Steve Kaufman (born 1957) is a flatpicking guitarist and teacher from Alcoa, Tennessee. He won the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, three times, in 1978, 1984, and 1986. He was the first player to win it three times. Since the mid 1990s he has run Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp at Maryville College, and he has published more than 100 books, videos, and CDs on flatpicking.
Why Kaufman matters
Kaufman turned contest flatpicking into something a regular picker can learn. His Winfield wins made his name, but his books and camps made his mark. Thousands of guitarists learned their first fiddle tunes from his Parking Lot Picker series or a week in Maryville. If you learned Black Mountain Rag from a tab book, there is a fair chance he wrote it.
Life and career
Kaufman was born on April 20, 1957, in New York City. His father played jazz piano and his mother trained as a classical pianist. He started piano at age four, took up cello in grade school, and tried electric guitar at age ten. He came back to the guitar at 14 and stayed with it. A Flatt and Scruggs record with Doc Watson on guitar pulled him toward flatpicking.
He began performing for pay in 1976. In 1977 he placed second at Winfield behind Mark O’Connor. He came back in 1978 and won at age 21. Winfield rules kept winners out for five years, so he returned in 1984 and won again. He won a third time in 1986. He moved from New Jersey to Maryville, Tennessee, in the late 1970s to teach guitar, and he has taught from there since.
In the mid 1990s Kaufman and his wife, Donna Dixon, started the Acoustic Kamp at Maryville College. The camp grew to two weeks each June, one for old time and one for bluegrass, with classes in guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dobro, bass, dulcimer, and voice. He recorded a run of solo albums for Sleeping Bear Records in the 1990s, including Breaking Out (1990) and Bullet Train (1997), and duo records with Robin Kessinger and Robert Shafer. He still competes. He placed second at Winfield in 2013 and 2015.
Playing style
Kaufman is a contest player, and his playing has the marks of that setting. He plays fiddle tunes at speed with a clean attack and a bright tone that carries without help from a microphone. His teaching starts with the right hand. His instructional videos open with pick grip and pick direction before they get to tunes, and his 1991 video Flatpick 2 carries the subtitle Building Bluegrass Technique. He also made a video titled SPEED on that one subject.
His repertoire runs past bluegrass. He plays swing standards, Irish and Appalachian fiddle tunes, folk and country songs, and novelty numbers. He plays mandolin as well, and he placed third in the Walnut Valley mandolin contest in 1988. His Winfield prize guitars included a Martin HD-28, a Gallagher G72, and a Martin J-40. Gallagher later built a Kaufman signature model.
Influences and legacy
Kaufman points to Doc Watson as the player who set him on the flatpicking path. He also names Django Reinhardt. He came up in the same contest field as Mark O’Connor and Dan Crary, and he has shared stages with Doc Watson, Tony Rice, and Jack Lawrence.
His camp has hosted Beppe Gambetta, Kenny Smith, and Tyler Grant as instructors. His instruction books reach players who never meet him.
Signature tunes and songs
Black Mountain Rag Arkansas Traveler The Star of the County Down Greensleeves.
Essential recordings
Breaking Out (Sleeping Bear Records, 1990) The Arkansas Traveler (Sleeping Bear Records, 1994) Bullet Train (Sleeping Bear Records, 1997) The Star of the County Down, with Robin Kessinger (Sleeping Bear Records, 1998) Back Home, with Robert Shafer (Sleeping Bear Records, 2003)
Awards and honors
National Flat Pick Guitar Championship, Winfield, second place (1977) National Flat Pick Guitar Championship, Winfield, first place (1978) National Flat Pick Guitar Championship, Winfield, first place (1984) National Flat Pick Guitar Championship, Winfield, first place (1986) Walnut Valley Festival mandolin contest, third place (1988) Acoustic Guitar magazine readers poll, Gold Award for Best Workshops, Seminars, and Camps (2002 onward) National Flat Pick Guitar Championship, Winfield, second place (2013) National Flat Pick Guitar Championship, Winfield, second place (2015)
Watch and listen
Kaufman explains how he holds the pick. This is the grip behind his contest tone.
Kaufman and Tyler Grant play Black Mountain Rag at the Acoustic Kamp. Listen for how the two guitars trade the melody.
What to learn from Kaufman
Learn Black Mountain Rag from the Kamp video above. It is the tune he reaches for on stage, and it has a plain melody you can build on. Play it slow and clean first. Then add notes one pass at a time, the way a contest player builds an arrangement. The technique to steal is his pick grip. Watch the grip video, copy how he holds the pick, and play a G scale with a metronome at half speed. His whole method rests on a right hand that stays relaxed and even. Speed comes from that habit, not from effort.
Sources
About Steve Kaufman, Flatpik.com Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamp overview, Flatpik.com Steve Kaufman, CoMando Guest of the Week, Mandozine Steve Kaufman discography, Mandozine Walnut Valley Festival winners archive, alphabetical (PDF) The MC campus comes alive with the sound of music, Maryville College
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Kaufman followed Doc Watson and came up beside Dan Crary. Allen Shadd and Tyler Grant won Winfield after him. Beppe Gambetta teaches at his camp.