Roy Buchanan poses with his Les Paul in this Alligator Records promo shot.
Heāll forever be remembered for his unparalleled mastery of the Telecaster, but Roy Buchanan kept an open mind when it came to his guitars.
Perhaps youāve read something where an artist or a brand is dubbed āauthentic.ā Itās marketing hype thatās both real and manufactured, but I assure you it can be both a legit and important concept. The problem is when it gets used in the first person. Who judges whether something is authentic or not? Critics? Magazines? The internet? A brand itself? What does it mean to you? We often refer to things as the āreal deal,ā so is that the same? Not exactly.
The real deal can be something that is what it purports to beālike a working cowboy. But if you see his hat brand in a store in New York, is that authentic? If you think this is splitting hairs, you might be right. Weād like to think that when we choose a guitar to play, our desire for playability and sound is at the forefront of the decision-making process, and mostly it is. But that blacked-out, pointy axe with the studded strap just wonāt fly in your bro-country cover band, so you glom onto a paisley Telecaster, even though it doesnāt feel as good to you. Does this make you authentic? Personally, Iād love to see some chicken pickinā on that pointy fiddle. Busting down barriers and breaking rules is the spirit of expression and creativity, and thatās authentic.
Thereās no shame in honoring tradition and nodding in reverence to your influences, but you donāt have to bow down so low that you canāt be yourself, too. I used to think I was a āGibson guy.ā To a large extent, I still am, but many of you know my love of the Strat and Tele. My music room is full of other brands that I adore and use for certain applications. I believe that you have to use an instrument, effect, or amplifier to get what you need for the situation youāre in, no matter what the social connotation is.
āIf Roy freaking Buchannan can rock out on a Les Paul or a Hamer Standard, you can break some rules, too.ā
One night in the late 1970s, I answered the phone at the Hamer Guitars factory, mostly to see who on Earth would call at that late hour. To my surprise it was Roy Buchanan, the original master of the Telecaster. He wanted to chat about our Sunburst model that was fairly new to the market. His questions revolved around scale length, fretboard width, fret size, and weight. When I asked why he was interested in our guitar when he was known for playing Telecasters, he told me that he already had one of our Explorer-shaped Standard model guitars! I found this even more puzzling than the fact that Roy Buchanan had cold-called our office at night. Roy went on to say that in the studio he used a lot of different guitars, including a Les Paul with P-90s that he liked a lot. He used the Tele onstage, he said, ābecause people expect me to do all those Telecaster things.ā He didnāt ask me to ship him a guitar for free or inquire about an artist discount. He said heād check one out at a dealer. I recommended one near him, and we said goodnight. I began to wonder if it was a crank call.
Iād forgotten the whole episode until recently, when I saw a newspaper photograph of Roy Buchanan with his young daughter, Jennifer. I thought about how happy they looked and how sad it was that his death had stolen that little girlās father from her. And right there in that photo, heās playing that Hamer Standard. Iām not gonna lie and say that I didnāt cry.
So there it is, folks. If Roy freaking Buchanan can rock out on a Les Paul or a Hamer Standard, you can break some rules, too. Iām certain that he was most comfortable onstage with that beat-up old Tele, but it wasnāt his only love. Itās just the one that people think of when they imagine the authentic guy.
Songwriters often say they strive for connection through authenticity in their music and lyrics. And at the very core, thatās what itās aboutāhuman connection. If you love that cowboy hat and live in Philadelphia, Iām not going to criticize youājust go ahead and wear it, dude. Itās about wearing the hat for its intended purpose, not putting it on to hope it makes you authentic.
This crash course in country guitar will inject your rock and blues playing with a brand-spankinā new spark.
The key that unlocks the door to country guitar is hybrid pickingāsimultaneously or alternately playing notes with both pick and fingers. If you have any experience playing fingerstyle guitar, itās sure to come in handy here. If not, no worries! Hereās your chance to start. Now, some of the musical examples below can surely be played with a pick only, but the magic is in the snap you get when you pluck the strings with your fingers.
SRV & EVH Bridge the Gap
Letās ease into hybrid picking with a couple of related examples from the blues and rock world to demonstrate how country techniques can spice up your playing. Inspired by blues legend Albert King, who exclusively played fingerstyle, Stevie Ray Vaughn would unleash stinging notes from his high E string by plucking with his middle finger. First, try playing Ex. 1 with a pick. Then, while holding your pick normally, use the tip of your middle finger to reach under the first string, pulling it away from you, then quickly releasing. This will cause the string to slap against the fret, resulting in a satisfying, biting attack. The final note is picked, but you can try plucking here as well.
