Buster B. Jones (August 24, 1959 - February 2, 2009) was an American

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

specializing in the

fingerpicking Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of guitar picking, playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with ...

style.

Biography

Born Bradley F. Jones in

Ames, Iowa Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...

, he first became known after entering Guitar Player Magazine's International Reader's Soundpage Competition in 1988 on a whim. He submitted an original composition, titled ''Back Porch Boogie'', as well as a cover of ''Salty Dog Blues'', recorded using a reel-to-reel recorder and then transferred to cassette using a

boombox A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered through ...

. Jones came in first place out of nearly 900 entries. He went on to win the National Fingerpicking Championship at Winfield, Kansas in 1990. In 1995, Jones became a spokesman for Godin guitars, playing a custom instrument he named "Pearl" for the mother of pearl inlay of his name on the neck. He toured often, earning the nicknames "Le Machine Gun" and "Pistola" for his fast playing style. That same style earned the notice of Chet Atkins, who described Buster by saying; "Buster B. Jones is the best fingerpicker I've heard since Jerry Reed… He plays like he's double parked." Jones was also well known for his mentoring of young players and he appeared in 11 instructional videos demonstrating and explaining

fingerstyle guitar Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectr ...

technique.

Discography

Albums

Solo

Duet

DVDs

Songbooks

References

External links

Guitar tabs of Buster B. Jones
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Buster B. 1959 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Iowa American male guitarists 20th-century American male musicians