FEATURE: TUNE UP, LOG ON, ROCK OUT
Taking a lesson without leaving the house is now a real possibility for Web-enabled guitarists—we've done some preliminary surfing for you. [More]

FEATURE: AMOS LEE
The folk-pop singer-songwriter revels in his wildly diverse influences on Last Days at the Lodge. [More]

PRIVATE LESSON: GEOFF MULDAUR
A lesson in arranging music for the guitar from one of the instrument's great interpreters. With audio. [More]

FEATURE: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Whether revolutionary or refinements of the form, the Torres classical, Martin D-28 and OM, Gibson L-5 and J-200, Ramírez 1a, and Taylor 12-string changed the way we played—and in some cases, music history itself. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: BREEDLOVE C25/CR HERRINGBONE
Distinctive, upmarket style and copious tone come together in a concert-size fingerstyle guitar that's more affordable than it looks. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: GODIN 5TH AVENUE ARCHTOP
Canadian innovator revives the affordable archtop and delivers a gem that sounds great in any style. With video. [More]

NEW GEAR REVIEW: FIVE UNUSUAL CAPOS
To increase the guitar's tonal potential, partial and harmonic capos do more than just press six strings at once. With video. [More]

Gene Bertoncini, Concerti
On Concerti, fingerstyle jazz guitarist Gene Bertoncini teams up with a string quartet and bassist to play ensemble arrangements of seven jazz standards, a 20th-century classical piece, and a rare Bertoncini original ("For Chet"). Several of Bertoncini's long-time colleagues from the Eastman School of Music penned string arrangements specifically for this date (with one exception), and those arrangements are more than just background settings for his guitar. While there are sections in most tunes where the quartet backs Bertoncini's single-line solos (like on "Every Time We Say Goodbye"), the arrangements feature authentic ensemble playing in which all players contribute significantly. On the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," Bertoncini and the quartet pass the tune's melody back and forth, building the song to a powerful crescendo with simultaneous improvisation from all the musicians. The album's final track is a beautifully rendered arrangement of the Adagio from the Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo combined with Chick Corea's "Spain." The elegance and complexity of this arrangement and the material on which it is based suits perfectly Bertoncini's unique melding of classical guitar technique and masterful jazz sensibility. Here, as on the rest of this CD, Bertoncini plays with the sensitivity, inventiveness, and inspired musical purpose for which he is deservedly celebrated. (Ambient Records, ambientrecords.com)
—RON FORBES ROBERTS

Terence Martin, Even Trade
Guitarist and songwriter Terence Martin delivers another set of well-crafted, confidently performed contemporary folk songs with the release of Even Trade. Martin's music and smoky voice are consistently compared to the likes of Bruce Cockburn and Greg Brown, and those comparisons are apt because he readily acknowledges those musicians as influences. But you can also hear bits of Richie Havens, Graham Parker, and Bob Dylan in that mix, and those varied references add up to a sound that is familiar yet still original. The instruments (guitars, bass, drums, harmonica, mandolin, and accordion) are tastefully and cleanly produced by Martin and Dennis Hrbek, and the lyrics are loaded with clear and effective imagery. California ends with these nice lines: "They seem to ask was it always / Waiting here for us / An empty glass to pour your life in / Or a handful of dust." The album doesn't forge new musical or philosophical ground, but I doubt that those are the goals of Martin or his audience. Even Trade deserves the attention of anyone interested in the state of modern folk songwriting and performance. (Good Dog, martinsongs.com)
—GARY LEE JOYNER

James Jackson Toth, Waiting in Vain
In his first solo effort, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter James Jackson Toth, formerly of Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, is like a kid in a music shop. It's as if he's trying to stuff everything he loves into one album: drenched in influences from Bob Dylan and Neil Young to Steely Dan, Waiting in Vain is crowded with rock, soul, country, blues, and ballads. But what the effort loses in cohesiveness it gains in richness. Toth's core band—Jexie Lynn Toth (vocals), Jarvis Taveniere (guitar), Shayde Sartin (bass), Otto Hauser (drums) and Jason Quever (piano)—is joined by guitar heavies Nels Cline (Wilco) and John Dietrich (Deerhoof) on electric. Although Toth plays acoustic only on "Do What You Can," using a simple strum to great effect, Cline and Dietrich are beautifully broody on "The Dome," and Taveniere is thrilling and spare on "Look In on Me," with its Rolling Stones (think "Wild Horses") echoes. Toth's strengths are his mercurial, down-and-dirty voice (set off strikingly in close harmony vocals and ambiguous lyrics that take a walk on the dark side ("there's always some devil that has my ear"). Toth is well on his way to forging an exciting "alt" identity. (Rykodisc, rykodisc.com)
—CÉLINE KEATING

For more CD reviews, go to acousticguitar.com/playlist.

DECEMBER 2008: Gypsy-jazz lesson with Robin Nolan; the great American guitar towns; reviews of the Alvarez-Yairi WY1TWR and the Crafter TMC035; and music to Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," and an arrangement of "Blue Christmas" by Alex de Grassi.

JANUARY 2009: Lesson feature with nylon-string wizard Earl Klugh; a history of Washburn Guitars; reviews of the Taylor GS12 and the Córdoba Fusion; and music to Townes Van Zandt's "White Freight Liner Blues" and the Everly Brothers' "Gone, Gone, Gone."

FEBRUARY 2009: Jack Johnson sits down with Acoustic Guitar to discuss his rhythmic guitar style; OM guitar feature; reviews of the Eastman AC320 dreadnought and the Fishman Solo amp; and music to Otis Redding's "(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay" and Wilco's "I'm the Man Who Loves You."

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