Bill Dutcher – Modern Acoustic Guitarist

Since moving to Arizona five years ago I’ve been struggling with keeping my instruments properly humidified.  Back in Ohio there’s was no shortage of humidity in the summer!  Out here it can get as low as 5% during the dry months.  If you have solid wood acoustic instruments that’s a death sentence unless you take precautions.  Here’s some tips on keeping your axe from getting thirsty… Read more »

Back in my ‘band days’ I loved shredding lead lines on an electric guitar….I still do! Playing that style on the acoustic can be a bit daunting due to the heavier gauge strings.  Trying to do whole step or step-and-a-half bends can set you up for carpal tunnel syndrome pretty quickly.  Here’s a few tricks to make things easier… Read more »

Tracking is done, finishing mixing and finalizing artwork…Ahh, but what about the other stuff?  You know, the P.R. stuff.  A press release is a common tool that really helps spread the work when letting people know about your new music.   Here’s a cool link to check out… Read more »

Ahh…Capo’s…A guitar players best friend and better yet  secret weapon!  For those who do not know what a capo is it’s a clamping device that presses down all six strings at a designated fret.  Kind of like barring your first finger across all six strings.  What’s cool is that if you only know a hand full of open position chords you can transpose those fingerings to other keys with the capo.  Ex:  Play an open position E major chord.  Then clamp the capo across all six strings at the 3rd fret.  Now play that same E Major shape with the capo on and your in G Major! Well…. Read more »

People often ask about how to get started with playing with altered tunings.  If you Google “alternate tunings” you’ll find a multitude of resources to get started.

Probably the easiest tuning to start with is Drop D.  You simply drop the pitch of your low E-string one whole tone, down to D.  Now when you strum a D chord you can strum all six strings and the result is a nice full timbre that really sounds full.  The thing you have to pay attention to is that any chord shapes in this tuning that use the low E string have to be transposed up two frets.  Once you grab this concept it’s pretty easy.

Some tips on composing in altered tunings: Read more »

I always am asked what kind of pickup I use in my guitars and how I get the sound I do…..Well….

Acoustic amplification and pickup technology has also gone through some incredible breakthroughs.  I encourage people to get out there and play as many different systems as possible.  Tone is in the ear of the beholder!  I personally have not found one pickup that does it all.  I like to use a combination of a magnetic pickup with a soundboard transducer.

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