So what do I have in common with Canadian music icons Gordon Lightfoot and Stompin’ Tom Connors? Not much. But last night I got to play a guitar that both of them (and thousands of other Canadians) have played.

I’ve written about the Six String Nation Guitar a couple of times in the past. It was born as a response to the separatist movement in Quebec and was built out of materials that represent the Canadian identity.

Well last night, it was back in Uxbridge at the Silverbirch Charity Concerts “Guitar Special” which featured Wendell Ferguson and a host of local guitar heroes.

And I got to play it!

Here is a picture of me playing a few bars of “Watermelon Sorbet”

Incidentally, you can catch the remaining two Silverbirch concerts this Friday and Saturday.

Six String Nation website: www.SixStringNation.com

Silverbirch Charity Concerts website: www.SilverbirchCharityConcert.ca

Today is International Women’s Day. Unfortunately, that has very little to do with guitars. For whatever reason, women do not seem to be drawn to play guitar. I don’t have official statistics, but anecdotally, I would guess that less than 10% of guitarists are female. (I am pleased to report that fully half of my students are female.)

In the past, I have featured a couple of female guitarists on this blog – notably, Macyn Taylor and Muriel Anderson. Today I give you someone that I’ve just recently discovered, Eva Beneke:

Eva was born in East Berlin and studied guitar at the Berlin University of Arts and the Franz Liszt Hochschule in Weimar where she graduated in 2007. She released her first CD, “Coming Home” in 2010.

A question for all of you women out there: Why don’t you play guitar? Or, if you do play guitar, why do you think that other women don’t?

Eva Beneke’s website: www.EvaBeneke.com

I recently read a great blog post from Adam Rafferty which describes his process for building a set list. He also talks about the importance of melody and some of the pitfalls to avoid when composing new tunes or adding repertoire. You can read the post here.

Adam Rafferty is a solo fingerstyle guitarist from New York City. He was featured in September’s Video-of-the-Month.

Grab a coffee (a large one) and put your feet up. This month’s video is a long one.

In this video, which, admittedly, is a long ad for Tom Feldman’s instructional video series, we get an excellent overview of traditional blues styles. In general, I’m not a huge fan of the genre, but several of my “desert-island” recordings are, in fact, blues albums. And whether you are a fan of the genre or not, much of modern music, and particularly modern guitar playing, owes a debt of gratitude to the blues.