[…] As promised, here’s the great fingerpicker Tommy Emmanuel energetically performing an acoustic version of two classic Beatles tunes. Although there can be no consensus “best guitarist in the world” (not until a three-handed virtuoso comes along, anyway), any conversation has to include this Aussie picker. Born in a remote mining town in the Outback, young Tommy’s life was changed forever the first time he heard Chet Atkins. “I got butterflies, and my heart was thumping, and I wanted to tear my teeth out,” he recalls. He knew instinctively what even the greatest flatpickers would undoubtedly acknowledge: if you want to “[do] it all at once” – play the bass and melody notes simultaneously, and fast – you’ve just got to use your fingers. […]

[…] oP’s music is good stuff, and he makes a lot of it. Two things I’ve noticed watching him play that the rest of us can learn from: 1) he uses a capo to great effect, giving him more vocal flexibility and allowing him to get real funky with open-string pull-offs and the like; and 2) his right hand is quick and accurate, giving the chordy parts of his tunes enough drive to keep his audience engaged. And as you know, we at The AV will crusade for better right-handed playing till Rodrigo y Gabriela come home. […]