Best way to learn Chet Atkins Style of playing ?

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by Annie B

I've got the perfect source for you. Buy Mark Hanson's The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking and study every page. I'm almost done with it and it really is a terrific book. Written for beginning players and intermediate players who want to learn this style of playing. Great songs, great techniques, just a winning book!

I can also recommend John McClellan's transcriptions of Chet Atkins eg. Chet Atkins in 3 Dimensions books 1 and 2. They have very accurate transcriptions of many of Chet's arrangements and the music shows what is played by the thumb and what is played by the fingers. You can start on an easy one with the actual recording and it'll be pretty faithful.

[Al Acuff]

If you want to learn to play like Chet is makes sense to start with Travis picking like Chet himself did. If you haven't already you should listen to Merle Travis himself. His album 'Folk Songs of the Hills' is a good place to start. Also, rent the movie 'From Here to Eternity' and watch Merle play 'Reenlistment Blues'. FWIW the best video lessons I've seen are by Merle's son Thomas Bresh.

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by Al Acuff

If you want to learn to play like Chet is makes sense to start with Travis picking like Chet himself did. If you haven't already you should listen to Merle Travis himself. His album 'Folk Songs of the Hills' is a good place to start. Also, rent the movie 'From Here to Eternity' and watch Merle play 'Reenlistment Blues'. FWIW the best video lessons I've seen are by Merle's son Thomas Bresh.

Thom's lesson on "I'll see you in my dreams" is a good one.

[dbvirago]

Originally Posted by Annie B

I've got the perfect source for you. Buy Mark Hanson's The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking and study every page. I'm almost done with it and it really is a terrific book. Written for beginning players and intermediate players who want to learn this style of playing. Great songs, great techniques, just a winning book!

His "Beyond Basics: Fingerstyle Guitar" is also very good. Not as specific to Travis Picking, but might be a better starting book.

[Bsmooth]

I didn't realize that was Merle in From Here to Eternity. I must have seen that movie at least a dozen times and never realized it was him playing. I also happen to be a huge movie fan, gotta love the classics!
I happened upon this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXJR9b2riO4 and again tried it. I must be one of those with the hangup, because my fingers just wind up tripping over one another.
Plus as you say you MUST understand what your right hand needs to do. Last thing I want to do is learn incorrectly at keep practicing the wrong way !
I've almost gotten the bass notes down, but everytime I try hitting a high string it just seems wrong.
Let me know If that video I mentioned is half decent as I'll try to emulate it as best I can.

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by Bsmooth

I didn't realize that was Merle in From Here to Eternity. I must have seen that movie at least a dozen times and never realized it was him playing. I also happen to be a huge movie fan, gotta love the classics!
I happened upon this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXJR9b2riO4 and again tried it. I must be one of those with the hangup, because my fingers just wind up tripping over one another.
Plus as you say you MUST understand what your right hand needs to do. Last thing I want to do is learn incorrectly at keep practicing the wrong way !
I've almost gotten the bass notes down, but everytime I try hitting a high string it just seems wrong.
Let me know If that video I mentioned is half decent as I'll try to emulate it as best I can.

Well my problem with that is he's not really thumbpicking ie. with thumbpick. So it's a long way from how Chet or say Tommy Emmanuel would play it. It doesn't sound right because you just don't get the same drive in the bass. If you are serious about learning it PM me and I'll try and show you via skype sometime.

This is how Chet plays it and is a note for note cover.



And this is how TE sometimes plays it maybe without quite his flair... since I'm not TE lol



Bear in mind I'm in Australia so we'd have to tee up a time when we are both awake and free.

[Annie B]

I just heard a review of Chet's book, Complete Chet Atkins Guitar Method, on YouTube (link below) and the book sounds excellent. Check it out. I'd buy it if I weren't currently working through Mark Hanson's The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking, which is also very good and helpful. Now, however, I wish I'd started Chet's book because he's got you including simple solo lines in his arrangements right out of the gate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZc7OoyTG3Q

[Bsmooth]

Thats a good review. I've watched so many videos now its all got a bit confusing. One thing that many mention is following the roots of the chord shapes with your thumb. Problem is some seem to differ slightly and I'd like to practice the right way. Do any of the books show the roots of many of the major chords ? Its hard to tell without seeing them.
Plus some thumb placements show alternating like 6 and 4 but others are besides each other like 5 and 4. Shouldn't you always start with the lowest note and work upward?
I watched a Tommy Emmanuel video via Reverb where he's showing a C chord and he plays 5/5 then 6/4 by alternating the thumb and changing the root of the C chord back and forth. Others on videos show just going back and forth between fifth and forth string for the C chord.
Its probably a stupid question, but it does leave one slightly confused.

