Alberto de Almar, Friday night at the Pitstop in Oak Bluffs. The notes came off his guitar in a flurry, his hands a blur — Flamenco — throbbing, twanging, pinging off the walls, carrying a message of joy and sorrow, and just plain good fun.

And no wonder. Mr. de Almar has played guitar for 53 years, worldwide, jazz, rock classical, in all kinds of joints and grand halls, teacher, composer, Los Angeles to Spain, backup player to the stars, solo plucker to the king and queen of Spain and oh — Ron and Nancy in the White House and yet with all that, here he was, in the former garage that is now the hub of music on Martha’s Vineyard.

— Sam Low