The live final of Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2019, in association with Takamine, took place on Sunday 22 September at the UK Guitar Show and now you can view the jaw-dropping performances of all three players, including our winner, Christie Lenée.
Our final three had to impress a panel that included John Jorgeson, Andy McKee and Molly Tuttle to make it to the live final. Once there, they had to play in front of a live final, including the expert eye of editors from Guitarist, Total Guitar and guitarist Andy Lee.
Each of the three players brought strong performances and offered a fascinating cross-section of the current acoustic world, from nylon-string jazz-classical crossover, to Brazilian fingerstyle and percussive acoustic theatrics.
In the end, following an impassioned performance our judges chose Christie Lenée as 2019 champion. In addition to the title, Christie was presented a stunning Takamine EF341SC acoustic, which was customised with a new preamp and presented on the day by none other than Takamine's chief designer and head of product design, Makoto Terasaki.
Check out all the final performances below...
Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2019 winner: Christie Lenée
Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2019 finalist: Daniel Padim
Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2019 finalist: Alan Shikoh
“You would get suspended for even having a guitar”: Brian May says it was “illegal” to have a guitar at his school – but he and his friends played during lunch hour anyway
“Gibson was able to put the universe on it… the planet Mercury is here, and that is a little nod to a friend of mine”: Inspired by the stars and co-designed by the Queen guitarist, Gibson unveils exquisite Brian May SJ-200 12-String
