Flatpicking Guitar Magazine

Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is dedicated to helping guitar players, from beginner to expert, increase their proficiency flatpicking the acoustic guitar. In addition to our bi-monthly magazine, we offer training books, CDs, DVDs as well as lessons, podcasts, videos and workshops. We focus on comprehensive instruction on flatpicking techniques for all musical genres including bluegrass, old-time, folk, Western swing, gypsy jazz, new acoustic music, and acoustic rock.

STAFF
Dan Miller Dan Miller
Dan Miller has been the publisher and editor of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine since 1996. He has also co-authored a number of flatpicking books, including: "The Bluegrass Guitar Style of Charles Sawtelle" with Charles Sawtelle, "Flatpicking the Blues" with Brad Davis, "The Guitar Player's Guide to Developing Speed, Accuracy and Tone" with Brad Davis, and the Eight Volume flatpicking course "Flatpicking Essentials" with Tim May. Dan Miller and Tim May have also produced three instructional DVDs for guitar players: "Improving Speed, Accuracy, and Tone," "Creating Solos," and "An Approach to Improvisation." Tim May and Dan Miller also have been performing in a trio with their good friend Brad Davis (Davis Miller May) since 2005 and have been performing together as a duo since 2007.
Mondy Herndon

Mondy Herndon
Mondy Herndon oversees Operations and Marketing for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Mondy has over 20 years of senior level management experience in Retail and Ecommerce for companies including AOL, Ticketmaster, Macy's and Pacific Sunwear. She is also Dan's little sister. While not an acomplished musician (she has just picked up the mandolin), she is an avid fan of flatpick guitar music, especially blue grass and gypsy jazz. Originally from Virginia, she now lives in California.

CONTRIBUTORS

Kathy Barwick
Kathy Barwick is a music educator, band member, sideman, and studio musician. Her 30 years of experience playing folk, bluegrass, blues, country blues, and Irish music has earned her a reputation as a musician’s musician. Kathy has played with some of the best musicians in northern California, including Mountain Laurel Bluegrass Band, The Bluegrass Philharmonic and The All Girl Boys. Touring credits include The All Girl Boys, BIll Grant & Delia Bell, and Nashville hot picker Brad Davis. Kathy currently plays dobro and mandolin in the folk/blues quartet The Mike Justis Band Kathy is in demand as a studio musician, lending her talents to folk, bluegrass, and even the occasional rock project. And Kathy recently produced her first solo recording, “In My Life.”

Dix Bruce Dix Bruce
Dix Bruce is a composer, and award winning guitarist. Since the early 1970s, he has been teaching music in groups and in private lessons. Dix has taught several adult workshops in music theory, jazz, bluegrass, folk, and country at music camps including The California Coast Music Camp, The Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, and The Acoustic Guitar Festival. He is a guest lecturer in music history at local junior colleges. He has also written over 35 music instruction books and recorded 4 instructional videos. Dix performs and tours with guitarist Jim Nunally. They have recorded four CDs of traditional American music and their own original music.
Joe Carr Joe Carr
Flatpicking Guitar Magazine is proud to name Joe Carr as one of it's columnists. Joe is both a an accomplished musician as well as a prolific author of instructional books for guitar, mandolin, banjo and ukulele. Since 1975 he has published nearly one hundred titles and 30 instructional videos covering bluegrass, country, swing, and gospel.Joe began his professional career with the Texas-based bluegrass band Roanoke. Joe was also an emcee, guitar player and singer for the internationally known bluegrass band Country Gazette. In 1984 Joe joined the faculty of South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, teaching guitar, mandolin and fiddle.


John Carlini John Carlini
John Carlini is a veteran guitarist and composer whose portfolio ranges from classical to Broadway to jazz to bluegrass. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and the U.S. Navy School of Music. John is an often-cited founding member of the seventies' West Coast "New Acoustic Music" scene, he is also an acclaimed arranger, orchestrator, and conductor. As a teenager, John became mesmerized by the New York City bluegrass scene after discovering the Wheeling West Virginia Jamboree on the car radio. He had the good fortune to become friends with bluegrass fiddle great, Tex Logan. Through Tex, Carlini learned about the 'heart and soul' of bluegrass music.
In addition to contributing to Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, John has been on the faculty of Steve Kaufman's Acoustic Kamps in Maryville (Knoxville), TN for five season.


