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Follow the acoustic guitar world (or simply surf youtube) long enough and you’ll feel confident you’ve seen it all, follow it a bit longer and you’ll realize the different ways to play what is essentially a wooden box and half a dozen strings, is seemingly limitless. The latest discovery with a style all of his own is Botswanan Guitarist Ronnie Moipolai.

Thanks to Nigerian radio station Cool FM Ronnie has become a viral sensation with over 6 million views on youtube, here he’s playing in his home town of Kopong, Botswana.

In this video Ronnie uses an over hand technique with his fretting hand, while unusual it is used by percussive fingerstyle players and some other well-known virtuoso performers, but only occasionally, and very rarely for an entire piece. He also uses his hand as a slide as well as slap harmonics and perhaps most bizarrely on a couple of occasions he roles the knuckles of his left hand up and down the fret board.

Sitting somewhat sandwiched between a brick wall and a battered old van on axle stands. For most of the piece Ronnie stares at the cameraman or gazes around almost looking uninterested, playing with the effortless manner of someone who is a master of their instrument, and seeing how worn the fret board is you can tell he’s put in a few hours practice on that particular guitar.

To see more of Ronnie look him up on youtube, or follow to see him and his brother Kebabonye both playing the same guitar at the same time. Or to see someone else with a different approach to the acoustic guitar (the theme from Pulp Fiction) with his feet.

Please feel free to leave any comments below and watch this space for more acoustic guitar news coming soon.

Many thanks