RICHARD SMITH

We caught up with the nylon-string maestro during one of his all-too-rare visits to the UK for a lively conversation about all things acoustic and a very special video masterclass…

- David Mead

Tommy Emmanuel once said, “If you like my playing, you should hear Richard Smith…” As far as accolades go, that one’s not easily beaten. Here at Guitarist, we first became aware of Richard’s extraordinary talent face-to-face back in the 1990s when he paid us a visit at our offices and brightened up the afternoon with a jaw-dropping private performance – and in those days, he was still in his 20s. British born but now resident in Nashville, Richard is acknowledged as one of the best acoustic guitar players around, touring constantly and only stopping off occasionally to deliver one of his insightful clinics.

When we caught up with him at Yamaha’s Milton Keynes HQ, we were treated to another virtuoso nylon-string performance while he was warming up for the video that accompanies this interview. What made it all the more remarkable was that he wasn’t playing his own instrument, instead opting for one of Yamaha’s Trans Acoustic nylon string guitars, the CG-TA. Even playing an unfamiliar instrument didn’t faze Richard in the slightest as immaculate solo arrangements of jazz standards and country tunes rolled out of the guitar’s soundhole.

Going back to his roots, then, Richard started to play at a very young age. “I was five,” he nods. “My dad had the Play In A Day book, Bert Weedon, so that’s how he was learning and he showed me the chords to Down South Blues, which was on The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show record. He’d figured that out and that’s what got me started. I asked my dad, ‘Can you show me that?’ And that was all there is to it. You only have to do it once and you’re addicted,” he laughs.

What followed on from your early adventuring with classic blues?