Bluegrass guitar has two jobs. Rhythm guitar holds the band together with a strong bass note and a light strum. Lead guitar, called flatpicking, plays fiddle tunes and breaks note for note. Both jobs have their heroes. This page collects the notable ones in one place: the founders who built the rhythm role, the pioneers who made the guitar a lead voice, the IBMA winners, the Winfield champions, and the players shaping the sound today.
The list draws on the IBMA award records, the Walnut Valley Festival winners archive, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, and the Country Music Hall of Fame. For the instrument itself, start with the guide to bluegrass guitar. Fiddlers have their own list at the big list of fiddle players.
The founders: rhythm guitar and the G run
These players built the rhythm guitar role in the first bluegrass bands. Most of them sang lead, and their right hands held the band together.
Lester Flatt
Lester Flatt (1914 to 1979) sang lead and played rhythm guitar for Bill Monroe, then co-led Flatt and Scruggs for 21 years. His G run is in every bluegrass jam.
Carter Stanley
Carter Stanley (1925 to 1966) sang lead, played rhythm guitar, and wrote more than 100 songs for the Stanley Brothers over 20 years with his brother Ralph.
Riley Puckett
Riley Puckett (1894 to 1946), the blind guitarist and singer of the Skillet Lickers, made more than 200 records and put bass runs at the center of country guitar.
Maybelle Carter
Maybelle Carter (1909 to 1978) played guitar in the Carter Family from the 1927 Bristol sessions on. Her thumb-brush style, the Carter scratch, made the guitar a lead instrument.
Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin (1927 to 2005) sang lead and played guitar for Bill Monroe, then led the Sunny Mountain Boys for 50 years. He put six songs on the country charts.
Del McCoury
Del McCoury (born 1939) sang lead and played guitar for Bill Monroe in 1963, then led the Del McCoury Band to ten IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards and two Grammys.
Red Smiley
Red Smiley (1924 to 1972) sang lead and played rhythm guitar with Don Reno in Reno and Smiley from 1951 to 1964. The IBMA put him in its hall of fame in 1992.
Edd Mayfield
Edd Mayfield (1926 to 1958) played guitar with Bill Monroe in three stints between 1951 and 1958. He recorded twenty songs with Monroe before leukemia took him at 32.
The lead guitar pioneers
Lead guitar in bluegrass has a short history. These are the players who made it happen, from the first crosspicked breaks to the flatpicked fiddle tune.
Doc Watson
Doc Watson (1923 to 2012) made flatpicked fiddle tunes a guitar standard. He won seven Grammys, a National Heritage Fellowship in 1988, and the National Medal of Arts in 1997.
Clarence White
Clarence White (1944 to 1973) made the acoustic guitar a lead instrument in bluegrass with the Kentucky Colonels, then played electric guitar with the Byrds from 1968 to 1973.
George Shuffler
George Shuffler (1925 to 2014) invented bluegrass crosspicking guitar with the Stanley Brothers, whom he backed on bass and guitar from 1952 to 1966. IBMA Hall of Fame, 2011.
Bill Napier
Bill Napier (1935 to 2000) brought lead guitar to the Stanley Brothers and wrote Daybreak in Dixie. He then cut nine King albums with Charlie Moore from 1962 to 1967.
Norman Blake
Norman Blake (born 1938) brought old-time fiddle tunes to the flatpicked guitar. He recorded more than 40 albums and joined the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2022.
Dan Crary
Dan Crary (born 1939) co-founded the Bluegrass Alliance in 1968 and cut one of the first solo flatpicking albums in 1970. His band California won IBMA Instrumental Group of the Year three times.
Tony Rice
Tony Rice (1951 to 2020) set the modern standard for bluegrass lead guitar. He won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year six times and a Grammy in 1983.
Larry Sparks
Larry Sparks (born 1947) played lead guitar for the Stanley Brothers and Ralph Stanley, then led the Lonesome Ramblers from 1969. He won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 2004 and 2005.
The second wave
Players who took Rice, Watson, and White as a starting point and carried flatpicking into newgrass, jazz, and the studio.
Charles Sawtelle
Charles Sawtelle (1946 to 1999) played guitar in Hot Rize from 1978 to 1990. The band won the first IBMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1990 and entered the hall of fame in 2025.
Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan (born 1942) sang and played rhythm guitar for Bill Monroe from 1964 to 1967, then co-founded Old and in the Way. He wrote Panama Red and Midnight Moonlight and won a Grammy in 1997.
Russ Barenberg
Russ Barenberg (born 1950) co-founded Country Cooking in 1970 and won an IBMA award for Skip, Hop & Wobble in 1994. He has played in the Transatlantic Sessions house band since 1995.
Steve Kaufman
Steve Kaufman (born 1957) won the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship at Winfield three times (1978, 1984, 1986) and runs the Acoustic Kamp in Maryville, Tennessee.
