Muriel Anderson Playing Harp Guitar

Muriel Anderson, a remarkable musician, is in the top echelon of international guitarists, and perhaps one of the most versatile. Her insatiable musical curiosity and understanding have directed her talents across usual boundaries to include jazz, classical, folk, bluegrass, Chet Atkins style finger-picking, and now, harp guitar. During this concert, she impressed the audience at the intimate Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, California, by playing and moving between multiple genres. She is also the first and only woman to win the (guitar) National Fingerpicking Championship Title. Muriel’s new interest has lead her to become one of the few harp guitarists playing professionally. Her unique instrument, beautifully hand-made in Portland, Oregon, by Mike Doolin, a guitar craftsman, includes a conventional six-string classical wide neck with fretted fingerboard, seven remaining bass drone strings (Muriel eliminated one from the original eight), and eight higher-voiced treble drones. The drones are played harp-like, as open unfretted strings. A custom instrument, it was made to Muriel’s specifications and slightly down-sized to be more practical to take on the road. The guitar looks positively gorgeous, appearing complicated and unwieldy until she plays, masterfully producing the augmented sounds of an enhanced guitar. For all its complexity, her graceful, slender fingers kn