars in the last quarter of 2007 by 20.7% and in the first quarter of 2008 by 26.9%.

Many think games like Guitar Hero are making us lazy, giving us the instant satisfaction of a fake guitar rather then actually learning how to play it ourselves, but it seems quite the opposite is true. More people are playing guitar than ever before. Do you play the guitar? If so, what drew you to playing?

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan.

I help students pursue their own 'musical horizon.' As a goal is met, the student creates a new one, and we keep moving forward. Painting: Horizon by Lori Surdut Weinberg.

Teaching for me has proved to be an endlessly fascinating process. Though on the surface, the topics I teach are fixed, the way in which they are taught shifts constantly according to the individual student.

As we all know, everyone learns in their own unique way. It’s my obligation to find the best way for each individual. The goals are the goals of the student. They are not my goals for myself nor are they my goals for the student. Teachers who fail to recognize this are making a serious error.

I first need to understand where a student is in all the requisite areas such as technique, theory, reading, chords, scales, improvisational tools and skills, creativity, ear training and a host of other areas. Next comes the direction and goals if they are known.

Teaching is a holistic art and requires consideration of the whole person. It does not just provide surface knowledge for the individual.

When I teach, I play surprisingly little. Those teachers who feel the need to play constantly during a lesson are not teaching. They are showing. The problem with this approach is that the style of the teacher comes through way too much and robs the student of time that’s needed to develop.

The jazz guitar is a deep style but it doesn’t start that way. It starts with the first steps and then accumulates into an entire program.

Some of the elements of the jazz guitar study are: notes on the neck; finger control and coordination; strength and endurance; improvisational tools such as scales, arpeggios, intervals and sequences; chord organization and voicings; chord progressions; fingering principles; theory; harmonic, melodic, and scale analysis; repertoire, improvisation, and so on…[Ed. Note. For rock, folk, blues, and general playing, see Guitar Basics: Top 10 Things to Learn.]

When I get a grip on where the student is and where he or she wants to go, I develop a customized plan to reach their objectives. The goals can be as varied as virtuosity, full time musician or casual player. The only thing that matters is that we begin to move in the right direction. The rate of progress is typically connected to the amount of time spent on efficient and creative practice.

If you have a time problem, as virtually everyone does, don’t worry about it. We have so many things to work on, that the old model of “Practice Or Else” doesn’t even exist in my teaching methodology. [Ed. Note: Read 'Music Lessons as Life Lessons.']

As my “Private Music Teacher’s Guide” says: It’s the student’s job to show up and it’s the teacher’s job to make it worthwhile.

Many years ago, I wrote a book called “Music Pursuing the Horizon.” The title summarizes the fact that as we progress and achieve one goal, we reset our goal and keep moving forward!

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan.

A good teacher will not focus on his or her playing during a music lesson, and have you copy it. He or she will focus on your playing. Image: "Music Lesson" woodcut by Jenny Carrington.

A teacher who plays excessively during a lesson is not an aid to a student. In fact, the teacher often creates problems for learning. The goal of a lesson should not be to get a student to play like the teacher but to encourage the student to develop  his or her own voice.

Playing can be helpful as a demonstration of a point - but not as a methodology to teach. Generally, this type of “teaching” is “showing” more than teaching.

The teacher needs to focus on what the student is playing – not what the teacher is playing. Too often, teacher virtuosity can be discouraging to students. Where the student is, where he or she wants to go, and how he or she can get there - these are the only considerations in the teaching process.

Editor’s note: For more on this topic read “When ‘Tell, Don’t Show’ Makes Sense.”

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Some, but not all, guitar teachers will work with you on vocals.

A reader wrote in with the following question: I play the guitar and sing and would like to work on vocals as well as guitar. Should I expect a guitar teacher to help me with my vocals?

A guitar teacher should not be expected to work with your voice. A vocal teacher would be the specialist in helping you develop your voice. This being said, it’s not impossible to find someone who deals with both the voice and the guitar.

While talking to teachers, you can easily ask if they handle both areas. Most guitar teachers who can’t handle the voice will say that they only deal with the guitar. If they say they can handle both, just ask them to outline their approach. It’s usually pretty clear that they do or don’t have a well organized and solid approach.

