MILLIONS OF AMERICANS SAWAL BONHOMME accompany iconic country singer Dwight Yoakam on The Tonight Show a few years back. Similar numbers of people have also heard Bonhomme’s playing on two of Yoakam’s recent albums. The Los Angelesbased guitarist’s most profound impact, though, may be on the hundreds of students he teaches each year at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. A master of many styles (“everything from country to Western,” jokes Bonhomme), the popular and never-tooserious GIT instructor teaches young guitarists to land on their feet no matter what style they play. Here, Bonhomme shares ten must-know approaches every guitarist should have down if he or she harbors any dreams of being able to play that blazing style known as hot country.
Great guitar parts have been at the core of country music since cowboys first began roaming the prairies of Texas. And in this modern age of green hair, nose rings, and tattoos on your tattoos, little has changed. Any country song you hear will have acoustic guitars strumming, cool electric rhythm parts chiming, and, more often than not, a blazing guitar solo played by the likes of Brent Mason, Dan Huff, or Brad Paisley, or a similar caliber guitar slinger.
When you get a gig in a typical country bar, the song list can run the gamut from old standards to the new rockin’ sounds of today’s young artists. The guitar styles are so varied and different, you’ve got to be on top of your game to keep up. So when the bandleader gives you the nod, you want to be able to rip it up a little and turn a few heads on the dance floor. To help you out a little bit in that endeavor, here is a grab bag of hot country licks you can use to survive the night in your favorite honky tonk bar….Read full story…