Dan Crary Dan Crary
A native of Kansas, Dan started his career early in life pursuing an approach to guitar that explored new dimensions, transforming an instrument of accompaniment into one with a leading role. In his travels around the United States, Crary integrated traditional American styles and tunes, transforming them into strongly personal and creative works that are at once deeply rooted and freshly new. Dan has enjoyed a long and distinguished recording career, featuring solo projects and group efforts (especially with the award-winning ensemble California, active through most of the 1990s). Jammed If I Do, with guests Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Norman Blake, and Beppe Gambetta, was hailed as one of the decade’s great gatherings of guitarists. His 1992 solo album, Thunderation, won the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturer’s annual “Indie” award for “Best String Instrumental Album” and 1997 his release, Holiday Guitar, won 1998′s “Indie” for “Best Seasonal Music” from the Association For Independent Music.


Kacy Cubero Kacey Cubero
Kacey Cubero is a talented vocal coach and instructor from Ventura, California. She writes a column for developing the singing voice for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and is a very successful, award winning singer and songwriter. Kacey Cubero plays a unique brand of Americana, incorporating elements of roots, rock, and country, all with a soulful edginess. Twice named "Indie Artist of the Year" by Singer Magazine, Kacey is also a prolific songwriter. Haunting and thought-provoking, Kacey’s voice and songwriting have been likened to Shelby Lynne, Bonnie Raitt, Nora Jones, and Lucinda Williams. The range and versatility of her music is evidenced by her winning the MAVRIC Independent Music Award in 2009 for "Best Folk Song" for Feather in the Wind, and for being named 2006 "Artist of the Year" by the Santa Barbara Blues Society—the oldest blues society in the U.S.—and representing them in the International Blues Competition in Memphis.


Brad Davis Brad Davis
Brad Davis is known for his original amazing Double-Down-Up guitar technique. Brad has toured extensively with Marty Stuart, Sam Bush, Earl Scruggs, John Jorgenson, and Billy Bob Thornton. He has also worked with Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, David Lee Roth, Emmy Lou Harris, Pam Tillis, Dwight Yokam, Tommy Shaw, Travis Tritt, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Steve Earl, just to name a few, and appeared on Leno, Conan, The View, Good Morning America, Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel. He also won a Grammy Award for his guitar work on Warren Zevon's last record, The Wind. Davis is a full time member of Billy Bob Thornton's band The Boxmasters and signed to Universal Records and the William Morris Agency.
Adam Granger
Adam Granger
A native of Oklahoma, Adam Granger has played the guitar since 1959 and started teaching and performing professionally in 1962. Adam played folk and rock before he took up 5-string banjo, which he learned from world-class banjoist Alan Munde. He played banjo and electric lead guitar on the road until he settled back in Oklahoma 1972 where he played guitar in the infamous bluegrass band The Upper Middle Grass. In 1974, Adam moved to Minnesota, where he became a charter member of the Powdermilk Biscuit Band, the first house band for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. During that time, he also wrote for the show and, on five occasions, substitute-hosted for Keillor. For the last decade, Adam’s creative focus has been on writing and performing original material, and on writing books and articles on music in general and the flatpick guitar technique in particular. He teaches at music camps around the country, including Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas; Steve Kaufman’s Flatpick Guitar Camp in Maryville, Tennessee; The British Columbia Bluegrass Camp; and the Peace Gardens International Music Camp. Adam is a Minnesota Bluegrass Guitarist of the Year and has served as a judge at the International Flatpick Guitar Contest in Winfield, Kansas.

