The Chetboard

The next Chet Atkins.

I’m posting this to clarify a certain mind set. Some of the people who post YouTube videos and Certain People who even have full websites either imply or their supporters claim they are “The Next Chet Atkins”

News for you, kiddies. The “Next Chet Atkins” have already come and gone. They were Jerry Reed and Lenny Breau.

Chet impacted the guitar world the way he did in the mid fifties because he had taken a mix of Travis, Django/Les Paul and a genius for arranging in three minute condensations to just about any kind of music one could desire. No one had done that before him and he sustained his flight for the next thirty years plus. Along the way he kept exploring other ways of playing and incorporated them into his playing because he loved playing guitar so much. Jerry and Lenny did the same thing. They could play convincing copies of their mentor, Chet, but they came up with totally different approaches to playing guitar just like Chet did.

There is a fallacy in guitar land that people are looking for “The Next Chet Atkins” and vie for the “title” by playing music more or less based on “Chet Atkins Style” playing.

They are and will always be copyists.

Here’s a parallel…
There are many fine five string banjo players out there. Some, like Bill Keith, inspired Chet to take a different approach to the fingerboard. But no matter who steps up to the mic with a banjo in their hand, they cannot match the Touch and more importantly, the Taste, that Earl Scruggs brought to the instrument. In guitaring, the same applies to Chet Atkins.

Bottom line… the “Next Chet Atkins” needs to be an innovator, like Jerry or Lenny, not just another contender in the Chet Copy Contest.

I’m not looking for a copyist to be “The Next Chet Atkins”
I already have a Chet Atkins and he still wears well…

…and here I’ll put it a ps:
There is a lot of good natured kidding about five string banjo players but remember Chet, on more than one occasion, would characterize one of his “tricks” as “just a banjo roll.”
Take a cue from him.
Don’t mock those who you might borrow from.

And I could be wrong but I think we owe Earl Scruggs for the technique of the “reverse roll” something the Muhlenberg County Boys could not do but Chet incorporated with great fluency throughout his technical career.

Norm, something else has changed too. Chet Atkins and also Duane Eddy started their careers when there was a ready market for instrumentalists. Their albums were in virtually every record store. How many solo guitar albums do you find selling on the commercial music market today? Tommy E is probably the one soloist having the most success now.

Times have changed. I do agree with your other comments too.

How is the book coming? I am sure looking forward to it.

Bill Moit CPA

Very well said Sir!!

What is the status of your book Norm ? Really looking forward to getting a copy.

Thanks
Bill

I agree with you 100% Norm! Al

re: The Book

Schiffer Publishing has a very methodical way they do things. Right now their cover design people are working on the cover and Marie and I are trying to find pictures she has that are of the right format. Several of the ones on Paul's site are ideal but they have been processed for the site and are too small for use when blown up to use on a cover so she's looking for the originals so she can re-scan them.
...that kind of thing.

Oddly, I don't think they have assigned a text editor yet although at least two of the Schiffer guys I've corresponded with are hoping they get to do that part so apparently my text has really caught their eye.

It's like the military... long periods of no activity and suddenly a lot of frantic exchanges go on...

Nobody is arranging instrumentals like Chet, Jerry, or Lenny. However I would also have to add Merle to that list.

Norm wrote:The next Chet Atkins.

There is a fallacy in guitar land that people are looking for “The Next Chet Atkins” and vie for the “title” by playing music more or less based on “Chet Atkins Style” playing.

Don't get me wrong. There are many fine guitarists out there. Some of them are unbelievably accurate when they play one of Chet's arrangements or even apply the technique to a song Chet never recorded. Guy Van Duser used to do this to Chet often almost as a prank sometimes because he can come so close to Chet's tone.

I admire these people and I wish I could play as well as they. Some even make a decent living doing the "Chet Atkins Style" thing. Don't let me give you the idea I don't respect their ability.

But, to paraphrase Chet's old line a bit... "They're pretty good but they're no Chet Atkins...

Norm,

I agree with all your comments.
I never look for the “Next Chet Atkins” because there will never be another like him. I simply enjoy the “only” Chet Atkins this world was given.

Kirk

Great stuff here, and I totally agree that there will never be another Chet Atkins. His influence carries on thru so many other great pickers out there, and there are several who are great ambassadors of Chet's music and style. But again, there will never be a next, or another Chet. When you look at his accomplishments in arranging, recording, producing, and performing, he was creating and building upon the style that he developed in the early years of his career. The resulting accomplishments and creativity cannot be matched, because he did it first. The others that play his style came afterwards because of the foundation that was created by the guitarist and music that brings us to this website. The one and only Chet Atkins left us with a legacy that cannot be matched. At least, that's my opinion, and it ought to be yours.

Sincerely,
Bill B.

There are two guys that I feel only come into this world in a few generations.
Chet and Jerry Reed.

There are guys that play faster and louder as guitar players but when those two play or you hear them in records it's like they took over the room.

In my dreams could I ever write an instrumental that had a tenth of the greatness of Jerry's compositions.