May 2026 Teaching Artist Lesson Recap

May marked the second month with the new cohort of Acoustic Guitar Teaching Artists—Elsie Franklin, Greg Ruby, Jackson Emmer, Janet Noguera, and Morgan Harris! Their latest lessons cover a wide range of topics: Argentinean jazz licks, the boom chuck, harp harmonics, slide blues, and flatpicking bass runs. These new lessons (and the entire Teaching Artists archive) are available to Acoustic Guitar Patreon members at the Supporter tier (or higher.) Learn more and join for just $5. Grab your guitars and keep learning with your friends at Acoustic Guitar.

Morgan Harris | How I Play | Intro to Bass Runs

In roots styles ranging from bluegrass and country to old-time and folk music, bass runs are often what separate dynamic accompaniment from merely strumming the chords. In this lesson, Morgan offers a simple, intuitive introduction to the approach using the chord progression to the traditional tune “Been All Around This World” in G major. These three variations provide a solid foundation and can be adapted to a wide variety of song settings and styles.

Jackson Emmer | How I Play | Boom-Chuck Best Practices

The boom-chuck accompaniment—single bass notes on beats 1 and 3 and partial chord strums on beats 2 and 4—is the engine of styles from bluegrass to Americana and beyond. In this intro, Jackson breaks down the inner workings of the approach, slowing things down and showing how it all works on an open G5 chord. Once you can play all 3 examples confidently, try a little boom chuck on other chords at your fingertips.

Greg Ruby | How I Play | Oscar Alemán Licks

Argentine guitarist Oscar Alemán was one of the great jazz players of the swing era and a contemporary of Django Reinhardt, though his legacy has often been overshadowed by Reinhardt’s towering reputation. Greg Ruby has long championed Alemán’s music and even authored The Oscar Alemán Play-Along Songbook, Volume 1. Here, Greg shares four choice Alemán licks worthy of adding to your swing vocabulary. Playing these licks might seem tricky, but Greg gets into the details of the rhythmic and harmonic approaches that made Oscar’s approach so compelling.

Janet Noguera | How I Play | Cascading Harmonics

In this lesson, the second in a two-part series, Janet turns to the shimmering harp harmonics that give her piece “Stardust” its distinctive texture. By lightly touching the string with the picking-hand index finger while plucking with the thumb, she demonstrates how to produce clear, ringing tones and weave them into the arrangement. As in the first lesson, the approach becomes intuitive once you’ve internalized the opening measure—watch closely, then apply the technique to your own compositions or arrangements.

Elsie Franklin | How I Learn | Solid Slide Form in Open-D Tuning

Vastapol, or open-D tuning (D A D F# A D, lowest string to highest), was once called the “learning tuning” by bluesman Furry Lewis. Long associated with country blues and other roots styles, it’s especially well suited to fluid, vocal-like slide lines. In this lesson, Elsie covers a few essentials of slide technique: wear the slide on your fourth finger, keep your thumb anchored behind the neck, and use the remaining fingers to either fret notes or mute unwanted string noise. A light touch is crucial—good slide playing depends on strategic muting and accurate intonation. To get from standard tuning to open D, lower strings 1 and 6 from E to D, string 2 from B to A, and string 3 from G to F#. Then, try the foundational example Elsie demonstrates, which combines an alternating open-D bass line with notes from the D Mixolydian mode (D E F# G A B C) on the first string. And remember: slide playing is all about keeping things clean. 

Click here to see more AGTA lessons. Your $5/month support unlocks access to the full archive of lessons, plus the Song of the Month (TAB and notation) and monthly live workshop archives, too.