Gareth Pearson

I'm proud to be able to say "I knew Gareth when ...". 16 years old and a member of the next generation of fingerstyle guitarists. I jammed with him when he'd only been playing for three months, and I believe that session inspired me to win the Fingerstyle Guitar Competition at Winfield a couple of months later. (I figured I'd better get my competing days over before he started in on the scene.)

Check out the wild video of the "threesome" version of Cannonball Rag at his website.

Howard Emerson

Howard's Crossing Crystal Lake still stands as my all round favorite solo fingerstyle guitar album.

Peter Sawchyn

Peter Sawchyn is a world class luthier from the heartland of the Prairies and the best damn washtub player next to Fritz Richmond.

Joe Carpenter

Excellent fingerpickin' and slide playing that rocks (check out Blind Lemon Bernie). Offer Joe a cup of coffee, ask him if he's heard of Leo Kottke and tell him Trigger sent you.

John Morgan

John is a fine fingerstyle guitarist and has a ton'O'tab of his tunes at his site.

But more importantly, he is a nephew of THE Bob Evans.

Joel Fafard

Joel has eschewed his singer-songwriter persona and is currently focusing on some fine solo fingerstyle and slide guitar music

His most recent CD, ... And Another Thing, was was awarded Outstanding Instrumental Album at the 2006 Western Canadian Music Awards and has now been nominated for Best Instrumental Recording at the 2007 Junos.

The Tab Pigs

Beware all ye who enter. In the fingerstyle guitar world, the Tab Pigs inhabit the soft underbelly. But if you want to know something about Leo Kottke, these are the guys to go to. The world's biggest collection of unpublished Kottke tabs, along with some of the funniest bios on the web.

James Johnson

James Johnston is a fine photographer from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Several of the photos on this site are by James. Brighter Image Studios is his photography studio.

Paddy Tutty

A superb interpreter of traditional ballads and multi-instrumentalist.

Steve McDonnell

Steve McDonnell is a fine graphic artist and web site designer. Steve did the artwork and cover design for my CD Caffeinated Coffee. Dalek Design is his company.

Jack Semple

Jack is simply one of the best all round guitarists I know. From rockin' R&B and blues (his trademark), to solo new age acoustic (his album Quappelle took Outstanding Instrumental Album at the 2005 WCMAs), he covers all the bases.

Calamity Jane

Georgina Arntzen is a vocalist and mandolinist with Calamity Jane, a fine singer-songwriter band from Vancouver. Georgina and I go all the way back to public school and high school where we cut our performing teeth in a variety of bluegrass and jug-bands with names like Everyday Dirt and The National Washboard & Company.

Doug Young

I call Doug a fellow Pig - and I mean it in the nicest way possible. Doug is a fine fingerstyle guitarist - but wait, there's more! He also writes for Acoustic Guitar magazine. Check his website for samples of both his playing and writing. And as if this wasn't enough, an added bonus on his website is one of the most useful online comparisons of various pickup systems for acoustic guitars. If you run in to him, ask him how Gig is doing and tell him Trigger says hello.

Don Alder

Don is a funky fingerstyle guitarist from Vancouver. He won the 2007 International Fingerpicking Championship in Winfield, KS, the third Canuck to do so since 1979. Check out his tune "The Wall" on YouTube.

Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield, KS)

A fabulous festival with a wonderful sense of community - that's why people keep going back year after year after year. A mix of old time, bluegrass, and folk music, it always features a strong contingent of terrific guitarists. Also, home of the National Flatpicking and International Fingerstyle Guitar championships.

Canadian Guitar Festival (Odessa, ON)

Primarily devoted to fingerstyle guitar, this festival is also home to the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. Held each in Odessa, ON (just outside of Kingston).

CAAS (Nashville, TN)

The annual convention of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society is held in early July each year. This is an amazing four days and nights of guitar music. I guarantee that on your first visit you will be amazed at the variety of different styles of music that Chet supported and promoted throughout his life. There's a reason they call him "Mr. Guitar" , and it's not just because of how he could play.

Freddie Pelletier Guitar Camp

Freddie, along with his wife Shiela and son Clint, runs a series of guitar camps each summer at his ranch outside of Birch Hills, Saskatchewan. This year (2008) will be the third consectutive year that I've enjoyed going up to teach a course on fingerstyle guitar during the summer.

Mel Bay Guitar Sessions

Monthly online magazine with a variety of articles on guitar music, technique and gear. Covers a wide range of styles and includes free samples of music from Mel Bay guitar publications.

Minor 7th

Monthly online magazine featuring reviews of acoustic guitar recordings. A great place to keep up to date on new releases and to get exposed to some of the less well-known names in guitar music.

Bridge Guitar Reviews

Another good source of reviews of fingerstyle guitar CDs.

Acoustic Guitar

A "must bookmark" site for information on acoustic guitarists. Reviews of albums, interviews with artists, links to artist sites, luthiers and more.

Fingerpicking Guitar

A new and evolving site on fingerstyle guitar. Links to artists, articles on guitar topics, tablature, news etc.

Tabledit

Some of the transcriptions on this site are available in TablEdit format. You can download a free copy of the TablEdit Viewer from here. If you're surfing the Net for guitar tabs, you will absolutley need this to view the myriad of tabs available in this format. Also, the full Tabledit product is one of the best tools available for producing guitar tablature.

Acoustic Pickup Comparisons

In case you missed it in the Musical Friends section up above, Doug "Gig" Young has a fabulous resource on his website providing audio comparisons of a wide variety of acoustic guitar pickups. If you're in the market for a pickup, or just curious, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar Web Page

This is a great resource for information on fingerstyle guitar. Loads of tabs as well as articles on various topics and reviews of CDs, DVDs and books.