While I own several guitars, I previously have never attempted flying with a guitar. A quick Google search on the Internet reveals a lot of confusion about the process, as well as a few horror stories about damaged or stolen guitars. An infamous story of breakage ended in a viral internet video known as “United Breaks Guitars”: When I was in Argentina in 2011, I ended up having more free time than I thought I would have. In those moments, I really missed having access to a guitar that I could pick up and play. I went down to a local guitar store thinking I would buy something cheap, but it’s ...

Back when I was 18, my mom asked me what I wanted as a present for successfully completing high school with honours. My friend Matt at the time had just started playing guitar, so I decided at that moment I too wanted to be a guitar player. A few weeks later we found ourselves down in Tom Lee music in Vancouver, and my mom purchased my first guitar for me, a Fender Stratocaster. Since that time I’ve probably gone through three or four acoustic guitars, each time upping the ante in terms of cost and quality. That said, most of the guitars I’ve used over the years have been fairly unremarkable, ...

I need an acoustic amp for my Takamine electric acoustic guitar. I really have no idea what the brand names are, or what a good amp to get is. I don’t need much for it. I would probably prefer it had a clean channel too so I could pump a mic into it. Any recommendations? ...

I’m sure we all have one, a list of things we’d like to do before that big farmer in the sky puts us out to pasture. I’ve got a small list in my head that I’ve been slowly trying to take care of over the years. At the very top is playing guitar and singing live. I started playing guitar when I was 18 years old. My mom bought me a Fender Strat, and I practiced on that ampless for a few years. I’ve gone through various guitars over the years, and finally picked up an jumbo Takamine acoustic electric a few months ago, partially with the intent of someday playing live somewhere. Granted, ...

I accidentally ran into this song the other day on my iPod (yes, I have lots of music I haven’t heard before on my iPod), and there’s something about it I really liked. I’ve been working on playing it myself, and I’m pretty close. It’s rather hard (for me) to pick this song and try singing at the same time, but I’m getting better. In the video the other guy is doing most of the guitar work. Check it out. It’s an acoustic version they recorded at MTV. ...