Chet Atkins

[Kevin]

i've been playing a bit of his stuff lately, just chucked this on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo1L4zut2SI

i'm loving the whole country feel of the music, with a bit of a bop underneath to give it some kick.

there's a bit of a learning curve when playing this stuff, alot of the time one finger is controlling the melody, while the others keep the bass and rhythm going.

that's only the intro really, i've got the rest of the song to learn, so it should be a pretty impressive little number once it's done.

enjoy

[Strider]

Chet Atkins is a friggen legend. I think one of the greatest things that's come from my playing has been learning his style (which Tommy Emmanuel has pretty much duplicated). Chet has a few really good books & DVD's out. If you're keen u should check them out.

One point of advice (that I find just about every guitarist does), is playing too quick or too slow. Try getting a metronone and practicising the bass notes (boom'chick'boom'chick', get the timing spot on. That's one of the keys to playing the chet atkins style. Then once you've mastered that start filling in the blanks with the fills over the top.

Good work tho, sounds quite good :)

[Daniel]

what dvds/books do you refer to?
any specific ones?

[Strider]

Mel Bay's Complete Chet Atkins Guitar Method.
Awesome book, if you progress through it slowly and take your time with everything (without getting bored), it's basically the blueprint to play like Chet.

The Guitar of Chet Atkins (taught by Chet Atkins)
This is basically a DVD with Chet playing some tunes and you get a little booklet with the tabs for his songs. It's designed for guitarists who are already quite capable of playing Chets style so it's good to learn from his book first.
I remember when I first got this DVD I just sat back and watched in amazement. Brillant playing. The thing about Chet is sometimes what he's playing sounds extremely complicated and quick but he's simply playing the guitar smart. Work smarter not harder.

Those are my two suggestions :)

[Daniel]

awsum i'll see if i can find them at allans or something thanks :D

[Strider]

Good luck! :D

[Daniel]

thanks do you have any idea how much approx it will cost im a little short on cash atm in fact i have barely enough for tommorrows train ticket lol

[Strider]

Think the DVD is around $70, and the book is around $35ish. Depends on where you go I guess.

[Daniel]

sheeesh

thats pretty expensive

nice christmas present :D

[Kevin]

i had no idea you played, strider

yeah, i'm a bit fast, playing infront of a camera puts a bit of pressure on too.

what chet songs do you like playing the best?
i've sorta got freight train, jerry's breakdown and that one all in the works

[Daniel]

show us a cool youtube video :P

[Julia]

My guitar teacher has just started teaching me that song, except I'm still playing it really slowly. Fingerstyle guitar is just so much fun, it's so satisfying to be able to play a song from start to finish on your own, without the need for a band. I found when I was learning blues lead stuff, that it was great, but I'd always be sitting in my bedroom just jamming along to a cd, or I had to have someone playing rhythm. It's much more fun being able to play a song on your own, for me anyway.

[WHITE FALCON]

hey kev, where'd you get that tab?

i had a quick look a while ago but didnt find anything.

[Kevin]

it's a guitar pro tab

here ya go (http://users.on.net/~trcooper/Atkins,%20Chet%20-%20Mister%20Sandman.gp3)

[Daniel]

muchos grasis

:D

[WHITE FALCON]

thanks heaps!

[WHITE FALCON]

i just looked. i have a much better versoin if you wanted it kev.

[Daniel]

it doesnt look too hard the rhythm is hard to keep though i speed up easily

DAM metronome *click, click, click*

[Daniel]

if you have a better version post it :P

[WHITE FALCON]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JWBNFC4E

[Kevin]

it's the same thing

[WHITE FALCON]

fuck. exactly the same?

[Kevin]

yup hahaha

well there's a few extra notes in some chords on your one

[WHITE FALCON]

i just heard yours and then looked and i had this one and it sounded better lol :p

like it doesnt have the chord configurations up the top or anything?

[Daniel]

yeah tis the exact same oh well at least you tried :P

[WHITE FALCON]

check out this one its cheating but it sounds cool.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TWYSQRN8

i swear if its exactly the same then there is something weird goin on.

[Strider]

i had no idea you played, strider

yeah, i'm a bit fast, playing infront of a camera puts a bit of pressure on too.

what chet songs do you like playing the best?
i've sorta got freight train, jerry's breakdown and that one all in the works

My favourite Atkins song to play is Maybelle. I know a few but I definitely have to learn more. I mainly try and adapt his style to other songs cos I find it's a good way to improve quickly. Once you get the feel for the style it's quite easy to do, just takes a bit of playing around with ideas.

Freight Train is a great song to start off on and it sounds good. Tommy Emmanuel plays it practically the same as Chet and has a few cheap books out for a few of his fingerpicking songs.

What I believe makes Chet such an inspiring guitarist (and what makes his style so damn good) is the fact he can improvise and immitate other guitar players. He never plays a song the same way twice, always changes it. It's good Chris has been playing a few of his songs at gigs recently cos it's made people go back and look at Chet I reckon.

[WHITE FALCON]

He's opened my eyes.

*looks at Mr Sandman tab infront of me*

[Strider]

I got into Chet through Chris as well, but it was from hearing E Boogie a few years back. Then I went and bought as many Chet CD's as I could find. It's good to look at the bands u like and trace back their influences. It's understandable that Chet has been a focal point as of late cos on the recent tour Chris has been playing 'Mr Sandman' so it makes sense people wanna learn it haha

My advice to all of you, go download some youtube vids and watch how Chet/Tommy play their songs. Tabs are usually slighty wrong unless they're in an official book so I'd rather learn by ear and sight than by simply duplicating a tab.

[WHITE FALCON]

yeahh. being a forumer i would allways hear oh chris sounds so much like setzer and you can hear chet atkins in his playing and all taht but when i actually did my own discovering i knew waht everyone meant. now im into stray cats and i found out my parents have heaps of atkins aswell! hahah its great. good ol' forum

[Kevin]

It's understandable that Chet has been a focal point as of late cos on the recent tour Chris has been playing 'Mr Sandman' so it makes sense people wanna learn it haha

i thought chris was playing freight train on the all states of emergency tour

[Strider]

He played Mr Sandman in Perth, I dunno bout all the other states? It's a mad song tho, put Chet on the map back in the 50's.

Just listen to the Stray Cats, Chet Atkins, The Clash & AC/DC and somewhere in between all that you'll find the main influences behind the Living End! Personally if I could master any one style it would be fingerpicking. I reckon it's the foundation for being able to play anything. Some people hate the sound of it tho, my mates think it sounds too hillbilly haha

[WHITE FALCON]

yeah i know waht you mean!

oi one of the hardest fingerpicking songs to play it tommy emmanuals version of lady madonna. look it up! amazing!

[Strider]

Tommy is an amazing guitarist. I have a few of his DVD's and such and one of them has his version of Lady Madonna. Although some of his songs are quite tricky and quick it's just a matter of practise. Get the foundations right and you can go anywhere with fingerpicking. It all starts with training your thumb to work independently of your fingers, combine that with a metronome and you're on your way! :D You'll be playing Lady Madonna in no time if you just persist and keep practising.

[Jawn]

I go to Eric Bibb for my fingerpicking.