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Country Music?

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ford_cosby
ford_cosby|88

Hello Equipboard-folk,

I'm new to this as of about 7 hours ago. This summer I landed a gig as a lead guitarist in a contemporary country band for a brief tour (about 3 weeks long.) I'm not a contemporary country man myself, and I know very little about modern-day country music. Do you folks know any pedal(s) that may help give me a more country-esque bite to my tone? The guitar I'm playing is an Epiphone ES-339 P90 PRO, and the amp is a Fender Hotrod Deluxe. I imagine these will suit me fine for this tour, and I have no intentions of swapping them out for anything else. I've really been looking into the equipment used by the more countryish bands that I love, such as Drive-By Truckers and Wilco, but their gear is nothing alike. Any pointers? Specifically in boost pedals, echoes, delays and lighter overdrives?

Thanks in advanced!

starguitar
starguitar|1765
In reply to ford_cosby:

For some reason which I have yet to research, people say a compressor is essential for country music guitarists. I guess evening out the dynamics is particularly helpful in country music?

😐

I've seen the Keeley 4-Knob Compressor highly recommended for this very application.

boom762
boom762|12239 MODERATOR
In reply to ford_cosby:

Can't help with guitar, but I can offer some advice for Bass and maybe that translates?

Any quality EQ will be a must. Most country bass players use high bass with low mids and treble. The Sansamp VT is sought after.

A compression of some sort would be very helpful but technique trumps it if cash is tight.The main purpose of a compressor is the even the volume of all your notes. 3 of your strings usually play louder than others and there are sometimes those dead notes on bad necks. The compressor helps. Technique can do what the compressor does and more though.

A nice touch would be to buy a steel finger slide. Always get's a crowd excited to hear that steel guitar slur/twang.

Country music isn't well known for guitar solos so most of their audience isn't listening to closely to it. Vocals, Steel Guitar, fiddles, and rhythm acoustic is what they are accustomed to listen for.

cole_swank
cole_swank|122

I'd definitely recommend the EHX Soul Food. Its a really transparent overdrive that gives a nice little bit of overdrive to your guitar. For delays,choruses, and stuff of that nature, TC Electronic makes some pretty good stuff so I'd check them out.

jimmarchi1
jimmarchi1|41029 MODERATOR
GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

If you didn't leave for the road yet, for what you're doing I would recommend a tele with traditional tele single, a keely compressor or similar, a tubescreamer or similar OD/boosty type thing and a Matchless DC30 or similar amp. The whole AC30 thing is really huge in modern country. I did a similar gig maybe 5 years ago (things went horribly wrong with the business end, but I was just a for-hire guy) and I made it work with a strat, an sesquire, a ts9 (I think), some slapback echo and a DC30 set clean.

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp
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