The ACOUSTIC guitar virtuoso

^I appreciate your thoughtful, time-committed response, "Jacob." Five of the seven artists you mention were monsters of the instrument. (I don't know Phil Lee or Peter Banks' work, though I am familiar with the albums to which you refer.) The two that I feel sad that you overlooked are Jan Akkerman and John McLaughlin.

Edited by BrufordFreak - June 07 2023 at 20:26

Francis Lickerish ..ex founding member of The Enid is a fine player. He plays Lute beautifully. The early Enid albums were outstanding. I also enjoy later releases like Tripping The Light Fantastic, White Goddess, and Invicta. The first 4 albums are the most magical though and are Classical Rock at its best.

Michael Dunford added interesting acoustic work to Renaissance. He was a solid writer and colored albums like Turn Of The Cards and Ashes Are Burning.

Acoustic guitar can add such a dimension to Progressive Rock and sometimes in a simplistic way. One example is on Tangerine Dream Force Majeure. A piece titled "Cloudburst Flight" features acoustic guitar played by Edgar Froese with simplicity that is very creative and affective to the music..and it actually has similarities to Andrew Latimer acoustic playing with Camel..and Force Majeure has a Progressive Rock style combined with an Electronic Music style . It could also be attributed to having Klaus Krieger on drums.

French Prog bands Pulsar and Halloween incorporate acoustic playing which is hauntingly beautiful. The classical guitar playing on Halloween Merlin is intriguing.

If it's just acoustic guitarists. prog or no...there's Tommy Emmanuel, Kent Nishimura, Adrian Bellue (not Belew of KC), Daniel Padim.

Paco de Lucia.

Jacob Schoolcraft wrote: Steve Hackett continues to play acoustic. I'm not sure when he last recorded an acoustic album, but he's been incorporating acoustic guitar into his music for years. His finger picking can be complex and he's very dynamic. He sincerely plays some amazing acoustic guitar.

^ Thank you, Greg! A modern artist!

^ Nice reminder, Charles! I have to admit that, up to this point, my searches had been andro-exclusive. You've opened me up to whole new (forgotten) possibilities! (And I didn't even know I was a sexist, macho pig!)

I like Michael Hedges. I have his aerial boundaries album and think his playing is very good. I'm also a fan of Anthony Phillips and a few others I can't think of off the top of my head. 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - June 19 2023 at 15:26

Steve Wyzard wrote: 2 pages into this thread, and still no mention of LEO KOTTKE??? I have no idea if he's still active - he's probably in his 70s by now, and was always dealing with health issues, even in his much younger days. His first album came out in 1969, and his reputation grew to such proportions that his all-acoustic guitar albums were reaching the pop charts in the mid-1970s. My favorite album of his is 1986's A Shout Toward Noon.

^ Thank you, Geo! Finally: Someone who responded to my OP appropriately! Can't wait to check out these artists!