Country Guitar

hotpickups

I've recently found an old Country guitar tuition dvd in my library. So thought I'd put it on and have a go. I'm mainly a Blues/Rock guitarist so my guitar set up is set up for this. So that means in my case I use 11s on my les paul which creates problems with some bends using the first finger on some double stops in this country style. I guess the answer is country guitarists use a lighter string gauge? 

Another thing I noticed in this particular DVD is all the demos are in A and use open strings in pull offs up the neck. It would be hard to pull them off if it was in another key. Is A the most popular key for country? 

I am by no means going to change tack and become a country guitarist but the sound has always intrigued me but not enough to study / commit to it.

EricTheWeary

In one of the Greg Koch interviews he has a bit of a go at country guitarists who have patterns worked out around open strings that are 'stunt' licks that only work in certain keys. I thought yes how terrible, now where can I learn them...

Rocker

Could you please list the details of the DVD.  I am interested in country guitar.  Lots of stuff in in the key of A.....

hotpickups

Rocker said:

Could you please list the details of the DVD.  I am interested in country guitar.  Lots of stuff in in the key of A.....

It's a couple of Albert Lee lick library DVDs @Rocker ;

Freebird

Danny Gatton has done a few country guitar video tutorials. BTW he would smoke Greg Koch in a guitar shoot out 

Don't try this at home folks ...

EricTheWeary

hotpickups said:

I've recently found an old Country guitar tuition dvd in my library. So thought I'd put it on and have a go. I'm mainly a Blues/Rock guitarist so my guitar set up is set up for this. So that means in my case I use 11s on my les paul which creates problems with some bends using the first finger on some double stops in this country style. I guess the answer is country guitarists use a lighter string gauge? 

Another thing I noticed in this particular DVD is all the demos are in A and use open strings in pull offs up the neck. It would be hard to pull them off if it was in another key. Is A the most popular key for country? 

I am by no means going to change tack and become a country guitarist but the sound has always intrigued me but not enough to study / commit to it.

The rig rundown type approaches toward country guitarists tend to suggest lighter strings but then usually on telecasters so they aren't rubber bands. Brad Paisley, for example, uses regular 10s on telecasters so similar to the 11s on your Les Paul - he's just more used to playing that kind of style I guess. 

A lot of people will use compressors to help even out the sound and add a bit of sustain as hybrid picking on a clean tone can be a bit uneven. 

A lot of older, more traditional country will be based around basic chord changes like 12 bars and stick to certain keys ( ones that work well with open strings or C and G for the pianists) but 'country' now is as wide and generic a term as saying 'blues' and really covers a range of styles. 

I think what you can take from country is developing hybrid picking, multi string bends, chicken pickin, use of open strings, accurate bending,etc, and incorporate those back into something else. Not that I've ever done more than scratch the surface. Just as my simple example if you used a BB King style major pentatonic box shape for playing a blues you could use the same shape over the same chords but take a more country approach and have it sound quite different. 

EricTheWeary

Freebird said:

Danny Gatton has done a few country guitar video tutorials. BTW he would smoke Greg Koch in a guitar shoot out 

As Danny's been dead for over twenty years I think Greg might have the edge...  

I don't think either would/ would have classed themselves as country guitarists but as guitarists who incorporate country ideas into what they do. It's that Gatton, Koch, Buchanan, Campilongo, Donahue, Whittington, Roth school where blues and country meet and bump into rockabilly and jazz on the way. 

sev112

We supported a Country/Americana duo from NY a month or so ago
they were both playing acoustically 
I couldnt believe the bends that one of the guys was achieving 
so I asked him what he was using - perhaps 9s, or maybe even 8s
No - 13s !

Veganic

sev112 said:

We supported a Country/Americana duo from NY a month or so ago
they were both playing acoustically 
I couldnt believe the bends that one of the guys was achieving 
so I asked him what he was using - perhaps 9s, or maybe even 8s
No - 13s !

How far were they bending? 
Any chance they were just winding you up?

Hope you didn't shake his hand, could have been painful.

sev112

They were serious bends - kind of thing you'd expect on an electric and hence not what I'd seen anyone do on an acoustic before.
Looked at the guitar afterwards - they were chunky !

hotpickups

sev112 said:

They were serious bendos - kind of thing you'd expect on an electric and hence not what I'd seen anyone do on an acoustic before.
Looked at the guitar afterwards - they were chunky !

First finger whole tone bends? Surely not. 

missmisstreater

yey! Something to talk about!

I have a couple of country books out and am working on the next one as I type this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1911267353/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1499038873

I've also covered a bunch of videos you must own on my Youtube - seeing as you mentioned the Albert Lee one, here's the Brent one

Koa

I borrowed a vhs tape years ago called Country Jazz Guitar, seem to recall it a tutor with a black shirt but sadly that's all. Interesting mix of styles but definitely country focused. Anyone recall the player?

Koa

Found it, Joe Dalton was the player, seem to recall some cool playing.

missmisstreater

Koa said:

Found it, Joe Dalton was the player, seem to recall some cool playing.

I'd wanted to watch that for a long time and always took issue with it not being on DVD - well I tracked down a copy last week... I see why it wasn't reissued.

For the most part he shows you random scales he uses, but not any real context.

He does have some great chordal ideas, but they only take up about 10 mins of the video.

I didn't see any "jazz" flavour on the whole thing. Pretty disappointed