For almost 30 years, Adrian Legg has been regarded by critics and guitar geeks as one of the greatest guitarists in the world, despite the fact that he has never become popular with the masses.

Legg is a native Brit whose playing is rooted in English classicism: He grew up listening to classical composers, mostly from the Baroque and Romantic periods. So, his amazing proficiency, bionic-fingered dexterity and sophisticated sense of harmonics are about what one might expect from a player with classical-music roots.

But later on, he discovered what he simply refers to as “American guitar,” and began incorporating American roots-music styles — blues, country, Cajun, American-folk and jazz — into his playing. And he even tapped into some early guitar-instrumental rock ‘n’ roll, like the music of the Ventures and the Shadows. But he never went deep into rock ‘n’ roll territory, which would explain why he’s not well-known among the mainstream audience.

But he is a full-on guitar god among the writers and readers of the guitar magazines. Guitarist Magazine, an English publication, named him “Acoustic Guitarist of the Decade” (1984-’94). And in the readers’ poll conducted by Guitar Player magazine (a U.S. mag), he was named Best Acoustic Fingerstylist four years in a row, and also won Best Overall Guitar Album and Best Acoustic Album honors — twice in each category.

Legg is also quite the raconteur, known for his wry onstage tale-spinning.

Just as a point of reference, for those not familiar with Legg, the guitarist that he’s most often compared to is Leo Kottke, because of his dazzling chops and adventurous approach to his instrument.

But they also share an appreciation for how the guitar can be used to convey human emotion. So, despite their gunslinger capabilities, each player has a deep repertoire of pensive, delicate compositions.

Those are the ones that Legg focused on for his new release, the fittingly titled “Slow Guitar.” For that disc, Legg took 12 of the songs that have become the most requested by his fans at his live shows, and re-recorded them in the studio — or, in four cases, included recent live recordings of the songs. And, “they’re all the slow ones,” notes Legg, who comes to The Ark on Tuesday.

Another song, "Karen," has "never been recorded in the studio before, although I play it in my shows a lot.”

For starters, the disc includes lovingly re-recorded versions of such Legg favorites as “A Waltz for Derroll, “Tracy’s Big Moment,” “Midwest Sunday” and “The Irish Girl,” from his first U.S. release, “Guitars & Other Cathedrals” — recordings that show how the songs have continued to evolve as living entities, instead of being static artifacts.

It also includes the beatific classicism of “Anu,” the peacefully languid “Mrs. Crowe’s Blue Waltz,” the shrouded-in-mystery air, “L’Amour Manque,” the rippling “Mrs. Jack’s Last Stand,” the orchestral “Emneth” and the cinematic “Pieta.”

“These were all pieces that had some significance to my audience,” says Legg during a recent phone interview from Victoria, British Columbia, where he was rehearsing for the International Guitar Night event in that city. “These are the ones that people not only requested the most often, but they also often told me stories about why these songs meant something to them.

“A lot of people told me that ‘The Irish Girl’ had been played at their weddings — or even at the funerals for their loved ones. That’s the whole point of making music — to try and create something that touches people emotionally like that.

“So, I wanted to re-record these songs, because some of them have evolved over the years, in terms of how I perform them, and some of them have disappeared, so to speak, because some of those old records of mine are now out of print. So I wanted to create new documents, as it were, of these songs.”

As for the emphasis on “the slow ones”: “I think that if you were to randomly ask people, ‘What kinds of songs do you like best — the fast ones or the slow ones?’ most would probably say ‘the fast ones,’ says Legg. “Because, fast and furious is like juggling five balls in the air, while keeping all the plates spinning, and being a fire eater — because those are fun.

“But, if you took each of those people aside, they would admit that the songs that affected them the most, deep inside, would be the slower, more reflective ones. All the songs I really love the most are slow, because they reflect or convey our deepest emotions.”

“We’ve all been in love, we’ve all had our hearts broken — and music is how we share those emotions with others. Music is how we heal some of those sadder feelings. Hearing music that pulls our deepest emotions out of us, or at least touches on them, is the way we know we have these emotions in common with others. Which makes them less dangerous, less troublesome, to us.”

Legg’s last recording of new songs was “Inheritance,” in 2004. Since then, he’s continued to write new songs, and performed them in his live shows, but has no plans to release a disc of new songs any time soon.

“No, for me, the whole point of making music is playing it live for people,” says Legg. “The whole process of recording songs and putting them in a little packet and sending them out to sell is artificial — something for the bean counters. I think that, when people have emotional needs, it’s more important for them to come together, to gather together in one place to hear the music.

“Because, what would you rather have? What’s nicer? A personal visit — or just a letter in the post?”

Kevin Ransom, a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com, first interviewed Adrian Legg in 1993. He can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com.