Page 1 of 3

The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 7:26 pm
by Doug Working
Listen fellas,

For years I've tried to figure out those smooth scales Chet uses in "Cattle Call" from Hometown Guitar. I've even tried slowing the recording down, but they still elude me, because when I slow it down, it changes the pitch! 

I am positive he is using a variation of the C Major scale, probably with a couple open strings thrown in at strategic spots. And he does it amazingly smooth both ascending and descending! 

Anybody have those smooth  scales figured out and can clue me in?

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 9:56 pm
by Ray Bohlken
Doug, I don't have the tab to Cattle Call, but, if you have a digital file (mp3 or WAV) you can slow it down in the WIndows Media player and not change the pitch. Here is a link to a Youtube video that demonstrates that feature. I hope this helps.
Ray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_fklZbD3CA

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 10:01 pm
by Doug Working
Would it work on an I-phone? I don't have a p.c. anymore, (which is why I stopped posting on my Chet Channel on Y-tube) so these days. all my communication and posting and listening and downloading is on my phone.

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Wed May 21, 2014 8:12 am
by Ray Bohlken
I don't know about I-phones. We have a basic cell phone and it doesn't have any features to speak of. I'm sorry I forgot about your PC being gone. I have a huge drift factor these days and information doesn't linger in my brain very long sometimes.
Ray

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Wed May 21, 2014 8:42 am
by Doug Working
Ok. I'll keep my hopes up that someone has tabbed it. He plays them smooth as melted butter.

Chet had a lot of those scale based runs that he used. A couple more that I like (Shoot, I like 'em all) are the ones he used in Rocky Top and El Paso. Amazing! If I can learn to play those, I'll die a happy man.

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2014 1:58 pm
by emjaybee94
Doug,

You're right he does put in open notes. It's a question that we fired at him when he came over to England in 1983. Cattle Call isn't the only tune he uses that technique on. Perhaps the best example is Chet's solo on "Caravan", from the "Chester Lester" album with Les Paul. John McClellan's tab of that solo is included in Volume 1 of "Chet Atkin's in 3 Dimensions". You need pretty big (and strong) hands to be able to pull it off with the fluidity that Chet accomplished. I've always found it immensely difficult to stretch from the 7th fret to the 3rd fret, but I'm sure with a lot of practice and perseverance I might have achieved it. I don't have big hands so when I play "Caravan" and get to that bit I have my own version of the G scale that starts on the 3rd fret of the 1st string and a series of open notes, fretted notes and pull-offs going down the scale and hammer-ons replacing the pull-offs going up the scale. Remember you also have to cross-pick, so sometimes you're playing a lower note on a higher string. It wasn't easy to start off with, but I can play it with some ease now.

Hope that is of some use to you.

Regards
Mike

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2014 2:20 pm
by Doug Working
Thank-you! I appreciate any and all help.

Do you happen to have the transcription to those runs in Cattle Call?

Ironically, I've purchased a plethora of Chet tab books. and no doubt, there are a lot of great Chet tunes transcribed and tabbed, but it seems like the tunes I covet most nobody has tabbed. (Yeah, I'm always greedy and hungry for more. I have a voracious appetite for Chet tunes. Absolutely insatiable.) I know Chet's tunes are probably a challenge to tab accurately, but I suspect there are more than a handful of guys out there with the chops to do it, and do it right, if they'd only set their mind to it.

I could actually make a LIST of Chet tunes I love that nobody has ever tabbed.

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2014 7:41 pm
by albertgen
It's cross picking, it take a lot of work to get it smooth and in perfect time so it ends on begins and ends on beat. Think Legato! Al

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Sat May 24, 2014 8:42 pm
by Doug Working
Wasn't sure what cross picking is, so I Googled a video. All I got out if it is that it only involves three strings, with a down, down up stroke, and it applies to flat pickin', especially bluegrass. 
Still nebulous on how all that applies to Chet with finger pickin', and especially in Cattle Call playing scales.

Maybe I just wasn't meant to know.

Re: The Scales Chet Played in "Cattlle Call"

PostPosted: Sun May 25, 2014 12:08 am
by albertgen
Cross picking is playing open strings with fretted notes. Chet and Jerry used it a lot on their recording's. There has been a lot published about it and it is in plenty of tab. Frets magazine and I think Guitar Player published a lot of cross picking. Tommy Flint put out a book years ago through Mel Bay that taught many variations of Cross Picking. Chet and Jerry Reed were Masters of this technique. You can learn a lot through Craig Dobbin's books too, He has a lot of great stuff! Dig it up and go for it! Al