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by Bsmooth

Thats a good review. I've watched so many videos now its all got a bit confusing. One thing that many mention is following the roots of the chord shapes with your thumb. Problem is some seem to differ slightly and I'd like to practice the right way. Do any of the books show the roots of many of the major chords ? Its hard to tell without seeing them.
Plus some thumb placements show alternating like 6 and 4 but others are besides each other like 5 and 4. Shouldn't you always start with the lowest note and work upward?
I watched a Tommy Emmanuel video via Reverb where he's showing a C chord and he plays 5/5 then 6/4 by alternating the thumb and changing the root of the C chord back and forth. Others on videos show just going back and forth between fifth and forth string for the C chord.
Its probably a stupid question, but it does leave one slightly confused.

If you listen to what Chet played and what I played it's identical. Listen to Chet's recorded version of Freight Train and the cover I did. I offered to explain it all to you person to person. Trying to explain how to thumbpick like Chet isn't something that's real easy to explain by typing in a text box here. However, re: the bass line in thumbpicking Chet will normally try to hit the root note first and then the fifth. So for a C chord that'll be the "C" first and the "G" note which is a fifth. That's a very stereotypical country music bass line. Similar also to brass bands playing "oompah" music or as the Germans would say Blasmusik. However you need to understand more than just hitting the right bassline notes. It also plays a stab at the underlying the chord. As a general rule the fingers are just playing the melody. The thumbpick is doing everything else bass line and rhythm guitar. The stab at the rest of chord is also why using a thumb only and not a thumbpick isn't going to cut it for emulating Chet aside from the dynamics that the thumbpick provides over just your thumb.



This is Chet's original version for reference

[Bsmooth]

I can hear its the same. I guess I have to see it as opposed to hearing it. As its been said those root notes from the thumb have to be automatic, I want to get that down first, but more important done correctly.
If I can look at it in say a book, then I can memorize it.
Great playing BTW, I hope someday I can eventually get somewhere close, but its a long way off right now.

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by Bsmooth

I can hear its the same. I guess I have to see it as opposed to hearing it. As its been said those root notes from the thumb have to be automatic, I want to get that down first, but more important done correctly.
If I can look at it in say a book, then I can memorize it.
Great playing BTW, I hope someday I can eventually get somewhere close, but its a long way off right now.

It becomes reasonably automatic after a while - like riding a bike. You just have to understand what's going on that's all. If you already play guitar reasonably well it's just a matter of talking about it and showing what's going on.

Take a tune like Freight Train or Baby's Coming Home or something and download an MP3 of it. Put it in some software that will slow it down like "Audacity" or "Transcribe"... Slow it down to say 20% speed - at any rate real slow... Select a few bars of the tune and put that on repeat... Then concentrate on playing those few bars for a week or until you have them under your fingers.

Regarding the "root notes" as you put it... Well as I was saying there is a root note and a fifth note of every chord... They are generally the ones you need to play although there are exceptions to that rule depending on the circumstances but for a simple tune it's pretty much those... Understand that regarding the common open chords like G major, E major (and E major or minor shaped Barre Chords, The Root Note is on the 6th String. The fifth of those chords is generally on the 5th String (a regular G open chord on the fifth string is a third but a G barre chord is a fifth on the fifth string - Merle Travis would often play a different version of the G chord by thumbing over the G and not always playing the fifth but I digress). So you hit the 6th string first, hit the 4th and 3rd string with the thumbpick to play and get a sense of the chord, then hit the fifth string to get the fifth note which in the case of an E chord would be a "B" or in the case of a G Barre Chord it'd be a "D". Then hit the 4th and 3rd string to play the chord...

Re: A major/minor, C Major, D major/minor etc and their associated shaped barre chords the root note is on the 5th string, The fifth is on the 6th string. So hit the 5th string first, play the chord with your thumbpick on the lower strings then hit the 6th string, then play the chord with your thumbpick. Again your fingers are free to play the melody and Chet generally uses his index and middle finger for this. Less commonly the ring finger and little finger but for something like freight train you won't need those fingers much or at all. Merle Travis generally just used his thumb and index finger I might add.

So apart from those general rules (which can be broken sometimes) take a piece of music that you have an accurate transcription of. Put the real piece of music into some slowdown software and play it using your ear until it sounds the same. Just loop a phrase of the song - a few bars until you can play it at an extremely slow speed. Then just slowly speed it up.

I am sure that doing it using a real tune is better than a text book exercise. They are boring and it's a slow way to learn. I can assure you Chet wouldn't have learnt using a textbook. Learn a real song assuming you already know guitar.

