How do you get an authentic country guitar sound?

I know they recommend using a telecaster but what else do they use to get that Nashville twang? And how can you get that sound without a telecaster?

Most country pickers, aside from usually using Teles, use Fender tube amps. However, a few, including Brad Paisley and I believe John Jorgenson, have used Vox amps such as the AC30, though Paisley also uses Dr. Z amps which can get a great tone for country as well. Actually, Fender, Vox and Dr. Z amps are all great for more than just country. Also, I believe my brother’s guitar teacher uses Crate tube amps and, with them, is able to get a great country twang.

The guitar itself usually doesn’t matter. A little trick I learned to help get a slightly better country sound is to turn the tone knob all the way down while using just the bridge pickup. In fact, I believe that’s what Brad Paisley often does.

Effects can also help quite a bit. The most-used effects for country guitar which I’ve heard seem to be digital delay (for a little slapback) and a compressor pedal (the Keeley Compressor is the best one I’ve heard so far, but Boss offers a nice alternative which is quite cheaper).

So basically, there’s a few things to do to get a better country tone if you haven’t done them already. First, get a tube amp–they’re usually the best for country as well as just about anything (as long as it’s a good amp, the brand won’t matter but I’d highly recommend either a Fender, Dr. Z, Vox or Crate tube amp). When it comes to guitars, Teles are most often associated with country, but just about any guitar will work. Fender Strats at also quite good for country and Albert Lee even uses Ernie Ball Music Man guitars while Johnny Hiland uses PRS. Aside from using Fender Teles, Brad Paisley also uses Crook Custom Guitars. But, in reality–the brand doesn’t really matter. With effects, it’s usually kept quite simple for country guitar with just a little slapback coming from a digital delay pedal and a compressor pedal. Of course, you could always just run a guitar straight through the amp using the bridge pickup and turning the tone knob on the guitar all the way down–that even works with my cheap solid state amp! And one more thing: if you want to get a bit of a pedal steel-like sound, most country pickers will use either a G-bender or a B-bender system to bend a string and to help acheive a pedal steel-like bend. Paisley, with his G-benders, is probably the best example of this. He uses it in probably every song of his that has lead guitar. At the end of his instrumental “The Nervous Breakdown,” Paisley uses his G-bender to bend an open G string up to an A note and back to that G note a few times all while still having the fingers on his left hand in the right position to play a G chord. For B-benders, I’d recommend checking out Ricky Skaggs as well as Albert Lee’s earlier stuff from when he still used Teles.

For some of the finest country guitar tones, as well as some of my favorite tones, check out these guys: Brad Paisley, Brent Mason (session guitarist), John Jorgenson, Keith Urban (his earlier stuff has more of a country tone–his two most recent albums would be awful to listen to for a reference), Redd Volkaert, James Burton, Chet Atkins and even metal guitarist John 5 who often plays some country stuff. Also, the Beatles did some country-style songs that are worth checking out as did Badfinger, Cinderella, Jackyl and Led Zeppelin (all of them are rock bands, in case you haven’t heard of any of them).

Hope this helped!

Phil Baugh – Country Guitar

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