As Boulderites we know, and are expected to know more about music than most. Home to Caribou Ranch, and to hundreds of world class electric guitar and bass players over the decades and centuries, we are immersed in guitar players! Complete List of Performers At Caribou Ranch The origin of the sound of the electric guitar is a vibrating string.  The electronics, plus sweat, and smiles, and voila!   Jimi Hendrix meet Les Paul. Mr. Hendrix, Mr. Paul, please meet my friend Mr. Marshall! At the top of this close up of Les Paul’s Les Paul 6 strings come down. They go across the pickups. Those... Read More

Robert Johnson, Perhaps The Most Famous of the Mississippi Delta Blues Players Listing the seven most popular and respected acoustic guitars specifically in the Boulder Colorado region is challenging, as popularity can vary widely and is not often region-specific within the United States. However, certain acoustic guitar brands and models are renowned worldwide and enjoy popularity in Colorado as well, given its vibrant music scene and appreciation for folk, bluegrass, rock, and other genres where acoustic guitars are prominent. Here are seven acoustic guitars that are generally well-regarded... Read More

     Fido’s Fable for ThursdayFido‘s Fables Once upon a time  in Boulder there was a grasshopper and a colony of ants and a large dog. During the summer, the grasshopper and the dog jammed on guitar and drums. The aunts gathered food. When the winter came and the air got cold, the ants had lots of food and the grasshopper and dog had none. BUT  a deal was struck. The grasshopper and the dog had gotten so good that the ants were wiling to share food if the grasshopper and dog would play music all winter. The moral of the story is that if you’re not going to gather... Read More

Layla , our  Boulder rescue adoption green cheeked conure parrot  thrives on love and music. She frequently sings along IF she likes the song. The classic version of Layla is the source of her post-adoption name. She has been singing along (going from silent to chirping and making a wide variety of vocalizations) more and more. Lensworth believes that hearing him playing guitar and singing “demonstrated” that singing along with something, or with about anything on his various Spotify mixes, was part of the way of things. Layla seems to have expanded her “sing along”... Read More

Boulder has always been a glowing area on the magical music map of the world.  It is a smaller town with a huge musical glow. Whether it is John Sebastian calling Boulder home,  or walking down the Boulder Mall, looking up, and seeing “JACK BRUCE” on the marquee with $6.00 admission.  While the focus of this article is playing guitar, the methods described apply to any instrument, and to much more. We’re learning to play the guitar, and also learning to learn. Photo by Lenny Lensworth Frieling The deservedly famous Red Rocks Amphitheater has hosted some of the world’s... Read More

Have you seen Eric around before? No, you haven’t because last Monday was the first time Eric had ever been to Boulder. Eric comes from a small town in Colorado and currently lives in Denver but he decided to come up and visit a friend in Boulder. The first thing that he did? Come to pearl street and play his heart out. Eric is taking some classes on preforming and one of his teachers suggested practicing on the infamous Pearl Street. So, instead of running the chance of bothering his friend by playing in his apartment, he stands in front of a modest crowd and belts to his hearts content.... Read More

“A musician, a poet, and a young man searching for his life.” To escape the “Meth heads and Mormons” of Missouri, Pier came to Boulder in search of fabled beautiful scenery and a lot of enlightened people. While he found this to be true, he also found that there is a level of pretentiousness that comes with the amount of money some people have here. There’s a huge focus on arts in Boulder that he falls right into. He primarily plays guitar, but is the master of all things strung, like the ukulele and bass. But he’s a “lyricist above all else”. He’s always had an affinity for... Read More

David had been writing songs since he was a kid, but of course, as life got busy, that passion got set on a shelf. When he found himself with more time on his hands after losing hours at work, he picked it up again. He learned guitar and loves it all over again. He also started traveling across the country. He’s originally from California, but he’s travelled all across the West Coast and into Mexico. But he came to Boulder because of the scenery and people. He dreams of traveling all over the world, but right now, Colorado is still his favorite spot so far.  Read More

“I love playing. I love the way it feels… I just get lost in it really. I try to do it every day. I try to at least have a time where I really belt out some songs, and that’s either in my room, with the people above me listening, or that’s out here, or at a club. It’s really tough. Sometimes it’s just in my room and it’s so frustrating because I’m in my room trying to release all this energy that I want to be releasing out here in front of people. I like exposure, I don’t know, I like attention I guess.”- Josh Ryan  Read More