Dan Huckabee
Dan Huckabee is a National Dobro Champion and President of Musician's Workshop Music Instruction Company. Dan has recorded 5 solo albums and toured with several professional Bluegrass Bands, but has spent more time creating music instruction material than performing. Musician's Workshop began in 1973 with music lessons on cassette tapes, then eventually moved on the CDs and DVDs. The first Musician's Workshop product was a collection of Josh Graves most popular dobro solos, that were taught exactly note-for-note as Josh had played them on the original recordings. From there the company started teaching other instruments and concepts, with special purposes and teaching systems being the primary focus.


Steve Kaufman
Steve Kaufman
Steve Kaufman started playing music at the age of 4. By the time he was 18 he placed in the top 10 in the National Flatpicking Championships in Winfield, KS. At 21, he won the Championship in Winfield and went on to become the first and only Three Time Winner to date. In 1989 Steve began producing instructional books and videos, after teaching private lessons for close to 20 years. His catalog of instructional materials is now over 100 items. His listening CDs and Videos number over 18. Steve began touring the world conducting seminars, workshops, clinics and concerts in 1990 and after 5 years he and his wife, Donna, began "Steve Kaufman's Flatpicking Camp." Every other year they have added more camps into their agenda and now under the title "Steve Kaufman's Acoustic Kamps" they host a two Flatpicking Kamps, Fingerpicking Kamp, Old Time Banjo, Bluegrass Banjo, Old Time Fiddle, Bluegrass Fiddle, two Bass Kamps, Songwriting Kamp, Vocals Kamp, Mountain Dulcimer Kamp, Celtic Harp, Resophinic Guitar and Mandolin Kamp as well.


Mike Maddux
Mike Maddux
Family man and software engineer, Mike Maddux has earn accolades in music and produce more than 5 dozen recordings in addition to publishing his "Mastering the Fingerboard" column in "Flatpicking Guitar Magazine". Mike's championships include third place honors at the National Flatpicking Championship contest in 1995, Winner of the Best of the Rocky Mountain West bluegrass band competition with Heartland and multiple victories in state and local flatpicking and band contests in Colorado and Wyoming. Mike has performed more than 1200 times over the years with bands and his solo shows, including Mike and the Headliners, the Springs Contemporary Jazz Big Band, Heartland, and Full Moon Rising.A founding member of the Colorado Springs Contemporary Jazz Big Band, Mike continues to combine elements of jazz, bluegrass, and his classical background in his shows. After a decade with "Flatpicking Guitar Magazine", Mike has appeared on more than 4 dozen CD's, featuring songs from Bill Monroe to Miles Davis, from bluegrass to jazz. For one issue he chose to include the famous classical violinist Nicolo Paganini's "Moto Perpetuo".



Orrin Star
Orrin Star
Orrin Star is an award-winning guitarist and mandolin player who combines hot picking, cool singing and good humor. Once described as 'Arlo Guthrie-meets-Doc Watson', he was the 1976 National Flatpicking Champion, has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, and boasts a repertoire ranging from bluegrass standards to little-known folk gems, Celtic. He is also known for his skill as a music teacher, with two instructional DVDs, a book, and a column in Flatpicking Guitar magazine to his credit. He has led guitar & mandolin workshops throughout the United States and in Europe.
Jeff Troxel
Jeff Troxel
Jeff Troxel is an award-winning musician, songwriter, singer, composer, educator, and recording engineer. Jeff received his bachelor's degree from Berklee College of Music (summa cum laude) and his master's degree from the University of Southern California. He has twice been awarded the Performing Arts Fellowship in composition for the Wyoming Arts Council, he has won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield, and he has won state championships in both Wyoming and Utah. Jeff has performed with many notable artists in a diversity of styles, including Bobby Shew, Sunny Wilkinson, Frank Mantooth, Jack Reilly, Chuck Pyle, Pete Huttlinger, Warren Chiasson, Brian Wicklund, Matt Flinner, Ronnie Bedford, Mike Dowling, Chris Merz and James Naughton. In the past few years he’s been collaborating with fiddler Trevor Krieger, along with an array of jazz musicians in various configurations. He typically plays over a hundred dates a year.