Who are 10 of the best acoustic guitarists of all time? This would be a tricky question to ask. Thousands of legendary acoustic guitarists from different countries rocked the stage at their time of history.
In this article, we tried to find the 10 best acoustic guitarists based on their popularity, unique playing style, awards, and contribution to music. The legendary musicians mentioned here are from different time frames of history, and we cannot judge them by making a ranking. This is a list of the 10 best acoustic guitarists of different times, and every music enthusiast should know about them.
10 Best Acoustic Guitarists:
- Tommy Emmanuel
- Mike Dawes
- Django Reinhardt
- Andy McKee
- James Taylor
- Micheal Hedges
- Marcin Patrzalek
- Elizabeth Cotten
- Igor Presnyakov
- Alexander Misko
Tommy Emmanuel
With his legendary acoustic guitar skills, Tommy Emmanuel has won people’s hearts for over 50 years. This Australian musician won many national awards and got worldwide recognition. Two times ARIA Awards, four times Country Music Awards of Australia, two times nominations for the Grammy Awards, etc., are among the best recognitions that Tommy Emmanuel received.
William Thomas Emmanuel was born in 1955. This guitar enthusiast got his first guitar at the age of four. He started learning from his mother. By age 6, he was already part of a band as a guitarist, though it was his family band, created by his father. After his father’s death in 1966, Emmanuel was approached by the Australian country music icon Buddy Williams. In the 1970s, he worked with Buddy Williams on some of his albums. So, that is how Emmanuel started. Eventually, we got the most loved works, such as Determination, The Journey, Tall Fiddler, Stevie’s Blues, Smokey Mountain Lullaby, Dare to Be Different, and many more. Tommy Emmanuel is considered one of the best acoustic guitarists of all time. He’s especially known for his fingerstyle technique and virtuosity.
Mike Dawes
According to MusicRadar and Total Guitar’s year-end poll in 2017 and 2018, Mike Dawes was the best acoustic guitarist in the world. Folk, pop, and rock genres heavily influenced his music style.
At first, he started playing the keyboard and then switched to electric guitar at 12.
Dawes took acoustic guitar seriously in 2008. From 208 to 2011, he performed instrumental concerts all over the UK. He performed alongside music icons such as Seth Lakeman, Tommy Emmanuel, and Newton Faulkner. This is how his career started, and he has 3 studio albums, 17 singles, and more till today. He is a popular guitar tutor and quite popular on YouTube.
Django Reinhardt
Django was the first European jazz musician to make a significant contribution to this genre. This self-taught guitarist was in the front row when we recall the popular subgenre “gypsy jazz” back in the 30s and 40s.
Very few people know that Django mainly played using his index and middle finger Because he had a physical disability. However, he managed to form a distinctive playing style that many other guitarists later followed.
Andy McKee
This fingerstyle guitarist from America will blow your mind if you see him in action with his guitar. You can search for him on YouTube and find his videos with millions of views, and people love him for a reason. His effortless playing style and super-fast moves create some magic when he plays. That makes him one of the best guitarists in the whole world.
Andy Mckee has 6 studio albums, two extended plays, and one live album, starting from Nocturne (2001) to Symbol EP (2021).
James Taylor
James Taylor needs no introduction as a guitarist. He won the Grammy Award 6 times, with many other recognitions. And why wouldn’t he? Taylor is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, selling over a hundred million records worldwide. In the year 2000, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.
Micheal Hedges
Hedges was a highly influential and innovative acoustic guitarist known for pushing the boundaries of what could be done with the acoustic guitar. He has a solid educational background in guitar and composition. His original compositions, use of alternative tuning, and percussive playing technique make him unique and remembered. Sadly, he died in an accident when his car skidded off a rain-slicked S-curve and fell a 120-foot cliff.
Marcin Patrzalek
Marcin is a Polish guitarist known for his percussive and fingerstyle guitar playing style. In 2015, he won the ninth edition of the Polish talent show Must Be The Music, and that was only the beginning. At the age of 16, he released his debut album. He participated in popular shows such as America’s Got Talent and Tu Si Que Vales and was recognized as a killer acoustic guitarist. Soon, he amazed a massive number of audience over the internet.
Marcin is a pure classical guitarist with a style of his own. His solo guitar playing almost sounds like an entire musical arrangement. Search him on YouTube to enjoy some awesome acoustic originals and covers.
Elizabeth Cotten
This 1950s icon was popularly known as “Libba”. She was a self-taught guitarist who never learned to read music. She had a unique left-hand guitar style where she held the guitar upside down. This means she played the bass lines with other fingers and the melody with her thumb.
She is undoubtedly one of the best acoustic guitarists and the most unique. She won the Grammy in 1984 at the age of 90 and other national recognitions throughout her career.
Igor Presnyakov
Russian guitarist Igor Presnyakov is popular for his cover songs. He studied classical music in Russia. Later, he shifted to the Netherlands and continued his career as a guitarist.
Igor’s acoustic guitar style is inspired by various musical genres such as Reggae, Rock and Roll, R&B, Country-western, Jazz, and Heavy Metal. His innovative approach to incorporating percussion elements by rhythmically tapping and striking the body of his acoustic guitar while simultaneously playing is sure to blow your mind.
Alexander Misko
Alexander Misko is a modern-day Russian guitarist. This extremely talented 25-year-old guitarist is one of the best young guitarists in the 2020s. His mesmerizing fingerstyle technique and inventive musical arrangements already made him very popular on the internet. This pure acoustic guitarist has many originals and covers published on YouTube.
Conclusion
So that concludes our list of the 10 best acoustic guitarists of all time. Hope you learned something new about these gems.
