This month Stuart Ryan shares the style of a worldwide celebrity, superstar, campaigner, and perhaps the most famous country musician ever.
The long-reigning queen of country, Dolly Parton’s career is astonishing when you put it into numbers: over 3000 songs penned including mega-smash I Will Always Love You, made doubly famous by Whitney Houston in the film The Bodyguard. A true crossover artist, Dolly has taken country into the mainstream charts with hits Jolene and 9 To 5, which many a function guitarist will have had to master.
Dolly’s glittering, rhinestone-laden onstage image belies her humble beginnings. She was born in Tennessee and raised in a one-room shack, but music proved to be an early way out of poverty. By age 10 she was performing on local radio and, staggeringly, by 13 she was appearing on the legendary Grand Ole Opry stage. After leaving school the obvious move was to Nashville where she became a professional songwriter, penning hits for other artists and raising her profile with weekly appearances on country star Porter Wagoner’s TV show. She gained her first big hits duetting with Wagoner before going solo and earning success with 1973’s chart-topper Jolene, and I Will Always Love You which hit the top spot in 1974 (again in 1984) and her first Grammy in 1979.
As with many artists in the country and pop worlds the parts you hear on record are typically played by studio musicians. However, watch Dolly live and she plays guitar, banjo and dulcimer. While her guitar playing usually serves the role of simple accompaniment, she will often play short, bluegrass inspired solos the like of which I’ve included here. It’s a great example of melodic, scale-based country playing and is a good way into the genre if you are new to it.
Dolly’s playing is driven by the Maybelle Carter style ‘thumb and flick’ approach and the Hank Williams/Johnny Cash alternating bassline style. You can play this with a pick but if you opt for the Carter style then the picking-hand thumb plucks a bass note followed by the first finger flicking down to sound the corresponding chord. Aim to strike the strings with the nail on the finger for a more percussive characteristic.
While there are few demands on the fretting hand here, as Dolly mostly plays simple open-position chords, you may find the picking-hand thumb needs some work so as to ensure you strike the correct bass notes. For the first-finger flick, make sure you have sufficient power to strike the strings but not so much that they overshadow the bass notes. It’s a balancing act between thumb and finger to get this sounding right.
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