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
- Roy Clark
- Chet Atkins
- Joe Maphis
- Phil Baugh
- Jimmy Bryant
- Speedy West
- Jerry Reed
- Albert Lee
- Dwayne Eddy
- Peter Drake
- John Jorgenson
- Brent Mason
- Luther Perkins
- Will Ray
- Danny Gatton
- Johnny Hilland
- Scotty Anderson
- Hank Snow
- Maybelle Carter
- Roy Nicholas
- Dan Crary
- Joaquin Murphy
- Dan Dugmore
- Noel Boggs
- Billy Bowman
- James Burton
- David Grier
- Buddy Emmons
- Red Rhodes
- Doc Watson
- Marty Stuart
- Ralph Mooney
- Charlie McCoy
- Jerry Byrd
- Michael Lee Firkins
- Ricky Skaggs
- Paul Franklin
- Brad Paisley
- Vince Gill
- Curly Chalker
- Lester Flatt
- Doyle Dykes
- Charles Sawtelle
- Jeff Newman
- Les Paul
- Jerry Douglas
- Tony Rice
- Eddy Shaver
- Bud Isaacs
- Leon McAuliffe
- Hank Garland
- Sam McGee
- Joe Carr
- Sonny Garish
- Zane Beck
- Herb Remington
- Bill Emmerson
- Jerry Donahue
- Norman Blake
- Roy Flacke
- Clarence White
- Tom Morrell
- Grady Martin
- Bob White
- James Allen Shelton
- Eddie Taylor
- Ry Cooder
- Bob Dunn
- John Hughey
- Little Roy Wiggins
- Junior Brown
- Eric Weissberg
- Billy Grammer
- Jimmy Day
- Don Helms
- Keith Urban
- Buck Owens
- John Jennings
- Rusty Young
- Brent Rowan
- Johnny Sibert
- Lee Roy Parnell
- Jimmie Crawfard
- Steve Wariner
- Don Rich
- Hal Rugg
- Bobby Garrett
- Weldon Myrick
- Doug Jernigan
- Lloyd Green
- Bill Kirchen
- Dicky Betts
- Bryan Sutton
- Harold Bradly
- Russ Barenberg
- Jaydee Maness
- B.J. Cole
- Buddy Charleton
- Pee Wee Whightwing
- Tom Brumley