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Country Guitar Lessons

Country style guitar playing is definitely its own beast and as such, definitely calls for its own type of lessons that we’ll call country guitar lessons. From chicken pickin' to hybrid pick and fingers picking, to jump picking, to double stops and double stop bending to imitate pedal steel guitar, there are techniques galore to learn to play country music. As Contemporary Country becomes more prevalent, elements of all other styles seem to be merging with your country playing, not to mention the revival of Bluegrass.

Country Guitar LessonsFrom 1979, when Albert Lee began to play with Eric Clapton, strong elements of country guitar and rock guitar with a blues twist became interwoven. Today you hear solos in songs by country charting artists like Rascal Flatts that would sound just as relevant if they were in a rock song. As a matter of fact, when you listen to today’s music scene on every genre of radio station, R & B, Hip Hop, Pop, and Alternative, all neglect even the use of the guitar solo, so that if you want to listen to the art of the guitar solo, you listen to classic rock stations, smooth jazz, or country. This fact has been attracting guitarists in droves to all things country, because that is where today’s guitarist can really get an opportunity to stretch out and play.

If you just happen to be a great singer as well, it seems to be in country music where the great guitar playing and great singing front man resides, as witness Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, and Vince Gill. In addition, there are great singer/players on the Bluegrass side of the isle in Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice.

One of the biggest challenges that a guitarist faces in today’s country band is to know when to step it up and when to lay low. Almost every time I see a great country show there are a couple of acoustic guitar players, a couple of electric guitar players, a fiddle player, a pedal steel player, plus the expected bass and drums, with the occasional piano. That sound can become cluttered in a hurry unless you know exactly what you’re doing, and I really believe that country guitar lessons can give you that knowledge. And just as a sidebar, it seems like half the folks on stage are singing, so it probably wouldn’t hurt to take some voice lessons too.

I would say that to play in the current country music market, a guitarist needs to be as versatile as possible and be able to play across multiple styles of music. Country music has become an enormous melting pot and the country music guitarist has their work cut out for them. Country guitar lessons are, without a doubt, the fastest way to get up to speed with the demands of this style, and it sure would help if the guitar teacher you choose is well versed in all the multiple guitar styles that contemporary country music draws from. The Guitar Lesson Expert is one of the best choices you could ever make to lead you down the path of country guitar playing.

 

 

 Guitar Tracks Grey


melodic rock solo


blues rock solo


Hendrix style chordal solo


fingerstyle accompaniment


slide guitar solo


advanced fingerstyle
with violin solo


rock solo intro


fingerstyle accompaniment

© WhiteSpace Records
all song fragments used by permission

all pieces are excerpts from
"
R & D" by Rebeca & David