Note from LRG: For more on vocal study, see:

• Exercise Your Right to Sing
• When Good Intentions Go Awry: A View on Teaching Voice

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

This barre F chord can be moved around the neck of the guitar; it becomes a G two frets up. Barre chords are common in rock music.

Chords and how they’re named are sources of constant confusion. It’s not as difficult as you may think. Chords are organized into categories. One organization of chord categories is based on the number of notes that are in a chord.

Without question, if you want to understand chords and really learn chords, you need to know how chords are built. Memorizing chord diagrams will only get you so far. There are far too many chords to try to absorb them by remembering shapes on a chord diagram.

Just as chords are categorized by numbers of notes, they also tend to be organized and associated with specific types of music. Folk, country and blues use the simplest of chords. They are usually three- and four-part chords. Rock uses barre chords, open chords, and power chords. Jazz is the one field  that is virtually unlimited in the number of chords used and needed.

Triads are chords that have three unique notes. Major, minor, diminished and augmented are also three-note chords. When a fourth note is added, the chord becomes some kind of a 6th or 7th chord. As you add another note, it becomes a 9th. Add another, the chord becomes an 11th chord and finally, a 13th chord contains seven unique notes. From there, notes can be raised or lowered by one half step producing alterations. 

People are sometimes confused about the difference between a C major chord, a C7 chord, and a Cmaj7 chord. These are very different chords that all have different notes. A C major chord is made up of CEG. A C7 chord has CEGBb.  A Cmaj7 chord has CEGB. More advanced chords such as C9, C11 and C13 also have differences in their note composition. C9 = CEGBbD, C11 =CEGBbDF, C13 = CEGBbDFA. These advanced chords show up most often in jazz. They are relatively rare in blues, country, rock, and pop.
 
So, the type of chords you need to learn will be dependent on the type of music you want to play. Make sure that you look for books or teachers that focus on the specific type of music you want to learn. A generic chord book or chord bible is relatively useless except for the occasional emergency situation where you need a specific chord – quick. As a tool for actually learning chords, this type of book just doesn’t work.

Find a good teacher (or book or video) that shows you how to build chords that you can use. I am currently finishing a new book on the topic that will answer these questions and more. I’ll keep you posted!

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Regardless of the style of guitar you want to play, there are fundamentals that every guitar player needs to know.

Regardless of the style of guitar you want to play, it’s important to know the fundamentals that need to be covered. Whether you want to play in a band, sing and play, or be a singer-songwriter, you’ll need to work on specific areas and skills. Here’s an overview of the ten fundamental things to learn to become a proficient guitar player:

1. Chords

The first thing that almost all guitar players learn is chords. A chord is played by holding down multiple notes simultaneously on the fingering hand. The opposite hand makes a chord sound by strumming it or finger picking it. There is nothing more fundamental than playing basic chords.

The first 14 chords are E, A, D, G ,C, Em, Am, Dm, E7, A7, D7, G7, B7, C7. Typically, barre chords are learned next. Barres have an advantage because they can be moved to different keys. Their disadvantage is that they’re harder to play, at least initially.

The ability to play chords and switch them smoothly is the first requirement for playing alone or with a group. It immediately qualifies you for a band in the role of rhythm guitar. This job is an accompaniment job and does not have the attention given to the Lead guitar player but it is your quickest route to playing in a band!

2. Technique

Technique is the ability to control your hands individually and in combination. It is primarily a physical skill and not a musical skill. The training and development of your hands is a prerequisite and necessary to develop musical skills.

Sports offers a good parallel. Football has physical skills and football skills. Passing, receiving, blocking, running and tackling are football skills. Running through tires, road work, weight lifting, wind sprints and stretching are physical skills. You need both to be successful.

There are many exercises designed to get your hands in shape. Finger independence drills, barres and stretches are just three good ways to develop your hands.

3. Notes on the Neck

It’s unbelievable how weak guitar players are on knowing the notes on their own instrument! No other instrument suffers from this same fate. Imagine a piano player not knowing the note names of the keys…or a trumpet player not knowing what notes come out if they push specific valve combinations. Yet, an amazingly high percentage of guitar players don’t know the notes on the neck.

