Adam Perlmutter

Adam Perlmutter holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and a master's degree in Contemporary Improvisation from the New England Conservatory. He is the editor of Acoustic Guitar.

Practice and Musicianship

How Do Guitarists Practice?

Practicing is one of the most important things you can do as a guitarist, whether you’re an absolute beginner or seasoned professional. Yet, to the detriment of their musicianship, many players have poor practicing habits—for instance, running through things that…

August 11, 2020

Practice and Musicianship

how to develop a guitar warm-up routine video still

Stay Loose and Avoid Injury by Developing a Guitar Warm-Up Routine

Just like any sport or exercise, it can take a bit of playing time before you reach your “zone"

August 11, 2020

News

Tell Us About Your Musical Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Acoustic Guitar editors are preparing a special feature on readers’ experiences during COVID-19. We’d love to hear about how you’ve been dealing with the pandemic from a musical perspective. Select responses will appear in the November/December 2020 issue (and online), and…

August 10, 2020

Instrumentalists

Gretchen Menn with her guitar seated on a white couch

Five Questions for Gretchen Menn, Author of ‘The Way Music Works’

San Francisco Bay Area–based Gretchen Menn is the author of The Way Music Works, portions of which can be viewed at Acoustic Guitar Plus (formerly Guitarcast). We recently reached out to Menn, ordinarily a busy performer, to see how she’s…

August 6, 2020

Instrumentals

Learn Bob Minner’s Solo Guitar Arrangement of “America the Beautiful”

Minner’s dropped-D take on “America the Beautiful” is packed with diverse techniques and ideas

July 4, 2020

Sing and Play

World Premiere: “$20 Bill (for George Floyd)”

Shortly after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, Tom Prasada-Rao, a singer-songwriter based in Silver Spring, Maryland, was watching CNN footage of protests when in a fit of inspiration he penned a new song. In its aching and deeply felt contemplation, “$20 Bill (for George Floyd)” brilliantly captures the grief and rage coursing through the veins of so many in the wake of Floyd’s senseless murder, over cigarettes said to have been purchased with counterfeit currency.

June 14, 2020

Instrumentals

“I Will”—Laurence Juber’s Solo Guitar Version of The Beatles Gem

While the Beatles song kicks off right on the vocal melody, Juber takes structural liberties and begins his arrangement with an adaptation of the guitar figure that appears between verses on the original recording.

May 29, 2020

Instrumentals

Learn the Guitar Composition ‘Chapdelaine’ by Dennis Hayes

Michael Chapdelaine told his life story to San Francisco composer and guitarist Dennis Hayes, who then felt moved to compose a piece

May 29, 2020

Sing and Play

Acoustic Classic: ‘Georgia on My Mind’

To make things easier to play on the guitar, I placed the first two bars an octave lower than the strings on the original recording, with the second two bars in the original octave. Play this part kind of languorously, taking advantage of the breathing room afforded by the open strings.

May 29, 2020

Instrumentals

Pickin’: Learn ‘Sometime Next Summer’ by Master Flatpicker David Grier

“Sometime Next Summer,” from his 2014 album Fly on the Wall, reveals the guitarist’s melodic inventiveness

May 24, 2020

000, Orchestra Model, Auditorium

Review: The Acoustic-Electric D’Angelico Premier Series Tammany LS is a Whole Lot of Guitar for the Money

For $300 street, this is a quality guitar that delivers across all ranges and has good built-in electronics.

May 7, 2020

Scenes

Happy Traum, Stefan Grossman, Rory Block, and Steve James

Out of the Blues: Reflections on the 1960s Folk Revival

In the late 1950s and early ’60s, prewar acoustic blues guitarists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, and Reverend Gary Davis earned late-in-life fame as new audiences eagerly devoured their music through performances at events like the Newport Folk…

May 7, 2020

Flatpicking

photo of Chris Eldridge holding a guitar

World Premiere: Learn a Tune by Chris Eldridge

Chris Eldridge, the Punch Brothers member and house guitarist on NPR’s Live From Here, has in recent years been having conversations with Collings Guitars about making the ultimate dreadnought. “One of my main goals was to come up with something…

April 29, 2020

Fingerstyle, Instrumentals

World Premiere: Learn to Play a New Waltz by Eric Skye

Like millions of Americans, Eric Skye, the virtuoso jazz and roots guitarist, is currently under a shelter-in-place order—and making the best of it. He’s been hunkered down at his home, in Portland, Oregon, cooking and playing guitar with his wife…

March 31, 2020

Instrumentals

Charlie Byrd. Courtesy of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library

Acoustic Classic: ‘The Girl from Ipanema’

“The Girl from Ipanema,” a prime example of the bossa nova idiom, is one of the most covered songs in recorded history. Here we explore Charlie Byrd's dropped-D interpretation.

March 20, 2020

Instrumentals

How to Play Billy Strings’ “Guitar Peace”

To really play “Guitar Peace” authentically, you’ll want to improvise on Strings’ riffs.

March 13, 2020

News

The Official Jim D’Addario Reverb Store Opens

Not long ago, Jim D’Addario, Chairman of the Board and Chief Innovation Officer of D’Addario & Company, Inc., began to feel guilty that most of the guitars in his 50-instrument collection were being neglected. D’Addario decided to pair with Reverb to sell an initial batch of 14 of these guitars.

February 14, 2020

Sing and Play

Acoustic Classic: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash’s take on “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”

“Just a Closer Walk with Thee” finds Dylan and Cash—incidentally, with rockabilly legend Carl Perkins on the electric guitar—putting a country spin on a New Orleans funeral standard.

January 17, 2020

Sing and Play

Campfire Songs: “Stealin’”

Learn a simple arrangement of the classic tune "Stealin'" in this video from Acoustic Guitar's Campfire Songs series.

January 17, 2020

Folk, Sing and Play

John Denver’s Neat Trick on “Rocky Mountain High”

This folk-rock gem became the official state song of Colorado in 2007.

January 17, 2020

Guitars

Review: Loog Mini is an Intuitive 3-String Guitar for Kids

While not perfectly executed, the Loog Mini definitely succeeds as a fun and inexpensive first guitar for younger children—a great gateway to the standard six-string guitar.

January 15, 2020

Vintage and Collectible Guitars

Great Acoustics: 1870s Zogbaum & Fairchild/John C. Haynes Parlor Guitar

A couple of years ago, Darren Stewart—Chief of Police at the Stonington Police Department, in Pawcatuck, Connecticut—encountered a particularly sad case. Stewart was visiting the estate of a local celebrity, Eva Franchi, helping her prepare for an annual concert in…

January 10, 2020

NAMM

Taylor Guitars Introduces New Models for 2020

Having unveiled its innovative V-Class bracing system in 2018 and Grand Pacific guitars last year, Taylor is adding four new models to the Builder’s Edition collection, which now includes nine instruments. At the top of the line is the 816ce,…

January 9, 2020

Instrumentals

Learn Bob Minner’s Take on “Auld Lang Syne”

With some beautiful cross-picked variations and gorgeous harmonic colors, this arrangement is best when you slow down and give the melody space to breathe.

December 31, 2019

Fingerstyle, Instrumentals

‘The Earle of Salisbury’: Learn John Renbourn’s Classic Arrangement of a Renaissance Keyboard Piece

It can be a challenge to play keyboard music on guitar, but we share Renbourn's clever fingering strategies to keep the music smooth and flowing.

December 17, 2019