All I can say is I had a person show me and go over how it worked and using real songs and an accurate transcription you pretty quickly should be able to work it out. You just need to understand which fingers in the right hand do which note. That's the critical thing and that's the bit that is easier to have shown to you. If you already understand that then start learning a song.

I would show you over Skype or Facebook Messenger at a pinch if you want. Someone showed me once because I used to be a flatpicker (for like 25 years before I learnt thumbpicking) and fingerstyle was a mystery to me. Seeing and asking questions on one occasion helped me understand how to use my fingers and thumb because as a flatpicker I had no clue...

[Mr.Thumbpick]

https://bucknerguitar.mymusicstaff.c...k?PostID=63315

Have a read of this... I honestly just found it now... It describes a book written by John Knowles who is a CGP and knew Chet personally just like Tommy Emmanuel. Randy Buckner is the author of the above link and I know both Randy and John. They are both superb guitarists and wonderful people.

Now Randy is describing a book to help learn the guitar that is written by John Knowles. However if you pay attention to how John Knowles learnt and the advice given by him he's basically saying the same thing as me. That is, get a real song and listen to it and have a transcription of it handy. Learn it from that... ie. John didn't learn from his own book! Now in 1975 that was a lot harder. We didn't have software that could slow them down - we had record players and when you slowed them down the pitch would change... So use modern technology and make it easier on yourself... It's so much easier to learn now than when I was a kid or when John Knowles was young. We have all the advantages of technology now to slow things down and play along.

This is a quote from the above link:

In the introduction, Knowles' advice to follow the score while listening to the record helped me understand the relationship between music notation and the actual performance.

Knowles suggested that when listening to the recording, listen to the melody and bass individually; identify the intro, verse, and bridge; and to listen for Atkins' articulations.

Also if you read the above link he talks about understanding 7 chords as the Rosetta stone for understanding Chet's style... That's why I'm trying to tell you about the various open chords and where the root and fifth notes are... the barre chords follow the same basic rules because barre chords are based on open chords... your barre finger is just a human capo so to speak.

[Bsmooth]

Haven't even tried a thumb pick yet, I will If I get this down. I don't read music at all either so that would have helped. Maybe thats why books are so important at least to me. I've watched Freight Train being played and listened to it quite a bit, but even played back slower its still a mystery to me.
I may try this one, I know its real simple, but maybe that will help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niIHzTmKpuo
Its This Land is your Land, a nice slow tune anyway to begin with.

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by Bsmooth

Haven't even tried a thumb pick yet, I will If I get this down. I don't read music at all either so that would have helped. Maybe thats why books are so important at least to me. I've watched Freight Train being played and listened to it quite a bit, but even played back slower its still a mystery to me.

Re: thumbpicks Tommy E uses Dunlops. I use a Fred Kelly Slick Pick because they are Delrin and very comfortable and don't get plastic fatigue and snap.

Originally Posted by Bsmooth

I may try this one, I know its real simple, but maybe that will help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niIHzTmKpuo
Its This Land is your Land, a nice slow tune anyway to begin with.

I had a listen to this... Now for learning some fingerstyle I guess it's ok but it's not what Chet does with his thumb at all... because the person in this video is not playing the chord with his thumb his just playing an alternating bass... So if your aim is to learn fingerstyle that's one thing... but learning what Chet is doing well this will likely confuse you because it's not what he does. So you need to decide what style you want to learn. Also do you notice how weak the bass sounds without a thumbpick? but the important thing to realise is he's not playing the chord in addition to the bassline with his thumb so it's a completely different way to play.

Of course classical guitarists don't use a thumbpick but then again they are not playing stuff like Chet either so it's horses for courses... ie. I'm not knocking people for not using a thumbpick but then again if you are trying to play Merle Travis Stuff or Chet stuff it's not going to be effective for that style.

[Mr.Thumbpick]

Originally Posted by Bsmooth

I've watched Freight Train being played and listened to it quite a bit, but even played back slower its still a mystery to me.

One last thing... that's why you need a tab/transcription to go with the slowed down recording and why you need it explained how to read the tab and score. Because the tab and score tells you which bits are played by the thumb and what's played with the fingers.

Re: Not being able to read music... well you don't really need to read music to understand the stem direction on the score which shows if it's your thumb or fingers.. and you don't need to read music to read a tab... It'll help a bit to understand the construction of a scale and triads so you understand what a root note is and what a third and fifth note is... More advanced chord construction can come later... You can understand what the root, third and the fifth is in terms of playing it in practice by reading what I said about what string to hit with which chord type further up in this thread... Again it helps to have someone show you I guess.

Once you learn a few songs, you don't need tabs or scores you can work them out by ear eventually. The tab/score is just a learning tool when you are starting out. It's very important to have an accurate one though if you are following the real recording.