Pat Flynn
Pat Flynn (born 1952) played guitar and wrote songs for New Grass Revival from 1981 to 1989, then cut more than 400 Nashville sessions. Bluegrass Hall of Fame, 2020.
Jack Lawrence
Jack Lawrence (born 1953) was Doc Watson’s guitar partner for more than 25 years, from 1983 to Watson’s death in 2012. He played in the Bluegrass Alliance after Tony Rice.
David Grier
David Grier (born 1961) won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year three times (1992, 1993, 1995) and built a solo career on crosspicking and improvised fiddle tunes.
Wyatt Rice
Wyatt Rice (born 1965) played rhythm guitar in the Tony Rice Unit for decades, led Santa Cruz, and teaches guitar at East Tennessee State University.
IBMA Guitar Player of the Year winners and the modern pros
The players who have held the guitar chair in the top touring bands since the 1990s. Most of them have won the IBMA award at least once.
Bryan Sutton
Bryan Sutton (born 1973) is a ten-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year, a Grammy winner with Doc Watson, and the guitarist in Hot Rize since 2002.
Kenny Smith
Kenny Smith (born 1967) won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 1998 and 1999 with the Lonesome River Band and wrote the flatpicking standard Studebaker.
Josh Williams
Josh Williams won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year three years running (2008 to 2010) and played guitar with Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, the Josh Williams Band, and the Tony Rice Unit.
Jim Hurst
Jim Hurst won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2001 and 2002. He mixes flatpicking with fingerstyle, and he played with Claire Lynch and Missy Raines before going solo in 2010.
Tim Stafford
Tim Stafford co-founded Blue Highway in 1994 and has won IBMA Songwriter of the Year three times. He played guitar with Alison Krauss and Union Station from 1990 to 1992.
Cody Kilby
Cody Kilby won the National Flatpicking Championship in 1998, played 14 years with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, and now plays guitar for the Travelin’ McCourys.
Clay Hess
Clay Hess played lead guitar for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder from 1999 to 2002, won a Grammy for Soldier of the Cross, and leads the Clay Hess Band.
Jake Workman
Jake Workman played lead guitar for Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder from 2015 to 2024 and won IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2020.
Trey Hensley
Trey Hensley (born 1990) is a two-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year and a Grammy winner who made his Grand Ole Opry debut at age 11.
Molly Tuttle
Molly Tuttle was the first woman to win IBMA Guitar Player of the Year, in 2017. She won it again in 2018 and won back-to-back Grammys for Best Bluegrass Album in 2023 and 2024.
Billy Strings
Billy Strings has won three Grammys for Best Bluegrass Album (2021, 2025, 2026), four IBMA Entertainer of the Year awards, and IBMA Guitar Player of the Year in 2019 and 2021.
Chris Eldridge
Chris Eldridge co-founded the Infamous Stringdusters and Punch Brothers, won a Grammy with Punch Brothers in 2019, and studied guitar with Tony Rice at Oberlin.
Singer-guitarists leading bands today
Lead singers whose rhythm guitar drives their own bands.
Dan Tyminski
Dan Tyminski played guitar and sang with Alison Krauss and Union Station for more than 30 years. He has won 14 Grammys and sang Man of Constant Sorrow in O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Russell Moore
Russell Moore has led IIIrd Tyme Out on guitar and lead vocals since 1991. He has won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year six times, more than any other singer.
Dudley Connell
Dudley Connell founded the Johnson Mountain Boys in 1975 and sang lead for the Seldom Scene from 1995 to 2024. He won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 2000.
Junior Sisk
Junior Sisk leads Ramblers Choice on guitar and lead vocals from Ferrum, Virginia. He won IBMA Album and Song of the Year in 2012 and Male Vocalist of the Year in 2013.
Keith Whitley
Keith Whitley (1954 to 1989) sang lead and played guitar for Ralph Stanley and J.D. Crowe before five straight number one country hits. Country Music Hall of Fame, 2022.
Stephen Mougin
Stephen Mougin has played guitar and sung in the Sam Bush Band since 2006. He runs Dark Shadow Recording and is a two-time IBMA Sound Engineer of the Year.
The current generation
Guitarists shaping the sound now, in string bands, jam bands, and solo projects.
Jon Stickley
Jon Stickley leads the Jon Stickley Trio, an instrumental band from Asheville with four albums since 2015, and won the 2003 RockyGrass band contest with Broke Mountain.
Grant Gordy
Grant Gordy played guitar in the David Grisman Quintet for six years, from 2007 to 2013, and co-founded Mr. Sun with Darol Anger and Joe K. Walsh.
Courtney Hartman
Courtney Hartman is a Colorado flatpicker and songwriter who played guitar in Della Mae from 2009 to 2016 and earned a Grammy nomination with the band in 2014.
Rebecca Frazier
Rebecca Frazier is a Virginia-born flatpicker who founded Hit and Run in 2001 and became the first woman on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine in 2006.
