100 Greatest Country Guitar Players

When you listen to county guitar, the trademark sound of twang fills your senses. Country guitarist’s posses incredible picking techniques that gives identity to the broad based genre. This article covers a wide spectrum of country guitar players that include bluegrass, pedal steel, bottleneck, and rockabilly. Sit back and dwell in depths of the best country guitar players.

When you listen to the flow of guitar notes on a country album, you realize the breathtakingly aesthetic charm about picking patterns. Many country guitarists possess a strong right hand technique that enables them to play a flurry of open notes using various picking styles. A large number of guitarists incorporate country finger picking patterns in their playing style to create a new sound. A large crop of hybrid picking styles we come across in jazz fusion and rock genres borrow heavily from various country genres.

The Country guitar sound

Chicken picking styles from the country genre have become hugely popular in various genres. Many rock guitar players use hybrid picking patterns with a distorted sound in outside soloing. Guitar players in the country genre have experimented with steel string guitar and electric guitar in delightful ways.

The bluegrass sound has been used by several guitarists on electric and acoustic guitar albums. Country guitarists possess unique finger picking techniques developed at a young age. Guitarists that use chicken picking patterns in solos often mesmerize with their speed. Bluegrass licks that are used in a wide array of country music have become popular in various genres of music.

Finger picking used in varied country styles give unique identity to the county genre. When it comes to jaw dropping guitar techniques, it doesn’t get better than hybrid picking. Many hybrid pickers play extended notes with their left hand to create theatrical soundscapes in solos. Hybrid country guitar techniques produce free-flow warmth of notes at lightning fast speed. Flatpicking which forms the core of the bluegrass has been used creatively in various genres of music. Also, the clawhammer technique which has its roots in bango playing has been used by a large number of country guitarists.

The list below encompasses a broad spectrum that includes Country, Bluegrass, Pedal Steel and Rockabilly. The list includes electric guitar players and acoustic guitar players. Treat the list as a celebration of various guitar greats from various country styles. If you live and breathe county music, you will have an opinion; feel free to express all that’s country.

100 Greatest Country Guitar Players

  1. Roy Clark
  2. Chet Atkins
  3. Joe Maphis
  4. Phil Baugh
  5. Jimmy Bryant
  6. Speedy West
  7. Jerry Reed
  8. Albert Lee
  9. Dwayne Eddy
  10. Peter Drake
  11. John Jorgenson
  12. Brent Mason
  13. Luther Perkins
  14. Will Ray
  15. Danny Gatton
  16. Johnny Hilland
  17. Scotty Anderson
  18. Hank Snow
  19. Maybelle Carter
  20. Roy Nicholas
  21. Dan Crary
  22. Joaquin Murphy
  23. Dan Dugmore
  24. Noel Boggs
  25. Billy Bowman
  26. James Burton
  27. David Grier
  28. Buddy Emmons
  29. Red Rhodes
  30. Doc Watson
  31. Marty Stuart
  32. Ralph Mooney
  33. Charlie McCoy
  34. Jerry Byrd
  35. Michael Lee Firkins
  36. Ricky Skaggs
  37. Paul Franklin
  38. Brad Paisley
  39. Vince Gill
  40. Curly Chalker
  41. Lester Flatt
  42. Doyle Dykes
  43. Charles Sawtelle
  44. Jeff Newman
  45. Les Paul
  46. Jerry Douglas
  47. Tony Rice
  48. Eddy Shaver
  49. Bud Isaacs
  50. Leon McAuliffe
  51. Hank Garland
  52. Sam McGee
  53. Joe Carr
  54. Sonny Garish
  55. Zane Beck
  56. Herb Remington
  57. Bill Emmerson
  58. Jerry Donahue
  59. Norman Blake
  60. Roy Flacke
  61. Clarence White
  62. Tom Morrell
  63. Grady Martin
  64. Bob White
  65. James Allen Shelton
  66. Eddie Taylor
  67. Ry Cooder
  68. Bob Dunn
  69. John Hughey
  70. Little Roy Wiggins
  71. Junior Brown
  72. Eric Weissberg
  73. Billy Grammer
  74. Jimmy Day
  75. Don Helms
  76. Keith Urban
  77. Buck Owens
  78. John Jennings
  79. Rusty Young
  80. Brent Rowan
  81. Johnny Sibert
  82. Lee Roy Parnell
  83. Jimmie Crawfard
  84. Steve Wariner
  85. Don Rich
  86. Hal Rugg
  87. Bobby Garrett
  88. Weldon Myrick
  89. Doug Jernigan
  90. Lloyd Green
  91. Bill Kirchen
  92. Dicky Betts
  93. Bryan Sutton
  94. Harold Bradly
  95. Russ Barenberg
  96. Jaydee Maness
  97. B.J. Cole
  98. Buddy Charleton
  99. Pee Wee Whightwing
  100. Tom Brumley

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