Sonia Leigh Well, here it is again: “The Country Issue.” I’ve already written about the great country session players, and we’ve covered “chicken pickin,” among other country-related topics, so I was going to write about my favorite Townes Van Zandt , Emmylou Harris , and Rodney Crowell songs. Then, as I was listening to four [...]

When I was playing around with my Dad’s guitar when I was a kid, I discovered you could “snap” the strings by pulling up on them to get a sound like a chicken “talking.” You know, like “buck-buck-buckaw.” I could also do a cow, a cat, a seagull and a mosquito, but I digress. James [...]

In the early history of recorded country music, the recordings were done in places other than Nashville. Country guitar players in the 1920s included Sam McGee, Riley Puckett, and the legendary songwriter Jimmie Rodgers, but there was no such thing as a “session player” back then. Maybelle Carter and The Carter Family recorded the classic [...]

My first experience in a recording studio was back in the Dark Ages. 1965, to be exact. In Memphis, there was a guy names Roland Janes who owned and operated Sonic Studios on Madison Avenue. Most of us didn’t know it at the time, but Roland was a great guitarist who played on many Memphis [...]

It’s virtually impossible to think about country music without thinking of guitars. The guitar is essentially the logo of country music. Even more so than in rock music, the guitar has been on every country record that’s ever been made. I’d be willing to bet that 95 percent of country songs have been written on [...]

One of the biggest problems for beginners is staying in tune. There’s more than one way to stay in tune. There are several different types of clip-on guitar tuners available now, but several of them seem to have a hard time reading the 6th (low E) string. That’s the big one. (I hope you’re still [...]

Planet Waves Guitar Tools App for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad List Price: $1.99 www.planetwaves.com When I was 16, my guitar teacher gave me some esoteric chord book. There was a freaky-looking hippie on the cover and inside I found a smorgasbord of guitar fingerings and concepts that I really wasn’t able to get much [...]

As you probably guessed by now, we’re talking about legendary songs in this issue. From a guitar player’s perspective, I’d like to select a few well-known songs in which the guitar playing is especially memorable and is an integral part of the song. There are three main ways in which a guitar part can help [...]

I just drove back to Nashville from Memphis and had a blow-out on I-40 in over 100 degrees of heat. This reminds me to remind you: NEVER leave a guitar in a car on a hot day. It can literally come unglued. Don’t take the chance. You can also strike up some interesting conversations by [...]

Jack Pearson On Saturday, May 1st, in Leipers Fork, Tennessee, a remarkable thing happened. In fact, several remarkable things happened. I experienced some of the best music and the worst weather in Tennessee history. The event was billed by organizers Aubrey Preston and Paul Polycarpou as “A Six String Celebration of Guitars and the Amazing [...]

Spring has sprung in Nashville and the sun is shining as I write this column. I love spring’s colors and smells! Summer is not too far behind. For my taste, it’s way too hot then, but there is a special reason I look forward to summer: during the summer in the Nashville area, there are [...]

It’s been a cold 2010 so far in Nashville, and I hope to have thawed out by the time you read this. By the way, we need a famous bridge around here like the Golden Gate, which reminds me that I’ve decided to write about bridges. The kind you put (or don’t put) in a [...]