We are super-excited to have an hour of chat interspersed with music from one of the most influential and innovative guitarists of the past four-and-a-half decades, Preston Reed. Preston, who has made Girvan his home, invented integrated percussive guitar playing in the late 1980’s, revolutionising the way the acoustic guitar is played and inspiring generations of musicians around the world ever since. Employing multi-voiced grooves, polyrhythmic percussion and story-telling compositions, Reed’s visionary approach fully exploits the breathtaking orchestral potential of the acoustic guitar.

Since 1979 Preston has released fifteen critically-acclaimed albums and performed on six continents. His long teaching experience includes The Swannanoa Gathering, where he taught Kaki King, his own week-long workshops in Scotland, attended by many over the years including Ed Sheeran, and his recent masterclass at Berklee College of Music. His 1994 instructional video, The Guitar Of Preston Reed: Expanding The Realm Of Acoustic Playing continues to set today’s and tomorrow’s top players on the path to developing their own musical voices on the instrument.

Preston will be talking about his life in music, and why he chose to settle here in Girvan.