Chet Atkins

1924 - born June 20 in Luttrell, TN
1933 - began playing guitar
1942 - married Leona Johnson
1946 - made first recordings for Bullet Records
1949 - became guitarist for RCA studio Nashville sessions
1953 - released "Country Gentleman"
1955 - his "Mr. Sandman" became a hit
1965 - first top five hit with "Yakety Axe"
1967 - signed Jerry Reed to RCA
1968 - became vice-president of RCA's country division
1973 - became youngest inductee into Country Music Hall of Fame
1974 - published autobiography Country Gentleman
1977 - ended association with Gretsch guitars. Began development on Gibson guitar

Atkins Riff 1
Nice chord progression ending in G Major.

Atkins Riff 2
This is a Chet Atkins style that leans toward the Merle Travis and Merle Watson type approach.

Atkins Riff 3
Intro to Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Earl Scruggs. This lick is supposed to make the telecaster sound like a banjo.

Atkins Riff 4
Freight Train riff. Kind of a Chet Atkins, Merle Watson, Merle Travis style.

Atkins Riff 5
Done in a Merle Travis, Merle Watson, Chat Atkins type style.

Atkins Riff 6
From "The Last Thing on My Mind".

Atkins Riff 7
From "Windy and Warm", this riff is played in a Merle Watson/Doc Watson style.

Atkins Riff 8
From "Mr. BoJangles".

On Saturday, June 30th 2001, less than ten days after the passing of blues legend John Lee Hooker, guitarist Chet Atkins died in Nashville at the age of 77. Atkins passing marked the end of the guitarist's longstanding bout with colon and brain cancer, for which he had undergone significant amount of surgery. (Read the Chet Atkins obituary on CNN)

While Atkins is no longer with us, his music certainly lives on in both his recordings, and through the several generations of guitarists who have been affected by his work. Atkins heavily influential guitarists via his use of the "choke style" of guitar playing - a finger-picking technique involving the index finger playing melodies while the thumb plays alternating bass accompaniment (watch Chet Atkins using this technique). A full list of players Atkins made a marked impression on would be literally impossible, since we've all been influenced by Chet - either directly, or via guitarists we admire who was have drawn influence from him. Suffice it to say that players as diverse as Earl Klugh, Lenny Breau, Larry Coryell, Randy Bachman, Scotty Moore, Eric Johnson, Lonnie Mack, Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Eddie Cochran, George Harrison, and Albert Lee have all been affected by Chet Atkins.

Atkins gained huge respect as a guitarist, and as a man, amongst his peers. Let me leave you with just a few just a few snippets of what some notable individuals had to say about Chet Atkins:

"For years, Chet was my idol. I finally figured out that I can't play three-finger style or four-finger style like he does, literally, physically can't do it. I don't have the span, the reach that he has on the neck of the guitar. "
-Doc Watson

"His mind is a combination of inventor and musician. As musicians we must all try to be inventors to create new sounds and write new and really different music. The power of Chet's inventive mind placed him at the same level as people like Chuck Berry and Les Paul. He is a tinkerer and American original."
-Don McLean

"I know others will bear me out when I say men do not come along every day like Chet Atkins. I have learned a lot just being around him"
-Ray Stevens

Read more celebrity letters written about Chet Atkins