This problem has certainly been created by the guitar world’s penchant for tablature and chord picture diagrams. Despite this, there is no excuse for the failure on the part of guitar players to learn what is absolutely rudimentary on any other instrument. The notes on the neck must be not only learned but mastered.

4. Strums

This skill is part of the rhythm guitar role. All songs, besides having chords, have a strum that is responsible for the “feel” of the song. If you play the wrong strum with a song, something will sound off. The strum helps keep the tempo steady and propels the music forward.

Strumming captures the most primitive element of music – rhythm. That tendency to tap our feet when we hear music can often be traced to the strumming pattern of the guitar.

5. Finger Picking

Finger picking is an alternative to strumming. Like strumming, finger picking uses the non-fingering hand and produces sound from chords. Fingerpicking was most common in Folk music but it has certainly made its way into mainstream contemporary music through singer-songwriters and country artists. James Taylor is an outstanding finger pick artist who has fused Folk, Country, Rock and Pop music into a seamless original form. His influence has been significant ever since the beginning of the Folk-Rock movement.

6. Scales

Scales are organized streams of notes that can be used to generate melody or improvisation. There are many kinds of scales to learn depending on the musical style you choose. The two most common contemporary scales are the Blues Scale and the Pentatonic Scale. The Blues Scale is used in the darker forms of Blues and in heavier Rock Music. The Pentatonic Scale is used in all things Southern: Southern Rock, brighter Blues, Country music and even Motown.

Beyond these scales, there are many more to learn if the music you play needs them. Santana used the Dorian Scale to great effect while Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits made a living from the Aeolian Scale.

7. Lead Guitar Techniques

The lead guitar embellishments are physical moves that impact the sound of the guitar in a very significant way. Bends, slides, glisses, vibrato and harmonics are just some of the techniques employed. These are “guitaristic” effects, not external effects such as reverb, chorus and distortion. As in all cases, the style of music dictates which embellishments are applicable. Traditional Jazz guitar uses few bends while Blues music lives on bends as well as the other embellishments.

8. Rhythm

Rhythm is one of the three primary components of music; it encompasses several aspects. On the one hand, rhythm is the duration of a note or a chord. It also includes tempo, ie, beats per second, as measured by a metronome and the stability of the beat.

Rhythm, as in tempo, can vary during a song. Some songs maintain a steady tempo from beginning to end. Other songs vary the tempo. Slowing down is called Ritardando and speeding up is called Acclerando. These are intentional musical effects and not the result of a guitar player not being able to keep steady time or rhythm. The ability to “keep time” is one of the most important skills a guitar player can develop.

9. Ear

The development of the ear brings your musical insides – out. Music is the only hearing art. As such, the ear acts as the intermediary between your musical ideas and the execution of these ideas. Solfeggio, the Italian art of sight singing, has been used for centuries to develop musicianship. Ear training contributes to the ability to play what you hear. There are virtually unlimited applications of ear training from working songs out by ear to improvising to writing. The European tradition of ear training has been far more stringent than that of the United States.

10. Songs

This area is your song list, your repertoire, what you can play from beginning to end. Without a repertoire, you have nothing to play. An audience is certainly not interested in listening to scales, arpeggios or exercises of any kind. They respond to songs no matter what style of music you play. It could be original or cover but one way or another, you need to learn songs.

What does it mean to learn a song? The singer-songwriter’s version of learning a song would be to memorize the chords, the strum or finger pick, the melody, the form, the chords and the lyrics. The jazz guitarist version is to learn the single note melody, the chord changes, the form, the melody and chord version (combining single note melody and chords) and the improvisational structure. Unless you use the lyrics as inspiration for the mood and feel of a song, lyrics are not part of the instrumental process.

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to purchase his CDs and educational materials. Chuck’s guitar books include: Unlocking the Guitar – Open Tunings; Unlocking the Guitar – Strums; Unlocking the Guitar: Notes on the Neck; Modular Phonetic Rhythm; Master Picking; Mastering the Modes; the Six Secrets of Guitar Fingering. Some of Chuck’s products are carried in the Music After 50 eBook store, which also has basic guitar chord books by Curt Sheller.

Summer music camps for adults offer supportive, fun settings in which to improve on your instrument, songwriting, or vocals.

