The Chetboard

in one of the bookls about either Chet or Lenny Breau there is a paragraph describing someone taking pains to get one of Lenny's solo's right.

A well known guitarist listened appreciatively but told his friend it would never sell. The closer was words to the effect "you need to play something a 14 year old kid can hear and say to himself 'I can play that'..."

I know I read it.. either in the Lenny Breau biography (One Long Tune) or in one of the Chet Atkins in 3 dimensions books by John McClellan.

Can anyone point me to it? It's a great quote and I want to get it right

Norm wrote:I know I read it.. either in the Lenny Breau biography (One Long Tune) or in one of the Chet Atkins in 3 dimensions books by John McClellan.

Well, I think you can eliminate the Lenny Breau biography, because I've never read it, but I read the quote also, and I HAVE read the "Three Dimensions" books.

David

I have the Lenny book and reccomend it to all...it's a good read... but I agree... I keep seeing the quote mostly on the bottom of a right hand page. I've skimmed through all three of the books and can't seem to find it.

I guess I'll give it another go

It's been about a year since I read the book, so I can't remember exactly, but I believe I remember reading that Oscar Peterson was very critical of Lenny. So that may be where the quote came from.

David, it was great seeing you and your wife last Friday! Your Gibson CE (or CEC?) played very much like my Sand used to. You live in "paradise" as far as I'm concerned. So did I once also!

Craig_Pratt wrote:It's been about a year since I read the book, so I can't remember exactly, but I believe I remember reading that Oscar Peterson was very critical of Lenny. So that may be where the quote came from.

No... it wasn't Peterson...I don't think it wasl, anyway.
It was definitely a dialogue between two guitarists and I think only one was named. The guy who had worked out the solo was not named. It was his well known friend who made the comment I'm looking for. It's one of those comments that has a lot of truth to it and I want to get it right.

Now that David indicates it's not in the Breau bio I'll go on another search next couple of days.

I get tenacious this way...

RandeDager wrote:David, it was great seeing you and your wife last Friday! Your Gibson CE (or CEC?) played very much like my Sand used to. You live in "paradise" as far as I'm concerned. So did I once also!

Hi Rande,

Nice seeing you again (and meeting Kevin), and glad you made it back home safely. Yeah, the Gibson Studio Classic is a great nylon electric, but it doesn't do anything by itself... it takes hands like yours to bring out the potential of a guitar like that! It is the 'CEC' model, (with the full 2" classical neck) that's why I could tell you'd been playing a Stratocaster a lot when you first picked it up, but I was amazed at how quickly you "adapted" to it!

I'm not sure if this qualifies as "paradise" however, as it's raining today and quite chilly, only about 50°[F] but I suppose compared to your foot of snow back there, (or the tornados in the mid-west and the south), it might come close! What's a little earthquake every 10 or 15 years, right?

Hope the wedding came off without any hitches, and your guitar charmed them all!

David

Norm wrote:It's one of those comments that has a lot of truth to it and I want to get it right.

I'll go on another search next couple of days.

I get tenacious this way...

Norm -
I can't help you with your search, but I know the feeling. I'm the same way with a quote I KNOW I read somewhere about Chet commenting on a Django tune called "Dinette". Chet was saying how "he wanted to learn that tune, and how he couldn't figure out what Django was doing on his opening lick" (or something to that effect). I've looked everywhere for that quote (I believe it was in a magazine interview near the end of Chet's life) and I simply cannot find it. Frustrating when you know it's out there, but you just can't locate it...
Bill

David, I almost feel like I'm "hijacking" this thread to have this separate conversation with you but I couldn't resist responding. I appreciate your kind words about my "hands" and my "adaptation". I suppose that there is a little "muscle memory" involved, due to my Sand guitar experience. Yes, everyone seemed to appreciate my guitar contributions and my daughter was married in a beautiful setting. You may remember the wedding on Saturday and then imagine it in a garden at the Westlake Inn.

I'm back home now and getting ready for classes today and seeing out the window that it's snowing hard but also being comforted in knowing that 50+ is around the corner again. No, I'm not talking about my age......lol........that was long ago. Please tell Barbara hi for me.

Norm -
I can't help you with your search, but I know the feeling. I'm the same way with a quote I KNOW I read somewhere about Chet commenting on a Django tune called "Dinette". Chet was saying how "he wanted to learn that tune, and how he couldn't figure out what Django was doing on his opening lick" (or something to that effect). I've looked everywhere for that quote (I believe it was in a magazine interview near the end of Chet's life) and I simply cannot find it. Frustrating when you know it's out there, but you just can't locate it...
Bill[/quote]

There was a Les Paul quote that drove me nuts to get "right" and after grinding through two hardcover bios on Les and I finally found it on the 'Chasing Sound' video.

You can see why anything other than the exact words would make the quote less effective:
_______

Les Paul tells about talking to Miles Davis:

Miles Davis said “You know what? I'd give anything just to get a hit record...whats' the secret?”
I said, “Its simple...play the melody. I said, “Play Mockinbird Hill.” (It had just been released and was a hit for Les and Mary)
He said “I wouldn't be caught dead playing “Mockingbird Hill”
I said “That’s why you're hungry, Miles!” I said, “If you want to play you gotta play to the people!”
__Les Paul Chasing Sound

The quote I'm looking for, like this one, needs to be exact to be most effective...