The Chetboard

A nice short promo for the album Sails from 1986.

Chet Atkins - Sails Featurette

Thanks for posting! I don't remember seeing that one before.

His comment at the end about always trying to learn a new lick to surprise the "friends and neighbors," is a lot of what I remember in the excitement of buying a new Chet Atkins album when I was growing up. I couldn't wait to hear what he would do that was "new." His unique endings were always something I looked forward to also. I guess Chet knew that me and countless others were looking forward to those things.

Richard

Richard, I was the same way. I would buy most of Chet's albums at the local Walmart and then rush home to put them on the little turntable in my room, since my folks were never too happy with my "idolization" of Chet and all of the time I put into practicing. Like you, I would always listen for a new lick to try and incorporate in my arrangements.

I'll also never forget the times he showed up as a guest on t.v. and would play something new or play something I had heard many times but had never seen it done! Of course we never had VCR's or any way to record it and I'd have to rely on what little I could remember. Once in a while I would be lucky enough to have a little tape recorder handy but most of the time it was lost forever!

The thing about Chet and live appearances is that he very rarely ever played a tune the same way twice. He was so uncommonly gifted that I guess he would get bored if he didn't change things a little. I would subconsciously memorize all of his tunes from the recordings I had, and then when I would be lucky enough to see him on live TV, it would always be different somewhere.

On my "Almost Alone" CD, there is a noticeable electronic beep in the tune "You Do Something To Me." I know it is not supposed to be there, but I don't know if it is just my particular CD or if the company that made the CD's made a boo boo. I can't imagine that it was recorded that way and no one caught it. That was one of the questions I always meant to ask Paul about, but never could think of it. Anyway, I don't play that tune very often, but when I do I always hear that beep in my head when I come to that part.

Like my wife says, "Guitar pickers are weird."

Richard

This is great!! Thanks for sharing.

Richard, You and I are a rare breed. These days there seems to be more and more people who were only exposed to Chet after we lost him or much later in their lives. You and I grew up listening to his recordings at an early age and eagerly awaiting the next one. We also attended his live concerts and even got to spend time with him and possibly even sit and play with him! I consider that it was a gift from God to have been "bitten" by that special bug at such a young age. Then we would sit with those records and slow them down (to one octave lower) and try to figure out what in the world he was doing! For some reason, I was never one of those who thought there were two guitarists. I could somehow tell, and as I'm sure you know, the more you figure out the more you understand.

My experience with Chet and his music being in my life, starting at 13, has been one of God's greatest blessings to me!

I hope to see you at CAAS again in a couple months!