About
Welcome to the official website of renowned Ragtime guitarist Merlin Smith. Here you will find Tabs, videos and other musical works by the 'Ragtime Guitar Wizard'.
Merlin Smith is a distinguished guitarist who has garnered acclaim for his exceptional work on the music of Scott Joplin. He has skillfully built upon the legacy of renowned guitarists such as John Knowles, Chet Atkins, and Richard Smith to create a distinctive sound that is uniquely his own. His celebrated series, 'Merlin Smith Plays Scott Joplin', is a testament to his unwavering commitment to meticulously working through the entire repertoire of the legendary composer.
He also continues to transpose pieces by James Scott, Joseph Lamb, Artie Matthews and other prominent Ragtime figures from the 20th century in a bid to accurately re-imagine the joy that is Ragtime music for the acoustic guitar.
Taking up the electric guitar in his early teens, Merlin demonstrated a great deal of musical skill early on. Within just a year of playing he was already proficient in many advanced pieces by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Dire Straits and Pink Floyd. However, despite showing promise as an electric player it was acoustic guitar that really captured his musical imagination, in particular; fingerpicking pieces.
"I always had more of an affinity for the acoustic. The sound and the ability to take one anywhere and have it sound good without the need for any amplification or effects really appealed to me. I would always bring an acoustic to gatherings with friends and provide music. I remember one specific night at a party, the host had these beautiful acoustic guitars in this room away from all the ruckus. He played 'Babe I'm Gunna Leave You' by Led Zeppelin and I think that was the first fingerpicked song I had heard. It absolutely fascinated me and I just had to go home and learn it. This sent me down a rabbit hole of Acoustic Led Zeppelin songs which opened up the door to fingerpicking for me."
After finishing school, Merlin went on to study music at City of Bath College. It was here that his specialty in fingerstyle really started to take shape. He would regularly perform in small acoustic duos and trios, providing complex acoustic backing that prompted a friend to remark "That's some Tommy Emmanuel stuff."
""Who was Tommy Emmanuel?"" I thought to myself. So I looked him up on Youtube and I think the first video I watched was classical gas. It completely changed my view of fingerstyle guitar. I had no idea it could be this complex and advanced. One of my strengths as a player is that I never watch someone and think it's out of the realm of possibility. I just wonder how I can learn it myself. A few months later he happened to be playing at Glastonbury Festival which I attended every year. Seeing him live cemented the idea for me that I wanted to pursue solo fingerstyle."
Following his completion of college, Merlin began to build a repertoire and perform solo, playing Tommy Emmanuel arrangements such as his Beatles Medley and Classical Gas. He also took an interest in another player; Chet Atkins, whose arrangements and compositions had begun to form a large part of his set.
"'Oh By Jingo!' was the first Chet Atkins arrangement I had heard. Something really clicked for me here. It wasn't just his amazing playing that fascinated me. It was something about the songs he played. The chords and the melodies had something about it that I just loved. I didn't know what the style was called at the time, I just knew I wanted to learn more of it. Another song I learnt at the time was similar. 'The Cantina Theme' from Star Wars had the same feeling as 'Oh By Jingo!'. It was kind of Jazzy but also very whimsical."
Merlin would then go on to study Music Production at Bath Spa University which would lead him to record his first album of original compositions titled 'Harry's Dream', followed a couple years after by two more albums released in quick succession; 'Burn The Boats' and 'Reprise', the latter consisting of his own arrangements of popular songs from various decades.
"All I did after University was record. I would constantly try and figure out original songs as arrange songs I really loved. 'Reprise' was a result of some very mellow arrangements I had put together that people had requested to be released for sale. It was designed to be a relaxing background album that was easy to listen to. However, what I was really looking forward to was recording an album of all the classic fingerpicking staples I had developed over the years. All the stuff by Jerry Reed, Merle Travis, Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins, and also some pieces in a style that was quite new to me; Ragtime".
Among all the great players Merlin had learnt from, there was one individual whose skill and arrangements had captivated him. Richard Smith, a fellow English guitarist who now resided in Nashville, demonstrated to Merlin not only a new level of skill and possibility in fingerstyle, but also a style of music from a composer that seemed to translate to guitar as if it was purposely written for it.
"Like most people I think I was introduced to Richard's playing from the video of him performing 'The Entertainer'. I knew how to play Chet's (or rather John Knowles') version already, but there was something about the way Richard did it that fascinated me. The rhythm, the attention to detail, the transposition of the later sections. It not only got me hooked on Richard's playing, it also introduced me to Scott Joplin's music. I then went on to watch all of his other Joplin arrangements; Pineapple Rag, The Easy Winners, The Cascades, Maple Leaf Rag and The Ragtime Dance. I had to learn all of them. I think after about 6 months I had learnt them all except for one."
Whilst working on the newly discovered music of The King Of Ragtime, Merlin had also begun to take his music to the streets of Bath, making a living as a busker in the heritage city. Performing multiple sets a day 5 days a week, he began to really hone his skills as a performer and bring enjoyment to the city's residents and tourists. It was his life as a busker that led to what would be the best opportunity of his life. In the Summer of 2023 he received a generous scholarship to attend a Tommy Emmanuel guitar camp in Nashville, TE.
"It was such a life changing moment. I had never left England before, never even been on a plane. I was 25 at the time. I had always wanted to go to America and now I was going to be going to the Fingerpickers capital and would also get to meet all the people I admired. This came at a time when I was playing mostly just Ragtime, and there was one of Richard's Joplin rags I hadn't learnt yet because I didn't have a good enough video, so my main goal of the trip was to learn this song from Richard Smith. I must have followed him around all weekend pestering him to show me this song. Finally, I think it was the last day that I got to sit down with him and he showed me 'The Cascades'. This arrangement was crucial in my approach to Ragtime for guitar. I thought to myself that if this song could be arranged for guitar then I don't think there's a Joplin rag that can't work. The other important thing that happened that weekend was an interaction with Tommy. I was playing a Scott Joplin piece and I told him I wanted to fill a set with just Ragtime. I honestly expected him to pull back a bit as it would mean putting myself in a box and limiting my versatility as a player. His answer surprised me. "Do it! No one else is doing it. When I'm watching Richard I wanna hear Pineapple Rag, I wanna hear Maple Leaf Rag. No one else plays that stuff!" That was it. After I returned to England I did two things. I learnt 'The Cascades', which meant there was no more of Richards Scott Joplin arrangements for me to learn. I then sat down and listened to Scott Joplin's entire works to decide what songs I wanted to arrange. I then ran into a problem. I loved them all. Every single one. All of it was just genius. So I got to work on Volume 1, which would be all of Richards arrangements and six of my own."
Merlin went on to finish arranging his first Volume of Joplin's music in just a few short months. He continues to record and hopes to release them in Spring of 2026, complete with videos of every piece. As well as this he makes appearances at various Jazz festivals around the UK, and has even gone on to compete in the International Fingerstyle Championships in Kansas. His arrangements of Scott Joplin's music are said to be some of the most accurate guitar arrangements of the composers music, and he is thought to be one of the UK's top 'classical' ragtime guitar players to this day.
