Chords for LICKTIONARY - CHET ATKINS/MERLE TRAVIS STYLE BASICS

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_ _ _ _ [C#] _ _ _ _
[A#] _ [B] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ [C] That's an example of Chet Atkins or Merle [E] Travis style picking.
The secret to it is you're kind of the one man band.
You're keeping the bass rhythm going, [Em] _ _ _ [B] _ _
[E] _ keeping the [Bm] treble melody going as well.
[N] _ _ _
This is a technique that takes a lot of time and a lot of skill.
It takes years to master.
But I can show you here in just a few minutes the breakdown and basically how to start practicing
it and start making music with it.
And the breakdown starts off with the thumb beat.
And you want to do what I call the gorilla thumb.
I'm [E] on an E chord.
I'm just playing the bass note, sixth string, fourth string.
It's an octave.
_ _ _ One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
And play it.
Don't worry about hitting the notes individually.
Really let that thumb, if you get part of the chord, that's great.
_ You should feel as your whole thumb is crunching it. _ _
_ Step number [C] two is I'm adding what I [A] call the ding dong.
[Em] On the one, two, three, four.
Ding, dong.
On the first and the second strings.
Ding, _ dong.
[E] Ding, dong.
Ding, [Em] dong.
[N] Now practice that for a few minutes or a few days or a few years until you're really comfortable
with the rhythm.
Until you really kind of sink it into your muscle memory.
Your body clock.
Now when you're comfortable with that, we're going to add a little syncopation.
[E] _ One and two and three and four.
One and two and three and four.
One and two and three and four. _ _ _
_ [B] When you're up to speed.
[G] I'm going to add some hammers now.
From an E minor [G#] to an E major on the third string.
Hammer on the second [B] fret of the second string.
[C#] _ _ [E] Hit the top note. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ The last step is to kind of hunt and peck with [Em] my pinky the [E] _ available notes.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [Em] Same thing on the E chord.
Or the A chord.
[B] B seventh.
_ _ _ [E] _ I'm using those same basic notes and shapes through those three chords.
I can use this also using that one E shape going up the neck.
That's an E.
That's an E sixth.
_ _ _ And I'm moving the melody up some strings.
[C] I can get that same [A] _ [D] thing going in a barre chord.
So I can kind [E] of get like a _ _ second [F#] fret. _ _
[B] Slide seventh.
_ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ I can add some chord inversions going up the neck.
This is an E seventh open.
This is an E seventh in sort of a D shape.
A D seventh shape.
This is a C seventh kind of shape.
_ _ This is _ an E seventh shape.
_ This is A seventh shape.
This is an E seventh shape.
So I can get that.
I _ _ _ _ _ _ _ can also throw diminished chords.
_ That's my D seventh shape.
I can add [Em] this diminished chord, which we'll talk about exclusively [E] in a few minutes,
_ _ in between these [E] chords. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ [N] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
That's kind [C] of a folkier version of the Chet Atkins rotation.
My thumb is [G] on the sixth and the fourth string of the key of G.
And my fingers are doing that kind of syncopated ding-dong.
One and two and three and four and one [D] and two and three and four.
_ [C#] Now I can kind of get that, use [Am] an A minor and an inside voicing.
[E] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
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