If you want to take your music to the next level, get experience performing in front of others, and just have fun, there is is nothing better than spending a week at a summer music camp for adults. There are bluegrass camps, jazz camps, guitar camps, songwriting camps, band camps, orchestra camps, chamber music camps - all geared toward adult musicians.

The camps self-select for people who are easy-going and supportive, so don’t worry that you’re not “good enough” to go. Musicians of all levels – many are beginners – play with and support each other. 

Below is a list of camps throughout the U.S. This is not an exhaustive list, and simply reflects a sampling of both well-known and not-as-well-known camps. If there’s a camp you’d like to tell us about, put the information in the comments section below this post. The comments will stay on the site permanently, and become an ‘addendum’ to this post. Enjoy; don’t forget your bug spray, flashlight, and bathing suit, and write in with your story when you come back!

Acoustic Music Camps
These include camps that focus on folk, bluegrass, songwriting, roots, blues, country, etc.

• California Coast Music Camp – Palo Alto, Calif.
• Grand Targhee Bluegrass camp -  Alta, Wyoming
• Guitar Intensives – Barr Harbor, Maine
• Hill Country Acoustic Music Camp - Kerrville, Texas
• Maine Fiddle Camp - Montville, Maine
• Meadowlark Music Camp - Washington, Maine
• Mountain Arts Gathering - Paul Smiths, New York
• NashCamp Bluegrass Camps - Nashville, Tenn.
• Pete Wernick’s Bluegrass Jam Camps - throughout U.S.
• Puget Sound Guitar Workshop - Bremerton, Washington
• Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp. Estes Park, Colorado
• Summersongs Songwriters Camps - Camp Ocean Pines, Calif., and Ashokan, N.Y.
• WUMB – Summer Acoustic Music Week - Central New Hampshire

Band Camps 
You may play traditional band music, classical, and/or jazz at these camps.

• Allegheny College Band Camp for Adult Musicians - Meadville, Pa.
• Interlochen Adult Band Camp - Interlochen, Mich.
• New Horizons Summer Music Camps - throughout U.S.

Jazz Camps
Some of the camps for jazz instrumentalists welcome vocalists as well.

• Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops  – Louisville, Kentucky
• Jazz Camp West - La Honda, Calif.
• Jazz Vermont Band Camp for Grownups - Newry, Maine
• Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps – Rochester, N.Y. and Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin
• Vermont Jazz Center Summer Program - Brattleboro, Vermont

Classical, Chamber, Orchestral Music Camps
Both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony are offering great opportunities for classical players to work with orchestra members.

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Academy - Baltimore, Maryland
• Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp - Interlochen, Michigan
• Interlochen Guitar Festival and Workshop - Interlochen, Michigan
• Sonatas - Bennington, Vermont
• Strings International Music Festival - Philadelphia Orchestra Camp, Bryn Mawr, Pa.
• Summertrios – Chambersburg, Pa., and Bryn Mawr, Pa.
• SummerKeys - Lubec, ME

Your guitar strings will last longer and sound better if you wipe them down with a lint-free cloth each time you end a playing session.

In my last post I talked about the differences between the steel string and nylon string guitar. Today, I’m going to talk about guitar strings - protecting them to ensure longevity, and what type to buy for your particular guitar and desired sound. 

• Tip 1: Wipe Your Strings. It is really important to wipe down your guitar strings with a soft, dry, lint-free cloth after you finish playing. Just wipe the strings down on top and also get underneath the strings. In other words, put the cloth in between the strings and the fingerboard and run it all the way down the length of the neck of the guitar. This will help dry out the perspiration and clear off the rust and things like that. Develop the habit of wiping your strings when you are finished playing for the day and your strings will feel great and last longer.
• Tip 2: Use a String Lubricant. There’s a great product called Fingerease – it comes in an aerosol can, you simply spray it on your strings to reduce the friction between your fingers and the strings. It also helps protect the strings so they don’t rust out as quickly as they normally would. It is highly recommended for players of all levels.
• Tip 3: Use Quality Strings. All strings are not created equal. Use a good quaility brand of string such as D’Addario. They are very consistent; you put them on and they sound great first up.

