Chords for Tommy Emmanuel's Tribute to Chet Atkins "Chet's Ramble" - LIVE in SLC UT 2007

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ He died on June _ 30th, 2001.
_ And [C#] a year after he died, 2002,
I was in my house in England.
I have two daughters
going to school there.
_ And _ I
came down to my little office and I put on some of Chek's music on my computer
and then I started [D#m] to think, what can I do [C#] today
to celebrate his life?
Because I don't believe in mourning people's death.
I don't believe in that.
Because it's just their body that's died.
They're still
alive.
_ _ Them, the spirit, is still alive.
Their
body has died.
And besides, [D#] their body is just
_ a meat suit, isn't it?
It's just the bit that we get around [B] in.
We are not
[G#] who we look in the mirror and see.
We are [D] inside.
[G] So, anyway, so, _ I'm [G#] thinking
how can I celebrate his life today? _ _
So I went
[G] to my [Em] garage. _ _
_ [A] _ _ I went to [G#] my garage
and I dug out the little [C#] box of tapes that Chek had been sending
we'd been [D] sending to each other [B] when we decided we were going to record our album
[G] together. _
We sent a [C#] whole bunch of tapes to each other
with [F] songwriting ideas, with song [C] ideas.
_ And I thought
[G#] that's what I can do today.
[F#] I can write a [C] song with him
_ after he's gone.
[C#] I can finish one of these songs that we
never did get to [A#] finish.
So I started going through the tapes.
And it was so wonderful to hear his voice in my room.
It really [D#] was.
Because he talked to me all the time on the tape player.
_ He not only
would talk about music, but he'd tell me [B] what happened to him that day.
[A#] He'd say
I was [D] driving down 61 and some poor guy [B] rear-ended me
and away he'd go.
I promised [Cm] him.
It was [A] hilarious.
I kept them all, too.
But anyway, _ so
_ _ _ _ [C#m] I found this melody
and you've got to [N] remember by this time Chek had had
cancer a lot and so he didn't have a lot of facility
[F#] left here in his hands.
[C#] But he still had lots of ideas
up here.
So _ I found this little idea
[Gm] and I thought [C#] I'm going to use everything that [G] I've learned from
him.
I'm going to use tools to finish this song
and co-write this song with him the year after he's gone.
The song's called Chet's [D#] Ramble and it's from my Endless Road album.
[D] Now, this is what was on the tape.
I'll just play it exactly
as it was.
[C#m] And he said it's kind [D] of a fiddle tune [A#] idea _
[A] and maybe we can do something with it.
So here's what he gave me. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] That's what I had to work with.
Let's just quickly recap
here.
So I got this _ melody idea.
[F#] So the first
_ verse states the melody
_ and the original [B] chords.
Then there's the second part of the verse.
The second time
we [E] repeat, we need to change the chords underneath if we're going to keep the
melody the same.
We need [C#] to make it interesting.
Second release, [C] then
_ from A up to the F [C#] sharp, the part that I wrote, leading
back [D#] into the next verse.
[C#] Second bridge
[F#] leading into a key [G] change.
The key change stayed in the melody again
in a different [D] key, but then I [C#] changed the chords again in a different way.
Do that sneaky little lick and you don't know where it's going to go.
It ends up back in its original
key.
We take it home on the last verse and we take it out.
And [E] so two minutes and 46 seconds this song
goes [A] for.
_ _ [G] And I had [D] to do all that [E] to satisfy
me that everything was going to be interesting for the listener.
In two [C#] minutes and 46 seconds.
And that's how [Bm] much
that a [F#] person puts into an arrangement [C#] to make it interesting.
Okay, so now I'll [F] play the song from start to finish
[C] _ and you'll hear how all the tools that [C#] I used
all work [C#] beautifully in [D#] this arrangement.
It's a very simple song.
I called it Chet's Ramble because it's a ramble.
It kind of rambles on.
[G] So here it is.
_ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [E] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ [A] _
_ _ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ [E] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[A] Chet's _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ [A] _
_ [E] _ [A] _ _ [E] Ramble _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [F] _ _
[A] _ _ Woo!
[E] _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ [F] _ _
You [D#] see how I used all those tools
to [Gm] construct that little song.
All those [F#] interesting things going on.
Simple ideas [G] but ideas that really work. _ _ _ _