How to play like Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek

Writing

May 22

In 2023, the trailblazing acoustic trio Nickel Creek returned after a long hiatus with the album Celebrants—their most ambitious yet.

I had the opportunity to talk with Chris Thile, Sean Watkins, and Sara Watkins about this new chapter in their music, and the result is the cover story for the July/August 2023 issue of Acoustic Guitar. Read the interview here.

To dig deeper into the guitar side of Nickel Creek’s, I met separately with Sean Watkins, and he walked me through some examples of his guitar parts in songs from Celebrants. Above you can see my video breaking down what he shared. The print or digital issue includes transcriptions of all these examples.

The lesson covers these songs:

Strangers
Holding Pattern
Going Out...
Stone’s Throw
Where the Long Line Leads

I’ve followed Nickel Creek since near the band’s beginning as kids playing bluegrass and cowboy songs. I have a vivid memory of first meeting Chris Thile off stage at MerleFest in North Carolina back in the ’90s. He was hanging out in the fields and, during pauses in the conversation, casually ripping through Bach violin sonatas on the mandolin.

My first interview with Nickel Creek came in 2002, when the band was releasing This Side, the follow-up to their blockbuster self-titled album of 2000. That interview, published in Acoustic Guitar’s December 2002 issue, is available as part of the 2002 digital archive, which also includes my cover stories that year on Pete Seeger and Jewel.

Here’s Nickel Creek in 2002 and 2023.