Okay, let’s move on to types of strings so you can determine which string suits your type of guitar.

Steel String Guitars: If you take a look at your steel-string guitar, the two thin strings are just plain, straight wire. The other strings are wound.

Electric guitars: On electrics, the first three strings are plain wire.

The wound strings have a center core. That center core is just a straight, plain string like your thin strings with a wrap wire around it. Depending on what type of alloy they use on this wrap wire, it will give you a different tone. Here are the three main types of strings you will find.

1. There’s the nickel-plated wrap wire. This provides a great overall tone and sound. It is probably the best selling type of electric guitar string in the last 50 years.
2. You can also get a stainless-steel wrap. This gives you an even brighter sound. They are generally used on electric instruments, but they can be used on acoustic guitars as well.
3. Then there are the phosphor-bronze strings; these are recommended  for acoustic guitars. They give you a full, rich, acoustic tone; a great, deep bottom end; and nice, high, clear bell-like sounds on the high strings.

String Gauges for Electric Guitar: String  gauges refer to the diameter of the string; for electric, I’d go for a nickel-wound string. Gauges for nickel-wound string:
First string 009/   Second string 011/   Third string 016/   Fourth string 024   /Fifth string 032 /  Sixth string 042

String Gauges for Acoustic Guitar: The string gauges that I use and recommend for acoustic guitar: First string 011/ Second string 015/ Third string 022 /Fourth string 032/ Fifth string 042 /Sixth string 052

Nylon-String Guitars: If you are playing a nylon-string guitar, that means the first three strings will be clear nylon; I would recommend silver-plated wound strings on the low three strings.

Here’s another tip while we are talking about strings: Please don’t put steel strings on a nylon-string guitar. Steel strings exert about 60 pounds or approximately 27 more kilograms more tension than nylon strings. That can do much damage to your nylon-string guitar.

You can put nylon strings on a steel-string guitar, but it is not a great idea. A steel-string guitar is more heavily braced inside. When you put the nylon strings on it will essentially make the guitar sound very dull.

Another helpful hint is regarding the nut on the guitar. That is that white plastic part; or it might be bone depending on which type of guitar you are playing. It is on the end of the finger board, right at the top and it holds the strings. It’s got little grooves in it, and that is what holds the strings in place.

A good idea is to get a lead pencil and rub it over the grooves so that some of the graphite will fall down into the groove. This is before you put the new string in. The idea is that it will help the string slip, and it won’t get stuck in that groove when you are bending strings and so on. It will help the tuning of the guitar, and it will help you get the guitar in pitch without hearing all those clicking sounds you often hear when you are putting strings on.

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Buy his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!

Glenn Frey of the Eagles played a steel-string acoustic. Most people who are starting or returning to the guitar, and who want to play and sing, will go with this type of guitar.

A reader wrote in and asked the following:

“I’m thinking of starting to play the guitar after many years and I’m not sure whether I should buy an acoustic/steel string or a nylon string guitar. Can you talk about the benefits and drawbacks of each? I like to play and sing. Didn’t Chet Atkins use a nylon string guitar?”
 
Most people go back to guitar with a steel string acoustic. The nylon guitar is more of a specialty guitar used in Classical and in Brazilian music. That being said, you can certainly play and sing with either. The nylon gives a warmer sound and is easier on the fingers. The acoustic is brighter and more resonant. Both nylon and steel strings are audible for listeners. The steel string instrument cuts through better, but the nylon string instrument can always be miked.

All classical guitarists use nylon strings. The wider neck is not much of a problem unless you have exceptionally small hands. As far as popular songs played on the nylon string, think “Girl from Ipanema” or the jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd. As far as acoustic is concerned, think everybody else from Bob Dylan to the Eagles to James Taylor.

Nylon electrics are a relatively new breed but some are effective depending on the amplifier. A pick can and often is used on the nylon electric. I have used a pick on a traditional nylon string guitar in many recording sessions.

Chet Atkins was most noted for playing a hollow body, electric guitar called the Country Gentleman by Gretsch but he played a wide variety of instruments because he could and he had the money to buy them all.

Visit Chuck Anderson’s website to join his mailing list and learn about upcoming concerts. Take a look at his CDs and educational materials. And of course, become a Facebook fan!