50 Country Masters Licks You MUST Know

No other style of popular music demands such guitaristic mastery of right and left-hand techniques as does country guitar and that's why so many blues, jazz and even rock guitarists beg, borrow and steal techniques and licks from the master of country guitar. As with any musical style, studying its history and evolution is key to its understanding and proficiency. So, grab your guitar and jump on Jason Loughlin’s time machine – he’ll guide you through the history of country music across the fretboards of 34 country guitar masters in 50 Country Masters Licks You MUST Know.

Your trip starts back in the day with Jimmy Wyble’s opening lick fromThe Texas Playboy’s Roly Poly, a tasty gem from Hank William’s Moving It On Over, one of the first chicken pickin’ lick sever recorded from Mr Guitar Chet Atkins, an emulated lapsteel move inspired by Long Gone Lonesome Blues, a must-know Hank Garland lick from Sugar Foot Rag, a double-stop move from the virtuosic Jimmy Bryant, another Chet Atkins trick where he uses a forward roll over three strings, a beauty from Pork Chop Stomp, another from Joe Maphis’ Fire on the Strings, and a cool roll pattern from Merle Travis.

Your time traveling adventure continues with a beautiful turnaround from Hank Garland's Baby Guitar, a Leon Rhodes’ diddy from Honeyfingers, a Scruggs-style banjo lick, a trucker-billy lick from Jimmy Colvard, a Don Rich Wham Bam lick, the opening lick of the famous Waylon Jennings tune Mental Revenge, chicken pickin’ double-stops from the great James Burton, Merle Haggard lickage from Mama Tried, faux-pedal steel lick ala Clarence White, and a signature move from Jerry Reed. OK, take a breather but hurry back… there’s more.

All aboard as Jason demonstrates Roy Buchanan’s brilliant imitation of lapsteel using major 6th chords, tone sweeps and volume swells, more classic chicken pickin’ licks that use the interval of a 6th as a template, more James Burton moves from Emmylou Harris’ cover of Ooh Las Vegas, a bunch of bizarre pedal steel bends inspired by Jerry Donahue, Danny Gatton raking chicken pickin’ chord scales, Albert Lee’s chicken pickin' over triad shapes, and a beautiful lick from Ray Flack's solo on Ricky Skaggs Highway 40 Blues.

The last leg of your journey features another Albert Lee signature double-stop lick, a must-know lick from Pete Anderson’s solo on Guitars and Cadillacs, some killer Brent Mason moves from Hot Wired, double-stop bends from Johnny Hiland, and much, much more from other contemporary masters such as Junior Brown, Kenny Vaughan, Marty Stuart, Redd Volkaert, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley Duke Levine and Jim Campilongo.

All of the licks are presented over a rhythm track and then broken down note-by-note, technique-by-technique. Everything is tabbed and notated, plus you get all of the rhythm tracks to practice with by yourself.

In the words of the late, great Chet Atkins… “Years from now, after I'm gone, someone will listen to what I've done and know I was here. They may not know or care who I was, but they'll hear my guitars speaking for me.”