“He used seashells as a pick, that's where he gets all that squank from”: Brilliant players of all persuasions have earned their stripes in Lynyrd Skynyrd's three-guitar army. Rickey Medlocke takes us through all of them, and what made them each special

(from left) Mark Matejka, Rickey Medlocke, and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd perform onstage at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia on November 12, 2014.

Right from their self-titled 1969 debut album, Southern rock's founding fathers, the Allman Brothers Band, established an impeccably high standard of lead guitar playing as one of the genre’s central tenets, thanks to Duane Allman's Jedi-level slide work, Dickey Betts’ dexterous, melodic style, and the duo’s pioneering twin harmonies.

When their Jacksonvile, Florida contemporaries Lynyrd Skynyrd launched their recording career with Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd’ (1973), the difference in their approaches became immediately apparent.