Letās see how itās done by the man himself, as he sits in with his idol in the following video. Notice how he plucks the first two notes country-style, lending them a sharpness that contrasts so well with the picked notes which follow.
In the music video for Van Halenās āFinish What Ya Started,ā a quasi-country song from 1988ās OU812, Eddie Van Halen dons his cowboy hat (quite literally, as youāll see in a moment) and masterfully cranks out a classic country-style lick often heard in R&B, blues and rock. Itās one which is dominated by major and minor sixths played on non-adjacent strings. Ex. 2 is along the same lines, and youāll need to alternately play picked notes on the 3rd string and SRV-style plucked notes on the 1st.
Sure, that sounds okay, but now letās really countrify it. In Ex. 3, we present the same basic lick, but notice how all of the notes on the 3rd string (except the very first) are now deadened. To achieve this, lightly rest your fret-hand finger on the string at roughly the same locations as in Ex. 2, creating a pitchless, percussive sound, a technique integral to country playing. And be sure to play the 1st-string notes staccato (short) as indicated by the dots above the noteheads. Now youāre beginning to sound like a bona fide country player!
Truck Stops and Double-Stops
Letās take a gander at country and jazz guitar legend Danny Gatton (once known as āthe worldās greatest unknown guitaristā) playing a catchy, hybrid-picked chordal riff.
Ex. 4 takes a similar tack and will have you alternating picked notes and dyads (two-note chords), plucked with your middle and ring fingers. In bars 2 and 4, check out how hybrid picking allows you to continue the groove while simultaneously adding some snappy fills on top.
Letās continue with that same technique, but with a twist. First, check out British country master Albert Lee playing the main riff to āBullish Boogieā from his 1986 album Speechless.
Ex. 5 will have you playing a similar type of phrase. After plucking each of the dyads, pull off to the open 3rd string for an added rhythmic bounceāwhich leads us smack dab into what just might be the most fun youāll have all day.
Open-String Magic
Weāve just had a small taste of what open strings have to offer. But theyāre even more powerful, allowing you to zip up and down the fretboard in dramatic fashion. Brad Paisley is a guru of open strings, as youāll see here:
Ex. 6 would fit right into Paisleyās wheelhouse. Here, itās imperative to play the accented notes a little louder. For country pickers, this means to pluck harder with your middle finger, so as to get an even sharper snap. Itās a bit shocking how simply using the open 3rd string as a pivot allows you to shift positions at the speed of light.
Ex. 7 is a similar idea, but this time weāre moving down the fretboard, palm-muting the 5th string to create even more of a contrast between the picked and plucked notes, which are again accented.
Whew! Letās take a quick break to catch Jerry Donahue of the Hellecasters tearing up the Jerry Reed classic āThe Claw.ā
Stealing from the Steel-ers
Country pickers love to, shall we say āborrow,ā some of pedal steel playersā favorite moves. You likely have already played a host of rock-centric oblique bendsāa two-string affair where one note is allowed to ring while the other is bentāallowing you to come close to approximating the sound of a pedal steel. But if youāre new to country guitar, chances are you havenāt encountered anything quite like Ex. 8.
To pull this one off, youāll need to execute tricky 3rd-string bends with your index finger by pulling the string down towards the floor. Plus youāll need to do it while fretting the 4th and 5th strings with your pinky and ring finger, respectively. Take a deep breath and go for it.
This last oneās just for extra credit, and it involves countrifying oblique bends with another signature pedal steel move: harp harmonics. First, letās check out Ex. 9.
To execute these harp harmonics, fret the indicated note as usual. Then youāll see another number in parentheses located 12 frets above. Next, lightly touch the string with your pick-hand index finger directly over the fret, while holding your pick between your thumb and middle finger. (You can also set down the pick and pluck with your thumb instead.) Finally, strike the string with your pick on the bridge side of your index finger. The result is a shimmering harmonic one octave above the fretted note.
Well, thatās a wrap. If you give yourself some time to experiment with hybrid picking and the fun ideas we covered in this lesson, youāll invariably hit on some new ones of your own, sure to perk up your rock and blues playing. Finally, Greg Koch, grand master of chicken pickinā (and pretty much everything else guitar) will fittingly play us out with his unique brand of gristled, country-fried rock.