Davy Graham was the UK's most gifted guitarist of modern times. He revolutionised guitar playing in the early sixties and enjoyed a long career as England's greatest: if often over-looked, guitarist.

Revered by several generations of guitarists, he invented the Folk -Baroque style, devised a modal tuning system for the guitar called DADGAD and composed the signature tune of the sixties folk revival, Anji.

During the 1960s Graham released a string of albums of music from all around the world in all kinds of genres. 1964's Folk, Blues and Beyond and the following year's collaboration with the folk singer Shirley Collins, Folk Roots, New Roots, are frequently cited among his most influential album releases. Graham also came to the attention of guitarists through his appearance in a 1959 broadcast of the BBC TV arts series Monitor, produced by Ken Russell and entitled Hound Dogs and Bach Addicts: The Guitar Craze, in which he played an acoustic instrumental version of Cry Me a River.

Graham's spontaneity and his continuous touring of the world, picking up and then recording different styles of music for the guitar, has resulted in many musicians crediting him with founding world music. However, though Graham recorded in a variety of genres and loved to play the oudh, he was no purist, absorbing all his influences into his own ever-expanding conception of the possibilities of guitar music. Quizzed, for instance, on his introduction of a chord progression into an Arab maqam, his amiable retort was to the effect that, if he felt like it and it sounded alright, why shouldn't he?

Graham married the American singer Holly Gwinn in the late 1960s and recorded the album Godington Boundary with her in 1970, shortly before their marriage broke up. During this period he taught acoustic guitar and also undertook charity work, particularly for various mental health charities. For several years he was on the executive council of Mind and he was involved for some time with the mystic Osho.

He was the subject of a 2005 BBC Radio documentary Whatever Happened to Davy Graham and in 2006 featured in the BBC Four documentary Folk Britannia.

Many people found Davy over the years and tried to encourage him to return to the stage to play live. The last of these seekers was Mark Pavey who arranged tours, records and speciall appearances with guitarists and old friends including Bert Jansch, Duck Baker and Martin Carthy. These concerts were typically eclectic, with Graham playing a mix of acoustic blues, Romanian dance tunes, Irish pipe tunes, songs from South Africa and pieces by Bach. His final album, Broken Biscuits consisted of originals and new arrangements of traditional songs from around the world.

Graham was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008 and died on 15 December 2008. He is survived by his two daughters, Mercy and Kim.