what's the most popular guitar used in country music today?

[mds08]

I was told today at a country/folk jam session that Taylor guitars are the most widely used. So do you agree?

[Heroditus]

I don't know, but I'd be surprised if it were Taylors. I'd guess Gibsons or Takamines. If you're counting bluegrass I'd think Martin would win hands down.

[L20A]

No way of knowing this.
Taylor sure has it's fair share of guitars on stage.
There are four makers that are seen a lot on Country stages.
Martin
Gibson
Taylor
Takamine
It would be hard to tell which brand is the most seen of these.

[mds08]

Originally Posted by Heroditus

I don't know, but I'd be surprised if it were Taylors. I'd guess Gibsons or Takamines. If you're counting bluegrass I'd think Martin would win hands down.

I would agree about bluegrass, Martin wins there, but the person that said this is a Taylor dealer, and sells other major brands. I don't know but he is exremely knowledgeable in the country music business and vintage guitars.

[HHP]

I would think Telecaster.

[rolleiguy54]

On a recent trip to Nashville I saw Gibson's all over. Never saw a Taylor.

[scottishrogue]

It has to be Gibson. They have a number of models that are always seen on stage. I see double-cutaways, like an ES-335, or a Les Paul or an acoustic-electric SJ, or a Gibson mando in almost every band I go see! Fender Strats & Teles also. And a few Takamines, too.

Glen

[Yamaha Man]

[scottishrogue]

Although Taylor Swift usually plays one of her Taylor guitars, I've seen her on stage playing a Gibson, as well. I was shocked!

Glen

[AmericanEagle]

I'd say for acoustic, the Taylor, and for electric, the Telecaster.

[Yamaha Man]

Dave Matthews

[Bowie]

As far as country goes, I still see mostly Martin dreads and a variety of Gibsons. I don't see all the Taylors everyone else seems to be seeing. Live, Takamine is still big in country music too.

[bohemian]

Telecaster plus 1

[franchelB]

I have some friends that are involved in the "Nash Vegas" scene, ...and many play Gibson, Martin, and Taylor guitars. And a few also play Collings and McPherson guitars.

[ukejon]

Sorry to break the news to you but country music died a long time ago.

Here is how David Mark Williams summarized it in 2009:

The death of country music


I was reading an interview with some yahoo named Jason Aldean, who is
apparently a rising star in the world of country music, which is a dumb
thing to say, because these guys aren't playing country music.

Anyway, he was asked about his musical influences growing up, and he
said “Guns N' Roses -- the '80s rock stuff. Then I was into John
Mellencamp, and Bob Seger and a lot of the Southern rock stuff. I listened
to a lot of different kinds of music.”

Well, there you go. How can a guy with a musical spectrum so broad that
he listened to both John Mellencamp AND Bob Seger grow up to be anything
but a great country artist?

Country music is dead. Well, it's not dead - there are plenty of people
out there still writing and performing actual country music. It just doesn’t get on the radio or on CMT.

“Country music” is nothing but a marketing tool now. I'm not sure who
exactly killed country music, but I suspect you'd find Garth Brooks' and Shania
Twain's fingerprints on the gun.

Have you watched a country music awards show lately? You could fire a shotgun at the stage and never hit anybody who’s actually playing country music. We live in a nation where people complain about terrorists being mistreated in jail, and yet Rascal Flatts is allowed to run free. That ain't right.

If you turn on a “country” radio station now, you’ll basically hear one of four songs:

• I’m from a small town where we all love Jesus.
• I’m a good old boy/gal and I like to have a good time and don’t care if you call me a redneck.
• I love my girl/guy and she/he loves me even though I don’t deserve it.
• I’m a redneck from a small town and I love my girl and she loves Jesus.

Look at all the artists out there now masquerading as country musicians. Kenney Chesney does a bad Jimmy Buffett impression and wins award after award. Keith Urban is basically Dan Fogelberg with a steel guitar player. I got subjected to a Keith Urban CD once and I almost went into a diabetic coma by the time it was finished.

I guess the main reason it sucks now is because it’s not sincere. Country music was always about pain and heartache and hard times, and it was sung and written by people who grew up poor and fought their demons and produced something beautiful out of misery. When George Jones sang “If Drinking Don’t Kill Me, Her Memory Will,” he meant it. Merle Haggard could sing about prison because he’d been there. Johnny Cash knew pain because his beloved brother died when he was young. Buck Owens grew up like the Joad family, moving from one California produce farm to the next.

How is popular “country” music made these days? Well, the songs are written by the same group of songwriters who actually go to work in an office and work on them. This results in songs that are calculated and soulless and full of phony emotion. The best country songs are scribbled on the back of a bar napkin with half the words blurred by spilt whiskey or tears.

Then the songs of today are recorded by a group of session musicians who play on everybody’s CD, and produced by a handful of producers who want everything to sound the same. And they succeed – it all sounds like crap.

My favorite scene in “The Blues Brothers” is when they stumble into a backwoods bar and they ask the waitress what kind of music is usually played there, and she says “We like both kinds – country AND western.” Sadly, I fear they’re both now just a memory.

In short, Patsy and Hank would be so ashamed. As for the guitars....it doesn't matter.

Oh, just to be clear this is IMO and YMMV and HND ("have a nice day")