“Basically, I climb up telegraph poles late at night, tear down the cabling with my bare hands and use that to string my guitar!”: Jon Gomm on how he's using wild tunings, giant strings, and lessons from Jeff Beck's whammy work to redefine the acoustic

Jon Gomm.

As one of the most innovative fingerstylists on the planet, Jon Gomm knows a thing or two about how to elevate the humble acoustic guitar to extraordinary heights. From beautiful tapestries of natural harmonics to frenzied eight-finger tapping and brain-boggling feats of multitasking, there’s no doubt about it: he’s got the magic touch. 

But it can be tricky to know where to begin if you want to move your playing on from open-tuned strum patterns and fingerpicking to a more progressive acoustic style. As Gomm says: “Experimentation is the key. What’s great about modern fingerstyle is that it really means: ‘Pick up an acoustic guitar and do whatever techniques you want, in whatever genre you like.’” Gomm has made an art of doing just that for the last two decades.