The Best Country Music Guitarists
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Here are some of the best country music guitarists that you need to know about. These guitarists are talented, popular, and have made a name for themselves in the country music world.
Best Country Music Guitarists
The list of best country guitarists would not be complete without the great Chet Atkins. He was one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century and his style helped to create the Nashville sound. Other great country guitarists include Django Reinhardt, Merle Travis, and Doc Watson.
Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitar player. His musical style is defined by traditional country and southern rock influences. He has won numerous awards, including three Grammy Awards and fourteen Academy of Country Music Awards.
Paisley began his musical career as a teenager in West Virginia. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s with hits like “He Didn’t Have to Be” and “Mud on the Tires.” He has continued to enjoy success in the 2010s with songs like “Old Alabama” and ” Remind Me.”
Paisley is considered one of the best guitarists in country music. His unique style combines traditional country, blues, and rock influences. He is known for his virtuosity and incredibly fast guitar playing.
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is an New Zealand-born Australian country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album and rose to prominence with his fourth album, Golden Road (2002), whose title track became his Breakthrough Hit single. Certified platinum in the US, Urban has recorded nine studio albums and produced several more as a producer. He has received four Grammy Awards, a consecutively-held CMA Award for Male Vocalist of the Year since 2005 and an ACM Award for Entertainer of the Year in 2010.
Urban is known for his work as a guitarist. He frequently incorporates elements of rock, blues, and indie-rock into his sound. His signature guitar is a Fender Telecaster named “the Fighter”.
Born in New Zealand to Bob and Marienne Urban, Keith Urban was raised in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. His father – a Zimbabwean native – was an ace pilot who moved the family to Australia when Keith was young; Marienne worked as an English teacher. Growing up with two sisters in a rural area outside of Brisbane – one older and one younger – Keith began developing his musical talents early on. “I started playing guitar when I was about six,” he once told Guitar World magazine. “My dad had this old nylon-string guitar that I would pluck around on.” When he turned eight years old, Keith’s father bought him his first steel-string acoustic guitar; soon after that he began taking guitar lessons from country musician Terry Ellisor.
Vince Gill
Vince Gill is one of the best known country music guitarists of our time. He has been playing the guitar for over 40 years and has won 20 Grammy Awards. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Vince is well known for his work as a solo artist as well as with the band, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
Best Country Music Guitarists of All Time
Country music has always been about the guitar. The twangy, Telecaster leads of Hank Williams, the watery slide licks of Duane Eddy, the chewy rhythms of Merle Haggard–all these sounds and more have shaped the genre and made the guitar the centerpiece of country music. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the best country guitarists of all time.
Merle Haggard
If there was ever a guitar hero in country music, it would be Merle Haggard. He brought the electric guitar to the forefront of country music and was one of the first to make it a solo instrument. His playing was influential to both country and rock guitarists. He was a master of country blues and could play with both speed and feeling. He is one of the best-known and most respected guitarists in country music history.
Hank Williams
Hank Williams is considered one of the best country music guitarists of all time. He is known for his smooth, twangy voice and his unique guitar style. Hank Williams was born in 1923 and grew up in Alabama. He began playing guitar when he was just a child and soon developed his own style of playing. Hank Williams’ music is characterized by its simple, catchy melodies and its focus on country life. Some of his most popular songs include “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and “Jambalaya (On the Bayou).” Hank Williams died in 1953 at the age of 29, but his music continues to be popular today.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash was an American musician who is considered to be one of the best country music guitarists of all time. He was born on February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas. Cash began playing guitar when he was just a child and by the time he was a teenager, he was already performing on radio and television programs. He rose to prominence in the 1950s with his hit song “I Walk the Line” and went on to have a very successful career in country music. Cash’s guitar playing style was unique and influenced many other country musicians. He passed away on September 12, 2003, at the age of 71.