He has collaborated with dozens of artists, probably hundreds, and has released albums with guitar legends, including Hank Snow, Jerry Reed, Les Paul, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, Lenny Breau, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark Knopfler, and Liona Boyd.Ītkins had hundreds of brilliant songs in his repertoire. Atkins produced records for Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Waylon Jennings and numerous others. Though I don’t like to think of his music as country (though a lot of it was), Chet Atkins is hailed as being the most recorded solo instrumentalist in country music history. Rolling Stone ranked Atkins number 21 on their list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, and has received 14 Grammy Awards as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Some of his other major guitar influences include Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, and Jerry Reed. Atkins took that style and, over 50 years, made it his own. Guitar” for no reason.Ītkins’ signature picking style was inspired by guitar great Merle Travis. He wooed listeners from generation to generation with his electric speed, melodic playing, and unique finger-picking guitar style. He released a jaw-dropping 88 studio albums, 53 compilation albums, and 113 singles, from country to jazz to folk to numerous other genres in-between. His legendary career spanned six decades, from the early ’40s to the late ’90s, until his death in 2001. It's just mind blowing and this sends me right back to the drawing board.Chet Atkins was one of the most influential guitar players of the 21st century. Watch any video of them playing and see how calm they play all these complicated licks and runs on national television or in front of huge crowds. This showed me how well above everything these fingerstyle players are: Chet, Jerry Reed, Tommy Emmanuel.
Luckiliy everybody appreciated my playing nonetheless, because most of the people there were all musicians. There was no band to hide behind, nothing to hide your mistakes etc. Its even more nerve wracking that you are solo on stage. But just playing in front of these few people was so nerve wracking. I even had to stop a song to restart a section. I couldn't keep count on how my mistakes I made. So i get on stage and guess what, with all the excitement and jitters it's not that easy to play complicated fingerstlye.
It was at a country bar so that style is quite fitting.
So last night I decided to head over to an open mic night. In theory I'm doing everything you should be doing to improve your playing right? I have a very concentrated practise routine, I learn all the songs at slow speed with a metronome, I record most of the stuff to actually hear where I'm making mistakes, I record and post videos on youtube and try to get feedback from established players. I have been playing guitar for over 20 years and I'm not new to the game. I'm a huge Chet Atkins fan and have been playing and practising his style for the past 5 years. So this is a short story that happened last night that shows how good all these fingerpickers are.