Levi Clay - The Country Fingerstyle Guitar Method: A Complete Guide to Travis Picking, Fingerstyle Guitar, &Country Guitar Soloing (Learn How to Play Country Guitar)

When it comes to country fingerstyle, there are a surprisingly wide variety of guitar tones created by the great players and the sound you want will be influenced by the players you enjoy.

The most iconic country guitars are, without a doubt, the Gretsch hollow-bodies made famous by Chet Atkins. Be it the 6120, or the Country Gentleman, these guitars have a unique sound due to the Bigsby tremolo system and highly sensitive FilterTron pickups. Theyre not essential to the style but are responsible for a big part of Chets iconic tone.

Merle Travis, the father of the style, played a selection of guitars and even had solid body electrics made for him before Leo Fender launched the Broadcaster. For the most part, Merle switched between various high-end acoustic guitars and semi-hollows like the Gibson 400.

Jerry Reed found his voice on the classical-style guitar and preferred the tone of nylon strings. His most iconic guitar was a modified 1968 Baldwin electric-classical with extreme cutaway. While he was occasionally seen with a Telecaster, the nylon-string was his trademark.

When Jerrys popularity grew, many companies made a move on the portable nylon string market, although few matched the quality of the Godin Multiac guitars. These were favoured by players like Buster B Jones and now Doyle Dykes. They combine the tone and feel of a nylon string with the portability and ease-of-amplification of an electric guitar.

Then there are the more traditional steel-string acoustics favoured by the likes of Tommy Emmanuel (who has a signature Maton guitar) and Marcel Dadi (who was often seen sporting an Ovation).

My personal choices (and the ones youll hear on the accompanying for the recordings) are the Godin Multiac, Sigma steel string, Gibson Howard Roberts, and Fender Telecaster. I lean towards the sound and feel of nylon strings myself, but appreciate the range of the tonal options found in many different instruments.

When it comes to amplification, something clean is the obvious choice. Chet used a 25-watt Standel made in 1954 on countless recordings, and occasionally a selection of more powerful amps like a Paul Rivera-modified Fender Princeton and the MusicMan RD-50s.

Many of the greats would just use a direct inject (DI) box straight to the PA system; its all about hearing the guitar in its purest form.