Super Lick

[albertgen]

I seen a Utube video of Benny Goodman today and Barny Kessel played a guitar solo. He played the Chet Super lick. I wonder if thats where Chet picked it up. They performed the song Avalon in 1958. You guys ought to see this. Al

[BillB]

It was probably this one. Maybe Barney got it from Chet. Not quite sure when Chet originally played it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kys1gLmQnd8

Bill B.

[Norm]

I have a feeling the actual root to this lick is in something Django did. I can't prove it though, because I'm not a Django scholar. All those guys took in a lot of Django's chops when they came up.

I think Les Paul probably did something similar now and again before he busted his elbow, He was certainly capable of it. What Barney does in this clip is not quite what Chet does because Chet's 'flies' a little differently but of course it would because musicians adapt and borrow and make the borrowed lick theirs if they can.

It's like Chet's amazing pulloffs that go on forever in Main Street Breakdown. I heard Les do a very brief flurry like that somewhere and when I did I wondered if Chet may have heard that during his 'copy Les Paul licks' period and extended it to the intimidating level he took it.

Musical evolution, if you will. Steal a lick from one guy... Plagarism. Steal licks from several guys... Research!

[DWolfram]

My understanding is that Chet was first heard doing the Super Lick on the Chet Atkins in Hollywood album,Studio Version(1961 release) of Jitterbug Waltz. It was at the end of the tune. He did not do it on the Nashville version(1958 release). The Studio Version was actually recorded in December 1958.

[Richard Hudson]

I think I read a Chet interview somewhere a while back where Chet said it was something he heard the fiddle players do, and he adapted it to guitar.

Thanks,

[albertgen]

Chet said he didn't remember where he picked it up, maybe from some old guitar player. He also stated that he first used it in Copper Kettle. This can be read in the Frets article. Al

[Norm]

It occured to me I probably had that article so I went into my trove and found I have most of the Guitar Player articles. Thing is I didn't have an index so I spent the last hour or so creating one.

I found the article Al mentioned and it also says Richard was right too. I transcribed what Chet said about it here:

The article, titled "Superlick" is here exactly quoted"

"I really don't know where I got the lick. I may have seen some old guitar player or somebody do it slow one day. Fiddle players do licks like this all the time. It's easy for them. They just bounce the bow across the strings.

The first time I used the lick was on a recording of "Copper Kettle" 15 or 20 years ago...Since then a few other people have picked up the lick. I haven't seen many who could really do it although a lot have tried.

Jerry Reed used to play something like it. He wanted to do it the way I do buy my pattern didn't work for him. So he figured out something similar and got the same effect only I think the notes fell on different beats.

I believe him when he says he can't remember where he got it but I still have my money on it coming from Django or maybe even Charlie Christian since Barney Kessel plays something so similar. Like I said earlier... those guys were all contemporaries and had pretty much the same resources to draw on. They shaped these resources to their own styles of course.

Don't mind me...

I'm just rambling...

[Norm]

While I was making my index I came across an artilce about the DelVecchio.
I had often wondered who came up with the idea of metal resonators on guitars, specifically, who came first, Dobro or DelVecchio.

Dobro (National, actually) patented their 'bisciut bridge' resonator in 1928. DelVecchio came out with theirs in 1934.

Just what you needed. More useless trivia

[David Elliott]

I don't know if this is the article being discussed or not. Also not sure if it can be blown-up big enough to be readable.
David

[Norm]

That's the one I quoted


I wish Guitar Player would go through their archive and publish every interview and lesson page they had on Chet in one volume