Chet and my dad
Posted: Mon May 21, 2018 7:40 am
Chet was a lot like the dad I didn't have. Anybody else feel that way?
Don't get me wrong. I had a dad, but he was emotionally distant, as was his dad to him, and back through the generations. Well, let me just say, that's an aspect of fatherhood that is indispensable, (Showing an emotional connection to your kids.)
Not that I didn't love my dad. I did. But I also loved Chet, too. Some people say the first time they heard Elvis's voice, it was MAGIC. Something about his voice just spoke to them and connected with them. Well, we all know the guitar has a voice, and the voice of Chet's guitar did that to me from the first time my ears heard it. I'll bet there is a lot of us here like that! Can I get an amen?
So my dad liked Roy Clark far better than he did Chet. In my dad's narrow musical view, Roy Clark could really "pick it out", (his term) and Chet couldn't. We know he was wrong. There is a LOT more to guitar playing than just playing at breakneck speed! But when Chet would make a TV appearance, I was glued to the screen, and dad rubbed it in. He mocked me. He mocked my admiration for Mr Guitar. He would say things like "Look at that! He's SLOW! He can't "pick it out!" He would cut down my hero. One time, Chet was playing "Zorba The Greek" on a TV show. As we all know, it starts out excruciatingly slow. Dad jabbed at me with sharp, critical words dissing Chet's playing. That hurt really bad.
And I had an old record player. Ancient by today's standards. Mom won it as a door prize at Bingo. (Yeah, she's still playing decades later!) First tunes I heard on it were "Bells Of St Mary's", "Centipede Boogie", "High Rockin' Swing", "Ain't We Got Fun", and such. I had never heard ANYTHING like that in my very young life!
I was in my room one day listening to Chet playing an arrangement of "Que Sera, Sera." In which he used a lot of dissonances. Dad heard it and said "He's playing out of tune!!"' In my heart, I knew better, but in our house, talking back to dad was a death wish. But it hurt me to the core. Dad knew exactly where to strike. But no matter WHAT he said, he wasn't going to dissuade me from listening to my hero, Mr Guitar.
Well, anyway, to make a long story short, one day, about '68 or '69 I suppose, me and dad were in his Oldsmobile, and he said he had a gift for me. Then he presented me with a shiney new copy of "Chet." ("Wabash Cannon Ball", "Oklahoma Hills", "Just Out Of Reach", "Truck Driver Blues" and more!) I was overwhelmed. This was my dad's attempt to break through the wall that he had created and reach out to his son. And I will never forget that as long as I live. It made me sense that beneath his hard outer shell, deep down inside, he really loved his son. I suppose the truth is that he just could not see what it was about Chet's music that I loved, but a course of my life had been set, and neither hell nor high water was going to change it!
I did back then, (and still do now) listened to "Just Out Of Reach" about a zillion times. That's when I discovered that Chet was not only able to play any tune, but able to find a TONE on the guitar that perfectly enhanced or expressed the song perfectly. As a boy I wondered "How does he DO THAT????" There was a time when I didn't even know what a thumb pick was and that he used one. I was a young lad in my room trying to imitate Chet with a flat pick!
I still love that cut and how he plays the very last chord feather soft. A perfect ending to an amazing expression of the melody by Mr Guitar's talented fingers.
Thanks dad. Your long gone, now, but I know you really did love me, deep in your heart, even though you never quite knew how to say it.
Don't get me wrong. I had a dad, but he was emotionally distant, as was his dad to him, and back through the generations. Well, let me just say, that's an aspect of fatherhood that is indispensable, (Showing an emotional connection to your kids.)
Not that I didn't love my dad. I did. But I also loved Chet, too. Some people say the first time they heard Elvis's voice, it was MAGIC. Something about his voice just spoke to them and connected with them. Well, we all know the guitar has a voice, and the voice of Chet's guitar did that to me from the first time my ears heard it. I'll bet there is a lot of us here like that! Can I get an amen?
So my dad liked Roy Clark far better than he did Chet. In my dad's narrow musical view, Roy Clark could really "pick it out", (his term) and Chet couldn't. We know he was wrong. There is a LOT more to guitar playing than just playing at breakneck speed! But when Chet would make a TV appearance, I was glued to the screen, and dad rubbed it in. He mocked me. He mocked my admiration for Mr Guitar. He would say things like "Look at that! He's SLOW! He can't "pick it out!" He would cut down my hero. One time, Chet was playing "Zorba The Greek" on a TV show. As we all know, it starts out excruciatingly slow. Dad jabbed at me with sharp, critical words dissing Chet's playing. That hurt really bad.
And I had an old record player. Ancient by today's standards. Mom won it as a door prize at Bingo. (Yeah, she's still playing decades later!) First tunes I heard on it were "Bells Of St Mary's", "Centipede Boogie", "High Rockin' Swing", "Ain't We Got Fun", and such. I had never heard ANYTHING like that in my very young life!
I was in my room one day listening to Chet playing an arrangement of "Que Sera, Sera." In which he used a lot of dissonances. Dad heard it and said "He's playing out of tune!!"' In my heart, I knew better, but in our house, talking back to dad was a death wish. But it hurt me to the core. Dad knew exactly where to strike. But no matter WHAT he said, he wasn't going to dissuade me from listening to my hero, Mr Guitar.
Well, anyway, to make a long story short, one day, about '68 or '69 I suppose, me and dad were in his Oldsmobile, and he said he had a gift for me. Then he presented me with a shiney new copy of "Chet." ("Wabash Cannon Ball", "Oklahoma Hills", "Just Out Of Reach", "Truck Driver Blues" and more!) I was overwhelmed. This was my dad's attempt to break through the wall that he had created and reach out to his son. And I will never forget that as long as I live. It made me sense that beneath his hard outer shell, deep down inside, he really loved his son. I suppose the truth is that he just could not see what it was about Chet's music that I loved, but a course of my life had been set, and neither hell nor high water was going to change it!
I did back then, (and still do now) listened to "Just Out Of Reach" about a zillion times. That's when I discovered that Chet was not only able to play any tune, but able to find a TONE on the guitar that perfectly enhanced or expressed the song perfectly. As a boy I wondered "How does he DO THAT????" There was a time when I didn't even know what a thumb pick was and that he used one. I was a young lad in my room trying to imitate Chet with a flat pick!
I still love that cut and how he plays the very last chord feather soft. A perfect ending to an amazing expression of the melody by Mr Guitar's talented fingers.
Thanks dad. Your long gone, now, but I know you really did love me, deep in your heart, even though you never quite knew how to say it.