Today there are more than 2,000 guitar shows and festivals staged around the world. Guitar festivals around the world have presented several hundred of world class guitarists from different parts of the world. Some of the guitar festivals around the world which are my personal favourite are:

New York Guitar Festival

Since 1999, the New York Guitar Festival has explored virtually every aspect of the guitar’s musical personality, presenting many of the world’s most distinctive and influential guitarists at venues including Carnegie Hall, The 92nd Street Y, Merkin Concert Hall, Joe’s Pub, Barbes, (le) Poisson Rouge, and The World Financial Center Winter Garden. In addition to producing eclectic, multi-genre concerts and radio broadcasts, commissioning new works, and supporting innovative collaborations among outstanding artists, its Guitar Harvest series of recordings supports innovative outreach programs in public schools.

Adelaide Guitar Festival

The inaugural festival in 2007 was modelled on the New York Guitar Festival and saw 100 musicians from around the world perform across 40 events, and attracted an audience of over 30,000 people. The Adelaide Guitar Festival (AGF) is a four-day biennial festival, curated by internationally renowned Australian guitarist, Slava Grigoryan. Unbound by genre and acclaimed for its outstanding quality, its concerts span rock, jazz, folk, classical, experimental, blues and roots music.

Dallas International Guitar Festival

From its humble beginnings in a small meeting room of a Dallas hotel in 1978, to 140,000 square feet of display space at Dallas Market Hall today, the Dallas International Guitar Festival celebrates 38 years of bringing guitar dealers, manufacturers, collectors, celebrities and music enthusiasts together. Each year, the Show attracted more exhibitors and attendees, changing venues to accommodate the growing crowds.

International Guitar Foundation (IGF)

Founded in 1993, International Guitar Foundation (IGF) is an arts agency dedicated to the promotion, understanding and enjoyment of the guitar, its music and artists. IGF stages a range of events nationwide from festivals in London, Bath and the North East to large-scale summer schools in Bath, Cheltenham and London.

Boston Guitar Fest

Boston GuitarFest is a music festival with a stellar array of exciting concerts; a series of seminars and master classes taught by an incomparable faculty; and a meeting place for all those seeking a deeper message, more enduring values and a more genuine human interchange than can often be found in the world of today’s “music business”.

Ullapool Guitar Festival

It started in 2000 – oddly enough, to bring business and tourism into the local community in the wake of the foot and mouth epidemic. October was chosen as a way of extending the tourist season, and, as sponsors came and went, and audiences increased in size, the Festival evolved through performances in local pubs and the village hall to its current home in the MacPhail Centre. This has all the comfort and facilities associated with a first-class performance venue, including superb acoustics, but also the space to put on workshops, to expand trade show and to provide excellent catering.

These guitar festivals are an absolute must for all the devotees of guitar and anyone who loves music in general. So, if your fingers are itching to learn and play guitar then just give Guitar Confidence a call. Our mobile guitar instructors will come to your home to give you personal one-on-one lessons. I’m Rex Founder of Guitar Confidence and I have been now doing mobile guitar lessons for many years. Guitar Confidence travels to over 30 cities in the East Bay and South Bay areas; including Danville, San Ramon, Dublin & Pleasanton.