Paul Simon taught Taylor Bloom how to be a better guitar player.

Actually, it was playing Paul Simon that did the trick.

In the stage show, “The Simon & Garfunkel Story,” Bloom has to duplicate Simon’s musicianship.

“Just playing the intricate finger-picking style on and off for four years has raised the bar in terms of my own skill,” he says. “I’ve written songs that I couldn’t have even played four years ago.”

Cast as Paul Simon in the touring production, Bloom has watched enough videos, heard enough songs and tracked enough of the Grammy winner’s career to sense subtle changes in his demeanor.

The Simon and Garfunkel story, he says, “teaches you something about fame and how difficult that can be to handle. They were young…and they were huge. They were a sensation across the planet. Just the two of them. At least there were four of them in the Beatles.”

Bloom says he’s particularly fascinated with Simon’s early career. “He went and lived in England for a few years.” The question he’d ask: “What made you decide to do that when you lived in Queens all your life?”

While Bloom trained to be an actor, he has gradually embraced the singer/songwriting aspect of his career.

“Over the past 18 months, I’ve had a lot more time to focus on the music part of my life,” the Virginia native says. “It’s been extremely gratifying. I’m beginning to think of myself more as a songwriter who sings and plays guitar…and also is an enthusiast with the theater.”

During the pandemic, Bloom recorded two albums. “When we started, I was just going to make one but that was entirely recorded and mixed over Labor Day. All the players recorded their own parts and sent them to me. It took a little while, but the results were pretty spectacular.

“The second album started in March of this year and it was a bit easier. I brought on a friend to produce the album.” The two recorded all the vocals in the producer’s studio, then went to San Diego where the rest of the band lives. “We went into a studio and they were about to crank out 10 songs in three days. And that turned out even better.”

In preparation for the revived “Simon & Garfunkel” tour, Bloom and Ben Cooley (who plays Art Garfunkel) and their four-piece band spent a week in Little Rock, Arkansas, rehearsing the show’s songs.

“We really have to be locked in and make sure we’re on the same page,” Bloom says. “The harmonies are incredibly intricate and detailed. We never have to worry about the band because they always come prepared.”

Ironically? The back-up musicians are the same ones Bloom uses on his new albums. “You wouldn’t think a tribute show would have a world-class band, but they’re just amazing.”

The show takes a chronological approach to Simon and Garfunkel’s career.

Bloom and Cooley perform in front of a video screen that details events that occurred during the time the music was first introduced. There’s narrative that helps fill in the details.

Bloom admits his speaking voice is lower than Simon’s but his singing voice is right in Simon’s range. Dean Elliott, the creator of “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” worked with him to reach the right tone. He doesn’t look that much like Simon, either, but he has learned how to carry himself to approximate the original’s demeanor. “His posture is very specific,” Bloom says. “I tried to work on that more than worry about how my face might look.

“When they’re in their 20s, he’s this little guy who gives off this small vibe. If you fast forward to the concert in Central Park, he’s like the world’s biggest rock star. He has this big presence and this huge demeanor and he’s very calm.”

For audiences, the tribute show is a chance to remember what that period was really like.

For the performers, “it’s like being at an extended sleep-away camp with your friends and you get to play music,” Bloom says.