By Peter Mackie

For a long time I have felt that I would like to have an interesting monthly magazine which would satisfy my general interest in guitars of all kinds and would give a fair amount of space to my bluegrass, folk and country influences. Since discovering Acoustic Guitar in my local newsagent a year ago I have bought it every month and I have found it to be an excellent entertaining and informative magazine.

Acoustic Guitar is a monthly American publication, but is quite easy to get hold of in any god newsagent. It is normally 100 to 120 pages on good quality heavy paper with well laid out text and a mixture of black and white and colour photographs. B and w is generally used for photos of performers but all guitar studies are in colour.

It contains a lot of adverts, up to 50 pages per issue, but these are often for quite unusual and interesting guitars, accessories, videos etc. and are often worth reading in their own right.

Its format is fairly constant and consists of four to five in depth articles (3-8 pages) or interviews and a number of regular features. Also it is liberally scattered with tablatures - about 3 or 4 per issue.

Features and interviews in the last few issues have included:

• Weissenborn guitars
• The life and times of the classic 12 fret flat top guitar
• The influence of Doc Watson on Flat-picking guitar
• Ry Cooder on slide guitar
• The history of American catalogue guitars
• South American members of the guitar family
• A comprehensive review of 100 guitar CDs
• The cowboy guitarists
• Interviews with Emmy Lou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Joan Armitrading etc.

Regular features included in each issue are;

• Jump street - articles on topics from Brother Oswald’s influence on the Dobro, to Oscar Aleman’s work with jazz orchestras in Paris in the 1930s
• Reviews - of books, CDs, videos
• A.G. letter - letters from abroad including visits to luthiers, tour diaries etc.
• Shop Talk - articles on guitar set-up, accessories etc.
• Gearbox - this includes a detailed review of all the instruments and amplification used by the artists featured in this months issue
• For beginners - a narrative tutorial with accompanying tablature e.g. Happy Traum on the Lester Flatt G Run or
• Woodchops - similar tutorials and tablature but of a more advanced nature
• Dear A.G. - answers to readers questions
• Great Acoustics - an excellent one page article on an specific vintage or otherwise interesting guitar. Recent issues include a Martin 1-26, the Taylor Pallet Guitar, an 1856 Schmidt and Maul classical

Although the magazine is not cheap at £2.75, it is well worth the money. It covers a wide range of topics through classical, flamenco, jazz, folk and bluegrass and although I may not be interested in every article in every issue there is certainly more than enough to justify the cost. http://www.acousticguitar.com/

Peter Mackie, Formby

Updated 23rd Jan 1999