In many ways, the guitar is a very primitive instrument. Reduced to its essence, its a piece of wood with strings on it. Its popularity (as I've noted before) has a lot to do with its portability (from place to place) and adaptability (from style to style). Another big factor is the fact that there is no one right way to play it. It can be played with a pick or with several, with some of the fingers or with all of them, or even with the thumb alone - which is how Wes Montgomery played and he is considered (correctly) to be among the very greatest of jazz guitarists, so we know that can work. In terms of the style that I'll call acoustic finger-style folk, Nick Drake is in similar company. His third album, Pink Moon (1972) is probably the one that shows his prowess at its maximum. The album is a solo effort in its truest sense: there are no other musicians. (It's remarkable how different his three albums are in terms of conception, in fact. For example, the album that I posted on yesterday, Bryter Layter, displays Drake's abilities in playing with a band.) The listener doesn't feel that there is anything missing either, thanks to the dazzling songwriting, Drake's one-of-a-kind vocal style and the aforementioned guitar mastery. I was surprised to find out that it's only a little over twenty-eight minutes long - it doesn't feel that way, at all. (One critic used to end reviews with "consumer alerts" for albums that he felt weren't long enough. It always struck me as silly. Do we judge a poem based on its length? A Love Supreme is just over thirty-three minutes, by the way - should consumers be dissuaded from that one?) In listening to the record today, I remembered how Segovia once compared the guitar to a "little orchestra". The greatest guitarists, people like Nick Drake, are all the proof needed for that analogy. (Suggested listening: "Things Behind the Sun" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV4D_q9QiuQ&feature=related )