Jordan Tice
Jordan Tice is a Nashville guitarist, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the string band Hawktail. He has released seven solo records since 2006.
Chris Luquette
Chris Luquette played guitar in Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen for 11 years, won two IBMA group awards, and earned two Grammy nominations with the band.
Zeb Snyder
Zeb Snyder led the Snyder Family Band for 11 years and six albums, then took the guitar chair in Appalachian Road Show. His solo debut came out in 2025.
Beppe Gambetta
Beppe Gambetta (born 1955) is an Italian flatpicker from Genoa who founded the band Red Wine in 1977 and has recorded with David Grisman, Tony Trischka, and Dan Crary.
Pharis Romero
Pharis Romero is a guitarist, singer, and banjo builder from Horsefly, British Columbia. With Jason Romero she has won four Juno Awards for Traditional Roots Album of the Year since 2016.
Winfield National Flatpicking Champions
The National Flatpicking Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas, is the biggest contest in flatpicking. Every winner since 2000 is here, along with the multiple winners from earlier decades.
Steve Kaufman
Steve Kaufman (born 1957) won the National Flat Pick Guitar Championship at Winfield three times (1978, 1984, 1986) and runs the Acoustic Kamp in Maryville, Tennessee.
Mark Cosgrove
Mark Cosgrove won the MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Championship in 1994 and the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 1995, then played in David Bromberg’s band from 2013 to 2020.
Roy Curry
Roy Curry of Chattanooga, Tennessee, won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield three times (1980, 1991, and 2012) and placed in the top three eight times.
Jason Shaw
Jason Shaw of Lincoln, Nebraska, has won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield four times (1993, 2004, 2010, 2021) and the Walnut Valley fiddle championship four times.
Allen Shadd
Allen Shadd is a three-time National Flatpicking Champion at Winfield (1997, 2013, and 2019) and a contest player who has placed in the top three there nine times.
Carl Miner
Carl Miner won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 1999 and 2025, and in 2025 also won the National Mandolin Championship. He is a Nashville session guitarist.
Robert Shafer
Robert Shafer is a West Virginia flatpicker who won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield twice, in 1983 and 2000, and records with mandolinist Johnny Staats.
Adam Wright
Adam Wright of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, won the 2001 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield and placed third there in 2012 and 2017. He also won the Wayne Henderson guitar contest in 2000.
Scott Fore
Scott Fore of Radford, Virginia, won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2002 and 2015 and placed second there in 2000 and 2014. He won the Wayne Henderson guitar contest in 1999.
Jeff Troxel
Jeff Troxel, a Wyoming native based in Missoula, Montana, won the 2003 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield. He teaches guitar at the University of Montana and writes Mel Bay instruction books.
Joe Smart
Joe Smart, from Washington state, won the 2005 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield and played guitar on the O’Connor Band’s Coming Home, the 2017 Grammy winner for Best Bluegrass Album.
Matthew Arcara
Matthew Arcara won the 2006 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield, founded the Boston string band Joy Kills Sorrow, and now builds guitars in Maine.
Dillon Hodges
Dillon Hodges won the 2007 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield at age 17, played guitar for Missy Raines, and records pop music as firekid.
Tyler Grant
Tyler Grant won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2008 and the MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Championship in 2009, then led the Colorado band Grant Farm from 2010.
Bryan McDowell
Bryan McDowell won the Winfield flatpick, mandolin, and fiddle contests in one week in 2009, the first player to do it, then spent years with the Claire Lynch Band.
Andrew Hatfield
Andrew Hatfield of Peoria, Illinois, won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2011 and 2017 and the National Mandolin Championship in 2013.
Ben Cockman
Ben Cockman of Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, won the 2014 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield and plays guitar and mandolin in the Cockman Family band.
Steve Lewis
Steve Lewis of Jefferson, North Carolina, won the National Flatpicking Championship in 2016 and the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in 2003 and 2009.
Luke Lovejoy
Luke Lovejoy of Indiana won the National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield in 2018 at age 16, on his first trip to the festival, after four years of playing.
Holten Doucette
Holten Doucette of Waller, Texas, won both the National Flatpicking Championship and the National Mandolin Championship at Winfield in 2022, the festival’s 50th year.
Ian Ly
Ian Ly, a guitarist from Santa Cruz, California, won the 2023 National Flatpicking Championship at Winfield on his fifth try and plays in Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band.
Eric Hardin
Eric Hardin of Warrensville, North Carolina, won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship at Winfield in 2004 and the National Flatpicking Championship there in 2024.
A note on this list
No list of guitarists is ever finished. This one leans toward bluegrass and flatpicking, since that is what this site is about. Award counts and contest placings come from the organizations linked above. If you spot an error or a missing name who belongs here, get in touch.
Sources
Award and contest records drawn from the IBMA award recipient pages, the Walnut Valley Festival winners archive, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Details on each player are sourced on that player’s page.