Dedicated to the interests of classical guitarists and those who enjoy classical guitar music.
AGS is now on our annual summer hiatus. Our next meeting will be Saturday, September 6th at 7:30 pm. This meeting will take place at our permanent location - Faith Lutheran Church at 7500 De Soto Ave in Canoga Park, CA. Please use the sign up form on our Meetings page to perform at our next meeting.
Click here to read our July 2025 AGS Newsletter.
To the classical guitar teachers of Southern California: Now is the right time to talk with your students and begin to plan the pieces they will perform for our annual Bickford Competition on November 1st, 7:30 pm .
Visit the SCHOLARSHIPS page to read the Bickford Competition rules and see the sign up form. We will accept sign up forms beginning 12 midnight on September 1st.
AGS Congratulates our 2025 Denner Scholarship Recipients!
Each year, the AGS notifies professors at local institutions of our scholarship opportunity and requests that they select one student who demonstrates dedication, continuous improvement, and notable proficiency in performance and understanding of the classical guitar. Selected students are then asked to attend an AGS meeting to perform, receive their Certificates of Merit and their award checks for $200. Click here to learn more.
Vahdah Olcott Bickford
photo from about 1915
The American Guitar Society is the oldest, continuously operating guitar society in the United States. It was founded in 1923 by Vahdah Olcott Bickford (VOB), who was born in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1885 and died in Los Angeles in 1980. She was considered one of the foremost concert guitarists in the United States from 1910 to 1957, at which time she retired from the stage to devote the rest of her life to teaching and publishing. VOB published a number of original compositions and arrangements of popular pieces for the guitar, where she declared AGS as the publisher. Visit the LIBRARY tab to view and download all 20 of the works she published via the AGS organization.
Our Mission
The purpose of the AGS is to promote the beauty of the Classical Guitar via Education, Scholarships, Concerts, and monthly Meetings where members perform.
Meet, Play, Listen
Our next meeting will be held at 7:30pm on September 6th. We meet at the FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH located at 7500 De Soto Ave, Canoga Park. Please join AGS and sign up to perform your classical guitar pieces at an upcoming monthly meeting.
