chet's right hand technique

[rhirvine]

a very long time ago when I took "Chet" lessons the instructor said that I should not be muting the strings on the boom part but bring my hand down on the "chic" part. I was never able to do this so I always have my right hand muting the strings. Was my instructor's method wrong? He sounded real good (his Atkins style playing). Better than I ever have.
THanks.

[Norm]

You have to find your 'sweet spot' on the edge of your hand.
You do have to let the downbeat notes sound out a little more than the upbeat notes. Just spend a good piece of time every day going through a song, changing the chords and playing only the bass notes. Sooner or later you'll hit on it. Paul talked about doing this for hours.

Getting a "good thumb" takes work but eventually most get it and it no longer seems like it was all a big deal.

But it is not an overnight thing. You have to work at it and probably unlearn some bad habits. That's the hardest thing about learning guitar. "Unlearning" bad habits.

Like Homer said to Cousin Jody... "Keep huntin', it's on there someplace"!

[rhirvine]

Thanks Norm but it's way too late for me. I just thought that it would get other younger pickers thinking about their technique. One guy I met along the way thought that the muting of the two note chords was done with the left hand which didn't sound right to me. I think the man that I took lessons from in the late sixties actually had met Chet Atkins and heard and saw him play up close. He worked in a music store in Lawndale, Ca. But I forgot his name a long time ago.

Rich Irvine

[Norm]

There isn't any magic to it

I was listening to Richard Hudson's latest offering and your question crossed my mind. It's pretty obvious Richard has it down pretty well.

You just find the spot on the edge of your hand that makes the upbeat 'click' and the downbeat notes are allowed to vibrate just long enough to be identifiable. It is on there, it isn't magic, it's just extremely dull practice until, one day, it becomes all but natural.

It's one of those things you plonk away at until you actually get it right a couple of times. After a while you figure out just how you got it right until you get more of them right.

I abused "I Am A Pilgrim" for two or three days before I finally got it.

My parents were very relieved and it was years before I played Pilgrim again. I just spent months learning a certain Josh Graves lick on dobro. Truly thought I'd never get it but, like I said, it got so I could play one out of five then one out of three etc. Now I can comfortably nail that lick and other dobro players throw babies in the air when I do.

You hear your lick on a record. If they can, you can. You just need to figure it out and do a lot of boring
practice.

Former guitar teachers don't like hearing "it's too late" unless there is a real physical impediment like arthritis or somethng

[Tom Workman]

Points well taken, Norm. I remember all those years ago (about 47 of them) when I had made the decision to pursue Chet's style... wow, little did I know what I was in for but, perseverence finally paid off. First of all, just trying to get that "thumb-independence" thing down, then the rolls, the licks... hours and hours of practice and repetition. Even today I think I just about drive my poor wife nuts with my practicing and try to keep it at a minimum when she's within ear-shot, just trying to get a new arrangement worked out or learn a new lick. I'm as obsessed with it now as I was back then. It's so rewarding when you finally "get it" and can nail it just about every time. From time to time a player will ask me to get them started on Chet-style and after one or two lessons that's usually the end of it. They just give up. I always say if it was easy, a lot more people would be doing it and I ask them how badly do you want this? My take on it is, if all these other guys can do it then so can I and I'm having a ball with it moreso now than ever. O.K., I'm rambling! ...Thanks, Tom W.

[Norm]

Tommy Emmanuel once said words to the effect that you shouldn't subject your family to your practice regimen.

This is because it is so skull-busting monotonous trying to get your hands to do what they don't want to do. The really great musicians we love and admire practiced hours every day.
Some still do. It is said Lenny Breau practiced eleven hours a day often.

[LMark]

Rich,

Upon playing through a Standel clone based on one that was just like Chet's, it became instantly clear what was in large part behind Chet's distinctive muted (and unmuted!) sound. A goodly portion of that "bubbly" sound is in that Standel. (Please, I'm taking nothing away from Richard--what a talent!--and certainly not Chet's hands!!! Just sayin' . . . .)

All that aside, you might try muting with more pressure on the heel--more than you think you need--while digging in a little harder with the thumb at the same time on 5 and 6. Crank up the mids and roll back the bass and treble too, a little. A lot of players crank the bass and treble up and back off the mids, but that sounds horrific with filtertrons, and not so hot with gibson humbuckers (to my ears). I like to start with the mids full, then work in the bass and treble to taste. That's just my way of going about it--counterintuitive for certain--but it does have a noticeable effect on those muted strings. Can't hurt to try, can it?

LMark

[Norm]

LMark has a point about the amp but until '56 or'57 when he got his Standel he was playing through Fender Deluxe or a Fender Pro (the Pro was a very popular amp back in the day and it was a Pro amp Chet used as part of the exchange with Jimmy Day to get the Standel)

I think the key to the Good Thumb is not so much the downbeat notes (one and three) but the upbeat "snap" notes on two and four. Once you find that sweet spot on the edge of your hand so you can consitantly deliver that dry all-but-non-resonating note then you can address the degree of damping you want on one and three. As you get really proficient you'll want to modify how long one and three ring etc.

Don't strangle the thing. There's not a lot of physical pressure needed. About as much as you would use if you wanted to stroke a cat with the heel of your hand. Relax.

It applies to any thumbstyle application be it electric or acoustic