10 acoustic blues fingerpicking patterns

The month’s best guitar music – a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

Michael Watts reflects on how the choice of the two most popular back and sides woods affects your acoustic sound

Few guitarists are loved as equally for their acoustic work as their electric playing but such is the unique talent of Richard Thompson . We meet him to find out how he’s preparing to go head-to-head with Tommy Emmanuel, chat about the end of his touring days, and talk alternative tunings

Amid the mayhem of his European tour, Joe takes time out to give us a guided tour around his 2025 live gear, delivers the lowdown on some of his more storied guitars, and tells us why his mighty multi-amp rig has to run at breaking point in order to make the earth move and those riffs resonate…

Lloyd Baggs is the genial genius behind the mighty LR Baggs acoustic pickup company that today supplies some of the biggest artists and guitar brands in the business. We joined him earlier this year to hear how slide legend Ry Cooder inspired him to get the whole thing started – and learn why his new AEG-1 guitar may be a game-changer