Coming straight from Nashville, Guthrie Trapp was in the ArtistWorks studio recently and we asked him what he thinks are some of the most classic country guitar licks. Here's his Top 6:

1. The B-bender solo at the end of Marty Stuart’s song “Badlands”:

"This is one of my favorite all-time solos. It is very soulful and well crafted. Marty bends very slow and pulls the emotion out on this one."

2. The guitar solos on the song “Restless” on the Mark O’Connor record The New Nashville Cats:

"It's Steve Wariner, Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill all trading licks. Classic country with a twist on this one. These guys are tearing it up. Nice tones and great clean playing. Great example of Nashville country session guitar playing."

3. Junior Brown’s song “Broke Down South of Dallas”: 

"This is a great simple yet powerful intro riff. Junior gets great tone with no effects other than reverb. Love the way he gets many tones by pickup selection and playing back by the bridge sometimes for a brighter tone to cut through and add attitude."

4. Jamie Hartford’s song “Somebody's Gonna Pay”:

"Jamie is one of my all time favs. This intro is very cool and the bending is great. His tone is raw and organic. Jamie was hugely influenced by Roy Buchannon and exhibits this with his bluesy approach to country music which I personally LOVE."

5.  Merle Haggard’s “Swinging Doors” and “The Night The Bottle Let Me Down”:

"Both of these songs exhibit some of the best classic country licks ever. The great Roy Nichols played on this early stuff. He incorporates blues influences and a great example of not playing steel guitar licks when there is already a steel player. This is something many players overlook."

6. "Highway 40 Blues” by Ricky Skaggs:

"This has a great guitar hook that was played by the great Ray Flacke. Ray covers the chord changes nicely here and adds to the song in a nice melodic way."

Guthrie Trapp can teach you all these country guitar licks and more. Find out how it works at http://artistworks.com/country.