Chords for bridge to Winter Walkin'?

[Pickin Palmer]

Anybody know the proper chords to the bridge of Winter Walking? (Let's pretend we are in the key of C.)

Palmer

[Pickin Palmer]

That's ok - again - I slowed Chet playing it with Transcribe (a God send - remember when we had to slow the LP down to 16 and whatever and pick up the stylus?) - and, if he were in C (he played it in Eb with a capo at 3) the bridge (I think) is:

F, A7sus to A7, D7, Gm - C, F, C, F, G, C, F, G.... It'll werk....

Now, I guess I could join you all in bashin' DP - again - one more time - (deservedly) - or, I could go on talking to myself trying to work this little gem out. I choose the latter:

The melody goes (in tones of whichever key you want to play it in):

Root bass note - then - 4 - lift off - 3, 2, 1, 3 - 1, 2, 2, 1

Question: With the thumb pick being busy whackin away at the base notes - how did Chet play those last 2, 2s so quickly? With both his 1st and 2nd finger on the B string? Or, was he quick enough to pick it twice with his first finger?

Palmer

[KatelynP]

Hi Palmer -- Whenever I play Winter Walking, I strike the 1 with my m finger, hammer on to the 2, and then strike the 2 again with my m finger, pulling off in order to sound the 1 again. I don't know how Chet did it, but I can assume he might have used a similar technique. I end up playing that main melody with m and a instead of m and i. Hope that helps some!

[bill raymond]

Music for Winter Walkin' can be found in the Mel Bay publication "Chet Atkins 'Off the Record'" transcribed by Chet and Tommy Flint (in standard notation, no tablature). The chords that appear there for the bridge are: F. Em7, A7, D7, Gm, C7, Fmaj7, C7, Fmaj7, G13, F, F#7, G7.
I'm afraid I can't make much sense of your notation of the melody as "Root bass note - then - 4 - lift off - 3, 2, 1, 3 - 1, 2, 2, 1", but the bridge goes like this: First 2 measures F chord-thumb holds 6th string-bass line F f C f&a/ F f&a C f&a, while melody line is c a (8th notes) d (half note)/e c (8th notes) hammer on to d (hold for remainder of measure). First measure is played m i m, second measure m i. That's the best I can describe it in ascii. Perhaps you are referring to a different measure?

Edit: On second glance, there is a sort of rudimentary tablature printed below the notes.

[Pickin Palmer]

THAT'S IT, KATELYN!!!! IF - I slow down a bit. And, it did help a tad to use my m instead of my 1st finger. THANKS SO MUCH!

Now, Bill - yep, playing my A7 sus with a 5th in the bass (low E) pretty much makes the 2nd chord a Em7 - thanks.

But, here is a dilemma for the Chet Board: I have that book - Chet Atkins "off the record" - but, Winter Walkin isn't in it??? Mine has I'll Say She Does, Me and Merle, Yanky Doodle Dixie, Mr. Bojangles, Walk-Don't Run, Wheels, The Odd Folks of Okracoke, Yellow Bird, Windy & Warm, Just As I Am, John Henry, Spanish Fandango, Wimoweh, Liebestraum, and Czardas. I wonder if back in those days Mel Bay released other versions of the same book? Mine doesn't have any revision on the cover. Does yours? Does yours have those tunes I listed above?

Palmer

[Eddie Estes]

There were two versions of that book. I have the both. The first printing had Winter Walkin'.

They did that basic tune not the improvisation.
One version of that book has a pic of Chet that is reversed making it look like he was playing lefty.
Eddie

[Pickin Palmer]

Thanks, Eddie. I thought maybe that was the case - as they were only $10 bucks. Is there anything on the cover that would indicate it's another version? My book has a number MB93395 in the upper left hand corner. Are yours different on your two books? How else can we tell the difference?

Bill suggested that there was some "rudimentary" tab below the notes - when, actually, it's Tommy's rather elaborate attempt to show not only where the notes are on the fretboard, but what fingers on the left and right hand to use. (I wish more professional tabbers would be as kind.) But, what do the numbers inside the little circles mean? I thought at first that they were left hand fingers - but, then I saw a SIX! Not on my hand. Not that I don't wish I had more, sometimes.

Palmer

[bill raymond]

Palmer, my (apparently earlier, according to Eddie) edition has the same notation on the front cover: MB93395. It has the same lineup of tunes you listed, plus Winter Walkin' and Yackety Axe. I didn't mean to denigrate Tommy Flint's tablature, it's just that I don't use tablature all that much, preferring standard notation and Tommy's tablature looks different from others I've seen. If, by the "numbers in the little circles" you mean those in the standard notation, they designate which string the note is to be played on. All the photos of Chet in the book have him playing right handed. Perhaps Eddie can comment on other ways to tell the two editions apart.

[Eddie Estes]

The one I have that doesn't have Winter Walkin say it does on the cover.

The only way to tell for sure is look through it.

[DickThomas]

Palmer, the tab for Winter Walkin' can be found in John McClellan's book, Chet Atins in Three Dimensions, vol 2. Tab and chords are in Marcel Dadi's video Nashville Pickin Vol 1. Both arrangements are in C If you don't have access to these, email me at rmtbvt@aol.com, and I will give them to you.

Dick